Sound design using two DIY piezo's and a glass

Glass Piezo

A one minute story inside/outside an elevator.

Sonic Postcard: Lift

A sonic postcard about the sounds around the Domkerk, a church in the city center of Utrecht. What I tried to convey in this post card is the experience of a walk in and around the church. The walk gives the listener multiple perspectives of the church and the surrounding area by changing positions and scenes.

Picture from: https://www.ad.nl/utrecht/utrecht-wil-camera-s-op-domplein-om-ongewenst-verkeer-te-weren~ab38d63a/110902572/

Sonic Postcard: Rondom Dom

A short story about the clicking, rattling sound of a traffic light

Sonic Postcard: Rateltikker

For this Sonic Postcard I focused on the change in the soundscape of the city of Utrecht that I have noticed over the past couple weeks. Because of relaxations of the measures concerning the Covid-19 pandemic, cities have been slowly becoming more active, crowded and alive again. Outdoor terraces, but also indoor bars, restaurants and shops reopened their doors, creating an influx of people in the city that was unseen for quite some time. All this renewed activity is reflected in the city’s soundscape. For me this was audibly most striking by the dense, crowded sound of the combination of many different voices, languages, conversations and crowds that pass by when walking through the canals, and amplified by the acoustics of the shopping mall Hoog Catherijne.

I was not so used anymore to this active soundscape produced by human activity, but it was also interesting to experience again. I then wondered if I could also still experience quietness and the absence of people in the city of Utrecht. In my composition I tried to play with the extremes of density and (human) crowdedness on the one hand, and silence and (human) absence on the other. How does the city sound at a crowded shopping street? How does it sound from within an alley way or courtyard? And how does human activity sound in different acoustic environments?

Picture from: https://www.ad.nl/utrecht/meterslange-rijen-voor-winkels-in-hoog-catharijne-yes-ze-zijn-open~abbfdf64/

Sonic Postcard: City Voices, City Silence

Vogelkamer

Nachtduik (Revised)

Flow is a graduation project by Image & Media Technology student, and my brother Menno Wisselink.
Flow is a short animation video, showing different states of flow in sports.
I made the composition and sound-design for this project.
Watch: https://vimeo.com/136612821

Flow (audio)

Composition using a spiking neural network model.
This model reproduces spiking behaviour of biological cortical neurons.
More info here: http://cargocollective.com/olafwisselink/Plasticity
Every musical event is triggered by a neuron firing.
Through the network's connectivity, complex patterns emerge than can be either slow or very fast and rhythmic.

Plasticity

Tikjes

18 - 10

Picture: drawing of neurons by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Spain, 1852–1934)

Spectral Average

Beeld: Merel Dames
Geluid: Olaf Wisselink
Audiovisuele installatie
2018

Beweging, reflecties; het proces tussen water en haar omgeving, het startpunt voor ons werk.
Beelden en geluiden uit de omgeving van Utrecht worden opgenomen, uit hun context losgetrokken en tot nieuwe constructies gevormd.

Het beeld gaat aan de haal met de realiteit maar is tegelijkertijd de realiteit. De losse elementen uit de omgeving boven het water vloeien in elkaar over en strijden om ruimte op het wateroppervlakte. Het “statische” gebouw aan de kade wordt vloeibaar en raakt verwikkeld in een dans met zijn, op het oog, al even statische omgeving.

Het geluid vormt, net als de reflecties in het beeld, een weerspiegeling van de geluiden in de omgeving. Een golf die aanspoelt. Takken en ijs kraken. Een meerkoet die roept.
De kerkklok die luidt, versmelt met het water en er ontstaat een nieuwe klankwereld. De klankkleur van het carillon volgt het gedrag van de aanspoelende golven.

Een afspiegeling van de omgeving samenvloeiend in beeld en geluid.

Tussenwater II (sound)

Tussenwater I (sound)

Up-close recording of a field of chirping crickets, at de Hatertse vennen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Krekelconcert

Wind going through the dunes on Wadden island Ameland, The Netherlands.

Duinwind

Excerpts of the sound design for Solastalgia, a film by Eline Kersten.
Solastalgia is about the ENCI quarry in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The film explores the relation of the ENCI quarry and factory with its environment, the history and the impact on its surroundings and local community. For this project I worked on the sound design and provided technical assistance. Together with Eline I made on-site field-recordings at the ENCI quarry, the factory and the caves.

The Australian eco philosopher Glenn Albrecht refers with the term solastalgia to the relation between environmental degradation and the mental wellbeing of the people living and working in the degraded area. The eponymous film ‘Solastalgia’ shows the transformation of a limestone quarry from industry to nature area, and captures what influence this change has on the wellbeing of its users. It shows the many different users of this area and their interests; from former employees of the factory to the sheepherder who is dealing with the vegetation of the area, from the local protest group to someone who wanders illegally in the underground tunnel system. The film shows the multi layeredness of a quarry and how one place can carry many different stories.

__

Eline Kersten
Solastalgia, 2016-2019
Video, 18:50 min

Drone: VideoPower (Tim Rutten & Hans van Hezik) and Antonis Antopoulos
Sound design: Olaf Wisselink

Stories by
Hub Achten, Bert Beckers, ENCI Stop (Betty de Haas and Klaas Westerterp), Wiel Hamelers, Herman Hartgerink, Rob Kolman, Martin Poesen, Rod Summers

Commissioned by Krien Clevis

Thanks to
Sjoerd Aarts, Krien Clevis, Paul Devens, John Jagt, Ans Kersten, Peter Mergelsberg, Nico Merken, Natuurmonumenten (José Hermens & Frenk Janssen), Renan Schulze, Martha van de Ven-Kuijpers, Joep Vossebeld and Kitty & Gerard Wachelder.
And Glenn Albrecht for the inspiration

Solastalgia - Sound Design (Excerpts)

Working on the sound design for the film Solastalgia by Eline Kersten provided a nice opportunity to record sounds at the ENCI factory at the limestone quarry in Maastricht. This is a recording of the last time the enormous rotating oven was in use to produce a last batch of clinker before it was eventually shutdown. Recording this proved quite a unique experience, in sight, in sound and in the heat that the oven produced that was a tangible from a distance.

The last run of the mill

An outside sound during inside times.
Recording of a couple of woodpeckers drumming in response to each other, including responses of other birds. Recorded with a Tascam DR100 MK3 at the forest of Amelisweerd, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Olaf Wisselink

Popular tracks