People and Projects

This section is devoted to individuals who are actively engaged in a variety of endeavors within the field of acoustic ecology. We welcome news of projects related to the ecology of sound.

Seeks Research Information.Tim Stephens is approaching his final year on a BA Fine Art degree, at Brighton University (UK). He is interested in accessing information, works, or any helpful leads or references for a Dissertation on; 'From the barely audible to the intrusively noisy-acoustic environments in art exhibition and installation' Any comment or feedback most welcome. Contact: timstephens145@hotmail.com.

Protected Hearing Workshops. Those of you who enjoyed Soundscape 6 (1) on hearing loss, guest edited by Elliott Berger, may be interested to learn that he and a co-presenter, Theresa Schulz will be teaching free 1-day seminars on hearing protection and hearing conservation in San Ramon, CA, on August 17, and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on September 20. Continuing education credits are available and free lunch and extensive handouts are included.  Elliott has been teaching these highly regarded courses for 25 years throughout North America and in Europe, Africa and Australia.  For additional information and/or to register, please visit http://www.e-a-r.com/hearingconservation/earseminars.cfm

Interactive Internet Soundscape. Scottish visual artist Su Grierson takes you directly into the Scottish non-urban environment through the use of sound. Unsupported by image or text  the sounds trigger recognition, imagination, intrigue and  concern. N ear H ear is a sound  project for the internet.  Sounds were posted on the site throughout June 2006 and will  be interactive for the following year. Designed to be simple and  accessible to all levels of users, the site also offers sound artists and phonographers an opportunity to participate by downloading, remixing and uploading files for future posting on the site and an eventual public 'hearing'. Visit the N ear H ear web site.

Seeking Funding For Argentinean Sound Map Project. Fernando Boto is doing a project in Buenos Aires called BA Suena and is about to build a sound map of Buenos Aires city. Ba Suena involves young students of several schools of Buenos Aires. Each school will represent an area of the city, and each one will build a kind of soundscape of the
neighborhood or the area that it represents. Every soundscape will be uploaded to a web site, where the soundmap will be placed.
      I am applying for funding to the Buenos Aires government. At the moment I am looking for more funding resources. I´d like to know if you know any foundation, embassy, etc that would be interested in support this educational/artistic project.
      I based my project on Murray Shafer concepts and I took some exercises to do in the class from the A Sound Education book. Also, in the sound map the idea is to have a section related to some Acoustic Ecology concepts as the increment in noise level from 1930 to the present, which sounds are new and which one had disappeared from this time, etc. The idea is to give a more sensible and critical approach to the young students about sound in general and urban soundscape in particular.

SFU Sonic Studios Move. Barry Truax recently posted to the acoustic-ecology list serve news that the Sonic Research Studio at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada (traditionally the home of the World Soundscape Project which was started there in the early 1970s) moved to new quarters along with the entire School of Communication in January and has been active during the recently completed teaching term.
     Thanks to the extensive planning by Dave Murphy, the studio has been completely re-designed and is quite beautiful seen in photos that on the studio website.
     The facilities maintained the analog+digital configuration, including two computers, two mixers, and the 8-channel sound system using the AudioBox for spatial diffusion that has produced much of the studio's recent output of soundscape compositions. In the photos, you'll see the WSP tape collection in the background which we continue to use on a daily basis. You'll also see the tape catalogue, sound references in literature file, and course outlines on the studio website.

Bill Fontana: Harmonic Bridge (16 June – 16 July 2006). This intriguing sound installation reveals the myriad of noises hidden within the Millennium Bridge. A network of vibration sensors have been placed within the bridge turning it into a vast stringed instrument which plays an ever-changing musical composition based on it's surrounding environment.
     The noise created by pedestrians passing overhead, the wind, bicycles and the architectural elements which make up the bridge have been transformed into a sound installation which can be heard simultaneously in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall and also at Southwark Underground station. Harmonic Bridge is a Platform for Art project in association with Tate Modern. Thanks to Architecture Week, ARUP, Autograph Sound, Bruel & Kjaer, Haunch of Venison, Meyer Sound and Richmond Sound. http://www.resoundings.org/Pages/Harmonic_Bridge1.htm

FSAE Member Presents: Two Sound Installations - New York and Mänttä. Simo Alitalo, the Finnish Society for Acoustic Ecology Board Representative to the WFAE, has two sound installations in place thousands of miles apart.
     Encounters/ Kohtaamisia is a sound installation whose aim is to provide a "Muybridgean"
break-down of wave mechanics, this piece consists of several loudspeaker "chains" that are suspended from the ceiling and connected to each other with steel springs. Low sounds are routed to the sub-bass speakers which cause the loudspeaker chains to slowly rotate in mid-air. The sound material consists of water-earth encounters and waves hitting the shore. Sounds were recorded by hydrophones and underwater microphones buried in sand or placed underwater in East River and Coney Island. This installation is at Location One in New York. Interview with Simo Alitalo available online.
    A second installation, Viileaa - Sounds Cool 3.2. includes recorded and live sounds installed in three round rooms. It is part of the XI Mänttä Art Festival (June 11th – August 13th 2006) Mänttä Art Festival is an event of contemporary art representing Finnish visual art made by the artists of today.

Web Site Has Nature Recording Forum. Yannick Dauby writes, "... for those who can read french, the Sonatura website has opened a forum about nature sound recording that includes various discussions about fields, techniques, etc."
   Pour les francophones, le site de l'association Sonatura a ouvert un forum de discussion autour de la prise de sons d'animaux et de nature, des techniques et de la pratique du terrain.
    L'association Sonatura édite aussi une revue audio qui propose les enregistrements de ses membres (the organization Sonatura is also publishing a series of CDs of recordings made by its members.)

Presenting Soundscape Works Live. Arthur Clay writes, "About a year ago, I discovered a unique single tower loudspeaker system that is the most wonderful tool for presenting soundscape works live. I decided to make a project out of my experiences with the loudspeaker and have written a short paper. Read more.