Under the covers
Jan 17, 2023, 09:06 PM
"My process began by redesigning some things I heard in the recording like ship noise, and some sounds that I thought were missing such as the underwater atmosphere. I imagined that the narwhals were so vocally active in the recording because the ship noise disturbed their ability to use echolocation. I then did some research to learn more about narwhals and what threats they may face because I wanted to try and compose a soundscape from the narwhals’ perspective. I learned that they swim around and underneath ice sheets for protection and to feed, but can also die from getting caught in it if it freezes very quickly, and that they are indeed affected by ship noise.
"In trying to figure out what an ice flash sounds like, I came across some recordings of singing ice and found that it’s caused by deep cracks in the ice due to extreme temperature changes. I then began designing the sound of the singing ice. As the onset of the sound is laser-like, and the body is variable in pitch, similar to the doppler effect, I figured synthesizing the sounds made sense. However, all of the ice-cracking sounds and most of the other sounds are created by layering, editing and processing field recordings. I additionally used some instruments to provide harmony and dissonance, which I’d like to leave up to the listener's interpretation along with the form of the piece. I used processed cello recordings of natural harmonics and bowing sul-ponticello (near the bridge) which I believe shares properties with the arctic in that its hollow, slightly fragile sound subjectively resembles the cold. The original recording of the narwhals was high-pass-filtered to remove low frequency ship/recorder noise from the file and used as a texture along with the underwater atmosphere."
Narwhal reimagined by Alex Abahmed.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.
IMAGE: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication”), New York Public Library
"In trying to figure out what an ice flash sounds like, I came across some recordings of singing ice and found that it’s caused by deep cracks in the ice due to extreme temperature changes. I then began designing the sound of the singing ice. As the onset of the sound is laser-like, and the body is variable in pitch, similar to the doppler effect, I figured synthesizing the sounds made sense. However, all of the ice-cracking sounds and most of the other sounds are created by layering, editing and processing field recordings. I additionally used some instruments to provide harmony and dissonance, which I’d like to leave up to the listener's interpretation along with the form of the piece. I used processed cello recordings of natural harmonics and bowing sul-ponticello (near the bridge) which I believe shares properties with the arctic in that its hollow, slightly fragile sound subjectively resembles the cold. The original recording of the narwhals was high-pass-filtered to remove low frequency ship/recorder noise from the file and used as a texture along with the underwater atmosphere."
Narwhal reimagined by Alex Abahmed.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.
IMAGE: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication ("CCO 1.0 Dedication”), New York Public Library