Visiting Practitioners #6 – Lucia Chung

This is Lucia Chungs artist bio.

Lucia H Chung is a Taiwanese artist based in London, UK. She holds a Master degree in Sculpture (Distinction) from Winchester School of Art and a PhD degree in Sonic Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London. She performs and releases music under the alias ‘en creux’ where the sound creation springs from her fascinations in noise generated via feedback on digital and analogue equipment, and her role as a mediator-performer in the multifaceted relationship between the sonic events incurring within the self-regulated system. She also works as a broadcaster and an independent curator at Happened. She has curated and organised residency programmes and music events around the UK and Europe, including a 3-month Taiwanese Experimental Music residency for MusicHackspace at Somerset House Studios in 2018, Inland virtual residency between lacking Sound Fest. (Taiwan) and IKLECTIK (UK) in 2020, and a panel discussion on video Game Music as part of Grounding Practice at Somerset House Studios in 2021.

INTERVIEW: LUCIA H CHUNG with ATTN: MAGAZINE

This interview with Lucia H Chung is about her work and current show about to go live in the coming weeks (at the time). They begin by asking her where the idea for a Taiwanese music festival came from.

She says it’s that whenever she goes to china town she sees lots of posters for Chinese and Japanese gigs and shows and she’d never see any for Taiwanese music apart from pop stars who come over.

They continue to ask about where the idea came from. The fact that she had this idea in her head for a while. How did this come to fruition?

She says she acts on impulse a lot and doesn’t think too much about the outcomes it’s more of a bottom-up process she says. On her trip to Taiwan, she didn’t really have a chance to go to loads of live gigs and instead went to record shops. She felt as she moved here as an international student back when she was studying her status was not certain but now it is she wanted to connect her people to where she lives now. Bring them over to experience new things.

The Water by en creux

I first listened to Fog after reading the bio of the album. This album was a two-track piece based on no-input feedback mixers. The two sides depict deficiency and surplus respectively: the first a semi-solid hum that flickers on the brink of becoming, the second a harsh buzz that presses into excess until it warps. Balance and stillness, so readily associated with a drone, are therefore illusory – only ever implied in the cancelling-out of these deviations from equilibrium, manifesting as a non-state framed by exertion, arriving within that silent pause between these two exquisitely manoeuvred tilts.

I did really find the first Fog song captivating. We’ve used no input mixing in the lectures with Milo and it’s interesting to see it in a real-world scenario. I find the laid back approach of letting the machine take the lead. Just guiding the sounds into drone sounds is really captivating. You get lost in the sounds and let the filters guide your thoughts.

https://hardreturn.bandcamp.com/track/fog

Post Lecture Reflection

Lucia began by speaking around the curatorial things she’s done, starting from monthly radio programs and artist interviews. And now the program has gone through transition and change she can reflect on it. So she usually loves to ask this as the first question in most of her interviews which is “What is your background? And how did you get where you are as an artist?”

I think this question makes sense it’s important to know someone’s background to see their bias and their motivation, why are they doing what they are doing?

For her, she moved to England when she started her masters at Winchester and she was one of two only non-English speaking people in her class. She didn’t find the English pub culture that interesting so she just sat in the background a lot, most likely as English wasn’t her first language, she felt she couldn’t community effectively. She found it interesting the gap between translation and how a person feels when they’re caught in this situation.

So for her, this was a huge inspiration. And she feels like her work has evolved from this experience. One specific project she did at her masters was related to photos. She was told she had a different personality between speaking mandarin and speaking English. And she wanted to put herself in front of the camera and study herself closely. She wanted to investigate this change.

She found in the photos she took when speaking mandarin were completely different to her speaking English. This invoked a deep question thought process for her and linked to other works.

She then spoke about her work in 2009, Spring piece stereo recording. She had just moved from Winchester to London, Newcross area and found it extremely busy and full of noise pollution. No longer in a lovely town but a busy area. She decided to record her window as she lived opposite the main road and used a piezo mic that she clipped to the window. She looped up the sound of the recording and played it back into the piezo mic, she stated it was one of her first loop/noise or no inputting mixing sort of work.

To her, it sounded like an angel or a flight to heaven. A really cool concept. I remember Cai using no-input mixing in the lecture with Milo, we were improvising as a collective and the sounds coming out of that machine were incredible. I can see how noise and noise pollution inspired her work. London is really a shock when moving here, I felt the same when I first moved from Brighton. A lot of sounds is overwhelming at first here.

I think overall that Lucias work is captivating and her expression on the day came through her presentation. I found that her curation relating to her heritage and also her self-aware state towards her current surroundings and how she can benefit that place whilst not taking away from it was a benefit to hear about.

Atmosphere Recordings

I watched my clip after recording footstep sounds and felt I should have recorded my atmos sounds first. To not only help the foley artist who was doing it but also for me to not nitpick my sounds.

I watched the clip back and looked at my initial sound plan and realised it was mainly three-ish atmospheres. The initial village outside the pharmacy. The close up against the wall with the missing posters. Then the varying changes in the pharmacy. I really needed some isolated atmosphere and felt it was almost impossible to record in London so I took a weekend out ton Brighton as it’s where I’m from originally and I know the place well enough that I can cycle outside the city and have no noise pollution.

I rented out the Sennheiser 418 for its stereo recordings with a mid-side polar pattern for the lovely stereo sounds I was promised to receive. I also decided to use the Sound Devices 633 as previously the other recording box ZOOM F4 had very loud preamps.

The night before I learnt the machines and prepared for the next day. Wired my bags up, scouted locations and made a plan to record. I started with recording sounds of the ocean at low tide, I got really close on the rocks to the ocean holding my mic stand. I wanted to also get these recordings to use for experiments as Tim spoke about recording at 192khz and reducing the octave for frequencies we wouldn’t normally hear for sound design. I will follow up with a blog post after I’ve done this well as I’m really interested.

I then cycled up to a small farm area with a plot of green land and set up my mic and started recording, I found that even though I was more than a mile away I could pick up road sounds. I felt really frustrated, I recorded anyway and decided to keep heading away from roads. I walk and arrived near another farm around the university of Sussex. I pushed the gate and heard a really creaky horrible metal sound and decided to record it again at 192khz for experiments later. It sounded like the perfect scary movie metal gate.

I went up the hill and pointed the mic towards the scenery and managed to find a spot without any noise pollution (fingers crossed) I waited until planes drove past and set my timing correctly, even sometimes lowering the mic to reduce the spread and pointing away from roads, I figured this out after subtly even more than a few miles away still hearing the road traffic.

I haven’t yet put the atmospheres into my clip but the process will begin tomorrow most likely.

Studio Praxis – Compression Experiments

I started by inserting one of the atmospheres I recorded over the weekend in Brighton. I had known about compression anyway before the lecture but felt I wanted to practice on it anyway. I loaded in an ocean-atmosphere and used the logic compressor as my pro tools wouldn’t download or work with plugins.

I found the more interesting parts the attack and release. I found that when using the attack with very little time and the ratio incredibly high just to notice it, it stood out obviously. The knee helped in smoothing it but I wanted it to do it in extremes so I could notice it. I messed around with the other settings as well such as switching compressor types from vintage to classic. Each had its own sort of flavour and distortion sounds. Sound parameters were gone to reflect on the vintage equipment. I’m glad I did a bit of messing around as I have to compress a few things in my clip and this will give me a bit more context after that lecture.

Podcast Reflection To Manifesto

My choice of podcast is The Guardians podcast on Spotify. Titled, where does the world go from here?

The audio paper affords performative aesthetics.

The podcast, in the beginning, had introduction music, synthesisers playing to create a futuristic atmosphere based on the topic of climate change. It creates an interesting aesthetic. The way the performer speaks as well inclines a more newsworthy podcast than an extremely performative one. I also enjoyed the field recordings used when speaking about the summit in Scotland, when speaking about the crowds they used actual crowd recordings.

2. The audio paper is idiosyncratic.

I wouldn’t say this specific podcast is idiosyncratic. But I would say I also don’t listen to enough podcasts to establish whether or not there is anything immensely unique to this podcast. One thing perhaps is the use of going back and forth between live interviews almost like a radio show, which then goes back towards actual recordings and sound effects, music to set the scene.

3. The audio paper is situated and partial.

I would say this podcast is situated and partial. It’s situated on our current time and understanding of climate change. The reasons why climate change is important and also an uncertain future. It’s very situated. Partial as well, the speaker is contrasting against the person being interviewed.

4. The audio paper evokes effects and sensations.

The use of sound effects and music evokes sensations and has powerful effects. Even the way the narrator speaks, in contrast to the person being interviewed who has a more confident voice speaking with authority. The narrator speaks at times with emotions of sadness and anger towards the narrator almost as if she is the issue. I think the overall production for this podcast was designed specifically to evoke emotion over this topic that is currently really important. The summit in Scotland.

5. The audio paper is multifocal; it assembles diverse and often heterogeneous voices.

This podcast could have better use of heterogeneous voices. Although I agree to an extent with this podcast. I think it really skewered towards the anti-big business and coal usage. Again it’s not that I disagree with this statement but more that it didn’t bring a balanced argument. Didn’t discuss the other side, why don’t the big business what to get rid of it? Is this actually realistic?

6. The audio paper has multiple protagonists, narrators and material agencies.

I would say this podcast does this very well. There are multiple protagonists, interviewers and narrators. Usage of sounds and recordings to build atmospheres. Sound design and music. Perhaps the narration could be improved as it does change, but not a lot. It’s mainly the male voice throughout asking questions and one could ask potentially why that is? I think it could perhaps be a systematic patriarchal choice, patriarchy usually has the idea that the man rules the house and society. So we should always have a man asking the questions and being the overall narrator.

7. The audio paper brings aesthetics and technology together in mediation.

This podcast uses masters and mixing. Recording and production to its uses. Music production and sound editing. Recording, samples and other techniques. I think it does it well, in contrast to this point it hits the nail on the head. Specifically with the mixing and mastering.

8. The audio paper is a constituent part of broader ecologies.

I would say this podcast only touches on this point. It does reflect the topic of global warming to wider countries and cultures. Using recordings of other countries leaders speaking about what global warming does. How it affects different countries differently. But also doesn’t really touch to much apart from the use of samples/recordings.

The Guilty – Reflection

The Guilty [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Gustav Möller: DVD & Blu-ray

I watched The Guilty initially not doing too much research into it. I skimmed through the movie quickly to see that it was the same thing the whole time, a police dispatcher in his office and initially, I felt no motivated to watch it. I then read about the use of limited space in this movie from the email and gave it another chance and paid full attention.

To start I really liked the use of sound in this movie. The POV sections really focus you on the characters conversations. I found myself captivated and imagining with full vividness what was going on through the dispatcher’s conversation. I found the use of sound in context to the environment over the phone specifically in parts when he made the police officer on the scene keep the line on while stopping the white van initially that was the wrong vehicle. Or when the officer arrives at the house and searches for the baby brother. The audio is designed very well, the sense of proximity to how close things are as well as the phone effect really make it easier to have an imagination as to what’s going on, as well as keeping you captivated.

There was also basically no music as far as I can remember and this again really makes you focus on the conversations as if you even drift for a second it can be hard to grab your attention and begin the imagination process. I feel like I spent most of the time in my thoughts instead of watching, I watched it with my housemates and it also gave me the idea of how we all must of imagined the film completely different, we all associate the sounds and country with different memories and ideas.

The last thing I want to talk about is the POV used in the film, I think it’s really done well. You forget at times that he’s even in this call centre until it goes back into the room or you see his colleague next to him. The juxtaposition between hearing the room and not really makes the brain focus on what’s in front of it. And when you can hear or start to realise he’s in the room again it brings back to your thoughts that he’s saying things without thinking. It’s almost like you are in his head.

SETTING AMBIENCE, IMMERSION AND SENSE OF PLACE

I really liked the description of room tones, and recording atmospheres. The process of using the EQ to warm or cold a sound similar to a photo. To enhance the atmosphere in the scene relevant to what the sound designer wants to convey. In my clip for A Quiet Place the room tone initially in the pharmacy I’ve recorded and it had a lot of hiss. I need to EQ that out, as well as the lower frequencies to rid of the rumble. I want to also use the EQ and pitching as explained to create a nasty atmosphere and optionally try the pitching as well perhaps even creating harmonics. I think this really helps as I keep having this dilemma of trying to replicate the scene to as much realism as possible. But then realising this isn’t at least the idea for this film. It’s not real, so we want to emphasise and create specific effects and intentions with out sound, and possibly how can we improve on what we’ve recorded to emphasise our decisions.

CHARACTERPSYCHOLOGY AND ACTING WITH SOUND – Reflection

The most engaging part of this short text was the ending part, which was acting with sound. The qualities of a character, do they walk timidly? Are they boisterous, unpredictable? The text continues to speak about how the actors bring another element to the performance. Including the script also. I think the role of a sound designer is also in how they want to push the scene into. Potentially another take, changing the performance entirely sonically. Or mimicking the correct foley as I’ve read and watched in other resources. Foley even in walking can mimic characters. I need to do this for my quiet place clip assignment, as in the clip the family walk differently and have a different personality. For example, the youngest child is nieve while the parents are extra careful. This should reflect the foley performance.

Audio Document – Mind Map

I’m currently at the stage where I’ve decided my topic for now. I want to speak about noise pollution and its effects on us. How it is being combated and what role a sound artist could have on sound designing cities to combat noise pollution. I created a mind map to reflect the paragraphs for each section of the audio document.

I’ve given myself the broad categories of what I want to speak about. I’m not entirely sure if they will stay the same but I need to begin doing my research and writing the script so I can refine it. I’ve been stuck for a while on the about to begin my research stage so I decided to go ahead and plan everything.

I’ll begin by doing research into defining what is noise pollution first as I think that’s important. What do we consider noise pollution? Why is it important to be aware of noise pollution? What are the effects of it? I need to do some information findings before answering these questions.

Sound For Screen week 7 – Reflection

We began the lecture with Tim going through Censor and the process behind it. I watched the full video on youtube of Michael Winner vs Mary Whitehouse- film violence debate. I found it funny, to be honest. The link between violence on-screen and real-life violence. I tend to find it the opposite, the screen is a reflection of us. I also get the views and social environment at the time, it really opened my mind towards how people in the past and more importantly the previous generation which was born in the early 1900’s opinion of the film was. I completely understand why she’d want Rambo banned. But I don’t think that’s the answer.

We also touched on sound references and using other movies to contextualise your ideas. To have a list of films perhaps to draw inspiration from sonically and to place yourself within that. To select the films and reiterate what the plan for the sections are in terms of sound design and message or delivery.

Sound worlds was another subject in the lecture, and how we can decipher them. To select the theme and break it down into its techniques and motifs with sound. For example fiction in Censor was shown with analogue artefacts and tape saturation/echo. The motifs were feedback and static. It helps to actualise the thoughts you have to get them down. To actively plan, although the sound design process can lead you else were and down a different path, I find this to be good to do. It outsets your intentions.

Another point that struck me was the design process for the sound. I had read previously about this technique and found it a bit confusing. After Tim spoke he gave more context and it makes a lot more sense. It’s to help guide you on the contrasting sounds and what they stand for and how they will be used.

To place the sound worlds in each area of different contexts and to plan how they will interact and sit in the mix.

I’m going to do one for my clip and see if it helps me when planing.

Atmosphere recordings plan

I rented out two lav mics from the sound tech resources. They recommended using two lav mics on a hanger for atmospheres. I struggled actually using the 418 mics with the zoom h5 to combine the mid side for recording. I didn’t manage to work out the mid side combination so I thought I’d try this lav combination.

I set up the lav combination with the Zoom f4 I had rented from last weekends work on Saturday. I tried recording in the house and thought it sounded great. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time recording to properly take them out to record atmospheres. I wanted to try using the Sound Devices 633 as when I turned up the gain on this Zoom F4 the preamps were so noisy. I needed something with a clearer sound. I spoke to Micheal again and did some research online and decided to try the Seinheiser 418 with a mid-side polar pattern in combination with the Sound Devices 633 recorder. Let’s see if it’s any better.