Noise book (update)

Just had word that my proposal for a chapter in the publication prompted by the Bigger Than Words conference was successful. So that's something to look forward to in 2011.

It will be amazing that this work will actually culminate in something in a book that ends up in a library.

Final Thoughts (almost)

I thought that I was ready to wrap up this project (again). Especially as I'm currently submerging myself in my MA dissertation/final major project. However, I now need to work on a proposal/publication extract for one of the books triggered by the conference. I am daunted by this - as it will be my first attempt at being published academically - but I'll give it a go. I just need to untangle the theory that underpinned my practice so that it might work as a clear and concise chapter within a volume concerned with the politics and perceptions of noise.

I have to include:

• A 400 word proposal detailing the issues that the chapter will address and how it will be organised
• A few academic references and 5-6 keywords
• A 200 word biographical note

In fact, it's not that dissimiliar to what was submitted in answer to the conference's call for submissions although that was actually a very vague outline. It's essential that I now can pick out what is the philosophical stance I've come away with after going through this process. The final chapter will be around 5,000 words but won't need to be submitted until the end of the year.

Additionally, I expressed interest in assisting with any design aspects for the completed books should that be required. I feel that having a hand in the production of the volumes would be a fitting end to this project.

Bigger Than Words: finished

The Noise conference went well last week. I was particularly impressed by the sheer breadth of contributions. I didn't get chance to catch everything I was interested in due to various panels clashing. That said, some amazing and inspiring views on the subject and Dave dropped in for the showing of The Beat Is Law plus I met Cabaret Voltaire's Stephen Mallinder who was a really nice, interesting bloke. Additionally Michael Goddard has said that there is interest from publishers in the papers that will hopefully prompt two books [each looking at different aspects of the phenomena: roughly along the lines of Noise in Music/Noise Musics and the Aesthetics/Philosophy/Politics of Noise].

I forgot to use my camera but Rosa Menkman - whose own work is concerned with glitches in technology - posted some here.

Reworking the Sshhh presentation

I'm rewriting my Sshhh presentation for Friday's panel. I'm drawing a little from the research I'm doing for my dissertation project with observations on how kids observe silence. That has given me the chance to contrast John Cage's philosophy with that of Dizzee Rascal. I'm also trying not to be too rigid with the layout so that it feels a bit more informal.

Bigger Than Words - starts tomorrow

From salford.ac.uk:

News-
Conference, gigs and film showings to explore the concept of 'noise'

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

The concept of 'noise' will be taking over Salford venues this weekend as the University of Salford hosts a series of music events, film showings and academic debates.

Musicians including Stuart Braithwaite of cult band Mogwai will join academics from around the world to explore the entirety of noise in modern society. This includes noise pollution in the city, the depiction of deafness and tinnitus in movies and how the noise of the courtroom affects legal proceedings.

Music forms a key theme through the conference with Nicola Spelman's paper on Lou Reed's musical responses to undergoing electrotherapy and even discussion of a punk band that entered Russian politics after the fall of communism.

There will be a film showing on Thursday at the University's Adelphi House. The Beat is the Law Part 1 is a film following the Sheffield music scene in the 80s and 90s featuring Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley.

Music or 'noise gigs' will also take place at the King's Arms, Salford where electronic solo-pieces, computer glitches and para-musical videos featuring improvised instruments will be on display.

Conference organiser Michael Goddard said: "Noise is all around us in modern urban environments. Sometimes it is considered a pollutant and, at others, a cultural force. With this conference we aim to explore the whole range of ways in which noise affects our everyday lives."

'Noise, Affect, Politics' runs Thursday - Saturday at various locations in Salford.

Contact Michael Goddard on m.n.goddard@salford.ac.uk or Benjamin Halligan on b.halligan@salford for more information.

Bigger Than Words panel

So the Bigger Than Words, Wider Than Pictures conference is a couple of weeks off. I'm re-developing the presentation I delivered for that. A new structure I have for it is:

1. Personal introduction.
2. Opening quote and a bit about my own philosophical stance regarding noise perception.
3. My personal research and the recordings that were taken.
4. The development of a visual project and the influence of Cage's theories plus the visual influences that came courtesy of synaesthesia research and the Kiki/Bouba effect. Also some additional related ideas that Steve Goodman discusses in his Sonic Warfare book. [Which ended up being my holiday reading, by the way.]
   
5. The development of the completed book and the idea of sound as carrying the 'essence' of a particular space.
6. Questions and comments.

I wish I'd had the opportunity to get this breathing space before the last presentation as I've re-evaluated the project and feel more confident that I know what are the more interesting elements. Admittedly, some of this has come from the likes of SPARC where I got some feedback from people unfamiliar with the territory. So, while nervous, I'm a bit more confident that what I'll discuss will feel fresh while I also reckon that I know what it is that interests me about my work.

Further to this, I've been asked if I'd like to chair a panel at the conference. It's the parallel session on 'Noise & the Digital' featuring:

The matter of numbers: sound and the experience of noise in analog and digital models
(José Cláudio Siqueira Castanheira, Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF, Brazil)

Glitch Studies Manifesto Presentation
(Rosa Menkman)

Xenakisian Sound Synthesis; Its Aesthetics and Influence on 'Post Digital' Computer Noise
(Christopher Haworth, Queens University Belfast)

I've not actually done this before but, given that this semester's project has largely been about participating, I said yes. Although I will need a few pointers from the organisers about what's required.

SPARC

SPARC [the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference] was interesting.

Due to previously being rather prolific via email, I finally got the opportunity to put some faces to names/addresses including one of the people that has been intrinsic to getting all the elements together for my AHRC funding application. Then I met my PhD personal tutor too. In fact the latter was in the audience when I did my 60 second "pitch" and caught up with me afterwards - having not noticed my name - as he was interested in what I'd outlined. Which is handy. Especially as he's one of the organisers of the Bigger Than Words, Wider Than Pictures conference. And what I was outlining was what I'll be revising for that.

Additionally I spoke to the coordinator of the Graduate Trainee Assistantships who will be in touch ahead of my post in October. And she was really nice too. Also amazing was the further contact who expressed genuine interest in the development of the ideas within Sshhh and mentioned another proposed conference that they will be organising. And also asked if I would be interested in speaking at that.

I did feel a bit out of my depth at times. As mentioned, most of the research work displayed was hard science rather than the kind of visceral work that I have a habit of developing. In fact, work from the school of Art & Design appears to be under-represented within programmes like SPARC [I was the only one - although there was a contributor from the school of Music, Media & Performance]. And some of the panels were very much outside of my comfort zone. Plus a woman asked if my work was for my Masters. When I said yes, she pointed out that SPARC is a post-graduate research conference. I replied that I was a postgraduate student presenting a research project and she insisted that it was for PhD research. I disagreed [because, like, I was there and had therefore met the criteria to contribute to the conference] and she commented that I was the only Masters student there. I've just had another glance at the section clarifying eligibility and it doesn't mention MAs. Just that it includes MRes, MPhils and MSCs by research [in addition to all PhDs] so she might have had a point. But then I wasn't completely wrong either.

Meantime my new blog - which will be used for my dissertation project (given that this one is still ongoing) - is now live at http://musicecology.blogspot.com.

SPARC poster #2

The poster arrived for the SPARC conference that is happening this week [it is closer to the colour below but the photo was taken while it was particularly overcast]. The sound recording card was delivered too so I'm just recording the sounds to that while I've also made the stickers that show where to push to generate the samples. I'll update how that all goes on Thursday. However I already feel that the other SPARC abstracts are really science-y and tied into really solid research while mine now feels very much about looking into a subject, finding out some stuff and then formulating a solution that is based on what I really want to produce. In a way, it is as much informed by my own taste and feelings as it is the theory that I applied. I can't see that particular approach being mirrored by those postgrads that have been working in medicine and other 'serious' subjects.

Meanwhile I'm also seeing the external examiner tomorrow. On Wednesday we're getting briefed on the final MA project/dissertation too. I'll be starting a new blog for that one.

SPARC poster

The poster for SPARC has been sent for printing. The four little circles at the bottom are hopefully above where the buttons are on the sound playback card. I say "hopefully" as it hasn't arrived yet. I subsequently had to map their position using a little jpeg of it that I scaled up to what were listed as its dimensions.

I also decided not to label the buttons on the poster just in case disaster strikes and the audio device gets lost in the post. I can add some stickers to it later.

Hand-in and presentation

I reached the end of this project today with a presentation and hand-in. I was satisfied with the deliverables (apart from how rubbish my wonky boards looked next to those slick ones submitted by Nicky, Dave and Amy) but I could have fine-tuned the Powerpoint quite a lot were there more time. Still, it's over.

Except it isn't really. I now have to rework the presentation for the Bigger Than Words conference in July. For that I'll be wanting to take out a lot of the content that was intrinsic to the work's development as part of my MA and elaborate further on the theoretical stuff that informed my design decisions. Before this, I also need to rework everything into a research poster to be exhibited at SPARC. I've got a recordable card on order for the latter. This will be embedded into the graphic and will make the poster more interactive. That's needed for the second week in June by the way.

SPARC inclusion

A while ago I sent an abstract relating to this Sshhh project for consideration within SPARC: the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference. Today they got in touch to say that my request to be part of the poster section was successful. So I now need to consider how something will work within their programme. I'll have to devise a poster which uses images and text to outline my research. And do a short presentation in front of a judging panel. Which is great. But, y'know, it's another deadline.

And I have loads of deadlines.

That said, this is something I can concentrate on immediately after hand-in for the three current Masters modules and should help me formulate exactly what I'll be concentrating on delivering at the Bigger Than Words conference.

Bigger Than Words programme

There has been a rough draft of the programme for the Bigger Than Words conference drifting around. My contribution is pencilled in under a section titled 'Noise, Politics and Everday Life'. The other two submissions within this grouping appear to be music-related and I'm assuming that my subject very much represents the 'Everyday Life' within that title. Only I'm not sure that what I'm looking at is really that political. (Unfortunately it will clash with another session based around audiovisual noise aesthetics which I'd liked to have checked out.)

I do still need details through on the venue so that I can think through exactly what I'll be completing. I think my stint takes place on the afternoon of July 2nd but I had mentioned to both Dave and Amy about doing something as an installation to run for the duration of the event.

[The above is one of the internal images I've been playing around with, by the way.]

Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear by Steve Goodman

Yesterday I saw Dr. Michael Goddard - one of the organisers of the Bigger Than Words, Wider Than Pictures conference. We actually met to discuss the PhD proposal I'm putting together with his help but we also chatted briefly about the upcoming event. There's some great stuff planned. We touched on my contribution and Michael suggested that I might be interested in reading a recent book by Steve Goodman titled Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear.

So I Googled it when I got home and realised that Steve Goodman is the same Steve Goodman that I actually know through his work with the Hyperdub label. There he's more noticeable as Kode 9 and, as label boss, is responsible for releasing groundbreaking music by the likes of Burial, Zomby, Flying Lotus, Martyn, Samiyam, Joker and more. In fact I interviewed him back in 2008 for something else.

What I didn't realise then is that the guy who has also pushed innovative electronic sounds via fanzines and club nights also has a very impressive academic career. With a PhD in philosophy he has apparently studied rave culture, cybernetics and postmodernism and now this book journeys through “philosophy, science, fiction, aesthetics, and popular culture, as he maps a (dis)continuum of vibrational force, encompassing police and military research into acoustic means of crowd control, the corporate deployment of sonic branding, and the intense sonic encounters of sound art and music culture”. A read then perhaps as heavy as one of his DJ sets.

Anyway, I've now got it on order from Amazon.

Available via the following link: Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear (Technologies of Lived Abstraction Series)

Bigger Than Words, Wider Than Pictures invitation

After answering the call for submissions, I've just received notification that I have been invited to participate in the Bigger Than Words, Wider Than Pictures conference. So I'll need to think about exactly what I'll be delivering there. One more recent development has been the news that it won't be partly curated at Islington Mill (as previously suggested) due to it seemingly following Central Library's example and closing for refurbishment.

I'm also looking into the potential for external funding/sponsorship so that I can produce something even more ambitious for July's event. Perhaps an installation or have the findings culminate in a publication that could be printed and distributed in significant numbers. However the hand-in date for this project is in May so any additional work would be for myself (i.e. it wouldn't be assessed as part of this Masters work) but I guess the development of the ideas would be part of my conclusion. The real concern would be whether this could become so all-consuming that it would be too distracting at a time when I'm supposed to be working on my major dissertation work. Unless, of course, I work this into that (as yet unspecified) project.

Participation proposal submitted

I submitted my abstract in response to the call for participants to the organisers of the Bigger Than Words conference today. I've attached the design for the cover.

While initially very similar, the key difference between this and what I'd already sent to Lawrence and Tash was that I didn't really mention anything about book design this time: I thought that the notes on aesthetics and additional design influences were perhaps less important within the context of the conference.

What I did emphasise was the importance of classification to this study and also referenced the relevance of both Wassily Kandinsky and John Cage to the subject of visualising sound. I'd also read up a little on Spectrograms so these got a mention too.

All this is proving helpful. I've decided to get the first part of the report finished early for this semester and this reworking of my proposal in its various forms is assisting in the devising of the report's chapters. This week I want to get the 'Contents' close to finalised so that I can start the subject research in earnest.

A not-so-brief introduction

While this Semester 2 project follows on from some of the ideas generated in Semester 1, it is also prompted by a call for submissions to the University of Salford instigated Bigger than Words, Wider than Pictures: Noise, Affect, Politics conference. This will be taking place in July. Providing some background/context, its organising committee (Dr Michael Goddard, Dr Benjamin Halligan and Professor David Sanjek) state:

"Noise Annoys. Is it not a banal fact of modern, urban existence that one person’s preferred sonic environment is another’s irritating, unwelcome noise – whether in the high-rise apartment, on public transport or the street, or almost anywhere else? The contingent soundscape of jack-hammers and pneumatic drills, mobile phone chatter, car sirens and alarms, sound leakage from nightclubs and bars and – moving into the suburbs – lawn-mowers and amateur renovation projects, neighbouring kids and dogs, represents a near-constant aural assault.

As a pollutant, noise can legally attain noxious levels; it is both potentially biologically harmful and psychologically detrimental. But what exactly is noise and what conditions these relative thresholds in which sound crosses over into noise? Or are these more organised and polite sonic phenomena merely varieties of noise that have been tamed and civilised, and yet still contain kernels of the chaotic, anomalous disturbance of primordial noise? As a radical free agent, how is noise channelled, neutralised or enhanced in emergent cityscapes? As a consumable, how is noise – or lack of noise – commodified?

Such questions are particularly applicable to contemporary forms of music which, based as they are on a variety of noise-making technical machines, necessarily exist in the interface between chaotic, unpredictable noise and the organised and blended sounds of music and speech. Does modern noise seek to lead us to new, post-secular inscapes (as with psychedelia and shoegazer), or defy the lulling noisescapes of processed background muzak with punitive blasts of disorientating, disorderly noise? And why the cult of noise – in term of both volume and dissonance – in which low cultural practices (metal, moshing) meet those of the avant-garde (atonalism, transcendentalism)?

This conference seeks to address the contemporary phenomenon of noise in all its dimensions: cultural, political, territorial, philosophical, physiological, subversive and military, and as anomalous to sound, speech, musicality and information."

[More information is available via this link.]

The arrival of the above was timed just as I was beginning to get ideas for this Negotiated Project and, after previous work looking at both the phenomenon of visual noise and also visual referents for music, I considered how I could progress while also investigating a more recent fascination with book design. The resulting concept surrounding noise within libraries is an obvious reference to the idea of these environments as silent places [perhaps with the surly librarian offering a "sshhh!" to anyone that doesn't observe this].

Anyway, the idea has already been toyed with for at least a month and it threatened to distract me completely when I was supposed to be finishing the previous project(s). It's also something that has been discussed at length with others. Not least my colleagues Amy, Dave and Nicky who are perhaps already bored of listening and would perhaps prefer a little more of that supposedly cliched silence.

Meantime I was over at the Ecole de Internationale de Design in Toulon last week so I made some rudimentary recordings and also took a few photos in its small library. Additionally, I've also been looking at cymatics, soundwaves and onomatopoeia as possible strands within this. And then there are the books and all the other visual material that I've been busily collecting which I'll start posting here over the next few days.