After looking through Norient for interesting articles about acoustic ecology I discovered this post that sent me to a website called soundwalkinginteractions. The website had an essay titled.
Ethical questions about working with soundscapes
By Dr Andra McCartney
Andra starts the introduction to her essay with numerous questions about what a soundscape composer or documentarian is doing when recording or using sounds once separated from the context they were recorded in. She discusses that relationships through the world are expressed through the soundscape.
“Does the maker want to reveal particular sonic aspects of the place as it is, as it used to be, as it might be? Does the composer want to create an ideal place through sound and if so, what are the characteristics of this imaginary place and what ideas and values inform this utopic creation? How does the composer treat the sounds? How prominent are the composer’s treatments in relation to the sounds originally heard in that place, and what are the characteristics of this electroacoustic ecology? What are the dominant and masked sounds in the piece and how do they interact? “
I think this brings out the true questions that can come into a designer’s head when using soundscape recordings within their work, how can we answer these questions? And if we can’t how can we be aware of these questions. At least critically consider our practice and attempt to question our own decisions.
An important point made is the idea between what is heard in the place and the recording. But I also consider Wright (2022) when speaking about the importance of what isn’t heard. I think there is an importance between what isn’t heard and what is heard.
“Do we imagine the listener is ignorant and needing enlightenment?”
I think a lot of art should consider this at times, are the points we are making painfully obvious? What different outlook are we bringing that perhaps others haven’t seen? Or if we are bringing up ideas that have previously been presented how can present a different outlook.
Andra then begins to discuss the fascination with hi-fi-like sounds that are obsessed with current field recording practice. The idea is that sound that is accurate and individual to the rest of the soundscape is a true representation, with a concentration on little circuit noise and contextual noise blocked.
They argue that perhaps we have become obsessed with the idea of purity, and then they use a quote by Emily Thompson who discusses that since sound has become a signal we have valued the idea of the signal-to-noise ratio as important. That we judge sound by the recorded notion of what one is hearing. The level and strength, the clean pre-amplification and other aspects of recordings are to be seen as the best forms of representations. That the more hi-fi a product is the better it is.
“When sounds became signals, a new criterion by which to evaluate them was established, a criterion whose origins, like the sounds themselves, were located in the new electrical technologies. Electrical systems were evaluated by measuring the strength of their signals against the inevitable encroachments of electrical noise, and this measure now became the means by which to judge all sounds. The desire for clear, controlled, signal-like sound became pervasive, and anything that interfered with this goal was now engineered out of existence.”
Andra continues to discuss the idea of the romanticised need to escape noisy life, to return to the wilderness of course for those who can afford it. That we need time away for our ears to heal from the abuse of noise pollution. And the comparisons with visuals arts to the hi-fi notion within soundscapes.
“By referring to the HiFi soundscape as an example of an ecological soundscape, are we shaping soundscape studies through a particularly northern and isolationist framework? Is this what we want?”
Andra, speaks on hi-fi systems in the 1940s-1950s when they were first produced, and they were first marketed as a way for the hi-fi enthusiast to escape the noise of the family, the kids and noise pollution. That comfort could be found with a nice HiFi system. This led the users to even eventually start purchasing vinyl records of different sorts, including the sounds of rain and thunder.
“Some hi-fiers, rather than immerse themselves in operatic or chamber music, or even rock ‘n’ roll, listen for the joy of just “hearing” sounds not likely to be found in the average living room” (Jacobs 1958, p. 33)”
There are also ideas shown that lofi soundscapes are noisy and loud ambiences but hifi soundscapes are associated with the sparse wilderness and rural locations. As well as the natural balance between both being important. There were tests done on prisoners in the 1800s in prisons where they were sonically isolated and found themselves going insane quickly. This was a pure hifi soundscape.
“Is it good signal to noise ratio that we are searching for, or a particular quality of silence that is comforting and inspiring, not oppressive and suffocating? Can we hear oppression or comfort or the space for inspiration within a particular hifi or quiet soundscape and how would we characterize that?”
Andra also makes a point about positive noisy situations such as a busy cafe in the morning with lots of chatty voices in the background. They also speak on the privilege of silence and hifi soundscapes. That even when one hosts a listening group you have to be able to drive and reach the location in the wilderness.
“access to wilderness parks is the privilege of the middle class who can afford to buy or rent cars. He notes that in some cases, roads to parks were designed with bridges so low that they excluded buses, a move which explicitly kept out those who do not have cars; while in many others there are no public buses or trains that will take people directly to parks.”
“What are the possibilities of an ecotonal sounding art? What would it mean to listen for characteristics of ecotonality in a soundscape rather than searching for single clear signals devoid of problematic noise? Instead of banishing sounds that overlap and rub up against each other, what would it mean to pay attention to how sounds overlap, to how they rub up against each other, in whatever context?”
I think this last quote really sticks out to me, how can we listen for the ever-changing soundscape and the intersections where hifi and lo-fi sounds combine and shift. The importance of a combined soundscape shows a true representation of the location. I think this is relevant in challenging my previous ideas on soundscape production and my current field recordings. I think next time I go to Stave Hill I will reflect on this essay.