Resound

2005

fixed medium - stereo

16’51”

Commissioned by:

Gordon Forum for the Arts (funded by Aberdeenshire Council/Scottish Arts Council)

More information on electrocd and electroprésence

Resound is part of a larger project called Gordon Soundscape, which is an attempt to map the sonic diversity of the former Gordon District in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The project also comprises the acousmatic/soundscape concert pieces Still Voices and Fields of Silence, and the Gordon Soundscape Sound Map.

With Resound, like the rest of the project, I am trying to create an environment which examines a number of issues; our response to our aural environment, our sense of belonging to a particular place and our ability to remember through sound.

As a composer and sound artist, living and working in the Gordon district and I am passionate about sound and how we experience sound in these visually oriented times. I work almost exclusively with technology – not synthesisers, or other electronic instruments, but with recorded sound. My instrument, if I have one, is the microphone. I search for sounds that interest me and I capture them through recording. Through my music and sound art and the focussing into sound, my intention is to make listeners more aware of their own immediate sonic environment.

During 2005, I made a large number of field recordings in the Gordon district finding sounds which reflect the character of the area, its people and its environment. I also interviewed a number of people talking about sounds, particularly sounds which no longer exist. I found that people became quite animated, trying hard to recreate the sounds or describe them using onomatopoeia.

In Resound, I have taken portions of these interviews and placed them on top of a montage of field recordings made during 2005 – so we get sonic memories of threshing machines accompanied by the contemporary sounds of approaching combine harvesters.

Grateful acknowledgement for the support of Gordon Forum for the Arts, the Scottish Arts Council and the University of Aberdeen School of Education. Also many thanks to interviewees John Alexander, Lorna Alexander, Melvyn Dalgarno, Bertha Forbes, Charlie Leslie and James Mackay.