- Walter J. Ong, 1971
Alright, sound is our main focus this week! Because even though we don't always think about it actively it is always, ALWAYS influencing what's going on around us. Two years doing Creative Media taught me that sound is important and it can be manipulated the way you want it to be, but only in our fourth lesson of this module did I look at sound in such an artistic way.
Lesson 4: The Forgotten Medium.
The aim of this lesson was to teach us more about how important sound actually is. Paul wanted to encourage us not to abuse sound, but to make it work in our favour. I did worry about this because I'm not much of a 'sound person', my mind and imagination work better in visual favour. I was assured that this didn't always mean I can't use sound to my advantage. Even by manipulating a simple sound effect it can make all the difference. There is no sound that cannot become music, despite lack of experience!
First of all, What is Sound?
Sound is vibrations that travel through the air and into our ears, the message then travels to our brain and we comprehend it as a particular sound.
The stages of Sound
I'd most certainly never thought about sound in terms of having different stages, but it's not a difficult thing to understand. Sound has 3 effective stages: The attack, the sustain and the decay. |
| The Classroom example is the easiest way to understand this. |
To explain these terms, we'll take a classroom situation. The teacher, talking to their pupils, is the Attack. Their voice is attacking the pupils, so to speak.
The pupils in the classroom are the Sustain effect from the attacking voice of the teacher.
The Decay being the sound waves that escape from the room into the corridor and outdoor world.
Not that difficult to understand, is it? Once you understand this concept then that's as much of the basics as you need to understand. By this point in the class I managed to understand a little more about sound then anyone else had explained to me previously. It is difficult for me to write the contents of this class in the form of a blog, even looking back on all my notes! Thankfully my boyfriend Robin is in love with his sound and music so he managed to help me explain a little more on top of Paul's interesting lecture.
Nobody hears a pure sound.
What do you mean? Isn't everything that hasn't been edited in some way considered a pure, or raw, sound?
No, not exactly. This is how I thought about it as well. Before this class I thought every sound I heard was a pure untainted sound but I was soon told otherwise. Every sound we hear is influenced by our thoughts, backgrounds and beliefs so we hear it a particular way. When we hear somebody say the letter "H", in Northern Ireland for example, we can make a judgement on the person from that. One particular way represents a Nationalist background, the other is Unionists, or apparently this is the case. I don't really pick up on those small details, honestly. Then again I'm not much of a sound freak.
Now, we can look at the structure of music. It follows similar stages to that I mentioned earlier.
Take any music track out there. Every song has a melody. This is the Attack. The most important sound, the one delivering the message. Not the lyrics on top of the melody. If you take the melody away, the whole thing falls apart, nothing really works any more. As you listen to a song, you hear the lyrics but subconsciously your body works in tune to the melody behind it. Now you know, you'll start paying more attention to it. You'll see it's true! Even for me, I know this is the case. If I'm listening to an upbeat song I end up walking in time with the drums, or tapping my foot. Even when I'm drawing or playing a game, I aim to make the animations work with the music and the strokes fit with the beat. Isn't that sweet?
It's more physical and influencing then we think!
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| London club 'Fabric' have channelled the speakers, to the club floor. Allowing people to FEEL the music! |
Sound is a physical force, it is possibly the strongest known currently. You might not believe me but even a sound-phobe like me knew that this was true. Walk into a club, you can feel the bass can't you? It vibrates through your entire body and makes you feel alive inside. The same idea if you've gone to a concert, especially if you're beside the speaker! If you've experienced anything like this then I don't need to explain any further.
So in closing, Sound is just as important as visual art work! It is immersive and full of depth, if that's what you want it to be. There can be no specific direction, it can't be blocked, it's always there and influencing everywhere we go and everything we do. I still think I'm not much of a sound person but after this class I definitely see the importance of sound in even the simplest of things.
Next week, we look at "The Big Data". A deeper insight into the internet and how we can use it to our advantage. Learn it's secrets and how it will progress in future years. I can't wait to see what Paul has to teach us about the world's biggest phenomenon.
Remember! Nothing is boring, see everything as an opportunity. Who knows where you'll end up, get out there now and show the world what you can do. This is how I feel every time I leave one of Paul's lectures and I honestly can't thank the man enough. Thanks a bunch, Paul Moore!
Until next time. :)
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