The Sound of Sport
Monday, May 2nd, 2011 This documentary on Radio 4 is about the significance of sound in our experience of sport. Amazing to hear how many microphones they use for televised sports events mixing the sounds of the crowds, verbal dialogue, the physical actions, equipment and elements. Isolating and layering the individual sounds brings a sense of intimacy with the sports person and increases the sense of drama and excitement.
Dennis Baxter will design the sound of the Olympics and he says he will be using 4000 mics for the event. I’m going to listen more carefully now.
Birds at the Barbican
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
The Celeste Boursier-Mougenot installation at The Barbican is a signal of Spring. A flock of zebra finches fly around the exhibition space alighting on instruments attached to microphones and amplifiers. As the birds go about their daily activities – perching on the guitars, feeding from cymbals and noisy socializing – they create a random and captivating soundscape. Very funky birds.
At night the flock settle down in the sand to sleep under the grasses planted below the guitars.
Silent listening
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
Andreas Bick made this sound recording of a frozen lake. The ice contracts and expands due to fluctuations in temperature and he records the popping and cracking noises with an underwater microphone.
He describes it as the fringes of music, the periphery where music turns into sheer sound – concrete, wild, sometimes stunningly beautiful.