Sound Recording Skills presentation by Matt Grover

Covers defining a sound in terms of amplitude, frequency, time, timbre and space. How sound behaves within a space. Digital recording settings. Winchester School of Art loan equipment. Winchester School of Art editing software overview.

Aural auteur : sound in the films of Rolf de Heer

An interpretative methodology for understanding meaning in cinema since the 1950s, auteur analysis is an approach to film studies in which an individual, usually the director, is studied as the author of her or his films. The principal argument of this thesis is that proponents of auteurism have privileged examination of the visual components in a film-maker’s body of work, neglecting the potentially significant role played by sound. The thesis seeks to address this problematic imbalance by interrogating the creative use of sound in the films written and directed by Rolf de Heer, asking the question, “Does his use of sound make Rolf de Heer an aural auteur?” In so far as the term ‘aural’ encompasses everything in the film that is heard by the audience, the analysis seeks to discover if de Heer has, as Peter Wollen suggests of the auteur and her or his directing of the visual components (1968, 1972 and 1998), unconsciously left a detectable aural signature on his films. The thesis delivers an innovative outcome by demonstrating that auteur analysis that goes beyond the mise-en-scène (i.e. visuals) is productive and worthwhile as an interpretive response to film. De Heer’s use of the aural point of view and binaural sound recording, his interest in providing a ‘voice’ for marginalised people, his self-penned song lyrics, his close and early collaboration with composer Graham Tardif and sound designer Jim Currie, his ‘hands-on’ approach to sound recording and sound editing and his predilection for making films about sound are all shown to be examples of de Heer’s aural auteurism. As well as the three published (or accepted for publication) interviews with de Heer, Tardif and Currie, the dissertation consists of seven papers refereed and published (or accepted for publication) in journals and international conference proceedings, a literature review and a unifying essay. The papers presented are close textual analyses of de Heer’s films which, when considered as a whole, support the thesis’ overall argument and serve as a comprehensive auteur analysis, the first such sustained study of his work, and the first with an emphasis on the aural.

EU Copyright Law, Lobbying and Transparency of Policy-Making: The cases of sound recordings term extension and orphan works provisions

The objective of this paper is to discuss EU lobbying in the area of copyright. Legislation needs to regulate the legal position of various different stakeholders in a balanced manner. However, a number of EU copyright provisions brought into effect over recent years were highly controversial and have led to suggestions that powerful lobbying forces may have had some influence. This article investigates the effects of lobbying on copyright law-making in Europe. A specific comparative and multi-faceted analysis is provided of the legislative process for two recently adopted directives: 2011/77/EU which extends the term of protection of sound recordings and 2012/28/EU which introduces certain permitted uses of orphan works (some references are also made to the ACTA case). Firstly, a short presentation is given of the legal bases for the EU consultation process and lobbying. Next, an analysis is provided of the two cases, taking into consideration the policy-making procedures (with special focus on how the consultation process was handled), the legal solutions proposed and adopted and the various stakeholders’ claims. Lastly, it asks why some interest groups were successful and some others failed (the analysis identifies two types of factor for the effectiveness of lobbying: those resulting from stakeholders’ actions and those connected with the consultation process).

Amendment to Communications act of 1934 (prohibiting radio and television stations from engaging in music publishing or recording business). Hearings, Eighty-fifth Congress, second session, on S. 2834. March 11-13, 19-20, April 15-17, May 6, 7, 20, 21, July 15, and 23, 1958.

Mode of access: Internet.

Coding speech signals at very low rates (below 1 kb/s) with high intelligibility

This thesis presents an original approach to parametric speech coding at rates below 1 kbitsjsec, primarily for speech storage applications. Essential processes considered in this research encompass efficient characterization of evolutionary configuration of vocal tract to follow phonemic features with high fidelity, representation of speech excitation using minimal parameters with minor degradation in naturalness of synthesized speech, and finally, quantization of resulting parameters at the nominated rates. For encoding speech spectral features, a new method relying on Temporal Decomposition (TD) is developed which efficiently compresses spectral information through interpolation between most steady points over time trajectories of spectral parameters using a new basis function. The compression ratio provided by the method is independent of the updating rate of the feature vectors, hence allows high resolution in tracking significant temporal variations of speech formants with no effect on the spectral data rate. Accordingly, regardless of the quantization technique employed, the method yields a high compression ratio without sacrificing speech intelligibility. Several new techniques for improving performance of the interpolation of spectral parameters through phonetically-based analysis are proposed and implemented in this research, comprising event approximated TD, near-optimal shaping event approximating functions, efficient speech parametrization for TD on the basis of an extensive investigation originally reported in this thesis, and a hierarchical error minimization algorithm for decomposition of feature parameters which significantly reduces the complexity of the interpolation process. Speech excitation in this work is characterized based on a novel Multi-Band Excitation paradigm which accurately determines the harmonic structure in the LPC (linear predictive coding) residual spectra, within individual bands, using the concept 11 of Instantaneous Frequency (IF) estimation in frequency domain. The model yields aneffective two-band approximation to excitation and computes pitch and voicing with high accuracy as well. New methods for interpolative coding of pitch and gain contours are also developed in this thesis. For pitch, relying on the correlation between phonetic evolution and pitch variations during voiced speech segments, TD is employed to interpolate the pitch contour between critical points introduced by event centroids. This compresses pitch contour in the ratio of about 1/10 with negligible error. To approximate gain contour, a set of uniformly-distributed Gaussian event-like functions is used which reduces the amount of gain information to about 1/6 with acceptable accuracy. The thesis also addresses a new quantization method applied to spectral features on the basis of statistical properties and spectral sensitivity of spectral parameters extracted from TD-based analysis. The experimental results show that good quality speech, comparable to that of conventional coders at rates over 2 kbits/sec, can be achieved at rates 650-990 bits/sec.

The pomegranate cycle : reconfiguring opera through performance, technology & composition

The Pomegranate Cycle is a practice-led enquiry consisting of a creative work and an exegesis. This project investigates the potential of self-directed, technologically mediated composition as a means of reconfiguring gender stereotypes within the operatic tradition. This practice confronts two primary stereotypes: the positioning of female performing bodies within narratives of violence and the absence of women from authorial roles that construct and regulate the operatic tradition. The Pomegranate Cycle redresses these stereotypes by presenting a new narrative trajectory of healing for its central character, and by placing the singer inside the role of composer and producer. During the twentieth and early twenty-first century, operatic and classical music institutions have resisted incorporating works of living composers into their repertory. Consequently, the canon’s historic representations of gender remain unchallenged. Historically and contemporarily, men have almost exclusively occupied the roles of composer, conductor, director and critic, and therefore men have regulated the pedagogy, performance practices, repertoire and organisations that sustain classical music. In this landscape, women are singers, and few have the means to challenge the constructions of gender they are asked to reproduce. The Pomegranate Cycle uses recording technologies as the means of driving change because these technologies have already challenged the regulation of the classical tradition by changing people’s modes of accessing, creating and interacting with music. Building on the work of artists including Phillips and van Veen, Robert Ashley and Diamanda Galas, The Pomegranate Cycle seeks to broaden the definition of what opera can be. This work examines the ways in which the operatic tradition can be hybridised with contemporary musical forms such as ambient electronica, glitch, spoken word and concrete sounds as a way of bringing the form into dialogue with contemporary music cultures. The ultilisation of other sound cultures within the context of opera enables women’s voices and stories to be presented in new ways, while also providing a point of friction with opera’s traditional storytelling devices. The Pomegranate Cycle simulates aesthetics associated with Western art music genres by drawing on contemporary recording techniques, virtual instruments and sound-processing plug-ins. Through such simulations, the work disrupts the way virtuosic human craft has been used to generate authenticity and regulate access to the institutions that protect and produce Western art music. The DIY approach to production, recording, composition and performance of The Pomegranate Cycle demonstrates that an opera can be realised by a single person. Access to the broader institutions which regulate the tradition are not necessary. In short, The Pomegranate Cycle establishes that a singer can be more than a voice and a performing body. She can be her own multimedia storyteller. Her audience can be anywhere.

"Who Are You" by DeepBlue Orchestra - Production of Recordings

The development and recording of 10 songs for a CD to accompany DeepBlue's new live orchestra production "Who Are You" which began touring Australia and Asia in 2012.

AHC interview with Gloria Gray Katz.

June 7, 2010

Assobios de delfinídeos na costa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: caracterização e comparação interespecífica

Os delfinídeos possuem um variado repertório de emissões sonoras, que são produzidos em diferentes contextos comportamentais e são importantes para as relações entre os indivíduos. As emissões sonoras dos delfinídeos são predominantemente utilizadas para a comunicação e são divididas em duas categorias: os sons pulsantes e os assobios. O presente estudo apresenta comparações entre os repertórios de assobios de três espécies de delfinídeos encontrados na costa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: Stenella frontalis, Steno bredanensis e Sotalia guianensis. Três sistemas de gravação foram utilizados. Estes foram compostos por hidrofones HTI-96-MIN e C54XRS, e gravadores PMD 671 Marantz, FOSTEX (taxa de amostragem de 96 kHz) e SONY TCD-T8 (taxa de amostragem de 48 kHz). As análises dos espectrogramas foram realizadas no software Raven 1.4. Os assobios foram classificados em categorias de formas de contorno e 15 parâmetros acústicos foram mensurados em cada um destes sinais. A estatística descritiva foi realizada para os assobios de cada espécie, e estes foram comparados a partir de testes de comparação de médias e análise discriminante. Um total de 838 assobios foi analisado. Assobios com forma de contorno ascendente de S. frontalis, S. bredanensis, S. guianensis da Baía de Guanabara, da Baía de Ilha Grande e da Baía de Sepetiba corresponderam a 48,1% (N=63), 40,8% (N=47), 49,8% (N=98), 63,9% (N=126) e 58,1% (N=115) do repertório de cada grupo, respectivamente. Diferenças foram encontradas em praticamente todos os parâmetros entre assobios de S. bredanensis e S. guianensis. O maior número de semelhanças ocorreu entre assobios das populações distintas de S. guianensis. A taxa de classificação correta geral foi de 52,4%. Assobios de S. bredanensis apresentaram a maior classificação correta (84,3%). Assobios de S. frontalis apresentaram taxa de classificação correta de 55,7% e os de S. guianensis da Baía de Guanabara, Baía de Ilha Grande e Baía de Sepetiba apresentaram taxas de 57,9%, 48,7% e 29,8%, respectivamente. A análise discriminante realizada entre assobios ascendentes resultou em uma taxa de classificação correta menor (49%). As variáveis consideradas mais importantes para a discriminação entre espécies foram: FF, 3Q, 1Q, MOD e FM. Por meio de parâmetros acústicos foi possível discriminar grande parte dos assobios de espécies simpátricas, apesar de haver ainda sobreposições entre variáveis acústicas dos assobios das espécies comparadas neste estudo.

MUSICAL IMPROVISATION AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Musical improvisation combines technical proficiency and musical intuition. Due to its interactive nature, improvisation provides an avenue of communication among all art forms. This dissertation project explores the collaborative aspects of improvisation involving a musician, visual artist, a small group of dancers, and videographer. Video footage from two separate recording sessions provided hours of visual materials which were studied and edited. The first session was a live performance recorded in front of a studio audience. The second session was a two-day collaboration between musician and dancers in a studio space. The process of editing and compiling images with audio-an important element in this project-presented many unforeseeable challenges and lessons. This recorded dissertation is comprised of seven music videos that demonstrate my ability as an artist in collaboration with visual artist-professor Richard Klank, dancers David Yates, Jamie Garcia, Raha Behnam, Rachel Wolfe and Adrian Galvin, and video artist Nguyen Nguyen. Each video represents an individual creative process involving musical performance, studio lighting, sound recording, and video editing.

Merula

Merula is a thirty-minute work for bass flute and electronics, commissioned by Icelandic flautist Kolbeinn Bjarnason. The premiere took place in the Belfast Festival at Queen’s in November 2012. A recording will be made in 2014. Further performances in Iceland, Norway and Poland are anticipated in 2014-15. I have given a research seminar on this work at Queen’s and will deliver it again at the University of Oxford during 2013-14.

Research Goals
1) To develop an effective means of notating live electronics in a manner that would sustain the work's performance history beyond the current generation of software
2) To apply the techniques of transcription and spectralism used in my composition, Perseid, using birdsongs as source material
3) To explore the problem of sustaining large-scale form in music that is primarily fast
4) To facilitate the emergence of the solo bass flute as an important solo instrument through the completion of a new large-scale work

Methodology
• Methodologies employed in this project included sound recording, sound analysis and transcription, extensive precompositional sketching, electroacoustic techniques of sound manipulation, designing complex live processes of sound transformation and spatialisation
• A considerable part of this work was collaboration with the flautist, both in SARC and Iceland. Mr. Bjarnason was involved all stages of the work, frequently recording source materials and helping to ensure the idiomatic nature of the flute writing.
• Developing a means of notating the live electronics. Building on a model suggested by Pierre Boulez in Anthemes 2 (1998), the score of this work includes a technical manual that describes electronic processes in a manner that can be reprogrammed in subsequent generations of software. Combined with a system of notations employed in the full score, the technical manual will enable this composition to be performed by a wide range of performers and technical teams, with appropriately identical results.

Exposition

Soitinnus: kamariorkesteri.