Working with Sound

Learning to Listen

Many of us, maybe most of us, take sound for granted. More often we are aware of the extremes and the unique. We notice beautiful bird songs or screeching breaks and spaces that echo loudly while we tend to be less aware of what we consider to be background noise and the degree to which everyday spaces like our offices and bedrooms reverberate. When working with sound, especially during the recording process, we need to be more consciously aware of the range of sounds around us, however pedestrian or subtle they may seem, and the reflective nature of the spaces we are in. So let's start...

Exercise Two:

Wherever you are right now, be still:
  What do you hear?
  Maybe a light woosh or buzz from your computer...
  A barely audable high pitch ring or low pitch rumble...
  The hum of a fan or refrigerator...
  The rush or roar of distant traffic...
  Something ticking or clicking, a clock or a radiator perhaps...

  Now clap your hands:
  Does the sound reflect (slap or bounce) off the walls?
  Does it sound sharp or does it have a duller quality?
  Does the sound seem to fade or suddenly die?
Stopping to listen and asking these questions will help make you more sound aware and help inform any decisionmaking that you do in regard to recording, especially when it comes to selecting the space you will record in and how you improve the sound quality in that space --maybe you reduce reflection by padding the walls with blankets and maybe you turn off the air conditioner or fan. Both of these decisions (and this exercise) relate to the acoustical and ambient aspects of a space. Let’s dive a little deeper into those two concepts.
 

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