I have been taking it easy on the actual thought process behind my essay coming up for submission. I have been allowing thoughts to brew within and allow me to manifest them into physical actions through curiosity rather than need. I have been thinking about my last audio paper in that I spoke about field recordings, noise pollution and the effect this has on humans. I wish to perhaps elaborate on the field recordings section.
I find more and more my practice of field recording to be captivating me towards a potential career goal and also theoretical ideas. I enjoy the escapism that field recordings present. The idea of hunting for sounds, locating where things are. The outdoors of recording within the field. As well as the positive effects field recordings of ambience and locations can give us in terms of wellbeing. Escaping modern-day city lives with a pair of headphones. Close your eyes and you can be in a beautiful peaceful forest, even a beach.
I’m curious about creating an album of music towards this for part two of my hand in submission and using part one as research for the critical guidance the second part requires. Instead of just recording sounds and creating things I associate with relaxation and escapism as well as benefits to my wellbeing. I believe a greater approach would be to use part one of the hand in the submission of the essay section to research and speak about the importance of field recording with an interest in deep listening. The abstract art of field recordings, escapism? Well, being, research into meditation. Not stereotypical but meditation within works such as field recording. And perhaps immersion with soundscapes into VR worlds. Again this is quite a large subject as they have always been with and 2500 words aren’t enough to capture and speak on everything together so I’ll attempt to refine these thoughts but creating some abstracts as the last term with the audio paper worked for understanding if I it’s even possible within the 2500-3000 word constraint.
I’ve been curious to read into practitioners of field recording and understand why they wish to do this, such artists as Hildegard Westerkamp really do captivate me with her compositions.
I have managed to find a few books which capture my curiosity, and seem to have similar themes associated with, they are.
In The Field: The Art Of Field Recording by Cathy Lane and Angus Carlyle
On Listening by Cathy Lane and Angus Carlyle
Writing the field recording: sound, word, environment / edited by Stephen Benson, Will Montgomery.
Autumn leaves sound and the environment in artistic practise/edited by Angus Carlyle.