Music & Sound Art by Barry Prophet

Introduction to Sound Art & Environmental Music by Barry Prophet Conventional Music is an organization of sounds comprised of tones and textures generated by instruments (vocal, mechanical, electronic, software). Inferences of time, place and narrative are often present. Environmental Music incorporates any sounds gathered from the environment, interior/exterior, urban/rural. These sounds can be used as they are found or can be enhanced through effects processing or manipulated beyond recognition of the original sound source. Inferences of time, place and narrative seem to be intrinsic. Most Environmental Music composers work from as broad a palette as possible. Many music forms rely on a foundation of lower register, often sustained texturally complex tones. Repetitive and percussive components may also be utilized in creating a rhythmic frame. Higher, more pure tones often overlay the foundation parts, or in recording terminology, the bed tracks. The composition of Environmental Music can employ a similar approach. Subtly changing sonic atmospheres (waves breaking on the shore, long sustained processed birdsong) and mechanically repetitive sequences (machine sounds, processed walking on gravel or through dry leaves) represent opposite ends of the bedtrack/soundscape spectrum. An ambient environmental piece could be a layering of atmospheres and sequences moving in and out of audible focus. A more structured environmental piece could incorporate precise arranging of atmospheres and sequences with texturally and/or contextually powerful sonic events, similar to the addition of higher, pure tone instruments in a conventional music composition. The passing of a train and the closing of a door are both texturally and contextually powerful sonic events but contribute to the telling of very different stories and imply contrasting senses of time and place. Such a contrast can establish interesting tensions between expectation and experience, assumed communication and finely crafted expression. A chair squeak, texturally and contextually may appear to have a narrow range of applications, primarily because it is so recognizable and is widely experienced by people as an irritation to be ignored or oiled. This kind of sound often produces rich results when manipulated through effects processing. Many textures and harmonics embedded in a sound can be exposed by simply lengthening/expanding the sound, Change Duration or Change Tempo, or by adding Delay or Reverb. This distinctive sonic event can be transformed into a dense atmosphere or riveting sequence. Environmental Music can tell a story or enhance storytelling, be used as soundscape for theatre, soundtrack for media and composition for dance. Creating Environmental Music in a desktop or laptop computer is accessible and compelling, a journey of discovery into an ever expanding sonic universe.