This is a short excerpt from The Absent Listener series of pieces by Darren Copeland.  This version is outputted from the early stages of an automated soundscape composition generator currently being developed by Darren Copeland.  The recordings were made with 2 DPA omni lav mics in a stereo boundary configuration and placed on a third floor balcony about 30 feet up from ground level. This location was chosen so that the soundscapes of daybreak could be livestreamed for the annual Reveil broadcasts that happen every year on the first weekend in May.  

At the beginning of this excerpt you will hear a barred owl and the spring peeps from around 4 am and then at 2:07 the segment shifts to around 7 am where you will hear a wide variety of morning northern birds, including drumming from the Pileated Woodpecker and the Roughed Grouse.

The accompanying picture is the view from the recording location. Notice the snow still on the ground as the location in Central Ontario (Canada) was still in the spring melt stage at that time of the year - evident in the dripping eaves and the soft hum of the furnace audible in the second half of the segment.

For information on The Absent Listener project go to: http://www.darrencopeland.net/web2/?p=563

AbsentListener - May 2 2020

In this sound bite, Chief Listening Officer, Dr. Mike Edwards suggests that listening is possibly the single most important thing we can do in order to create truly sustainable, resilient and flourishing futures.  He explores a number of aspects of the listening process and concludes that, although listening is crucial to our survival, few of us actually know how to listen; indeed, listening has become a lost art.  He suggests that there are two types of listening that need to be mastered if we are to navigate these challenging times – deep listening and dadirri.  Special reference is made to the work of Pauline Oliveros and writer/senior elder Dr. Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann. 

This podcast is mixed as a 3d audio experiences so headphones are advised.

Sources: 

https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/ActiveListening.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wUCyjiyXdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QHfOuRrJB8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84nIautTL6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WiFDlwypV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQByOoeG8M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6UKoMcE10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__lpPDTUS4&t=2142s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tow2tR_ezL8&t=90s

SOUNDBITE #5. LISTENING FOR A BETTER WORLD by Dr. Mike Edwards

Paulus and Annie take to the studio to fight through acoustic ecology jargon in search of a better way to listen. 

Photo credit: Joel Rogers

Soundscapes In Crisis: A Love/Break-up Letter to Acoustic Ecology

Composed radio documentary about ecological sound art, broadcast on Resonance FM on 23rd June 2015 as part of Critical Waves Radio.

Critical Waves

'Ecoacoustics' - composed documentary for Critical Waves Radio (2015)

Documentary commissioned by basic.fm. Newcastle, England.
A two-part documentary investigating the history and influence of the Acoustic Ecology movement started by R. Murray Schafer in the 1970s.

Documentary - A Short History Of Acoustic Ecology: Part 1

The Invisible Suburb features recordings made in and around the homes of Austin artists, evoking the traces of domestic life that once permeated the now mostly deserted Onion Creek neighborhood, where evidence of former habitations is steadily becoming overtaken by nature. Through speakers nestled among tall grass and other plant life, participants listened an audible reference to the neighborhood's residential past while seeing and feeling the verdure of its future. 

The installation includes recordings made by Henna Chou, Anne Fichtner, Vanessa Gelvin, Travis Putnam Hill, Neal B. Johnson, Alex Keller, Lacey Lewis, Christopher McConnell, Daniy Oberle, Sean O’Neill, Travis Pope, Josh Ronsen, Christy Tappe and Jackson Warren.

Phonography Austin is dedicated to exploring phonography and acoustic ecology. The organization’s membership presents an ongoing program of listening experiences and educational workshops designed to foster artistic investigation of sound environments, acoustic phenomena and other aural situations through the practice of field recording. 

Learn more at phonographyaustin.org or facebook.com/phonographyaustin.

Christopher McConnell DR0000 0081 Mockingbird Car Alarm Edit

The Absent Listener is a series of pieces derived exclusively from long duration soundscape recordings made at my home, a rural property 22 KM west of the village of South River, Ontario, Canada.

This 45-minute piece in the series is based on recordings made through the month of February in 2019. It was composed for a winter solstice performance on December 21, 2019 at the Dispersion Lab, York University in Toronto. Other works in the series focus on recordings from the same location but during other periods of the same year.

February is a time where there is minimal human presence within earshot of my home. The recordings ran unattended anywhere from 24 to 120 hours. I approached the recording process in this way so that my presence has a recordist had as little influence as possible on anything that might be heard in the recordings. Also, it was a way for me to keep listening to the soundscape of a rural property that was important to me while circumstances in my life were causing me to spend a lot of time away from it.

The recording equipment was setup in a way that it did not draw attention to itself, while also remaining protected from water. I mounted two DPA 4060 miniature omni-directional microphones on either side of a sheet of plywood and then in most cases clamped that plywood under the overhang of a small out-building. This building was located behind my house and convenient for access to a protected area with electrical power and WIFI for live streaming the recordings on locusonus.org.

The recording location was among pine, birch and cedar trees that were 
roughly 1000 feet from the shore of Deer Lake. The area is inhabited mostly by woodpeckers, ravens, rabbits, chickadees and red squirrels. Other sounds like wind, sleet and rain, as well as the cracking from trees and built structures reflect the shifts in winter temperatures that happened in 2019 through the month of February.

The piece follows the chronological order of the recordings and often layers four or more of them recorded from the same hour, which in multi-channel concert performances are distributed spatially throughout the venue. Recordings were selected for the piece and edited and organized to evoke a sense of the natural rhythms and nuances of the events that unfold when I am not present.

Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts whose funding allowed for the recording system to be built and this composition to be made.

Absent Listener

Absent Listener - February 2019

Recorded March 17, 2020
Marian R. Brynes PK
on Sony PCM M10

Marian R. Byrnes Park 2

The Absent Listener is a series of pieces derived exclusively from long duration soundscape recordings made outdoors at my home, a rural property 22 KM west of the village of South River, Ontario, Canada.  The recordings were made unattended, which means that once the recording button was pressed I left the location of the recording only to return every 12 to 14 hours to change the battery.

This 60-minute piece is the second one composed in the series and it is derived from a continuous soundscape recording between March 16 and 18, 2020, which was close to the start of the COVID-19 social distancing measures in my area.  This piece follows a previous 45-minute piece in the series which is based on outdoor recordings from February 2019 at my home.  If my location of the recordings were in an urban setting then the difference in the soundscape would be more pronounced then it is between these two pieces.  The difference in my case has more to do with seasonal changes between mid-winter and late-winter as well as the slight difference in location of the microphones with this piece being located at the shoreline rather than 1000 feet uphill from the shoreline.

The circumstances for composing the two pieces was also different.  The first piece was composed for a multichannel sound system which had the advantage of distributing in space several recordings playing at the same time. With the second piece made for no particular occasion, and during the social distancing measures, the assumed audience member would - at least theoretically - be listening in isolation on headphones or a personal stereo system.

With that in mind I chose to make the experience more intimate and spare by avoiding any obvious layering of content.  Instead I focused on sequencing together singular moments.   It was an interesting period of three days as the weather shifted from high winds, to rain, and then to freezing cold temperatures with periods of sunshine and snow.    Through all of this the ice on the lake was in the process of thawing and then freezing again making these distinctive low frequency “whoop” sounds at different periods.  Bird life was also more apparent in this piece with woodpeckers, blue jays and chickadees all coming to visit the microphone and inspect it up close at different times.

The recording equipment for this piece used the same two DPA 4060 miniature omni-directional microphones separated by a boundary.  The mics were about four feet from shore under some trees. The stereo recordings are used in this piece with very minimal signal processing for equalization. The piece follows the chronological order of the recordings. Recordings were selected and arranged to evoke a sense of the natural rhythms and nuances of events as they unfold without my presence.

Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts whose funding allowed for the recording system to be built and this composition to be made.

The Absent Listener

Absent Listener - March 2020

From a conversation in 1977 with the composer, teacher, founder of the World Soundscape Project, and author of "The Tuning of the World."

R. Murray Schafer on SILENCE

Realization of a text score by Anne-F Jacques for Art's Birthday 2021. The text score required one to use a take out coffee cup and lid over top of a microphone or portable audio recorder - in a sense, taking the place of a contact microphone. I didn't have a paper coffee cup on hand so I used a portable coffee thermos.  The last part of the score asks to open the window or door, allowing some outside sound in.  However, the day of the recording the sound ambience was very quiet - mid-winter in the country.  So this last part is difficult to discern other than the playing of the objects is captured through air transmission rather than through the material of an object such as coffee thermos.

Realization of Anne-F Jacques' "Piece for objects found in the Street"

THE WORLD LISTENING PROJECT (WLP) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization devoted to understanding the world and its natural environment, societies and cultures through the practices of listening and field recording.

The WLP was founded in 2008 and is supported by the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology, a non-profit membership organization affiliated with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology.

The WLP maintains a website and online forum about its artistic and educational activities. These include the use of radio and web-based technologies, conducting public workshops, forums, and lectures, as well as participating in exhibitions, symposiums, and festivals. Our Board of Directors consists of esteemed artists and scientists active around the world. To learn more and become involved in the WLP’s activities please subscribe to our discussion group, follow us on Twitter, Vimeo, and “Like” our Facebook Page.

Christopher McConnell DR0000 0081 Mockingbird Car Alarm Edit

World Listening Project

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