Analysis of… finding creative responses to… the acoustic spaces and sound environments of Łódź

A collaborative project led by John Grzinich in cooperation with Muzeum Sztuki Łódź

April 1-10, 2012

Coordinated by Aleksandra Jach and Katarzyna Słoboda of MSL in the frame of Ekologie Miejskie

This project aims to understand the role that sound plays within the ecology of urban life, through a continuous series of analytical exercises and artistic interventions. Working with sound implies that all activities are context specific as sound is always intimately linked to space in which it occurs and the materials and actions from which it originates. The dimensions of these sonic possibilities are as varied as the architectural and social contexts of urban environments.

Some questions we addressed were; How can we analyze and address the increasingly homogenized sounds of urban environments from traffic and other forms of urban “noise”? How can we creatively respond to the effect of urban noise on the loss of character or identity of a place? What are desirable sound environments? How can we establish new codes or behaviors that help shape our sound environments? How can we adapt or modify existing the architectural to develop new acoustic spaces? How can we identify unique or characteristic social patterns that help shape the sonic identity of a place? What role does technology play in this process, specifically newly available and more affordable digital recording technologies?

The final performance entitled ‘POD NAD’ was developed by the participants; Aleksandra Chciuk, Sławas Lewy, Maciej Ożóg, Jarek Szewczyk

The ecology of urban environments is based on the relations of living organisms, the majority of which are human beings. As we are the dominant part of the urban ecology we must observe, reflect and react to every aspect of our behavior. No other medium presents the sensitivity of an ecology than sound and yet sound is one of the most ignored and neglected signifiers of our informative environment.

With POD NAD we aim to play with the balance of two distinct environments using only sound. To investigate the relation of these environments we will transmit sounds from one space to another and play with minute levels of feedback through holes in the membrane. The spaces in question are the Freedom Square of Lodz and an underground oval channel that lies just beneath the street surface, hidden from the eyes of everyday pedestrians. Through this performance we not only wish to understand the relationships of these two spaces, but also to engage the listening abilities of the performers and public as an interconnected system and thus question our own role in the urban ecology.

Full recording from POD NAD from inside the tunnel: POD NAD inside tunnel

and this is an audio/video work I created from our investigations of the city:

engraved glass eg.p018

new release available as a high quality CDr or BandCamp digital download

five spring chorus field recordings, made in the early hours of the morning in natural wilderness environments in Estonia. Simplicity, clarity and the richness of the sonic landscapes documented make this release a fascinating listen.

1. Ööküll forest house, small pond with frogs. Recorded June 28th, 2010 at around 1:30 am
2. Water insect and beaver territory, Räpina Polder. Recorded May 29th, 2011 at around 1:30 am
3. Diverse calls of the Emajõe Suursoo (Ema River delta). Recorded May 15th, 2011 at around 3:00 am
4. Quiet field with Corn Crakes on the road from Rasina. Recorded June 28th, 2010 at around 2:30 am
5. Noisy island on Meelva lake with Cuckoo chorus. Recorded May 21st, 2011 at around 3:30 am

Preview

available as a limited edition taiyo yuden disc, mounted on an A5 art card with accompanying A6 postcard and as a digital download.

yannick dauby, john grzinich, murmer

“lind, raud, aastaajad”

ib005 – 2 cd set – 2012

edition of five hundred and nine

invisible birds is very proud to announce the release of lind, raud, aastaajad, a 2 cd set of estonian recordings from three masters : yannick dauby, john grzinich, and murmer. Order directly from the Invisible Birds website.

disc 1 – yannick dauby : lind, raud – songs of birds and metal, recorded in Estonia in 2007.

disc 2 – yannick daubyy, john grzinich, and murmer : aastaajad – field recordings by john grzinich and murmer, electronic sounds by yannick dauby. two tracks composed by john grzinich, two tracks composed by patrick mcginley (aka murmer).

Yannick Dauby mentions in his notes that, while in Estonia, John Grzinich guided him through some of his most favorite recording locations. It is in these locations where he feels the artist “becomes an instrument for the landscape”. The lind, raud, aastaajad recordings perfectly evoke the connection these three artists have to the landscape. In specified locations and seasons, they compose rich sounds from birds, metal, rain, snow, footsteps, melodious wind, water trickles, and more. The recordings subtly ensconce the listener in a sublime and poetic “view” of the landscape transforming itself.

Previews:

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Reviews:

If anything, the Estonian countryside is quiet. The clockwork schedule of the network of rural buses and the cackle of a black swan racing high above the trees is about all that you’ll hear. I (Jim) had the pleasure of experiencing this Estonian quietude a few years back, and I have to say that Yannick Dauby’s collection of field recordings is way more active than any i actually encountered. Estonia is known for its avian diversity, although when I was there during the brief transition from summer into winter (literally, three weeks!), the birds had all flown south… so Dauby must have been there in later spring or summertime as he does capture a number of chittering sounds from those birds passing through from Russia and Finland to Southern Europe and North Africa (or vice versa). Between these avian recordings, Dauby documents another common denizen of the Estonian countryside – the giant chunks of metal dumped unceremoniously by the Soviet agricultural industry. Even without much wind, these abandoned grain silos and oil tanks resonate with thick rumblings and subtle overtones, which Dauby dutifully records with contact microphones. These thrumming drones recall the Alan Lamb wire recordings as much as they do Thomas Koner’s deep gong recordings.

Disc one of this two disc set features Dauby’s “songs for birds and metal” while the second features reworkings of Dauby’s source material by John Grzinich and Murmer (aka Patrick McGingley), both of whom have exceptional catalogues of electro-organic compositions based often on phonography. Grzinich’s two lengthy pieces are quieter and more subtle, focusing on the patter of dripping water and melting ice with flickering drones and harmonics forming arctic halos around those aquatic textures. The two Murmer tracks intensify things comparatively against Grzinich’s lowercase work, with thick drones amassed around what sounds like somebody trekking through the deep snow. Those Coleclough / Koner drones manifest ominous black clouds and unsettled vibes, not heard elsewhere on the album and turning that Estonian quiet into something haunting. All in all, a magnificent piece of manipulated field recording and sound ecology.
- Jim Haynes for Aquarius Records catalog

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following last weeks yannick dauby, here is more from him. before moving to taipei, he was in estonia for a while, which made him friends with john grzinich and patrick mcginley, also known as murmer. if i understand this double CD right, then one side as field recordings by dauby, mostly consisting of birds and metal, while the second CD has two pieces each by grzinich and mcginely using their own field recordings and electronic sounds by dauby. what exactly was the reason to combine this, otherwise then the omni-presence of dauby, i am not sure. the first CD is quite nice, if not a bit long for it lasts just over an hour. throughout the pieces which just have birds sounds are bit shorter and the metal pieces are (considerable) longer. don’t except some neubauten like banging, but rather rusty objects floating neatly in the wind, calm and peaceful. nice but, as said, there is overlap in this sound material.

so the second CD might be a rework of the sound material from dauby, but perhaps also a mixture of their own sounds, along with electronic sounds delivered by dauby. perhaps if we look at this from a purely musical perspective this is the more interesting of the two CDs, unless of course you look for pure field recordings. the first CD is more like a great exercise in recording environmental sounds whereas on the second these pure field recordings are embedded in electronics, usually of a more lenghty and sustaining kind. of the two composers i think i preferred the two compositions by grzinich. murmer’s pieces are more simple, like layering various sound events together (water, walking, drones), but seem to miss out a bit on that added value. grzinich’s pieces have exactly that value, while it seems he either adds a fine amount of processing to the field recordings, or simply uses more layers of similar sounds to get more out of it. but throughout, overall, i think this whole package is one that is very nice. there is lots of explore here and no doubt even useful stuff for djs of a more experimental nature (pun intended).
~ Frans de Waard for Vital Weekly

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Inconclusive Responses (12:17)

Composition produced from recordings made during the ‘New Maps of Time‘ workshop held in Prague, October 2009. This track is a remix of field recordings and improvisations we made at Skolska28 Gallery, Stromovka Park and the Dul Mayrau coal mine museum. Special thanks to Milos V for coordinating this and to the participants for their time and energy; Eliska S, Matěj G, Lucie P, Stanislav A, Matej K, Lucie J. Released in honor of the ‘praha – favourite sounds of‘ CD our now on Engraved Glass.

Introduced Species (12:31)

This track is a remix of an improvisation we made in the former sewage treatment plant in Bubeneč. Participants included Milos V.,  Eliska S, Matěj G, Lucie P, Stanislav A, Matej K, Lucie J.

Again, be sure to check out the ‘praha – favorite sounds of‘ CD out now on Jez Riley French’s Engraved Glass label.

Sound Seed Transmissions was a radio show I hosted as part of my residency at Nida Art Colony and was broadcast on the local radio station, Neringa FM: http://neringafm.lt/

The Sound Seed Transmissions show focused on sound and artists who work with unique and different contexts, drawing their inspiration from nature, natural materials, found objects, temporary installations and self-made instruments. The show was meant to be a type of “stories from the field”, presenting a mix of short interviews with artists and a selection of field recordings and/or compositions.

Below is the full archive, all 6 shows:

SST #1 – 16.11.2011 – Introductory show with Greek sound artist Yiorgis Sakellariou in dialogue with John Grzinich discussing their ideas and methods for field recording.

SST#1

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SST #2 – 23.11.2011 – The second radio show was entitled the “Secret Life of Wires” where I presented my long term fascination with resonant wires as instruments and objects in the landscape and played a number of recordings over the years.

SST#2

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SST #3 – 29.11.2011 – The third radio show we explored the idea of “Sonic Traces“, how physical processes not only leave marks but also reveal something in the sounds they make. The guest was visual artist Evelyn Müürsepp from Estonia. Evelyn and John talked about and played pieces from their collaborative sound and drawing project “Sonic Scratch Cycles”.

SST#3

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SST #4 – 7.12.2011 – The fourth radio show explored the idea of “Instruments of Place“, or making sound through the construction and manipulation of objects, materials and devices and other creative means. The guest was Maksims Shentelevs from Latvia. Max and John talked about and played pieces from their self-made instruments and sonic investigations of places.

SST#4

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SST #5 – 14.12.2011 – “The Sounds of Nida” was the title of the 5th show. My residency was coming to a close and this show reflected on my discoveries and experiences in Nida. Neringa FM host Linas Ramanauskas offered to interview me and we I played various recordings made during my residency.

SST#5

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SST #6 – 21.12.2011 – The 6th and final SST show was a special solstice edition entitled, “myths as public dreams, dreams as private myths“. The guest was Andrius Rugys from Vilnius. Andrius and John shared their recordings and discussed experiences from the field working with attentive ears.

SST#6

This entry contains a variety of material documenting my two month residency at the Nida Art Colony on the western shore of Lithuania. The colony was opened in spring of this year as a branch of the Vilnius Academy of Art, which purchased the original building in the early 1990s, but invested recently in a completely reconstructed facility. The new building houses five residency studios for visiting artists and an array of guest rooms, kitchens and conference rooms to accommodate a variety of events, workshops and symposia.

For the focus of my residency I have proposed the following:

sound – subject / object – site

This two month residency concentrates on sound and the signification resulting from the merging of material objects, affects the elements and positioning within the landscape. By listening in to this process we expand the connections to our environment by taking the role of wanderers, seekers, collectors and instigators. Daily field excursions around the Curonian Split involves phonographic studies, short sound actions and temporary installations that become the basic frames by which to listen and document. The collected materials will be edited and composed into an audio/visual film along with an exhibit containing the physical objects. Collaborations were welcome to open this working format into a continual creative dialogue between objects, spaces and the local environment.

gallery of objects and interventions

several colleagues came for short visits to collaborate, namely Yiorgis Sakellariou, Evelyn Müürsepp, Max Shentalevs, and Andrius Rugys.

From December 2-4 I gave a sound workshop for students from VMU in Kaunas. Thanks to Tautvydas and the Colony for coordinating this. The b&w photos are from Eglou Baltrušaičių.

Excerpts of 2 sound exercises:
exercise – open narrative exercise – open narrative

exercise – word association exercise – word association

This video is meant for the workshop students to illustrate how different type of microphones sound

Click here to view the embedded video.

changing seaside and lagoon of the Curonian Split

surrounding landscapes of the Curonian Split

In addition to all of this, I produced six episodes of a weekly radio show entitled the “Sound Seed Transmissions” on the local radio station Neringa FM. You can listen to all the shows here.

One from the archives… Tower guide wires on a mountain top in central Portugal resonating in the wind. Recorded in 2008 with a pair of contact mics while in a residency at Binauralmedia in Nodar.

‘sonic scratch cycles’ is the working title for a collaborative sound and drawing project between myself and EKU (Evelyn Müürsepp). The project is based on an ongoing series of collaborative site-specific actions recorded in different locations. Each location has its own spatial and material properties which are ‘translated’ into sounds and drawings. Each action is timed and lasts as long as it takes me to make one rotation around Evelyn, who sits in the center and draws what she hears. She wears a binaural microphone setup and listens through headphones as I improvise with activating the surroundings.

Ahja river bridge
This track is the companion recording to the drawing above which was done at a bridge crossing a local river.

Silo take 02
This recording was made in an abandoned silo tower in Mooste. Notice the rain.

‘sonic scratch cycles’ was first presented as an installation as part of a group exhibition at Kibla in Maribor Slovenia. The drawings were presented in the circular hanging structure with two speakers providing the binaural soundtrack. The viewer/listener takes the role of of the ‘actors’ or ‘translators’ who preserved and presented the evidence of their actions.

Residency: August 4 – 21, 2011

New Maps of Time is a project and workshop about mapping architectural structures and urban spaces using sound as a means to analyze and express actions within a space. This edition of the workshop focuses on the notion of personal narratives and the creation of ‘audible geographies’ through the process of exploring the sonic potential of Vienna. The workshop part is concentrated on collaborating with local guides who would show me around the town in an attempt to discover unique spaces, sonic effects and playable objects and structures. In return I share my interests in using sound to shape and form a different perspective through listening and developing simple site-specific activities and  interventions. Read the full project description…

Guides: For this edition I enjoyed working with guides for daily excursions around Vienna. The guides joined for however much time they had. Different guides joined for different days. The guides were friends or curious contacts who had an interest in walks, biking, wandering, psychogeography, urban exploration etc. Each guide showed some unique and interesting places in Vienna (parks, plazas, unique buildings or structures, abandoned or transitional spaces, rooftops, bridges, tunnels etc.). Excursions involved sound and/or video recording depending on what we found. Special thanks to the guides who took time to show me around: Tobias, Sari, Markus, Andrea, Rob, Elffriede, Uwe, Michael, Radmila,

Project timeline:

Thursday August 4th, 18:00 – Introduction and public presentation about New Maps of Time, Transforming Freedom Space in the MQ

Friday August 5th – Wednesday August 19th – field work with guides and collaborators, site-specific actions around Vienna

Saturday August 21st – presentation of workshop outcomes

click on the above image to listen to recordings made in Vienna

Residency hosted by Transforming Freedom and sponsored by X-OP

and below are two video documents edited from the material recorded in Vienna.

Click here to view the embedded video.

‘Vienna Sound Locations’ a sonic survey of various sites around the city, found while wandering and exploring.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video shows a sonic effect of a concrete overhang that reflects the sound of water in the Wienfluss canal below. The masking effect of the water can be heard in the first minute although not in the second.

June 11-12, 2011, Helsinki Finland

Organized by Äänen Lumo

Led by John Grzinich and Patrick McGinley

Temporal Soundings was a unique 2 day workshop and overnight retreat that took place at Galleria Oksasenkatu 11 and the surrounding urban area in central Helsinki. The focus of the workshop was on the temporal aspects of sound recording and site-specific sound activity combining found objects and spatial interventions. The program of the workshop revolved around working with and analyzing two contrasting times of day, midnight and mid-day. Using these two times as a frame, we looked at the natural soundscape, found materials and physical spaces as ‘sonic potential’ for human intervention. This involved a range of activities from passive listening exercises to more active explorations using improvisation and game play. The focus developed into working within an hour long session at opposite times of the day, midnight to 1 am and noon to 1 pm by 3 separate groups in different parts of the city. Several concise 5 minute field recordings were made by each group that explored both active and passive approaches to interventions within specific sites. Following these ‘magic hour’ sessions we listened back to the recordings to analyze the temporal aspects of the sounds, events and actions that were documented.

The following recordings are excerpts from recordings I made in collaboration with two of the participants, Kikka and Joel. The first half of each track was from the evening and the second was from the same location approximately 12 hours later. See what differences you notice while listening.

Passive field recording, small marina

Small intervention, tree and park sounds

Site-specific action, playing the Sibelius sculpture

Special thanks to the participants for their enthusiasm and energy and to Otso and Juuso for their exceptional organization.

Special thanks to Veljo Runnel for leading an excellent workshop on Nature Sound Recording, sharing his experiences from the last 10 years and extensive knowledge on bird species. The group spent one early morning and one full evening out in the field, analyzing and collecting sounds. We then listened to the recordings that were made an identified the animal species that were heard. Comparisons of different recording setups were helpful to in defining both aesthetic and scientific approaches to the sounds that were captured.

read the full summary of the workshop on the MoKS blog

listen to this mix of four recordings I made during the workshop

1. creaking tree and morning birds by the Ahja river
2. lone Tangmalm’s Owl (Karvasjalg kakk) in the forest
3. Spotted Crake (Täpikhuik)
4. Morning chorus near Ahunapalu with Cranes

During the week of April 11-17th, I spent the week in an area of Nuremberg known as Muggenhof, as part of a mini-Tuned City event. Our base was a building known as the Quelle, an extremely large facility that for many years, housed the distribution of goods from the Quelle catalog mail order company. The company has since closed so the building remains largely unused. We were very fortunate to have access to such a facility for the workshop.

The workshops focused on a wide variety of topics from recording techniques and microphone types to perception of sound and using architecture as an instrument. Because of the relatively low turnout of participants everyone worked together sharing knowledge and experiences.

The following recording was composed from a series of sound actions that intended to highlight the acoustic qualities of seven different spaces in the Quelle. For each recording the same set objects and structure of action was used. In this case 4 metal waste baskets found in the building were dragged evenly from corner to corner by 4 people.

Other aspects of the workshop included sound recording theory and practice overview led by Derek Holzer. This led to mapping and recording of sounds throughout the Muggenhof district by participants of the workshop. A ‘sound map’ was then made using the Radio Aporee Maps interface and presented at the end of the week. Click on the image below to see the map.

The scale of the Quelle building is impressive. One can spend hours wandering the 5 floors, much as I did. A survey of the Quelle spaces can be seen and heard in this video (please use headphones):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Special thanks to Carsten, Rene, Jurgen for helping organize this, the city of Nürnberg for support and especially to the participants of our workshops for their time and energy.