I created a soundscape of a Faux forest. The project was inspired by R. Murray Schaffer and his use of natural environments influencing his compositions. The presence of natural rhythms and melodies created by natural environments. The soundscape I created is recreation of a forest environment, recreated by instruments resembling bits of nature. There is one element I could not conceive of how to recreate that I added which is a drone sound of nighttime cricket noise and activity, used to help the setting of the piece. Some of the instruments used to recreate nature sounds and rhythms are shakers resembling birds moving back and forth, a shakuhachi flute played to resemble an owl or frog, depending how you interpret it, a cocoa nut shaker used to resemble light footsteps and also an electric guitar played in a higher octave to sound like a bug flying back and forth with panning. Why I call it a Faux Forest is because there are some unnatural elements added to give it an otherworldly feel. There is a synth, using a vocal wavetable, combined with a formant filter, run through tube distortion and finally a echo delay, modulated to sound like a whaling human/animal being, giving a darker mood to the piece. There are also cymbals and a synth choir added to give and release tension throughout the piece. Through these instruments and a few others, I have created what I feel is a cinematic representation of a forest with some extra terrestrial elements, meant to take psychoacoustical effect on the listener.

Faux Forest- Alexander Moran

The city scape can sometimes blocks out the sounds of nature that is right in front of us. In this piece I try and capture that exact struggle as these birds try and have their chirps be heard over the rumbling of the train passing by their nest.

Birds Vs Trains - Julius Daye

Advanced Practicum In Sound Art, Manifest presentation playlist- Spring 2019