pandemic 

Pieces of Covid Memories by Georgios Varoutsos is an exploratory, reflective piece based on his 76 soundscape recordings of Covid-19’s effects in urban places across Belfast and Montreal. By manipulating the original sound recordings in a musique concrète fashion, the piece attempts to emphasise the perception and emotional responses to different covid lockdowns. It follows a linear timeline of the events to best represent the fluctuation of phenomenological understandings. Isolation and social distancing created a personal awareness to balance the interpretation of the covid-19 situation, as well as connecting the sonic changes in the environment over this period. The piece is not only a creative extension of the documentative soundscape recordings, but a way to review personal growth and comprehension of how Covid-19 affected the self. As a creative sound composition, this piece reflects one person’s journey through the Covid-19 changes, but it is also an expression of global connectivity while we each try to overcome these challenges.

Certain scenes are composed against one main soundscape, where in other scenes it is a compilation of soundscapes. Audio was manipulated with different audio effects such as: stretch, pitch shift, reversal, granular technique, spatial movement, reverb, delays, echoes, and basic audio slicing. Each of the scenes try to play on the emotional and perceptual content of the recorded moments. The aim was to make each scene as unique as possible but remain cohesive as a journey through different modes of lockdowns. The balance between original and abstract sounds is to allow the listener to place themselves briefly in a specific time period or location (either Belfast or Montreal) and to hear the transformations of sounds that are pursued by the composers reflective emotions. 

https://georgiosvaroutsos.com/pieces-of-covid-memories/