On November 9th, 2023 Tom Fisher, aka Action Pyramid, who is a sound ecologist and self-taught musician and producer who has spent the last few years exploring the role of sound in often overlooked ecosystems. His recordings explore the world of waterlilies, flies, and aquatic photosynthesis. Bioacoustics research and the creation of material through field recording and selective editing have allowed his compositions in quad-speaker setups to explore realms most of us have never heard before, including those that are unimaginable and almost otherworldly.
For his gear, he uses hydrophones and long boom poles to reach the underwater environments of ponds and riverbeds.
In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of his lecture was the emphasis he placed on treating created and captured material with a sense of sensitivity and reverence.
On October 16th, 2023, we listened to Dr. Carrie Giunta, a professional sound editor and sound designer as well as a teacher in philosophy, discuss her search to understand the relationship between sound and image in cinema. This guest lecture ranged from discussing and analyzing Greek philosophical perspectives to learning about her role in doing the sound design and guerrilla foley for ‘Casino Royale’ (2006) and the silent films of Charlie Chaplin.
Key takeaways I took from this lecture included the importance of listening to sound design from the perspective of the audience when mixing and creating themes and parallels between the story and sound. I also reflected on her thoughts about neglecting the emotional context of a scene when you record the actual sound of a space rather than specific qualities or items in a space. This was an expansion from ‘The Conversations and the Art of Editing’ with Walter Murch and Michael Ondaatije.
Charlie Chaplin and the allusion of speech and sound through movement and pictures were also analyzed in this guest lecture. Focusing on the importance of expression and the amount our own brains fill in as a result of seeing certain faces and actions.
Finally, the importance of contrast in sound also resonated with me in my own practice. The more the contrast in volume, density, and variety, the greater the emotional effect silence can have on the psyche of the audience. This is especially important in film and in sound works.
After completing the written script for my audio essay on the role, dynamics, and development of guitar in cinema, I began recording the narration for the piece. I divided the essay into sections and collected different takes of each, choosing the ones I preferred. When recording my own voice in an academic context I quickly realized the focus that occurs on each individual syllable of the words and phrases I was saying, and I began to overanalyze my pronunciation and cadence in speaking very quickly, and to combat this I had to let the recordings settle before tampering with them or adding to them over a few days.
I recorded my script / written essay and then when I collected takes I thought were well-spoken and delivered in the timbre I was striving for. To achieve a certain tonal depth in the vocal I re-recorded the vocal into a cassette player and mixed this into the clean recording I achieved with a large condenser AKG C- 214 microphone. The re-recording was most likely an attempt to mask the tonality of my voice I was over analyzing throughout the project.
Following the main vocal track, I recorded the score for the audio essay, which included 16 different guitar parts/tones that were set to provide both depth and context to my essay topic. I recorded the guitar parts on a 1957 Fender Stratocaster reissue using a signal path that included a tone bender fuzz pedal, Hudson Electronics broadcast pre-amp, Benson amps pre-amp, a Strymon El Capistan Tape Delay, and then finally a Mesa Boogie California Tweed Amplifier. I recorded this setup simply with a Shure SM57 pointing directly at the center of the speaker cone, for a direct sound that was relatively unaffected by the room I was recording in. The tonality of this setup differed greatly through the examples I was set to record. I also recorded a Guild Acoustic Dreadnaught Guitar for both Spanish and Blues examples within the essay, and I used an AKG large condenser microphone. I also briefly used a national Lapsteel guitar for one of the examples in my score as well. This was recorded through the same signal path as the Stratocaster.
My score features a combination of original guitar melodies and improvisations, as well as direct and indirect references to the riffs and parts of film scores. This includes the 007 theme, as well as a Neil Young reference to the song Ohio.
In week 6 of Sound Studies and Aural Cultures we viewed scenes from ‘The Shinning’ directed by Stanley Kubrick and score composed by Rachel Elkind and Wendy Carlos. This lesson directed me towards choosing the analysis of guitar and film sound for my topic to research and create an audio essay for. In this lesson we explored the techo-asthetic perspective and utilization in Kubrick’s films, discussion around Wendy Carlos and her compositional techniques, and the development from mono to stereo to 5.1 audio in film.
The minimalism and tonality used in the shinning specifically creates a sense of the isolation and vastness of the Colorado hotel the film takes place in. The use of synthesizers in the score also creates a sense of coldness and distance between the characters contributing to the overall themes of the film. This initial analysis prompted me to look into the use of guitar as a motif and tonal quality in film scores dating from the early 1960s.
To expand my perspective on the score of ‘The Shinning’ and Wendy Carlos’s instrumentation for the film I viewed an interview through the British Library.
For my submission for Sound Studies and Aural Cultures, I am exploring the guitar as an instrument throughout the 20th century and as a volatile tool used in cinema for composition. The topics I am covering range from blues roots to using the guitar as a performative character in modern films. I am currently referencing ‘Dr. No’, ‘A Fistful of Dollars, ‘Deadman’, and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’.
The script for my audio essay and composition acts as an academic essay that explores the role the guitar has grown to play in film as a result of its creation, utilization, and cultural influence. In referencing books and texts including, ‘Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues’ by Paul Oiver, ‘Theory and Practice: Film Sound’ by Elizabeth Weis and John Belton, and ‘Ennio Morricone’s The Good the Bad and the Ugly’ by Charles Leinberger, I quickly fell into the intense history of the role of the guitar as an instrument and evocative tool. Rewatching the films and focusing on the role of the guitar in their individual scores I began to interlock the roots the instrument holds in blues and classical music styles to its use in film through the intense psyche of the instrument’s history.
The main challenge I am facing is condensing the material into a duration of under 10 minutes including the score and performative components I am currently experimenting with for the audio essay. This includes minimizing discussion about certain aspects of the history and careful placement of the music for the assignment as well.
For the score, I am planning on doing a live acoustic and electric guitar performance that includes a combination of original improvisation and improvisation around the themes and riffs I discuss in the narration as well.
These are screenshots of the rough outline of my script.
