Synthetic Harmony

The Train soundscape begins in a train foyer, where piercing high frequencies subsume the listener in an overcrowded soundscape. This dense orchestra of noise is averted in the sitting compartment of the train, which is separated by a door. The door allows noise to be filtered out and is assisted by the white noise of air conditioning which attempts to mask the loud noise of the traction motor and screeching of train tracks. In this environment, the deafening high frequencies created by the train are filtered out, and the harmonics and transients of the engine remain in dissonant harmony. The white noise of the air conditioning is an installation of “Audio analgesia”, defined simply as “the use of sound as a painkiller, a distraction to dispel distractions”(Schafer, 1993). however, it does not succeed in this function completely. and as a result, multiple layers of sound are in competition, each attempting to overpower the other in a vapid ecosystem of noise. This results in a disorienting and nauseating “sound wall”. Furthermore, this continuity of mechanical noise, defined by Schafer as “the flat line in sound” is a result of the Mechanical revolution, and a keynote sound of machinery as industrial machines “create low-information, high-redundancy sounds,......... possessing little personality or sense of progression” (Schafer, 1993). So although the sonic anaesthetic of white noise may attempt to be “a distraction to dispel distractions”, it, in turn, intensifies the disharmony of the train soundscape. Therefore, the listener must tune out, and listening to music in headphones allows one to do so. The listener is able to bury themselves beneath the mountain of noise which previously subsumed them. In this sense, music becomes a sedative and is effective in masking the “swaths of broad-band noise” often present on the train.

Element 1 involves a variety of highpass and low-pass filters which are intricately implemented to achieve the modality of the train soundscape (specifically NSW train-link V set). High-pass filters accentuate the grain and texture of white noise, whereas low-pass filters (often applied in automation), bypass high frequencies as the listener is transported through successive layers of the composition. By boosting the harmonic peaks on each of the “engine drone” tracks the natural pitch captured on the recording is accentuated.

References Schafer, R. M. (1993). The Soundscape : Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Inner Traditions International, Limited.

In contrast to the harsh soundscape of the train, Central Station is a place of harmony. People from various different parts of Sydney and greater New South Wales conglomerate, and perform sound in unison. This diversity is represented implicitly, by the sound signals of opal cards as they “tap on” and “tap off”. The multiplicity of age groups and proficiencies are ordered into categories (Adult Opal, Child/ Youth Opal, Gold Opal, Concession Opal, School Opal and Free Opal) which each inhabit a unique pitch when a payment is approved. So unlike the “flatline” of the train, the soundscape of Central Station is alive and thriving, and although contained within industrial structures, sounds embody “biological existences”: “They are born, they flourish and they die.”(Schafer, 1993). Furthermore, these sounds are arranged within the format of Western music as a chord progression consisting of Emajor, Amajor, Emajor and Gmajor (background), guides the melodic ostinato (foreground). The major Key provides a sense of unity and utopia, as a “tonal centre” (Schafer, 1993) is naturally generated. This tonal centre and key signature are based on an original (unedited) recording of Central Station, and therefore, my composition aims to reconstruct and build upon the pre-existing soundscape. This euphoria is juxtaposed as the listener becomes lost within the physical structure of the train station; lost within the complex architecture of Central Station. In a liminal space between where they have been and where they are going. Sound becomes warped and distant, as visual perspective is lost, and time feels as though it slows down.

A broad variety of additive effects were implemented in the sonification of Central Station. Pitch effects allowed me to create harmony between different samples and tracks, and a reverb bus applied broadly, enabled previously dry samples to exist within the natural atmosphere of Central Station.

References Schafer, R. M. (1993). The Soundscape : Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Inner Traditions International, Limited.

Element 3 involves the soundscape of a tunnel that runs underneath George Street and towards the UTS campus in Ultimo. The listener is initially placed outside the tunnel, in the loud and overwhelming soundscape of Broadway at night. Busses and trucks sprawl past as the full expanse of the city is in view. An overcast sky is animated by the movement of neon city lights. An escalator transports the listener into a tunnel where sound and light are equally obscured: the noise of traffic passing overhead is heavily filtered as the high frequencies of Broadway are abstracted and only low frequencies remain. In this context, the listener is placed at the low end of a frequency bandwidth. Much like the intricate architecture of Central Station, the tunnel is a liminal space in a literal sense: situated between the station and Ultimo, beneath George Street. For most, it is a temporary space; a space between the past and the present; a space attributed with no discernable meaning. This space, or lack of space, is what I have attempted to sonify, as the listener is lost within its deep expanses. The liminality of this setting is juxtaposed against the vibrance of advertisements and white light of supermarkets within the tunnel. This vibrance is characterised by the high-frequency sounds of bells, and the hyper-reality of the synthesiser.
This combination is jarring and disorienting: the brutalism of the tunnel, and the idealism of advertisement, and yet both often exist in unison; in atonal harmony. The listener is retracted from this unnerving soundscape, as they are drawn into the supermarket, where a purchase can be completed without conversation or interaction. This is classified in a rapid succession of high-frequency beeps, which result in a purchase. The listener is once again absorbed into the tunnel; into its deepest corners, and beyond the euphoria of the supermarket. Where One may struggle to escape.

It is important to note that this element (unlike previous elements) is immersed in hyper-reality, where sound is an exaggeration of reality.

The final component of my sound walk focuses on ordinary sounds that are a product of industrial anthrophonic soundscapes. Sounds such as lifts, escalators, ventilators, and air conditioners; “Keynote sounds [that] do not have to be listened to consciously; they are overheard” (Schafer, 1993). However, unlike previous elements of the sound walk, the listener no longer traverses a physical space, but rather they perceive the entirety of the soundscape from a multitude of locations at once. Initially, sound is performed as an intricate looped sequence: high frequencies are intelligible and automated. However, as the piece progresses sounds become overlapped and obscured, and rather than pertaining to individual characteristics, amalgamate in an arrangement of white noise: a “sound wall” (Schafer, 1993) . However, this sound wall is the noise of euphoria, of machine functionality and productivity. It represents the ambience of UTS, and this is expressed through pitch. Multiple components of the rhythmic piece band together to construct a major 7 chord, which on its own, sounds dreamy and idealistic.

The UTS soundscape involves the intricate trimming and slicing of audio, within the structure of a grid. Initially, samples are arranged at intervals of 1/16 as they are looped over a bar. Simple panning and equalisation allowed me to accentuate different elements of the rhythmic section and pitch inserts created harmony between multiple samples. Finally, a delay bus applied broadly in automation generates an atmosphere and ambience, banding multiple samples together, and creating a glissando of noise.

References Schafer, R. M. (1993). The Soundscape : Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World. Inner Traditions International, Limited.