Background, Being

Sounds, unceasing, go unheard.

Attention is fixed elsewhere in the scheme of the mundane, of work and play.

It is possible to know and hear the moment now in the surroundings, to sense with the inner ear the totality of experience, and to realize more aural beauty, in the imagination, than the sounds of music alone evoke.

Formless Change

What will be, is not now.

Putting aside the common ideas of music, think of sounds composed like a pool of water, clear and beautiful, but indistinct; still, yet contained in a flow impossible to fully grasp, measure, or capture.

Sonic Fields

Begin with the idea of creating something other than music using aesthetically complementary sounds.

Reproduce sounds as they occur spontaneously in human environments as well as in natural ones. Treat the studio as an instrument in developing and manipulating sound elements and aural effects.

Set aside musical ideas in favor of gesture, collage, layering, and striking placement of tones and lines. Consider any and all possibilities in growing the composition.  Contemplate and evaluate the total effect until, with alterations, additions, eliminations of fault and failure, and realization of integrity of expression, the work is finished.

Energies

All things are in constant motion.

Out of stillness comes action, and each produces effects on the other.  This is a fundamental dynamic of sound, however subtle or wide-ranging, whether spontaneous and natural or contrived.

Centering Surroundings

Sounds are perceived, identified, located, and separated in the perceptual process.

Listening actively makes these distinctions clear, yet they take place just the same in the course of passive hearing.  One will note the unusual, ignoring the rest, and still be conscious of the quality of the atmosphere.

In approaching ambient sound design, I am interested in composing with these perceptual processes in mind as well as in the juxtaposition of complementary tones, lines, and so forth, giving attention to the sensations produced by sounds as well as their musicality.  While atypical of the ambient style in general, such methods contribute to originality of total effect in Black Mountain School works, making them distinctively different in sound and nature from those of other stylists.

Immersion

Aesthetically appealing sounds are considered musical as distinguished from noise and other sounds that impact negatively upon the sensibilities.

Thus there is virtue in moderation and balance in developing sound works that emphasize sustained effects. When subtlety of sound and expression is abundant, perception is enhanced and the listener becomes more thoroughly involved in the experience.

Certainly these are desirable outcomes, and particularly so with works of an experimental or avant-garde nature that aim to communicate in ways that are out of the ordinary.

Widening

Huxley concluded that the brain is a filter, one that spares consciousness the shock of perceiving all things simultaneously.

Thus the creative object of the composer is to assemble the elements most attractive to the listener's receptive awareness in such a way as to extend both active listening and passive hearing. As this is the way one perceives sound outside the framework of music, so it may be a different way to bring a composition to fullness in the listener's inner ear.

Shifting

Sounds are perceived, in their continuous manifestations, according to the nature of the listener.

But sounds may alter perceptions, mood, and consciousness. Blazes become glowing coals, winds rise and die down, to stir again, and arrival moves gradually toward departure.

So it is with the composition of sounds and tones that are not shaped into music, but into forms that reflect perceptions of the surrounding world.

Aesthetic, Function, Meaning

Art acts upon the senses, emotions, and mind.

Inspired by music, the dancer moves, while mood and thought follow.  Yet as art inspires, so the composer and listener explore and discover.

Territories of Imagination

Memory, association, feeling and thought are stirred by musical tones and structures.

The composer produces the atmosphere; the listener envisions and moves through the landscape.

Impression and Force

The arts always stand firm in the face of banality.  The contrast between the two is clear and real.

Distraction does not elevate; diversion does not last.  Meaning and beauty always endure, regardless of time, place, and medium.

Circumference, Expanse

Awareness of limits contributes to the efficacy of processes, including those involved in musical composition.

To oppose, overcome, deconstruct, or disregard limits is not the same as conceptualizing different limits altogether, and acting accordingly.

Contexts and Contents

Convert impressions of environmental sound elements into elements of composition.

Every setting is different and produces unique effects.  The sonic events produced in diverse settings, and those produced in the same settings on different occasions, offer practically infinite impressions that may contribute to any number of atmospheric compositions.

Deep Distances

Composition with sound can often be an exploration carried forward by forces of memory.

To "paint" with tones, lines, and placement of sounds evokes impressions that can be traced to their origins and projected toward unknown outcomes, neither to necessarily fail nor thrive, but to collapse or expand, supported not by rhythm, melody, harmony or meter, but by the impetus of vibrations and combinations that extend and diversify as they develop.

Spaces and Sources

Self-expression is many times of secondary importance in the arts.

Fundamentally, it is the communication of reality that, for some, demands representation. There is no room for the personal, or the spirit of the times, or critical debate.

The ideas and emotional perspective of the artist must be subsumed into the totality of the work.

Spectrum of Echoes

Events leave impressions.

These images of imagination, experiences, and sounds form the composer's palette.

Total Effect

Experience time present in the sounds of the surroundings.

While the sounds of such atmospheric events are not typically considered musical, they may be given form in artistic and aesthetically pleasing ways that anyone may enjoy.

The goals of these compositions are to enhance contemplative thought, lucid mental images, concentration, and composed reflections upon feelings.

Axis, Whorl, Atmosphere

The listener is at the center.

The spectacle is staged:  lights and visuals of every kind intensify the sound performance.  Like video, it exists for the eyes, not the ears, yet it completes the circuit of attention, as do sound designs for films that augment action and emotional scenarios with fitting music and effects.

Outside the spectacle, the listener is free to do other things and to move about, engaging in both passive hearing as well as active listening: auditory perceptions are altered accordingly by these movements.  Musical ambience may be composed and recorded for such contexts, to be enjoyed and engaged in such a manner.

Fullness of experience is far greater than anything mere spectacle can provide.

Close, Distant, Indeterminate

Musical variety exists within a frame of reference generally defined by cultural and personal taste.

Move past those boundaries and beyond their time and place altogether.  Listen for the beautiful, determine what makes it so, and create ways to bring it into being.

Engagement, Structured and Non-linear

Consider the shapes and intensities of sound waves along with the position of the percipient within the sonic field.

The perceptions of the stationary listener differ from those of the mobile one, for whom the totality of the listening experience undergoes change with movement.

The majority of musical performances and recordings are designed in terms of arrangements of direct, focused listening, including the free-flowing area of the dance floor.

Consider, conversely, recordings designed for the mobile listener, and sound performances structured for the mobility of both listeners and sound sources.