Soundscape Brasilia in Context
Type
Publication
Authors
Category
Article
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Publication Year
1994
URL
[ private ]
Abstract
A lecture concluding Soundscape Brasilia
A workshop sponsored and hosted by the Goethe Institut Brasilia, May 1994
"This workshop's emphasis was high-tech and production oriented. The aim was to produce a number of compositions about the Brasilia Soundscape, composed by a group of people from Brasilia. It was an ambitious project and would not have been possible to realize without Michael Fahres and Piet Hein van de Poel from Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation who were the co-producers of the project and brought the necessary technology and skills. Without them we would not have been able to produce seven soundscape compositions in three weeks, present them in a concert at the end and get them ready for CD production!
I very much enjoyed this process and right from the start in November when I first came to Brasilia to introduce participants to soundscape ideas, aesthetics and field recording techniques I was impressed with the quality of their work. The Brazilian workshop participants made all the environmental field recordings between November and April, organized their materials and with more or less consultation from us, planned their own pieces. None of them had ever composed with environmental sounds and some had never composed at all. The recorded sounds were then selected and entered into the computer for Piet Hein to clean up, edit and generally get ready for the computers' mixing and composing programs. Depending on the individual needs, participants would either work with P.H. or with Michael and myself on the final composition. We provided an average of three days for this process. At every stage, discussions about the content of the work and its structures were part of the ongoing process. I understood my own role to be that of co-ordinator/listener, making sure that participants were properly prepared for working with the unfamiliar technology, understood the process and that we all understood what they wanted to express through their pieces about Brasilia.
I speak about Brasilia as a foreigner. I was there altogether for only five weeks. I don't speak Portuguese and I am still quite unfamiliar with the Brazilian culture. I am not, however, a foreigner to listening, nor to soundscape and acoustic ecology issues. I will first discuss the Brasilia soundscape as I have experienced it within the larger context of soundscape thinking, acoustic ecology, and in relation to sonic environments of other places. Then I will tell you about the actual project Soundscape Brasilia and the resulting compositions..."
A workshop sponsored and hosted by the Goethe Institut Brasilia, May 1994
"This workshop's emphasis was high-tech and production oriented. The aim was to produce a number of compositions about the Brasilia Soundscape, composed by a group of people from Brasilia. It was an ambitious project and would not have been possible to realize without Michael Fahres and Piet Hein van de Poel from Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation who were the co-producers of the project and brought the necessary technology and skills. Without them we would not have been able to produce seven soundscape compositions in three weeks, present them in a concert at the end and get them ready for CD production!
I very much enjoyed this process and right from the start in November when I first came to Brasilia to introduce participants to soundscape ideas, aesthetics and field recording techniques I was impressed with the quality of their work. The Brazilian workshop participants made all the environmental field recordings between November and April, organized their materials and with more or less consultation from us, planned their own pieces. None of them had ever composed with environmental sounds and some had never composed at all. The recorded sounds were then selected and entered into the computer for Piet Hein to clean up, edit and generally get ready for the computers' mixing and composing programs. Depending on the individual needs, participants would either work with P.H. or with Michael and myself on the final composition. We provided an average of three days for this process. At every stage, discussions about the content of the work and its structures were part of the ongoing process. I understood my own role to be that of co-ordinator/listener, making sure that participants were properly prepared for working with the unfamiliar technology, understood the process and that we all understood what they wanted to express through their pieces about Brasilia.
I speak about Brasilia as a foreigner. I was there altogether for only five weeks. I don't speak Portuguese and I am still quite unfamiliar with the Brazilian culture. I am not, however, a foreigner to listening, nor to soundscape and acoustic ecology issues. I will first discuss the Brasilia soundscape as I have experienced it within the larger context of soundscape thinking, acoustic ecology, and in relation to sonic environments of other places. Then I will tell you about the actual project Soundscape Brasilia and the resulting compositions..."
Description
https://www.hildegardwesterkamp.ca/writings/writingsby/?post_id=24&title=soundscape-brasilia-in-context
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