Sounds

Sounds used will include-

Room tone- Recorded in the Hackney exhibiton space on campus

Walla/Rhubarb - low Db, high bass- to simulate the sound travelling through the boxes as one is in the exhibition space.

Footsteps- on wooden exhibition floor- Recorded on Hackney floor, large room so a lot of reverb, record close to the walls to ensure reverb is picked up and also to simulate walking through the box maze.

Footsteps in the snow -Boots in the road ice salt box -crunching + heavy boot step sound-heavy bass to make it distinct
                                  -  squeaking of snow steps- cornstarch wrapped in a towel being twisted.

Winds- Wailing, high speed winds, turn the mic adjacent to the wind to minimize distortion ( not entirely effective due to the capricious nature of the wind

Whisper- layered whispers (canon)- mess about with stereo side, treble , bass, reverb etc to give the impression of the origin of the whispers coming from all around the point of auditon.

Breathing- laboured breaths / chattering teeth/ chattering breaths? - simulate breathing in a cold enviroment.

Sound Synopsis?

The sound scape will be engineered to create an immersive experience that puts the listener into the shoes of an exhibition goer. The visitor will be walking through the exhibit and taken in by the lack of colour, coldness and emptiness is transported, in their imagination, to a snowy mountain top where they trudge their way into a cave/tomb where they are accosted by the oppressive whispering of the dead, before snapping back to reality and the exhibit.

basically a lara croft game?

Further Sound Ideas

The idea of packing away her mothers belongings coupled with the strong themes of death that run throughout Whitread's works makes me think of the dead in a tomb. this is synonymous with the Raiders of the Lost Ark where objects are filed away in a warehouse. The idea of a tomb is further compounded by my initial feelings of the exhibit evoking the feeling of walking through an old library space.

except messier/less fancy

The colour and feel of the piece makes me think of snow and cold weather, this idea is shared with one reviewer who said "it feels more like an icy maze" (Andrew Dickson, The Gaurdian, 25 Oct 2005)

Combining these ideas i will create a snowy/mountaintop tomb soundscape in an imaginary way.

Rachel Whiteread research

Rachel Whiteread, the first women to be awarded the Turner Prize , is a contemporary artist who mainly works with sculpture. Many of her works take the form of casts.

Her best know works include House (1993) , Ghost (1990) and Embankment (2005-2006), however House is probably her best know as it was the work she was awarded the turner prize for.

House was an expansion on her previous work Ghost and caused a lot of controversy in the local council when they reached the decision to demolish it on the same day Whiteread recieved the Turner. (a somewhat ironic decision)

Her works have often been regarded as being evocative of Death and Absence as most of her works are of things that are not there.

Embankment (2005-2006)

Embankment was a exhibition held in the tate modern, it consisted of 14000-odd translucent white polyethylene boxes , which were casts of the inside of different cardboard boxes. the boxes were stacked in a variety of ways, some in ordered rectangular stacks close to the floor and others in mountainous peaks that stretched up above the rest.

 Whiteread has cited both the end scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark ( 1981, Dir. Spielberg ) and Citizen Kane ( 1941, Dir. Welles) as visual inspirations. The death of her mother and the subsequent packing of all her belongings into cardboard boxes was a large influence as well.

Sound- Initial thoughts

Words that spring to mind:

Box, Cold, Void, Maze, Stacks, Avalanche, Pile, Snow, Sand, Particles, Lost, Sugar, Growth

Box- Obviously there's boxes but the people also look 'boxed in' as they walk around.

Cold- lack of colour leads to a cold feel, this combines with the high vantage point to compound a feeling of cold detachment.

Void- much as above it's void of colour and for me void of any overt emotion.

Maze- a warren of pathways, penned in by high walls/ hedges of boxes.

Stack- Dual meaning, boxes are stacked, but also the connotations of library stacks, library archives etc. get the feeling of a library for some reason but fused with the new and clean.

Avalanche- Looks like a neat avalanche of snow, the snow/colour is synonymous and much like a pile of snow its made up of many individual pieces/flakes.

Patrticles/ sand/ snow/ sugar - Lots of individual pieces making up the whole


Desertscape/ Snowscape- these atmos soundscapes are quite similar - Cicada sound (desert only), Wailing winds, birds of prey calls (hawk/or vulture in the desert,eagles etc in the snow scape), blizzard sounds, crunching snow/sand.

Snowscape mixed with library/exhibition sound ? - ambient room tone,