week 8

18/11/11   Sound and vision.

We discussed the importance of sound when combined with visuals, how it influences the imagination of the viewer and helps to create a more interesting visual perspective.

When using sound in the production of a moving images piece or a film, sound effects like footsteps, background noises or even explosions are added after the filming to enhance the quality of the footage and avoid unwanted noise. Sometimes the sounds of certain objects are recorded and used to imitate those of different objects, and this effect is called “foley”. Considering the tools and technology available today, the audio for a video production can be worked on more efficiently and creatively than before. It is an important additional element that provides more options and can become indispensable depending on the piece. It gives the experience much more interesting results.

We talked about Walter Ong (1971), who focuses mainly on the study of written literature against the background of oral tradition and the impact that the shift from orality to literacy had on culture and education. He also studied the effects of the first transformation of human thought from the world of sound to the world of sight.

We discussed how we combine images and sounds and analyse objects by automatically assigning particular sounds to them. I believe that it can also work the other way around. We refer to them in our everyday lives, sometimes they can have very personal connections and the sounds we hear provoke feelings and can remind us of a past experience or a person. Also as Bela Balazs said we learn culturally how to perceive sound.

So what is sound?

Sound is immersive and cannot be shut out. As opposed to visuals, there is no point of sound and it cannot be frozen as an image can.

I think that sound can also be called a relevant noise; the difference between sound and noise has been confused. I find that the best way to explain it is that sound comes from controllable sources and has a set purpose like a radio, a musical instrument or even a speech. Noise often has more random and mixed sources; it is irrelevant and often undesired. It could also depend on the context in which it is perceived but I am still unclear when exactly a sound can start to be referred to as a noise and vice versa.

 A sound envelope is composed of an attack, sustain and decay. In a lecture/conference for example, the sound perspectives are comprised of 3 elements:

Figure = Paul (lecturer)

Ground = students

Field = class room

Sometimes we play with these perspectives, like in a nightclub where the field becomes the figure. The ‘Cocktail party effect’ describes the ability to focus on a particular noise and ignore any others in the background even in really loud environments.

All sound has a form of distance it can be:

Intimate, personal, informal, formal or public.

We looked at John Cage who is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4.33, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. This composition seems to have been a great achievement in many artists’ view and at the time it was produced it was seen as original and highly creative. It makes a very strong point: all sound is music, music is all sound.