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.

This is my reflection on the audio paper. Recorded onto a Maxwell Audio Cassette by a Sony Cassette – Corder.

In listening, taking notes, and reflecting on episode 2, “Caribbean Dance, London Symphonies & the Triangular Trade” of the Sounding History podcast I was overtaken by the immense detail, varied yet balanced and informative perspectives demonstrated, and the sense of reliability in the information and citing used in the conversation.

This episode focused on the role the period referred to as ‘Anthropocene’ played in directing the diffusion and influx of musical culture in Europe as a result of the Triangle trade and the influx of wealth in London, all as a result of slavery and importing crop from the Americas. The most prominent aspect of this episode to me was the affect of the European expansion into the America. Eradicating 50 million indigenous people, societies, and farmland, introduced new forest and natural carbon emissions dropped and led a new ice age.

The beginning of the episode introduced the economic role of composers Mozart, Hayden, and Handl along with the weight the growing economy held in terms of the negativity of the slave trade as well as the influx of music in European culture. I was affected by the way the speakers presented the weight of the topic at hand, in an aware and educational manner. From a sound perspective the podcast gave perspective into the power of the diffusion of culture.

In episode 3, “New Soundworlds on Canals & Computers”, Sounding History focused on the creation of new sound worlds as a result of the creation of canals; both as a result of work taking over the soundscapes of cities and the spread of folk music by way of the expeditited canal. The ladder of the episode introduced us to the creation of electronic music through Allen Turing, and the concept of the Enigma Code.

This is a link to the Youtube Playlist done by Saia and I in the Sound Studies and Aural Cultures module, presenting both sound works and global musical culture.

This is a reflection on the article ‘The Help of Hands: Reports on Clapping’ by Steven Connor.

In this article, Steven Connor explores the action of clapping as an evolutionary trait of human beings, circulation and transmission of energies from individuals in a group, and its attempt to knit a continuation of sound from the most simple sonic principles. Immediately I was inspired by the introduction of the article. Through beginning the examination of the action by referencing a human evolutionary trait I was exposed to the potential of the article before even beginning the majority of the reading. Curiosity overtook me and finishing the article was seamless.

In relating the significance of the article to my own practice and developing a perspective on the essay leading into the audio essay, I am reinstating the importance of the hook and thesis of a paper. By engaging the reader or listener from the get-go rather than the overall depth and complexity of a piece of work I believe that acts as a reasoning or rational to continue reading or listening.

While the study of the human clap was both interesting and rose questions within my own perspective on the clap, I believe the importance of this article in relating to Sound Studies and Aural Cultures was its structure and quality.

http://stevenconnor.com/clapping.html