BUILT HIDDEN SOUNDSCAPES
What do you think we are not hearing?
I have been developing a series of synthesized “built” soundscapes of hidden sounds - sounds that cannot be heard by humans without the use of technology. Sounds that are easily heard by human ears are excluded. Built Hidden Soundscape: Pipeline Road, Gamboa and Built Hidden Soundscape: Adolfo Ducke Reserve are the first two results from this research. The works each consist of a speculative soundscape of entirely cryptic sound that begins with the dawn soundscape and runs through the diurnal soundscape into the evening. The compositions are presented alongside a spectrogram. A spectrogram is a bioacoustic design tool that shows how sounds sit together in a soundscape. The Y axis represents frequency (Hz) and the X axis represents time. The sound work consists of field recordings from the focal location, compiled from many recordings, arranged temporally, spatially, and spectrally, and bookended by the dawn and dusk soundscapes. This built soundscape includes ultrasonic sounds (above the range of human hearing, played back at lower frequency), substrate-borne vibrations, and otherwise very quiet sounds.
you are encouraged to listen in headphones
I have been developing a series of synthesized “built” soundscapes of hidden sounds - sounds that cannot be heard by humans without the use of technology. Sounds that are easily heard by human ears are excluded. Built Hidden Soundscape: Pipeline Road, Gamboa and Built Hidden Soundscape: Adolfo Ducke Reserve are the first two results from this research. The works each consist of a speculative soundscape of entirely cryptic sound that begins with the dawn soundscape and runs through the diurnal soundscape into the evening. The compositions are presented alongside a spectrogram. A spectrogram is a bioacoustic design tool that shows how sounds sit together in a soundscape. The Y axis represents frequency (Hz) and the X axis represents time. The sound work consists of field recordings from the focal location, compiled from many recordings, arranged temporally, spatially, and spectrally, and bookended by the dawn and dusk soundscapes. This built soundscape includes ultrasonic sounds (above the range of human hearing, played back at lower frequency), substrate-borne vibrations, and otherwise very quiet sounds.
you are encouraged to listen in headphones
The field recordings that are in the featured video above were recorded between 2017-2019 at Adolfo Ducke Reserve in Amazonas State Brazil as part of the project Amplifying the Tropical Ants.