Humans have always been fascinated with the mathematical or visual art properties inherently present in nature. While I too find those to be interesting, I find the sounds that are produced by nature to be even more inspiring.
Take the sound of a sharp and searing crack of thunder, followed by the incredible boom that you can sometimes even feel move through the earth. This is a sound produced by the air, atmosphere, and the clouds yet it sounds so very primal and powerful. In order to synthesize and send out the sound waves of such a sound with such realism, one would need some pretty impressive speakers!
Nature has its massively powerful and roaring sounds, but it also has a softer and more delicate side to its auditory capabilities. Take for instance the sound of a gently burbling brook. Some individuals find this to be quite peaceful. Water running, wind gently rushing through leaves, many nature sounds are even used by individuals to soothe themselves to sleep. Quite gentle sound sources indeed.
The earth and nature can truly produce some beautiful sounds, but do these sounds have a place in carefully articulated and planned compositions and music?
I think that with a certain mindset and very careful stylistic consideration that nature sounds can be used in compositions and music. Additionally, with the advent and progression of technology, it is a simple feat to change, edit, and mold a recorded sound until it fits exactly within the ideals of a composer. The sound of a rock dropping into a still pond of water can be shaped into something that sounds less still and quiet and more massive and impending, almost like those bass drops that are ever so common at the ends of movie trailer now.
Moving deeper into the use of these sounds within music, there is also the idea of creating an entire work with only the use of these found sounds. There are many ways that one might go about acquiring a good arsenal of sounds before starting the work much like a traditional composer would carefully consider the instrumentation of a piece before penning a note.
One way of gathering these sounds, and possibly the best at allowing a composer to always be able to capture a potential sound, is to have a good and reliable field recorder. Many individuals would debate between the necessity of such a specific device as compared to something like a recording app built into a phone. I think that both have their merits. If one is going for an exact replication of the found sound in their work, I think a very accurate and clean recording is in order. On the other hand, if the sound is going to be heavily processed and changed beyond recognition, I don't think that it matters too much how accurately the sound is captured.
Gathering inspiration and ideas for where to capture these sounds and formulate them into a piece is another exploration within itself, much beyond the scope of one simple post, but will definitely be touched on later. Suffice to say just as it is enjoyable to hear the sound of a talented musician playing in nature, it can be equally pleasing to hear a beautiful collage of sounds presented as a thoughtful work.
Nature has its massively powerful and roaring sounds, but it also has a softer and more delicate side to its auditory capabilities. Take for instance the sound of a gently burbling brook. Some individuals find this to be quite peaceful. Water running, wind gently rushing through leaves, many nature sounds are even used by individuals to soothe themselves to sleep. Quite gentle sound sources indeed.
The earth and nature can truly produce some beautiful sounds, but do these sounds have a place in carefully articulated and planned compositions and music?
I think that with a certain mindset and very careful stylistic consideration that nature sounds can be used in compositions and music. Additionally, with the advent and progression of technology, it is a simple feat to change, edit, and mold a recorded sound until it fits exactly within the ideals of a composer. The sound of a rock dropping into a still pond of water can be shaped into something that sounds less still and quiet and more massive and impending, almost like those bass drops that are ever so common at the ends of movie trailer now.
Moving deeper into the use of these sounds within music, there is also the idea of creating an entire work with only the use of these found sounds. There are many ways that one might go about acquiring a good arsenal of sounds before starting the work much like a traditional composer would carefully consider the instrumentation of a piece before penning a note.
One way of gathering these sounds, and possibly the best at allowing a composer to always be able to capture a potential sound, is to have a good and reliable field recorder. Many individuals would debate between the necessity of such a specific device as compared to something like a recording app built into a phone. I think that both have their merits. If one is going for an exact replication of the found sound in their work, I think a very accurate and clean recording is in order. On the other hand, if the sound is going to be heavily processed and changed beyond recognition, I don't think that it matters too much how accurately the sound is captured.
Gathering inspiration and ideas for where to capture these sounds and formulate them into a piece is another exploration within itself, much beyond the scope of one simple post, but will definitely be touched on later. Suffice to say just as it is enjoyable to hear the sound of a talented musician playing in nature, it can be equally pleasing to hear a beautiful collage of sounds presented as a thoughtful work.