Glow in the dark
Jan 17, 2023, 09:36 PM
"My field recording is a two-minute recording of airshots that occur at regular intervals of about 12 seconds. This regularity is only noticeable in the course of time, and then seems a bit like a ticking clock running down in super slow-motion. The deep bass of the explosions lingers for a relatively long time, and can still be heard well during the following crackling and hissing. It is a dark, dystopian soundscape that is more reminiscent of war, machinery or factories than an underwater landscape or even flora and fauna. When I first heard the sound, I didn't find it particularly exciting in terms of sound, but extremely strong in terms of content. It touched me emotionally, and above all I felt regret, disappointment, frustration and anger.
"I wanted to contrast this sonic, dystopian abyss of field recording with another pole that would tell the story and clothe this harsh reality in emotion. I am a classical guitarist and my intention from the beginning was to dedicate this instrument to the task. The idea for this field recording was to compose a piece for guitar to go with the field recording, so that both can be heard continuously and accompany each other, and sometimes the listener's attention can alternate between the two.
"A first rather technical approach was to tune the guitar into a scordatura, i.e. to partially retune the strings. This allowed me to detach myself more from what I usually play and think and allowed me to feel freer and more open towards field recording. It also prevented me from being too controlled by technical, music-theoretical thinking. The tuning of the guitar is as follows: 1= e, 2= b, 3= f sharp, 4= D, 5= G, 6= E. As a chord, this results in an Em 7 9. Not a really special sound at first sight. However, it is exciting because of the dissonance between f sharp and g, and because of the D, which radiates a constant dissatisfaction.
"At the beginning, I tried to write passages in which the guitar noisily approaches the field recordings or becomes a field recording itself through extended playing techniques. In the end, not so much of that remained, just the intro and outro, which feature fast rascuados without a nail and hitting the strings with a finger. The flagolets, which should sound like echoes and have a different structure with each repetition, are partly dissonant, unresolved and should already contain the whole drama of this subject.
"One idea was to play a quick succession of notes after each explosion, taking cover like a swarm of fish, changing direction, darting apart. Although this is no longer the case, it has developed into the fast, repetitive attack that forms the basis for the first part after the intro. The second part consists of similar chords and a similar structure, but is now struck in somewhat punky rascuados and deals even more strongly with the feelings of frustration and anger, whereas the first part gives more space to the emotions of sadness and regret.
"I only lightly processed the field recording itself with an equaliser and a compressor. The aim was to reduce the noise and to better bring out the interesting clicking, crunching and cracking sounds. I also wanted the bass range to be a little more precise and the focus to be a little more on it. I also edited the field recording so that it is now distributed in stereo in the room, it has more depth and spatiality. I once recorded a field recording for a project in a huge former Nazi bunker. I wanted to represent this sonic atmosphere in the mix. The underwater explosions as if they were outside or in a lake inside the bunker, and the guitar plays in this monstrous, abysmal sound space above. The result should not be like guitar here and field recording there, but like an improbable, imagined common sound space where both happen at the same time. More like a documentary atmosphere than a concert."
Seismic airgun reimagined by Jannis Wichmann.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.
"I wanted to contrast this sonic, dystopian abyss of field recording with another pole that would tell the story and clothe this harsh reality in emotion. I am a classical guitarist and my intention from the beginning was to dedicate this instrument to the task. The idea for this field recording was to compose a piece for guitar to go with the field recording, so that both can be heard continuously and accompany each other, and sometimes the listener's attention can alternate between the two.
"A first rather technical approach was to tune the guitar into a scordatura, i.e. to partially retune the strings. This allowed me to detach myself more from what I usually play and think and allowed me to feel freer and more open towards field recording. It also prevented me from being too controlled by technical, music-theoretical thinking. The tuning of the guitar is as follows: 1= e, 2= b, 3= f sharp, 4= D, 5= G, 6= E. As a chord, this results in an Em 7 9. Not a really special sound at first sight. However, it is exciting because of the dissonance between f sharp and g, and because of the D, which radiates a constant dissatisfaction.
"At the beginning, I tried to write passages in which the guitar noisily approaches the field recordings or becomes a field recording itself through extended playing techniques. In the end, not so much of that remained, just the intro and outro, which feature fast rascuados without a nail and hitting the strings with a finger. The flagolets, which should sound like echoes and have a different structure with each repetition, are partly dissonant, unresolved and should already contain the whole drama of this subject.
"One idea was to play a quick succession of notes after each explosion, taking cover like a swarm of fish, changing direction, darting apart. Although this is no longer the case, it has developed into the fast, repetitive attack that forms the basis for the first part after the intro. The second part consists of similar chords and a similar structure, but is now struck in somewhat punky rascuados and deals even more strongly with the feelings of frustration and anger, whereas the first part gives more space to the emotions of sadness and regret.
"I only lightly processed the field recording itself with an equaliser and a compressor. The aim was to reduce the noise and to better bring out the interesting clicking, crunching and cracking sounds. I also wanted the bass range to be a little more precise and the focus to be a little more on it. I also edited the field recording so that it is now distributed in stereo in the room, it has more depth and spatiality. I once recorded a field recording for a project in a huge former Nazi bunker. I wanted to represent this sonic atmosphere in the mix. The underwater explosions as if they were outside or in a lake inside the bunker, and the guitar plays in this monstrous, abysmal sound space above. The result should not be like guitar here and field recording there, but like an improbable, imagined common sound space where both happen at the same time. More like a documentary atmosphere than a concert."
Seismic airgun reimagined by Jannis Wichmann.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.