Styles of Environmental Sound Composition
By Jim Cummings
Though most of today's environmental sound artists combine elements of various approaches in developing their own styles,
they draw from four basic approaches, built upon two common foundations
A key common ground is that all of these producers are engaged in their creative art from the moment they begin recording.
From choice of overall locale, to finding the ideal vantage point for recording, field work is creative work. It is an
exploration in listening, no less than the later choices made in the studio.
Also, these producers recognize that no environmental sound recording can possibly recreate the experience-even just the
sonic experience-of being in nature. Not only is the emotional, physical presence lost, but there are also technical
limitations. Each mic has its specialty, its best use, and most can amplify or highlight specific sound sources, but
none can hear as richly as our ears. Once the sound is further channeled to just two speakers or even headphones, it
is further transformed. The better producers fully recognize these limitations, and devote their creativity to
developing new ways for us to experience these field recordings. They aim to affect, or guide us in specific ways
that the more profound experience of "pure" nature may not.
From these commonalties, the styles of each producer is forged from one or more of the following approaches:
>Documentaries This purist approach is essentially "what you hear is what you get," and relies on un-adulterated
field recordings, presented either separately or with gradual cross-fades from one location or take to another. These
recordings celebrate the intrinsic sounds of earth as they occur, unimproved by human designs. Yet these are not dry
or simple "snapshots;" rather, they are among the most vivid of soundscape productions, thanks to careful mic placement
and creative sequencing of the recordings. Documentary recordings also serve as source material for other styles (see
below), which often include extended unaltered sections. Gordon Hempton, Lang Elliott, and David Lumsdaine are among the
recordists who primarily work with such single-takes.
>Reconstructions Here, many source recordings are combined in the creation of a single soundscape experience. It is
often difficult to tell which segments are "documentary" and which are overdubbed, as the better producers work from a
deep knowledge of the sorts of combinations of voices that occur in nature. The goal here is to present an overall
sound journey that is true to the essence of the place-that will sound "real"-even though the events actually may not
have occurred as presented. Bernie Krause, Doug Quin, and Ruth Happel often use this approach. A variation on this
style is heard in the work of several composers who work in the realms of deep ambient and electroacoustic composition.
Their goal is not to be "realistic", but rather to present immersive sound journeys molded from a wide variety of field
recordings, often including human sounds (both "natural" ambiences and intentional soundmaking such as scratching
surfaces or adding instrumentation). Eric la Casa, Koji Marutani, and Hans Ulrich Werner work in these realms.
>Transformations Some producers use their field recordings as raw material for electronic transformations and
manipulations. They may isolate a particular frequency that is, to their ears, a "sweet spot" in the soundscape,
then reinsert these samples into the piece. Or, they may slow down or speed up the source recording as an exploration
of the nature of that sound. Perhaps they will repeat a given sound, or perform "granular synthesis", which stretches
a brief snippet of sound into a prolonged tone. A related approach, often used in consort with transformations,
employs sudden crosscuts from one sound to another; this is particularly common in urban soundscape composition.
The transformation approach can be heard in the works of Hildegard Westerkamp, Barry Truax, Francisco Lopez, and
Doug Quin.
>Musical composition
Some composers add human instruments or voices to the mix. This may include woodwinds or
percussion, electronic keyboards (perhaps with some field recordings sampled as voices), or even such adventurous
things as Claude Schryer's choreographed tugboat horns in a harbor, heard on his Auteur CD. These producers are
generally part of the vanguard of modern composition, with the resulting works being, at times, quite challenging
to mainstream musical notions. Steve Heitzeg, Barry Truax, John Luther Adams, David Dunn, Paul Winter, Doug Quin,
and David Rothenberg are among those pursing this path.
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