New Music Influenced By Dub

Emika – Double Edged Sword (Pinch mix)

Basic Chanel - e2e4 Basic Reshape

Shackleton - Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos mix)

Good Examples of Dub

King Tubby – A Heavy Dub

King Tubby – Roots of Dub

King Tubby – Soundboy Massacre

King Tubby – Meets The Rockers Uptown 

Jacob Miller - Baby, I Love You So (original version of Meets The Rockers Uptown)

Dub Revolution: The Story of Jamaican Dub Reggae and Its Legacy.

Written by John Bush

link here

Useful Quotes

"The great sound system engineers of Jamaica in the late 1960s and early 1970s pioneered theinstrumental remix and were the first to make the style popular. Using only primitive recording and mixing equipment, the mixing engineer took a lead role in defining the sound of the recording, using the mixing board as his instrument.” (Bush)

“Ruddy played a key role in the initial development of dub, as he was the first to make a public performance of what would become known as version - the instrumental mix of a song without the vocals.” (Bush)

“Scratch later built his own studio, the legendary Black Ark, in 1974 in the Kingston suburb of Washington Gardens. Under Perry’s guidance, the Black Ark became known for its signature sound that was quite different from the other studios. From 1974 to 1979, the Black Ark was a center of creativity in reggae music, with Scratch continuing to experiment in version and dub styles. The Black Ark sound was characteristically heavy yet uplifting at the same time.” (Bush)

The development of the genre dub took place when the engineer would take an instrumental version of a track to the next level, using the effects such as echo, reverb and delay to change the whole sound and texture of the riddim. “This was the turning point in which dub emerged as a unique and characteristic branch of music itself, and can be credited almost entirely to the contributions of a mixing engineer known as King Tubby.” (Bush)

Tubby who was experienced in electronics through his background in TV repairs customised his mixing desk at his studio in the ghetto district Waterhouse in Kingston, adding faders which allowed him to add or subtract the various elements of the tracks smoothly. He also created his own effects units by modifying tape machines to create delays and hitting spring reverb units which created the characteristic thunderclap sound used in dub. “Tubby’s innovations behind the mixing board introduced to Jamaica the idea of the mixing engineer playing a creative role in the music.” (Bush)

Prince Jammy and Scientist who were trained by Tubby at his studio were the next generation of dub engineers. “Prince Jammy, otherwise named Lloyd James, would eventually go on to become one of the most successful producers during the dancehall era that Jamaica was soon to enter.... Using Tubby’s equipment, Jammy’s dubs would have the characteristic sound of Tubby’s studio, but in a style of his own. Jammy’s dubs were often more stripped down than Tubby’s, emphasizing the groove of the drum and bass, or the riddim.” (Bush)

The Representation of Space in Audio and Audiovisual Works. Bates (2007)

ARP Conference Paper

link here

This paper discusses the construction of space with sound and the arrangement of elements within that space, and compares the use of space in audio recording and film sound.

“For example, voices are treated differently in the two media, albeit they cross-pollinate. A reverberant voice in the iconic Chess or Sun rock ‘n’ roll music style is not generally employed in cinema and would not be read the same way. Reverberant voices tend to be used in film voiceovers to represent inner thoughts or might be used to evoke an eerie, uncanny or disembodied threat, or, if synchronised to picture, perhaps a visiting alien or malevolent spirit rather than the teenage angst of the spirited outsider or their chorus.” (Bates 2007 pg.1)

“In the ancient world there were deep linkages between reverberant space and the sacred or magical.” (Bates 2007 pg.2)

“And so, in those early recordings, as Peter Doyle argues, the recordings “came imbued with their own spatial codes; they constructed their own proscenium arch” (Doyle 2005:50) with the various placements of instruments and the content of the music composition constructed to superimpose fictional “sound pictures” onto the playback space- or at least that was the promise.” (Bates 2007 pg.4)

Natural audiotopias: The construction of sonic space in dub reggae. John Baker (2009)

ABSTRACT 

Dub reggae is widely regarded as an early form of the remix. Dub artists modify 
previously recorded reggae songs by manipulating a song’s individual tracks with a 
mixing board and layering them in aural effects such as reverb and echo. These effects 
are fundamentally spatial in quality, giving the listener an impression of vast open space. 
This paper is an analysis of the techniques utilized in dub’s construction of sonic space as 
well as an investigation of the cultural meaning of those spaces. My analysis utilizes 
Josh Kun’s theories about “audiotopias” (temporary aural spaces created through music) 
in order to study how sonic spaces create “new maps” that allow an individual to analyze 
their current social predicament. These “new maps,” therefore, engender a “remapping” 
of reality, a reconstitutive process that parallels dub’s emphasis on modification and 
alteration. This paper also argues that dub’s audiotopias are implicitly natural, although 
they are constructed through modern recording technologies such as the echo chamber 
and the reverb unit. A final chapter applies these analytical techniques to one of dub’s 
most popular musical offspring, hip hop.1 

Written by John Baker

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Department of American Studies. College of Arts and Sciences. University of South Florida.

link here


Quote and annotations;

“In order to study how sonic spaces create “new maps” that allow an individual to analyze their current social predicament. These “new maps,” therefore, engender a “remapping” of reality, a reconstitutive process that parallels dub’s emphasis on modification and alteration.” (Baker 2009 pg.ii)

"In 1976, Melody Maker published an article by music critic Richard Williams entitled “The Sound of Surprise.” Williams’ essay was a short but prescient description of the still-shockingly-new phenomenon of dub reggae. Williams prophetically noted that “there are possibilities inherent in this aberrant form which could perhaps resonate throughout other musics in the years to come” (145). (Williams 1976 quoted in Baker 2009 pg.5). 

This statement demonstrates that from the beginnings of early dub an interest was taken in its innovative production techniques and how these techniques could possibly influence future music. EDM is a good example of a genre that has taken influences from dub's use of space and spatial effects and used it to create new sonic spaces, soundscapes or audiotopias. 

Baker (2009 pg.27) describes Tubby's reverb technique in the following way "Tubby’s percussive use of reverb “widens” the track, giving the listener an impression of deep canyons and limitless plains."

"Doyle’s assertion that natural reverberant spaces can possess sacred qualities has particular implications for Jamaica’s Rastafarians, whose belief in the “ital” (natural) stresses humanity’s spiritual connection to the earth." (Baker 2009 pg.23).

Dub artists with a strong connection to the Rastafarian religion were looking to create this connection with “the other” or to create something new and unheard before which could give them the edge in a "sound clash" between two competing sound systems.

Baker (2009) uses “Josh Kun’s theories about “audiotopias” (temporary aural spaces created through music)” to describe dub’s soundscapes created with the use of echo and reverb effects. “In order to study how sonic spaces create “new maps” that allow an individual to analyze their current social predicament. These “new maps,” therefore, engender a “remapping” of reality, a reconstitutive process that parallels dub’s emphasis on modification and alteration.” (Baker 2009 pg.ii). The use of reverberation and delay effects along with creative mixing and soundstage techniques combined an extra spatial dimension creating strange dub soundscapes that had not been heard before and with an emphasis on the rhythm section, this has become the characteristic dub sound. "Dub artists utilized reverb to construct sonic spaces that sounded as if they were free of human impediment and therefore full of possibility." Baker (2009 pg.26).

Baker then goes on to describe how dub’s audiotopias can be described as natural which is problematic as these alternate spaces which are created, serve to remove the listener from the everyday, therefore cannot be described as natural. Also Baker contradicts himself with this statement by talking about giving the listener an impression of deep canyons and limitless plains. The spaces created through the creative use of effects in dub were never meant to be natural, with the help of the previously mentioned effects Dub artists were able to create impossible soundscapes or audiotopia’s which do not relate to any real world acoustic spaces.

"Dub’s rhythmic decentring,"..."can be read as simply another example of the genre’s emphasis on fragmentation. Dub’s echoic alternate rhythms are never fully established, after all. They do not overtake the rhythmic foreground but instead remain within the song’s defining background, influencing the listener’s awareness of sonic space. They are incomplete, offering only a hint at the possibilities offered by the audiotopia." (Baker 2009 pg.41). 

Carsten Nicolai on The Creators Project

The Creators Prject

Carsten Nicolai also produces experimental electronica under the alias Alva Noto

 

Excellent Tutorial Video on Sampling in Live 8

Other techniques not covered in this video include; dragging and selecting sections of audio in the arrangement view then hitting Ctrl+E  to make an edit (split) then exporting the file to a chosen folder.

After clips have been copied, edited and moved into a clip slot, the midi map button (top right) can be selected and clips can be assigned to a midi controller for live playback.

Edits can be made in the arrangement view then if a blank drum rack is added to a midi track these edits can be dragged into available slots in the drum rack provided that the midi track containing  the drum rack is selected.

Louche Podcast

Podcast 085

Binh

Resident Berliner Binh takes to the ones and twos this week. The German, who grew up in Dusseldorf is a serious underground head to those who know him; most famously for his residency at  Berlin's summer hangout Club der Visionaere. Easily our top place to go when visiting the German capital the club is a typically understated venue, nestled on the banks of a canal shaded by trees. The music never stops 7 days a week, and your just as likely to see some big names playing there as residents. Binh hosts and plays at his bi-monthly Sunday day parties Noon, spinning an intricate blend of stripped back deep house and techno. He's recently been in Tobi Neumann's studio learning his way around, expect some productions from this guy soon. If they're anything like the tunes in his poddy then this young lad is definitely one to watch for the future.

right click, save as

Originally from here

Considering Space in Music

(ABSTRACT)    This paper is offered to establish a framework and to initiate a context for inquiry and for discovery of how space functions in recorded music.  This is a beginning to seek a greater understanding, and not intended to offer an overview of practice, or a theory of principles.
    This paper will examine the spatial elements of music recordings and consider how they impact the music itself.  It will examine several recent and historically significant recordings to define broad concepts, and will then focus on a single recording and its use of space to enhance its musical materials and relationships.
    Space in music can be profoundly important.  These qualities can create a context for the song and its materials, be used to enhance musical ideas and the instruments and voices that present them, can even function as musical materials, and much more.  Still, the breadth and the significance of their role in recorded music is not defined or fully understood.

This paper is written by William Moylan Professor, Music and Sound Recording Technology
University of Massachusetts Lowell  (USA)

link  here

Quotes;

The spatial qualities inherent to music recordings primarily function at two basic levels of the music’s structure...These two primary levels can be defined as the dimensions of (1) the overall sound of the recording/music and (2) the qualities and relationships of the individual sound sources or groups of sound sources contained in the recording/music. (Moylan 2008)

Moylan (2008) states that the perceived performance environment (PPE) is "an overall space within which the listener ‘hears’ the piece of music as existing." Then continues to say "The sound stage is the singular area occupied by all of the sound sources of the music, as an aggregate or group.  It has an apparent physical size of width and depth that are defined at the level of the individual sound source: (1) the dimension of width is defined by the furthest right and left sound (lateral localization) and (2) the dimension of depth is defined by the most distant sound source and the closest sound source."

All sounds or groups of sound sources have the potential to be placed in their own individual environments.  The qualities of the environment fuse with the sound quality of the sound source to create an overall timbre to the sound, and also to provide the illusion of its placement in a unique physical space.  The physical spaces can have dimensions that defy our natural physics (Moorefield. 2005. p.xv.), or can be quite realistic; they will impart a quality of depth to a sound, but actual distance location will be defined by the detail present in the sound source’s timbre (Chowning. 1977. p.50). 

It can also be extended to the possibility that spatial qualities have the potential to be or to generate musical materials in and of themselves (Tenney. 1986. p.89).

Table 2 is a rudimentary outline to begin exploration.

Table 2.  Some fundamental questions towards evaluating the spatial qualities of recorded music.

Table 4.  Image size in music

Table 5.  Image locations

The proportion of direct sound (unaltered by the environment) to the sounding of the source in the environment (reflections and their characteristic frequency response) will determine the extent the sound source will be altered by the environment.

Table 6.  Environment sound qualities and dimensions in music. 

•    How is the concept of the song reflected in the size of the song’s ‘space’?
•    Is the song bigger than its space? Compatible with? Smaller than?
•    Is the song enhanced by its perceived performance environment?  In what way?

The Narrative Use of Sound and Music in Apocalypse Now

Rob Harrison

Leeds Metropolitan University

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates Murch’s sound design treatment of Apocalypse Now [2]. The paper covers topics such as; the use of acousmatic sound, looking at Chion’s theories on the subject and how this ties in with Flueckiger’s unidentified sound objects, point of audition, and how this technique is used to show how the characters in the story hear the war. The creative uses of diegetic and non-diegetic music are covered along with vectorization and pre-lapping of sound. Sound and music are used to score the tension and anticipate action in many scenes throughout the film, selected scenes are examined for these functions and analysis is made. An investigation is also made into Murch’s law of 2.5 and his theories on encoded and embodied sound and how this can be placed on a spectrum dividing and categorising sound between music and speech. And the paper concludes by rounding up the investigated points showing how they are used for narrative effect.

Keywords

Apocalypse Now  Walter Murch  Acousmatic  Chion  Flueckiger  Sound Design  Point of Audition  Diegetic  Non-Diegetic  Vectorization  Pre-lapping  Encoded  Embodied  Murch’s Law of 2.5

Introduction

This paper aims to investigate the use of sound and music in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now [2]. The film is set in the Vietnam War where Cpt. Willard (Martin Sheen) has been set a top secret mission that officially  'does not exist - nor will it ever exist'. The mission involves him travelling up the Nung River into Cambodia to find and kill a renegade Colonel Kurtz who has gone insane and is commanding his army and carrying out rogue missions without direction from the U.S. Forces. The film features large sound and music departments and great detail was put into the post production process which broke records taking twenty six months to be completed. Walter Murch headed up the sound department and was also the film editor giving him chance to shape the picture and sound editing into a cohesive whole winning the film a host of awards including best picture and best sound.

This paper will analyse specific scenes from the film looking at how sound and music have been used to push the narrative of the storyline forward and how an immersive filmic world is built which absorbs the audience into the sound of Vietnam. The paper will be broken down into sections looking at some of the functions of sound and music in pivotal scenes from the film which will be examined, these will consist of; the opening scene, Willard receiving his mission, the ride of the valkyries, the tiger scene, Satisfaction on the boat, the Do Long Bridge, a section from Willard’s capture in Kurtz’s camp and Kurtz’s assassination. These scenes provide a wide range of examples of the narrative use of film sound and music through functions such as off screen acousmatic sound and unidentified sound objects, point of audition, diegetic and non-diegetic music and vectorization/pre-lapping. Sound and music is also used to fulfil functions such as describing the location, time period and cultural setting of the film, to describe the characters emotions or what emotions the audience should feel. Sound and music is used in the film to score the tension in a scene and to anticipate subsequent action. These functions of film sound and music will be discussed in greater detail in regards to the selected scenes mentioned above, and investigation will be made into how these functions are put to use for narrative effect. An investigation will also be made into what Murch describes as encoded and embodied sound, and his law of 2.5

Off Screen Acousmatic Sound and Unidentified Sound Objects

Chion [4] describes acousmatic sound as “sound one hears without seeing its originating cause.” This function is often used in horror films to increase tension as when we hear a sound our mind searches for the origin of the sound and if we are unable to find an originating cause for a strange sound this builds an air of tension much like a bump in the night, “since the origins of humankind, dangers in nature have been brought to our attention through noises: reacting quickly and appropriately to noises that signal danger can be crucial. The most threatening, however, are the noises which cannot be attributed to a known source within a reasonable amount of time.” [5].

Flueckiger [5] discusses off screen sound in a similar way classifying it as unidentified sound objects or USO’s. Flueckiger states “a chief characteristic of the USO is that it has been severed from any connection to a source.” Acousmatic sound is put to use in Apocalypse Now [2] from the very beginning of the film, at first we see a black screen and the first sound heard is a synthesized chopper sound being panned around from left to right at the rear of the cinema then to the front. Murch states in an interview that “at the beginning of the film, where we wanted a more abstract approach, we took the helicopter sound and recreated it element by element on a synthesizer.” [7]. The fact that a helicopter is the first sound we hear in the film is no mistake, the Vietnam War centred around the use of helicopters so this ghost chopper as Murch describes it sets the scene for a film about the Vietnam War, a war of helicopter cavalry.

During the Do Long Bridge scene later in the film where we have travelled up river and seem to be getting ever nearer to Kurtz’s insanity, Willard and Lance get out of the boat to find the commanding officer at the Do Long out post. Strange processed cries and animal sounds are heard, which comments on the increasing insanity of the soldiers and the war the further they travel up the Nung River. These unidentified sounds support and emphasize the scene, and do not divert and confuse the listener’s attention but accentuate feeling of crazed war and also the increasing danger while travelling further up the river. [5].

“As the sample analysis of the opening scene from Jurassic Park [8] reveals, Steven Spielberg is a master in the suggestive deployment of USOs. We imagine some kind of creature, certainly a violent one – the noises and the composition of its cage testify to that.” [5]. As Willard and Lance crawl through trenches of the Do Long Bridge out post they come across a group of crazed soldiers firing wildly into the jungle, Lance who has admitted to Chef earlier in the scene that he had taken the “last tab of acid he was saving” is clearly experiencing the situation from an altered perspective. He climbs up onto some sand bags absentmindedly while Willard and the other soldiers are sheltering from the oncoming fire and we hear processed off screen Red Indian vocalisations commenting on the psychedelic connection between Red Indians, peyote and the desert, this is another excellent example of an acousmatic USO. This connection is also illustrated in The Doors film [15] where Red Indians feature in the most of the psychedelic scenes.

Point of Audition

Point of audition describes hearing the world through the ears of an on screen character, much like point of view describing seeing the world through the eyes of an on screen character. Chion [4] defines point of audition into two meanings; “1. A spatial sense: from where do I hear, from what point in the space represented on the screen or on the sound track? 2. A subjective sense: which character at a given moment of the story, is (apparently) hearing what I hear.” It is mainly the subjective which we are concerned with regarding the narrative function in Apocalypse Now, during the opening sequence a montage of images of the jungle and war is overlaid onto Willard in a drunken reverie in his Saigon hotel as Willard starts to come round the sound of the chopper blades slowly fades into the fan spinning above his head bringing the audience into the hotel room and out of Willard’s mind and his thoughts about the jungle, this shows how his mind is still full of the war. The city ambience Willard hears through his hotel window such as the policeman’s whistle and car horns then also morph into jungle ambience, Murch [11] states “we wanted to create the sound of a field of crickets for one of the beginning scenes (Willard alone in his hotel room at night), but for story reasons we wanted the crickets to have a hallucinatory degree of precision and focus.” This hallucinatory degree is commenting on how “one reality is exchanged for another. The thread that links them is the fact that although his body is in Saigon his mind is in the jungle. That’s what Willard really wants to get back to.” [16]

Another good example of point of audition is during the Do Long Bridge sequence, strange acoustics and reverb comment on Lance’s P.O.A. as he has taken L.S.D., low chopper thuds make up bed of background sound creating an eerie sense of foreboding. Willard and Lance come across a sniper called Roach who has the ability to almost echo locate with his hearing. Murch talks about slowly taking the sound out over a period of time so we are pulled into hearing the world the way Roach the sniper does as he focuses in on the voice in the trees. A similar technique is also used in the tiger scene. [9]. An example of how P.O.A. has been has been used in another film could be the shell shock scene in Children Of Men [3] where a tank fires a shell at a building causing a large explosion. After the explosion we hear the diegetic sound from the scene through the main protagonist’s point of audition where all the sounds are muffled as if he is recovering from the shell shock.

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Music

Diegetic music is music which is coming from a source in the world of the film. “If the source of a sound is a character or object in the story space of the film, we call the sound diegetic. The voices of the characters, sounds made by objects in the story, or music coming from instruments in the story are all diegetic sound.” [16]. Therefore the term non-diegetic music is used to describe the musical score, which usually functions to mark out important parts of the film and is a guide for the audience’s emotions.

During the scene where Willard receives his mission he meets two officers and a C.I.A. representative in a hut on a military camp in Vietnam. Willard enters the hut and inside it looks homely with settees, a coffee table and breakfast bar, a thousand miles away from the war in the jungle. There is soft dinner party music playing diegtically in the background. The fact that this music is playing comments on how relaxed the other characters are in this setting and also provides a sense of juxtaposition to Willard’s narration before he enters the hut where he talks about his story being a confession. As the men sit down to eat the dinner party music fades out which increases the tension in the scene before they start to tell Willard about Col. Kurtz. As the scene draws to a close and Willard is told that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist the score starts up with struck instruments possibly sounding slightly eastern, commenting on the location and this also communicates the emotions in the scene where Willard has just been given a mission to assassinate an American colonel. The non diegetic music also builds to the transition where they are travelling aboard a helicopter on the mission.

The famous ride of the Valkyries scene where Kilgore and his airborne regiment attack the NVA village at the mouth of the the River Nung, while playing Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries, is one of the most iconic scenes in any film about the Vietnam War. The music is based on Norse mythology, arranged by Wagner as part of his opera ‘Die Walkure’. Valkyries were the nine daughters of Wotan by Erda, of whom his favourite was Brunnhilde. It was the duty of the fierce warrior women, or ‘Amazons’, to incite the heroes in battle and carry away the bodies of the bravest on horseback to Valhalla, so that they may serve as the protectors of the gods. Again the horseback, cavalry and battle themes come across with the music. This is commenting on Kilgore’s army arriving in helicopters and the Vietnam War being a cavalry war fought with helicopters. The Ride of the Valkyries also provides a suitably epic soundtrack to the sight of so many helicopters flying in to attack a village, possibly anything other than grand classical opera would not be heroic enough? The cut to the peaceful village serves as a big contrast to the choppers and loud Wagnerian music and shows how the Americans are shattering the peace in Vietnam during the war. This also helps put across the differences in culture between the Vietnamese and the Americans.

Lissa [10] describes diegetic music as source music stating “film music becomes source music when it is motivated by the narrative logic of the visual production's fictional reality', i.e. when the source of that music is part of that same fictional reality. Source music can be thought of as music audible to (hearing) characters (if any) and enacted in the scene where it occurs. The sounding source of the source music may be visible on screen, e.g. a marching band, a band in a nightclub, a parent singing a lullaby, a concert, a church organ and congregation, etc., but it can also be invisible, e.g. a car radio, Muzak in an airport or shopping mall, a TV or hi-fi that has been turned on.”

Another example of diegetic or source music is the scene where Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones is playing on the radio on the boat this is communicating emotion to audience of the men feeling relaxed, they are dancing and Lance is water skiing from the back of the boat. This choice of music again comments on the time period and cultural setting of the film. The acoustic quality of the track changes as shot changes to the side of the boat travelling past the camera, this could be what Murch calls worldizing when the sounds are re-recorded in the environment shown.

Vectorization and Pre-Lapping

During the scene where Willard receives his mission we hear the sound of chopper blades which punctuate the dialogue building up to the transition to the next scene, this effect is known as vectorization. These building sounds provide a means of vectorization (help move the clip along a vector in time) the image its self has temporal animation, movement of characters and objects but the sounds temporality combines with the temporality present in the image helping us to move along the vector in time. [4]. These chopper sounds accentuate the tension in the scene where they are talking about Kurtz’s insanity and they also help to move between shots of different characters on screen pulling the audience’s attention between the shots of each actor.

Pre-lapping is a technique used where a sound from the next scene is overlaid onto the end of the previous cut. “Pre-lapping a sound edit before a scene changing picture edit, simply feels different than cutting sound and picture simultaneously. The sense is heightened that the outgoing scene is over, and the story is driven ahead.” [6] “Musically, it gives you a sense of anticipation and a windup. Something's about to happen. And then, of course, there's this cut, and the sound is very loud.” [7]. At Col. Kilgore’s beach party directly before the start of the Valkyries sequence Kilgore is talking about surfing the beach, as it has a 6ft peak. As the scene draws to a close and Kilgore says “Charlie don’t surf”, the turbine whine from a helicopter is pre-lapped over the end of the scene. There are no helicopters present in this scene but the rising turbine whine does provide a sense of anticipation and a windup. Something is about to happen as they are planning to attack the village the next day. When the transition happens and the scene cuts to the next morning, there are many helicopters starting up their engines ready for the battle it felt as if we were pulled into the scene creating a different type of transition and a bigger build up to the cut. This could also be an example of vectorization.

Scoring Tension and the Anticipation of Action with Sound and Music

There are many examples in Apocalypse Now ^[2] where everyday sounds have been used to score the tension of the narrative which helps to push the storyline forward. During the sequence where Willard receives his mission a recording is played of Kurtz’s voice while Willard and the other officers sit and eat. The voice recording, said to be picked up coming out of Cambodia, contains strange audio artefacts placed over the dialogue. These sounds seem to be made up of more synthesized helicopter sounds. The use of these sounds over the top of the recording serves to heighten empathy within the scene, bringing an air of darkness around Kurtz while the men look at each other, shocked as they hear the evil sound of his voice. This use of helicopter sounds again sets the recording in the Vietnam War.

At the beginning of the Valkyries scene where the choppers are all taking off we hear the diegetic sounds of the helicopters slowly fade out to a soldier blowing a bugle and siren like sound which is not clearly on screen, but could be signalling the fact that they are embarking on an air strike or bombing raid. The bugle is also representative of battle and war. The bugle and siren give the beginning of the scene a solemn feel as if what they are about to do is wrong. When Kilgore’s helicopter lands on the beach with a battle raging around it there are dense layers of sound. Murch [11] talks about how certain sounds are required to tell the story such as the dialogue being most important, then the helicopters, then small arms fire, mortars and explosions and so on. Murch [11] states “so in this section of Apocalypse, I found I could build a “sandwich” with five layers to it. If I wanted to add something new, I had to take something else away. For instance, when the boy in the helicopter says “I’m not going, I’m not going!” I chose to remove all the music. On a certain logical level, that is not reasonable, because he is actually in the helicopter that is producing the music, so it should be louder there than anywhere else. But for story reasons we needed to hear his dialogue, of course, and I also wanted to emphasize the chaos outside – the AK47′s and mortar fire that he was resisting going into – and the helicopter sound that represented “safety,” as well as the voices of the other members of his unit. So for that brief section, here are the layers:

1.       Dialogue (“I’m not going! I’m not going!”)

2.       Other voices, shouts, etc.

3.       Helicopters

4.       AK-47′s and M-16s

5.       Mortar fire.  

The tiger scene is another good example of the use of scoring sound in anticipation of the action “in which a high-pitched, sustained sound of insects freezes time and causes the experience of suspense, an effect usually achieved through the use of music, and by orchestral means.” [1]. This use of everyday sounds focuses attention and describes the location, using jungle ambience to build up before a tiger jumps out, from the jungle. An example of this use of everyday sounds used to score tension in this manner from another film could be in The Godfather where Michael is deciding whether or not to commit his first murder and the sound of a screeching train plays his emotional state.

After Willard and Lance’s encounter with Roach the sound is brought back in with an explosion blowing up a tower on the bridge giving a sudden shock and this marks out the fact that we are leaving the location. Strange processed orchestral hits start the cue of the score and horror movie string trills play the tension as the Chief tries to persuade Willard not to go any further up river. This is an “expression of actor's emotions, i.e. using music to communicate what characters played on screen are supposed to be feeling.” [10].

When Willard reaches Kurtz’s camp he is captured and at one point he is tied up outside in the rain, the music follows the movement micky mousing Kurtz’s footsteps as he walks over to where Willard is tied up. “Mickey mousing consists in following the visual action in synchrony with musical trajectories (rising, falling, zigzagging) and instrumental punctuations of action (blows, falls, doors closing).” [4] This “emphasis of movement, i.e. musically underlining visible or audible movement that is not intrinsically music” [10] serves to underline the severity of what is about to happen, building up to the impending action. A large crescendo of music dies down into rain lulling you into a false sense of security before Chef’s head is dropped into Willard’s lap by Kurtz. Willard’s horror is then punctuated with a clap of thunder marking the severity of the situation again. Lissa [10] describes this function as “anticipation of subsequent action , e.g. the music starts to sound nasty while the picture is still quite innocent', presenting a mood of threat just before the visuals go ugly with a sudden cut to a foul deed.”

Encoded and Embodied Sound and Murch’s Law of 2.5

Murch [11] divides up sound into the spectrum of light with encoded sound, over on the left (violet); and embodied sound, on the right (red). “The clearest example of Encoded sound is speech. The clearest example of Embodied sound is music. When you think about it, every language is basically a code, with its own particular set of rules... Music, however, is completely different: it is sound experienced directly, without any code intervening between you and it.” Flueckiger [5] describes the USO as “a piece of pure music which expresses itself in an openness for associative links on an abstract sound level.” This would place the USO’s used in the scenes mentioned above towards the red end of the spectrum as they are embodied sound. “Sound effects can mercurially slip away from their home base of yellow towards either edge, tinting themselves warmer and more ‘musical,’ or cooler and more ‘linguistic’ in the process... Sometimes a sound effect can be almost pure music. It doesn’t declare itself openly as music because it is not melodic, but it can have a musical effect on you anyway.” [11]. This use of musical sound effects works well to describe the ghost chopper at the opening of the film as it sets the stage and describes the location for a war film and also introduces the helicopter as an important character in the film and the war.

Figure 1. showing encoded and embodied sound on a spectrum from violet to red [11]

Murch also discusses his law of 2.5 which deals with the fact that our brains can only concentrate on 2.5 things at a time and after that we group the information into being many. Murch [11] states “so what began to interest me from a creative point of view was the point where I could see the forest and the trees – where there was simultaneously Clarity, which comes through a feeling for the individual elements (the notes), and Density, which comes through a feeling for the whole (the chord). And I found this balance point to occur most often when there were not quite three layers of something. I came to nickname this my Law of Two-and-a-half.”

These ideas of encoded and embodied sound and the law of 2.5 can be applied to the scene where Willard is presented with Chef’s head by Kurtz mentioned above. There are no insect sounds present with music and rain in this sequence as the audience is meant to focus on the rain falling on Willard and, this is another example of Murch’s law of 2.5 where he uses combinations of embodied and encoded sounds. The rain and the insects would fall in the orange section of the spectrum but this already has the non-diegetic score there so something must be taken out to create space. Murch removes the insect sounds, used in earlier scenes as a musical sound effect which focuses the audience’s attention on the rain hitting Willard’s face and his predicament, being captured in Kurtz’s camp, tied up outside in the rain.

Conclusion

 Apocalypse Now [2] provides many excellent examples of the functional use of sound and music for storytelling and narrative purposes. Acousmatic sound is used from the very start of the film to describe the location, setting and genre of the story, along with being used to comment on actors states on mind and emotions. There are multiple examples of how point of audition is used to let the audience know how the characters are hearing the war which pulls us into the world of Vietnam.

Music has been used in creative ways throughout the film taking us into intimate settings using diegetic music from radios on screen or shocking images where an airborne regiment attack a village to the theme tune of Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries. These shock tactics have earned the film iconic status where people now associate the music with this film.

Sound is used for the purposes of vectorization helping move the clip along a vector in time such as helicopter blades punctuating dialogue to focus the audience’s attention on different characters in the plot. Pre-lapping where sound is overlaid onto the cut of a scene has been used as a creative device to provide a different kind of transition where the mind of the audience is placed between scenes as a prominent sound from the following scene is introduced before its source is revealed.

Both sound and music have been used extensively to score tension within a scene and to anticipate forthcoming action. An excellent example of this technique is during the tiger scene where a sustained sound of jungle insects freezes time before a tiger attacks Willard and Chef, this kind of effect is usually achieved through the use of a orchestral score.

Walter Murch uses advanced techniques and theories to manipulate sound for narrative effect in Apocalypse Now [2]. This includes splitting sound into categories such as encoded and embodied and placing them on a spectrum from violet with encoded sounds such speech, to red – embodied sounds which are experienced directly such as music. This classification works alongside Murch’s law of 2.5 to enable him to decide what sounds to include in a movie sound track and what will be left out, judging on the fact that the human brain can only concentrate on around 2.5 pieces of information at once. This in depth knowledge of sound design has enabled Murch to design a soundtrack which is as compelling as Coppola’s images, plunging the viewer into the world of the Vietnam War using sound to tell the story of the film alongside the visual. Together the sound and image combine to create a film which deserves the awards and iconic status it has received.

 References and Bibliography

[1] Anderson. M. (2008) Audio Visual Correspondences

[2] Apocalypse Now. (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. USA, Zoetrope Studios. [film:35mm]

[3] Children Of Men. (2006) Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. USA, UK, Universal Pictures. [film:35mm]

[4] Chion. M. (1994) Audio Vision: Sound on Screen. Columbia University Press, New York

[5] Flueckiger. B. (2002) USO: The Unidentified Sound Object B USO. Available here http://www.zauberklang.ch/uso_flueckiger.pdf (Accessed 04/05/2012)

[6] Holman. T. (2002) Sound for Film and Television Vol.1. Focal Press

[7] Jarrett. M. (2000) Sound Doctrine: An Interview with Walter Murch. Film Quarterly Spring 2000. Available here http://www.yk.psu.edu/~jmj3/murchfq.htm 

[8] Jurassic Park. (1993) Directed by Steven Spielberg. USA, Universal Pictures. [film:35mm]

[9] Kenny. T. (2000) Sound For Picture: The Art of Sound Design in Film and Television. Mix Books, CA USA

[10] Lissa. Z. (1959)  Ästhetik der Filmmusik (1959: 115-256) Quoted From: Tagg. P. http://www.tagg.org/udem/musimgmot/filmfunx.html

[11] Murch. W. (2005) Dense Clarity – Clear Density. http://transom.org/?page_id=7006 (Accessed 3/5/2011)

[12] Red Road. (2006) Directed by Andrea Arnold. Glasgow UK, Advanced Party Scheme. [film:35mm]

[13] Seymour. T. (2011) Walter Murch – The Sound of the Apocalypse http://www.moviescopemag.com/features/walter-murch-the-sound-of-the-apocalypse/ (Accessed 3/5/2011)

[14] Terminator 2 Judgement Day. (1991) Directed by James Cameron. USA , Carolco Pictures. [film:35mm]

[15] The Doors (1991) Directed by Oliver Stone. USA, Carolco Pictures. [film:35mm]

[16] Weis E. & Belton J. (1985) Film Sound: Theory and Practice. Columbia University Press, New York

Contemporary trends in the use of space in electroacoustic music

(ABSTRACT) This paper describes a survey of contemporary approaches
towards the use of spatial design in electroacoustic music,
focusing on the type of spatial systems used by a sample of
composers and the way they conceive the use of space in their
music. Comparing the results with information gathered from
seventeen articles by composers written on the topic in 1997,
it is shown that composers nowadays are more used to
working with different types of spatialisation systems than
before. There is also a considerable increase in the use of
surround 5.1 as well as four- and eight-channel systems and a
decrease in the use of stereo. The compared results also show
that, in general, composers nowadays seem to be less
concerned with performance and interpretation issues as well
as technical aspects of spatialisation. Further studies could
consider a more detailed investigation of how the new
spatialisation tools have shaped the aesthetical character of
the music composed in recent years.

This paper is written by FELIPE OTONDO
Department of Music, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
E-mail: fo500@york.ac.uk

link http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/28291/1/otondo_organised_sound.pdf

Some interesting quotes include;



The details of many responses to the survey seem to
indicate that composers in recent years have been using
the spatialisation as a way to develop a more coherent
internal space in the studio that can help to render the
sound materials in the composition clearer. (Ontondo 2008 pg.79)


The responses of many composers to the survey point to the fact that
performance through live-diffusion does not seem to be
as interesting as it used to be.Many respondents seem to
be more interested in reproducing convincingly a spatial
design developed in the studio and some feel, like
Natasha Barrett, that live-diffusion can be restrictive for
more detailed and complex spatial developments. (Ontondo 2008 pg.80)


Damian Murphy,in a recent event devoted exclusively to
spatial design where commissioned pieces focusing on
spatial design were premiered, said that he had been
disappointed by most of the proposals received for the
open call (SpaceNet 2007). In a discussion panel about
spatial designclosing the event he said thatheidentified a
very conservative approach in the use of space, arguing
that ‘the technology is there but there has not been a
development in terms of artists pushing the boundaries’. (Ontondo 2008 pg.80)