NOISE MUSIC, ENVIRONMENT AND PERIPHERAL PATTERNS
By
Miles Thorogood
BDA, Australian National University, 2007

A THESIS ESSAY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FUFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF APPLIED ART
in
Media Arts

EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN
2010

© Miles Thorogood, 2010

Abstract
The development of the project Peripheral Patterns aims toward an autonomous
software system for generative music, that takes as a point of departure, how sound is
implicated in our experience of the everyday world in the city. This investigation began with
the analysis and consideration of the contrasting soundscapes of the city and the natural
settings. The analysis was found to show some correlation with the arrangement and
frequencies of sounds in soundscapes and post-industrial noise music works. The above
observations led me to the further analysis of soundscapes and noise music. My position on
the current city soundscape is as follows: As the human is both a creature from the natural
and urban environments, these contrasting vistas will create modern sonic topographies
which are exhibited in noise music. Peripheral Patterns explores these convergent spaces to
investigate the potential of the sound that is at the limits of human hearing. Whereas once
animals occupied small spectral niches in the soundfield, a sky train can be heard passing
over Commercial Drive as the constant white noise roars from the city. Conversely, there is a
desire for something that resembles peace, a desire to return to an experience of natural
soundscape. This thesis looks at a possible convergence of urban and natural soundscapes.

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT!........................................................................................................... i
TABLE OF CONTENTS!....................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS !................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ACCOMPANYING CD TRACK NAMES !................................................ v

Introduction ........................................................................1
Chapter 1.............................................................................4
Logic of urban and nature sound spaces .......................................................................5
Urban soundscapes .......................................................................................................5
Studying the soundscape...............................................................................................9
Spectrographic analysis ..............................................................................................11
Spectrographic analysis of natural environment ........................................................11
Spectrographic analysis of urban environment ..........................................................12
Noise music as convergence of natural and urban soundscapes.................................15
Organization of sounds & spectral content comparison .............................................17
Summary ....................................................................................................................18

ii

Chapter 2...........................................................................20
In the beginning there is noise ....................................................................................20
Computer noise ...........................................................................................................21
Relationships ..............................................................................................................23
Talking about it ...........................................................................................................24

Chapter 3...........................................................................28
Periphery within the horizon ......................................................................................28
Defining peripheral sound ..........................................................................................29

Chapter 4...........................................................................32
Introduction.................................................................................................................32
Methodology ..............................................................................................................33
Tools ...........................................................................................................................34
Implementation ...........................................................................................................35
Patterns .......................................................................................................................39
Listening experience ...................................................................................................42
Exhibition ...................................................................................................................44

Conclusion.........................................................................47
Bibliography .....................................................................49

iii

Acknowledgements
So that’s it, I have finished my MAA thesis, with lots of help along the way. I would like to
thank my supervisor Maria Lantin. Maria seemed to know when to let me play and discover,
and when to reign me in. She showed me that all things can be approached in a playful and
meaningful manner.
I would like to thank my wonderful wife Jocelyn Smith for getting my butt in and out
of gear at times I needed it most. Jocelyn’s understanding of the life of a grad student was
the guiding light in my sanity. Thanks to my Mom (Irina Thorogood) for being the bastion
of encouragement and believing that I can do anything.
Finally, I would like to thank the Emily Carr University community for your
openness and friendship. Through our conversations and interactions you have all shown me
the importance of aesthetic difference and the consideration of all things.

iv

CD List
Track #

Name

Duration

1

Banff National Park 1000hrs

1:05

2

Davie and Granville, Vancouver 100hrs

0:13

3

Hastings and Main, Vancouver 1000hrs

0:22

4

Example analysis through synthesis result

3:25

5

Glitch Manifest

0:32

6

One

2:00

7

Three

12:18

8

Eight

8:06

9

Ten

12:00

10

Excerpt 1 of installation piece

1:05

11

Excerpt 2 of installation piece

1:15

12

Excerpt 3 of installation piece

1:41

v

Introduction

Introduction
Sound interests me because of its emotive affect and the fracturing of percepts it engenders.
Sound art and computer music involve working with events that are not necessarily
referential, manipulating and relocating events in space and/or time to create new
experiences of being. In the creative process I shape the invisible to be heard and expose the
audible. Process, interaction and perception are all part of my practice, inextricably linked.
For me, sound shifts perceptions of space and reality. Walking along the street, sitting in the
park, or in my studio I will close my eyes and it is here that reality breaks from normality as
my mind looks out from the ears and everything is moving as space expands. The sonic
experience opens a window to a seemingly virtual reality by creating an unfamiliar outlook
on a familiar space, and it is here in these eldritch spaces that I make my art. My practice
involves the programming of machines in the creation of sound experiences, often referring
to the natural world where the systems at play inform my work at a multiplicity of levels
including arrangement and aesthetic. It is in this environment of machine and the natural
world that hearing and feeling come together for me to form new bodily sensations.
The history of my interest in observing the experience of sound began when a group
of friends and myself would go to into the Australian bush land outside of Sydney with sound
making machines. Here we would make a soundscape that would supplement the existing
sound space, creating new potentials in the soundscape to experience. Walking a distance

1

Introduction

from machine sound, an interesting convergence of machine and nature would emerge
around us. I was given the chance to explore this expression of sound further whilst taking a
contemporary music course in 2001 and being shown experimental music as a discipline.
During this period I was introduced to music theory that helped contextualize my work, and
open new avenues of investigation by removing the constraints of what music should be.
This was also the first time I heard post-industrial noise music, through the works of Yusuno
Tone and Nam June Paik. I went on to formalize my engagement further with experimental
music at The Australian National University, taking a degree in computer music in 2004
where the focus was on computational algorithms and organization of sound. The study of
computer music history divulged a lineage of innovation and explorative practices in
computer music beginning in the late 1950s with the MUSIC system by Max Mathews and
later Jean Claude Risset, which I took up in my practice. Through these new methodologies
it was possible to hack machines for the synthesis of hyper experiences from observations of
sensations in the natural world, to which I continued to return.
This thesis explores the lines of inquiry that influenced the project Peripheral Patterns.
Initially I explored, through the cataloging of observations, the effects of the sound in
Vancouver on people in their day to day activities. These observations interested me because
as a newly landed immigrant I felt that I might understand the people and their actions better.
To investigate the sonic space of Vancouver, I carried out a spectral analysis of several sites
in the city in the Downtown Eastside and downtown core. This gave a standard visual
reference of the activity in the sound field. This spectral data of the city was put up against

2

Introduction

data from recordings of the natural environment from Banff National Park in Alberta, to form
a comparative study. From this comparison I initially observed two differences. Firstly,
there is an apparent balance in the natural environment, whereas there is little room for
cooperation in the city soundscape as the noise is overall constant. Secondly, there exists a
layer of information where similarities would sometimes occur, at extreme frequencies of
human hearing. It is this second observation that compelled me to further inquiry because it
was not an area of the audible sound spectrum that I had operated within. I was further
compelled to reflect on how artists, and especially post-industrial noise musicians, have
responded to the emergence of the sound of the city.
This thesis, in four chapters, examines issues encountered in the research which
influenced the timbre and patterns in Peripheral Patterns. Chapter One looks at urban and
natural soundscapes, contextualizing the discussion from the position of hypermodernity and
the response of The World Sound Scape Project. Spectrographic analysis of natural and
urban soundscapes will show that the patterns and spectral attributes of those soundscapes
are evident also in components of noise music. Chapter Two investigates noise music
starting from John Cage through to contemporary post-industrial noise music. A discussion
regarding the engagement of sound with language is brought into focus. Chapter Three
discusses the terminology of peripheral sound and how this type of sound is made manifest
through the perception of incidental sounds. Finally, Chapter 4 will discuss the operation and
methods employed in implementing a software system that incorporates natural and urban
patterns resulting in the sound works contained within Peripheral Patterns.

3

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Chapter 1

Nature, Urban & Music
Gradually, it became apparent to me that these machine sounds should be
allowed to belong in my emerging image of nature. The idea that the true
sound of nature is something which excludes the 'interference' and 'noise'
of human culture survives as just that - an idea, a nostalgia...

David Chesworth, Environment: videowall soundscape, 1996.

This thesis looks at noise music from the point of view of its natural and urban soundscape
influences. The organization of sounds, spectral content, and patterns evident in natural and
urban soundscapes will be analyzed and shown to be components of noise music. Using this
knowledge, a software system was built that systematically incorporates natural and urban
patterns into a noise music composition.
The inspiration for linking urban and natural soundscapes to noise music came as I
experienced the soundscape of Vancouver during a walk along the False Creek seawall. The
following section is an account of that experience.

4

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Logic of urban and nature sound spaces
Walking along the sea wall at False Creek I wonder if what I am hearing is the sound of the
intense feeling that is embodied within me. A feeling of heightened reality, almost like I
have held my breath too long and my nerves are tingling in response. I take time to listen to
the cityscape that is made manifest by innumerable human events, picking up new detail in
the sonic constant. I notice that there is little interest to be found in this sound. Rather it
becomes a backdrop to my inner space making connections between thoughts, constructing
new ideas from traces of recent and new thoughts that hover, mix, and disappear. As my
perceived ability to control the parameters of experience is increasing, there is trust I give to
the objects and systems that have helped enable this constructed reality. Certainly, if this
feeling is intentionally constructed then I am indebted to the builders of this experience, but I
fear, as with God, that there is no one there. The sound space here on the sea wall is not
intentionally designed. It is the result of a visual monopoly, an architecture on the far shore
where sound escapes through the cracks between the towers, the water in between, and the
rise of the land behind, that makes this particular soundscape what it is in this place at this
moment. Surely there are too many variables. I am skeptical of the city developers’ long
term thinking about the effect of sound on everyday experiences.

Urban soundscapes
Although no meaning is inscribed in the constant city sound, the information it contains
reflects a culture that has difficulty finding identity and relationships because of this very

5

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

same low fidelity, low-information non-sound that it produces. Murray Schafer and the The
World Soundscape Project (Schafer, 1978) spent much time gathering the disappearing
soundscape of the world because of the threat of the homogenous and dominant lo-fi1 sound
emerging in the post industrial era. Schafer created a terminology for background and
foreground sound spaces that redefines the soundscape as a composition, thereby
transforming the way in which we think about the sound space by demonstrating that even
what could be considered as minor or incidental sounds are signifiers of community and the
state of the world (Schafer, 1993). Individual characteristics are mapped to place and people
by the existent sound marks of that locality such as the sound of the Bow River in Banff or
church bells in Waterloo, Ontario. The tell tale characteristic of a unique space with
separated hi-fi sounds were missing in the city roar along Vancouver’s False Creek, telling
me that the homogeneity that Schafer and the The World Soundscape Project heard coming is
in effect.
This realization was heightened during the winter of 2009 when I attended a lecture
by Barry Truax at the Simon Fraser University Surrey Campus. He presented several
spectrograms2 of the sound of the forest to demonstrate that there is an apparent turn taking
of the audio band between animals. In one example, the insects could be seen to constantly

1 lo-fi sound in this context refers to the low information noise produced primarily from traffic and other

industrial machinery. The lo-fi sound is a constant imprint on the urban environment. Alternatively hi-fi refers
to sounds that offer purposeful information, or add a positive response to the state of being.
2 A spectrogram is a visualization of spectral density over time. Commonly it is used to analyze the calls of

animals, but can be used to analyze any signal. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology have available a free software
Raven used for hobbyists and students for analyis of audio signal and musical instruction, available from http://
www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/raven/RavenOverview.html. cited 01/08/2010

6

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

occupy the upper area of the spectrum, while different bird species occupied the middle of
the spectrum at different times. Unlike the natural world, where there is a seeming
cooperation in the audio spectrum, the modern city cares little about the distribution of
acoustic space. Instead, there is an intensification of the excesses in noise. When overlaid
onto the hi-fi soundscape there is degradation on the quality of the soundscape and species
can no longer communicate. This city soundscape has a doubly negative effect on people,
neither being conducive to community or an understanding of the self in relationship to the
environment. Truax believes that sound has now been polarized in the city environment to
loud and quiet, good and bad. This binary operation of sound has had the effect of distancing
inter human reaction, and elevating the expectation of stimulus. In reaction, citizens plug in
to media output devices such as TV and iPods. These devices enable an individual to
administer the amount and type of fantasy that suits the desired feeling - an impossibility in
the unplugged world. I see this as a cheap solution to the problem of betterment through
sound. Instead of providing positive actions like rebuilding the overall sonic architecture, we
tend toward consumerist stopgap measures that are false fulfillments to the human soul.
As there is a vacating of awareness of space and the removal of identity, something
new is arising. Marc Auge, author of Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of
Supermodernity (Auge, 1995), views the emerging environments that culture inhabits as nonplaces: late capitalist phenomena of frequented spaces such as supermarkets, airport
terminals and the cash machine. These spaces are something we perceive, but only in a
partial and incoherent manner. The engagement with these non-places brings with it a

7

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

profound alteration of awareness of the excesses of space and information. Auge maps the
distinction between place, encrusted with historical monuments and creative social life, and
non-place such as airport terminals and thoroughfares to which individuals are connected in a
uniform manner and where no organic social life is possible. Unlike the postmodern
premise, where old and new are interwoven, supermodernity is self-contained: from the
motorway or aircraft, local or exotic particularities are presented two-dimensionally as a sort
of theme-park spectacle. Auge does not suggest that supermodernity is all encompassing:
place still exists outside non-place and individuals tend to reconstitute themselves inside it.
But, he argues powerfully that we are in transit through non-place for more and more of our
time, as if between immense parentheses, and concludes that this new form of solitude
should become the subject of an anthropology of its own.
I have attempted to seek out the possible space that is given to soundscape within the
larger sonic picture of the city and, moreover, in the places within the city that are not
deemed significant enough to be called places. The in between spaces that people wait in
and travel through, are the necessary vehicles that can have an overall effect upon everyday
lives for people who work, play and live within the city. Hi-fi sound experiences still exist in
pockets in locations throughout the city. The Granville Island Market outdoor area is one
such place, with just the right amount of sonic elements to lift the mind. A background city
ambience provides tuning for the foreground sound markings of the birds, the sound of
children in the sun and a Spanish guitar. There is separation in the sounding of this place, a
place that has been reformed from the industrial area it was not so long ago. If a reformation

8

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

of the soundscape is possible, it involves re-finding the spaces between the noise, and
shaping the surplus of existing noise, “tuning” it. This creates a tuned hypermodern
soundscape, and that is what I believe I am experiencing here on Granville Island. So, there
is space to reflect and find difference in the soundscape in the peak of civilization, at certain
points at least.

Studying the soundscape
The reflective experience of the urban soundscape in Vancouver compelled me to explore in
closer detail the soundscapes of urban and natural environments. One method that I adopted
was spectrogram analysis [figure 1]. A spectrogram facilitates analysis of sound over time
by creating a visualization along three axes.

Figure 1. example of a spectrogram

9

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

In a spectrogram, time is represented along the x axis where sound events are observed in the
vertical segmentation of the image [figure 2].

Figure 2. Vertical time segmentation of a spectrogram

Frequency is represented along the Y axis. At each time slice, the intensity of a particular
sound frequency can be read from low to high frequencies along the vertical.

Figure 3. Horizontal frequency segmentation of a spectrogram

The intensity of the color (or shading in a greyscale spectrogram) represents amplitude, or
the intensity of the frequency at that time. From the combination of these dimensions we can
see how a sound or group of sounds unfolds over time.

10

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Spectrographic analysis
The soundscape comprises the sounds heard in an environment and, like landscape, plays an
important role in the relationship between living beings and their sense of a space. The
spectrographic analysis of urban and natural soundscapes and noise music was a point of
reference for building a software system to investigate the effect of those sounds on the
listening experience.

Spectrographic analysis of natural environment
The spectrogram in Figure 4 is of a sound recording taken in Banff National Park during
summer at 10 am (CD Track 1). The pattern we see with a fairly regular interval from 5
seconds through to 37.5 seconds is the chirp of a small bird call. The bulk of the intensity in
the call is within a frequency range of 3.5kHz to 7kHz. As one can see it is consistent with
little change or interruption. At 37.5 seconds the small bird call is interrupted by a lower
frequency sound in the 500Hz to 2kHz range. This new sound is in fact the call of a different
species of bird. At the point of interruption the small bird appears to stop its call, and wait a
small amount of time after the second bird as finished its call before resuming a pattern.
After two reports there is a pause of roughly the same length of time as the interruption, one
report then a pause of the interval between the previous two reports, the second call is now
repeated and precisely when that is finished the small bird calls.

11

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Figure 4. Banff National Park 1000hrs

Bernie Krause in The niche hypothesis: A hidden symphony of animal sounds, the
origins of musical expression and the health of habitats puts forward that animals tend to
occupy small bands of frequencies with temporal segmentation leaving “spectral niches” into
which other animals and insects can fit in their sonic markings (Kraus, 1993). The bird call
patterns that can be observed in the figure 4, and by ear through the recording, fit with
Krause's hypothesis of the give and take cooperative behavior of animal species in the audio
spectrum. What interests me is the organization of sounds that are displayed in the spectrum
because of the similarities that we may infer to the arrangement of sounds in music.

Spectrographic analysis of urban environment
The soundscape of the urban environment differs from the natural soundscape. Even an
initial glance at the spectrogram in figure 5 of the urban soundscape makes this statement
plausible. The spectrogram in Figure 5 is of a sound recording taken at the intersection of

12

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Davie and Granville Street during summer at 10 am (CD Track 2). There is seemingly little
organization in the audio spectrum with the main auditory intensity coming from the constant
traffic noise, which occupies frequencies within a range of approximately 500Hz to 10kHz
with a drop in the intensity of frequencies above 3.5kHz. There is a seemingly random
pattern of different peaking engines and other machine sounds at around 4.5kHz, which is of
equal intensity to material at 2.5kHz.
The second spectrogram [Figure 6] of an urban environment is of a recording taken at
the intersection of Hasting and Main during summer at 10 am (CD Track 3). In this
spectrogram we see the same low information sound of traffic, which is a feature of this type
of soundscape. What is different in this recording are the brake squeals occurring with good
intensity at 8.5kHz then at 15.5kHz. This is interesting because there is difference displayed
by the existence of these sounds, and although there is seemingly little organization to their
temporal placement it highlights the incidental sounds that people living in cities are
subjected to in their day to day activities such as their commute.

Figure 5. Davie at Granville 1000hrs

13

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Figure 6. Hastings at Main 1000hrs

In the context of the city, the primary sonic object tends to be car traffic and building
tools, and in urban areas of Vancouver, the soundscape is mostly car noise. Studies have
shown that natural types of sounds, not man-made sounds, are comforting to human beings
(Yang, 2005). According to Schafer (Schafer, 1993), as the ‘hi-fi’ soundscape is eroded the
homogenous low information “grey noise” of the city creates a dislocation between humans
in the environment, and more heinously, decays their sense of place and identity.
Sophie Arkette picks up on the phenomenology of soundscape in public spaces in her
article Sounds Like City, and argues that sound is imbued with its own lexical code: "sound
as sign, symbol, index" (Arkette, 2004). Arkette goes on to say that Schafer's view of a
disappearing hi-fi soundscape fails to read the inscription of economic and cultural
communities on city spaces, and that by simply cleaning up city sounds to resemble natural
sounds, we fall short in understanding the dynamics of the city. Indeed, there are social and

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Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

cultural sound markings that signify the identity of different groups, as can be heard at the
Sky Train passing over Commercial Drive, or the ringing in of the New York Stock
Exchange. What Arkette fails to address is the incidental and acute sounds that appear in a
city soundscape, and the effect that these minor sounds have on culture.

Noise music as convergence of natural and urban soundscapes
One contemporary response to the emerging urban and city environment that interests me is
noise music. An example is the Japanese noise music artists of the mid 90s, which is to be
discussed with further detail in the next chapter. What noise means in the context of this
thesis is that the timbre of the sound in the music is of a broadband of frequencies with little
or no harmonic arrangement. Japanese artists Merzbow and KCCC were producing
unrelenting noise as music that can be seen as an expression of the similarly unrelenting
noise of the traffic and progress of city and urban environments.
Since artists such as Merzbow made their impact on music, culture post-industrial
noise music has emerged as a genre that continues to implement the noise-like quality of
sound in reference to mechanized society. Post-industrial noise music adds a consideration
of the placement of sound. This consideration is demonstrated by a removal of the
unrelenting broadband noise that was demonstrated with noise music of the mid 90s and
takes on the appearance of an organization of sounds with purposeful harmonic content.

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Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

The spectrogram in figure 7 shows an excerpt from The Other Face by Austrian
musician Christian Fennesz (Fennesz, 2007) and demonstrates how noise is organized in
post-industrial noise music. The spectral content of this piece indicates a tendency toward
noisy timbre qualities and is reminiscent of the low information sound of traffic noise
observed in Figure 7. In the listening experience of The Other Face there is an apparent
harmonic organization in the noise that comes across as multiple rich textures difficult to
separate and in flux with one another, as is the propensity of Fennesz. Also observable in the
spectrogram is the regular pattern of noise bursts with a mean frequency around 4kHz. The
timbre displayed in the pattern is a highly processed machine-like sound that is in dialogue
with the other noise profiles in the piece by occurring in an organized arrangement.

Figure 7. The Other Face, Fennesz

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Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

Organization of sounds & spectral content comparison
Through the analysis of patterns found in the spectrograms of natural and urban soundscapes
we can see how post-industrial noise music displays a convergence of the organized behavior
of the natural soundscape with the spectral or timbre qualities of urban soundscapes. To
highlight this argument figure 8 shows the spectrograms of the recordings from Banff
national Park (top), Davie Street (middle) and an excerpt from The Other Face (below).
What I notice from a comparative analysis of the three spectrograms is that there is a regular
pattern to the timing of events in the natural soundscape, a consistency in the spectral content
of the urban soundscape, and both regularity to the pattern and consistency of spectral
content in the noise music piece.

Figure 8. Spectrograms of natural soundscape (top),
urban (middle) and noise music (bellow)

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Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

The tendency for post industrial noise music artists to practice a more considered
approach to the aesthetic of noise coincides with the period where culture becomes aware
and active of the impact we have on the natural environment. From this simple analysis of
patterns I am suggesting that post-industrial noise music references natural and urban
soundscapes as a reflection of the intersection of the post-industrial city and natural
environment.

Summary
This chapter has referenced the work of Schafer and Truax as points of departure, and
observes their position regarding the effect of natural and urban soundscape in relation to the
human. I believe, as do many others, that there is a primary force that exists within the
natural world to which we have a connection and that we are impacted by the modern sound
world. An investigation of soundscapes from the natural and urban soundscapes has shown
that post industrial noise music artists have responded to the surrounding sound world with
an awareness of the mechanisms that operate in the natural world. The connection between a
Schaferian perspective on modern low information soundscapes and the mechanics as
described by Krause provide a strong basis for sound aesthetics and arrangement. My work
Peripheral Patterns examines the patterns of natural environments for arrangement qualities
and extends hi-fi sound markings to be inclusive of subtle and machine sounds as manifested
in the non-places of the cityscape. The methods and implementation of patterns found in

18

Chapter 1. Nature, Urban & Music

natural soundscapes and the qualities of urban noise into a software system will be discussed
in detail in Chapter 4.
The resulting product of the software system from the research in this thesis tends
toward the style of post industrial noise music. Post industrial noise music is a field of
practice that facilitates multidisciplinary research and experimental practice which is where I
position my work. Chapter 3 will explore noise music more closely in a historical a
contemporary context.

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Chapter 2. Noise Music

Chapter 2

Noise Music
It is an impossible task to document the works perfectly. One can only
approximate the experience of them, and try to give a sense of what
occurred in the original space. The inclusion of a range of materials, text,
photographs, diagrams and compact disc sound examples aims to give a
sense of the nature of these works, even though all forms of documentation
by themselves are inadequate.
Ros Bandt, Sound sculpture, 2001

In the beginning there is noise
Noise music began to emerge in the avant-guarde experimental music of Europe in the
1940s. Musique concrete, and artist such as Luigi Russolo, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz
Stockhausen and earlier futurist experiments were radically breaking with melodic and
harmonic traditions. Until this point, there was music, the ornamentation of culture, and the
bothersome noise. Further deconstructing the classification of music, John Cage
demonstrated that music can be made of all sound, with the pivotal 1952 composition
4'33” (Cage, 1960). The composition of 4'33” is four minutes and thirty three seconds of

20

Chapter 2. Noise Music

silence, where the sound of the space is put into focus, which asks how we can call
something music, when there is no traditional sense of the thing, and thereby questions how
is something not music. Cage’s statement, as expressed with 4'33”, guided understandings
of presence, body and an expanding contextual frame. Furthermore, from this inquiry it is
possible to understand relations between sound, environment and intrinsic spatial
phenomenology.
Sound itself has a quality of generating new surfaces in spaces it inhabits, new spatial
experiences by augmenting existing spaces. Sound artists have reconstructed noise to invoke
a tactile and spatial resonance with their sound. Contemporary noise artists such as Merzbow,
Yasunao Tone and Phillip Jeck have helped define the modern sound of noise music as a raw
expression. It is this tactile and spatial quality which has the potential of generating new
surfaces and spatial experiences.

Computer noise
Computer music is a field of study into the application of computer technologies for the
purpose of music creation3. Most recently, sound artists such as Ryoji Ikeda, Christopher
Bissonette and Alvo Nota have approached the medium in a thought-provoking and
aesthetically different manner by interpolating the raw energy of noise into a thoughtful and

Computer music, now often used to refer to any music made on a computer, was originally a term
used within academia refer to a field of study relating to the utilization of computing technologies in
music composition. Using programming languages and computational models computer music
hinges on an intellectual aesthetic, that involves the study and application of music technologies such
as sound synthesis, (psycho)acoustics and digital signal processing.
3

21

Chapter 2. Noise Music

considered sound. The history of computer music comes from the first sound program
(MUSIC) developed for the CIRAC computer by Max Mathews in 1957, and was taken
further by artist/engineers such as Jean Claude Risset soon after. Experimentation in
computer music has employed scientific research such as psychoacoustics, psychology,
computer science and technology, to name but a few. Researchers like Perry Cook, John
Chowning and others at institutes such as Princeton and Simon Fraser University
demonstrate how computer music interests and methods have different foci.
To encapsulate contemporary computer music composition I will refer to a limited
number of examples Evoking spacious landscapes in the soundfield with Pentes (Samlley,
1997), Dennis Smalley produces a spatial experience through drones and intense textures of
sound. The texture of the sound in Pentes achieves a granular and tactile quality that
resonates like the rustling of a tall grass. Rosy Parlane assembles a sonorous spatial field in
Iris (Parlane, 2004). Parlane achieves this, in part, with the purposeful and considered
placement of sonic features. Spatial textures are made audible also in the sound works of
Christian Fennesz, Rivers of Sand and City of Light (Fennesz, 2004). The physical quality
of sound in a spatial field leads to an abstract sonic topography that positions the listener
within an experiential field.
Listening to the compositions of Adrianne Moore, sonorous fields are
encountered, arranged with objects that dialogue within a temporal flux. Moore’s audio
piece In Paradisum (Moore, 2006) presents the listener with patterns and textures that bring
interest to the listening experience. Also providing texture and surface, Anthony Pateras and

22

Chapter 2. Noise Music

Robin Fox provide the listener with the dialogue of several sounds in the piece Aphasia
(Pateras, 2008) that make manifest a similar interest in listening.

Relationships
Noise music and computerized sound construct sounds, where spectral and temporal
semantic relations develop over time. It is the phenomenon of emerging relationships that
piques curiosity and an interaction with a listener. There is an intellectual and emotional
aesthetic that arises from the experience of noise music, and the encounter of sound in
perceptual space. Equally, a disembodiment occurs, as any known causal relationships of
sound and object appear removed. By placing disembodied sounds in known relationships
there is a gesture toward the uncanny as it plays with the logic of our experience of the
world, being both unknown and familiar. Stuart Jones, author of the article space-dis-place:
How Sound and Interactivity Can Reconfigure Our Apprehension of Space, sees all spaces of
sensation having their own contours and dynamics, pertaining to a perceptual logic (Jones,
2006). In designing the sound for the film and sound work, These are not my images, Jones
needed to situate the viewer at a position of intimacy with a woman, but where the camera is
holding them at a distance, to portray the feeling of both closeness and distance as was the
narrative of the film. He resolves this paradox by using noise to form a dialogue with the
sound and image, using the experiential attributes of closeness and distance to position the
viewer/listener.

23

Chapter 2. Noise Music

The above artistic developments show an evolving praxis towards the ontology of
sound that explores a higher relational and experiential field. By facilitating analysis of
object, silence and topological space, sound no longer remains just ‘the sound’ in this
context, but an experiential situation that encodes and decodes spatial and conceptual
relations. This relationship evolves as a complex situation of reciprocal shaping of event and
experience. Sound augments the space as it creates new associations between what is being
heard and the space. The space provides a return, as sound permeates the existing surface
topology and shifts temporal and phase relations intrinsic to the sound itself. The
intervention of space and sound disengages both, assembling new force, activating new
potentials.

Talking about it
Even though sound as an experimental medium holds a great deal of potential, it can often go
unrealized. Noise music and computerized sound are forms of expression and investigation
that have been practiced for more than half a century, although compared to visual art, the
awareness of sound and the potential it inhabits are relatively new. Sound and noise as a
medium only began with any vigor in the 1940s and 1950s with Musique concrete and John
Cage that broke from existing musical archetypes. One of the reasons of the secondary
nature that sound plays in culture, is that as a practice, it does not necessitate objective
representation such as a score or written word. The ephemeral nature of sound, moreover
noise music, means that there exists a growing body of work that has mostly been

24

Chapter 2. Noise Music

undocumented. Recent music theory and musicology has called for an analysis and
documentation of works that are often, by their nature, an audio recording or computer code
without further documentation. This knowledge gap makes it difficult for further study, and
the culture of thought and technologies of the music are also lost.
Language is, itself, an inadequate means of relaying the actual experience of sound.
Jim Drobnick, author of Aural Cultures, debates that as with images, there are problems with
sound “not being fully explicable within the paradigm of textuality” (Drobnick 2004).
Doubly problematic for a discussion of sound, is that language has been completely involved
with the visual domain, leaving a vocabulary of visual analogies for discussing the
experience of sound. Although textuality is seen as problematic for sound, a growing list of
texts is emerging to help root a discourse of aural phenomena. Most frequently, texts are
taking a retrospective on what effect sound has played within cultures, piecing together an
investigation from the scattering of documentation and experiences. Investigating sound
within a variety of cultural contexts, Hearing Cultures (Erlman, 2004) looks at how sound
operates in a visually dominated society. Journals and conferences such as Leonardo Music
Journal and Australasian Computer Music Conference tend toward process and technology.
To further aid in the discussion of sound and noise music, Dennis Smalley introduces
a language of spectromorphology for describing sound material in a reduced listening context
(Smalley, 1997). The ideas laid out in spectromorphology advance a structural analysis of
sound by spectral content and temporal change. Since computer and electroacoustic music

25

Chapter 2. Noise Music

that use acousmatic4 sound do not require notation that can be studied, spectomorphology
gives us a framework for understanding spectral and temporal relations of sound in nonnotated music and attempts to provide a common language in the discussion of sound.
Continuing further along this line of inquiry, and outlining a framework for
disassembling and analyzing computer and electroacoustic music researcher David Hirst
demonstrates a technique named segregation-integration, assimilation-meaning (SIAM) in
his paper The development of a cognitive framework for the analysis of acousmatic music
(Hirst, 2006). Segregation and integration relies on the identification of sonic objects and
their causal linkage over time. Assimilation and meaning refers to the integration of sounds
as a creation of timbre or texture, and how the sound and piece affects the listening
experience. In an analysis of Denis Smalley's acousmatic piece Wind Chimes, Hirst
demonstrates SIAM as a system for understanding the acousmatic material, in a reasonably
objective manner. From the observations outlined in Hirst’s paper it can be seen that there is
a process of pulling apart the music to analyze the technical attributes, and that by itself
language is inadequate for relaying the actual experience of the sound.
As we have seen the discussion and understanding of computer music is as much a
language of process as it is of experience and abstraction. This thesis looks at patterns in the

The term acousmatic is taken from the probationary period of akousmatikoi to which disciples of
Pythagorus were subjected to. For three years hopeful students would sit behind a curtain before they
were let into the inner circle of Pythagorus' teachings. Similarly to Pythagorus' curtain, acousmatic
sound sits behind the curtain of the loudspeaker, reducing the experience of listening to the sound
thing itself. Pierre Schafer used acousmatique to refer to musique concrete compositions, where the
sound as object in itself, more than the source of the sounds, is considered.
4

26

Chapter 2. Noise Music

soundscapes of natural and urban environments. Through the analysis of soundscapes it is
shown that components of noise music consist of the convergence of those patterns. An
influence for this thesis has been patterns that have characteristics of peripheral sounds. A
definition of the periphery in the context of this thesis is described in the following chapter.

27

Chapter 3. Peripheral Sound

Chapter 3

Peripheral Sound
A defining concept of this thesis is the periphery in the context of audition. In clarifying the
resulting terminology used for the title Peripheral Sound this chapter discusses how, from a
phenomenological perspective, a range of frequencies can be viewed as existing within the
periphery. Furthermore, from physiological evidence I will look at how that these peripheral
sounds influence spatial perception and enhance listening.

Periphery within the horizon
The Oxford dictionary defines periphery as “the outer limits or edge of an area or object, and
a marginal or secondary position in, or part or aspect of, a sphere of activity”. From a
phenomenology perspective Don Idhe, author of Listening and Voice (Ihde, 2007), discusses
human perception in terms of “focus”, “shading off” and “horizon”. Idhe uses these three
perceptual zones to outline the phenomenon of visual focus on an object. In vision we have a
central point of focus or attention. Secondary to this is an area that shades off; this area of
peripheral vision is less distinct. Lastly, the horizon is the border or limit of the perceptive
apparatus. Extending this model to audition, Idhe compares the horizon of visibility to that
of silence in hearing, and the focal point as louder sounds. For Idhe it is the inclusion of

28

Chapter 3. Peripheral Sound

stimulus in the shading off area and horizon that enhances listening (Idhe, 2007, p. 222). As
with peripheral vision, peripheral sound is within the shading off area. I argue that in
addition to the zone between loudness and silence in human audition, marginal or secondary
sounds that hold no particular significance occupy the periphery.

Defining peripheral sound
As discussed in Chapter 1 (Figures 5 & 6) incidental sounds can be heard in the urban
soundscape. These incidental sounds are peripheral because they inhabit a range of audition
at the outer limits of the high information band that we commonly use to communicate and
receive information from the urban environment.
In day to day activities such as conversing and interacting with the made world we
encounter sounds that are generally between 30Hz and 5kHz. The frequency range of the
human voice, with a fundamental frequency between 100 - 300HZ, is contained within the
above bandwidth, and sibilant overtones (as found in the sounds “s” and “st”) extend the
range up to 5kHz. Other noises encountered in urban activities such as the sounds of an
ATM and mobile phone ring tones are concentrated at the lower end of the range.

29

Chapter 3. Peripheral Sound

Figure 9. Spectrogram demonstrating the “high information” area and shading off at higher
frequencies.

A healthy young adult is capable of hearing frequencies in the range of 20Hz - 20kHz.
Although there is some variation between individuals and the range decreases as age
increases, we will consider the nominal range to be 20Hz - 20kHz for the purpose of this
discussion. Taking into account that the high information band cuts off at 5kHz there is
15kHz of additional auditory space that is not often engaged. As we saw in the spectrograms
of city soundscapes in Chapter 1 (Figures 5 & 6), the 15kHz space is occasionally frequented
by subtle and incidental sounds that tend not to be purposeful.
In a physiological context, higher frequency incidental sounds may enhance our
experience in several ways. One way in which this enhancement takes place is with spatial
perception, considered in duplex theory (Mather, 2006). Duplex theory suggests that higher
frequency sounds at each ear provide rich information, especially key in discerning the
direction of a sound. Another significant factor in the localization of a sound source is the

30

Chapter 3. Peripheral Sound

filtering effect of the pinna. The shape and hollows of the pinna induce a series of filters to
incoming sound which are related to localization cues. At higher frequencies the length of
the sound wave relates to the measurements of the pinna (Raykar, 2005) creating the
potential for embodiment of these resonant frequencies.
Although subtle, the addition of peripheral sounds to the normal high information
band induces our perceptual apparatus to further enhance the experience of our surroundings.

31

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

Chapter 4

Project - Peripheral Patterns
It became apparent to me that these machine sounds should be allowed to
belong to my emerging image of nature.
David Chesworth, Environment: videowall soundscape, 1996.
Introduction
The project Peripheral Patterns is a computer program that generates music to explore the
topics covered in this thesis - namely, the convergence of machine sounds with patterns
similar to those found in the natural soundscape. I wanted to produce a type of sound that is
considered peripheral, i.e. at frequencies and amplitudes that are not often engaged in the
high information band of the urban environment. It was my aim to have a generative system
for producing and creating patterns of high frequency machine like sounds. I based the
success of the generative music on the sensations I felt when listening to the audio. These
sensations included my interest in wanting to keep listening to the piece as it unfolded.
Another factor considered was the cerebral sensation in response to the quality of the sound,
with more cerebral activity being good. Finally, it was desirable to maximize the autonomy

32

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

of the system so that the system would run and produce a piece of music that was different
from the last time the system ran.

Methodology
I took a modular and iterative approach to the design and development of the system, which I
will now discuss in detail. The modular and iterative methodology involves breaking up the
program design into discrete units that can be worked on individually. An iterative process
of building these units is then applied and their worth is checked against a set of criteria,
including how they operate within the system as a whole. The system is then evaluated and
checked against a set of global criteria. If a failure occurs at this stage of checking - either
units or system - then the process is repeated on the problem area. Through this model of
development there is a “stepping into” the process, operating intimately with units as
understanding of the mechanics of the system is advanced. There is also a requirement of
“stepping out” of the process to evaluate the system.
I found a number of advantages to the above methodology. First, by separating the
tasks and operating at different positions on the system instead of wholly working in one
position, I found there was clarity of mind whilst programming. Second, if a modification to
the system was required, because of technical failure or aesthetic choice, then the unit that
pertained to the modification could be separated and operated on individually. The ability to
easily separate and modify the system in the modular and iterative approach also facilitates
experimentation as different parts of the system can undergo minor or major changes to see

33

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

what happens to the overall shape of the system. The experimental capacity engendered by
programming also comes from the ability to take snap shots of the program at stages of
development, which I regularly did in Peripheral Patterns. By knowing that I could always
revert to an earlier version (snap shot), I was more inclined to experiment with different
processes and take risks.

Tools
A variety of programming environments, or integrated development environments (IDE), are
available to creative practitioners for the development of computer programs. These IDEs
focus on making software tools fast to implement and accessible for creative practitioners.
A number of these IDEs are open source and freely available. For example, the Processing5
IDE provides access to advanced graphics and image manipulation through a high-level
programming interface. More adept for audio performance is Pure Data (PD) 6 that has aided
experimental and new music practitioners to explore and advance their sound through a
simple visual interface. Many examples of these projects can be seen through the websites
for these IDEs. A programming environment that I have found favorable in prototyping and
experimentation for creative audio research is Supercollider37 (SC3). SC3 is similar to PD in
5 Processing is an open source programming language and environment. Available from

www.processing.org cited 12/09/10.
6 Pure data is an open source programming environment with an interface similar to Max/MSP. Pure

Data is freely available from www.puredata.info cited 12/09/10
7 Similar to Processing and Pure Data Supercollider3 is an open source and free programming

environment. Created by James McCartney it is now available at http://supercollider.sourceforge.net//
cited 12/09/10

34

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

that it conforms to the programming paradigm first developed by Max Mathews in the
MUSIC system8, of connecting unit generators. The unit generators perform functions such
as generating a waveform, applying a filter to a signal as well as other audio and control rate
functions. Unit generators are connected to one another through their inputs and outputs.
Whereas PD is programmed using a visual interface of blocks and patch cords, SC3 uses a
text-based client interface that sends commands to an SC3 server to create and manipulate
sounds. I am familiar with the SC3 interface and find text-based coding more rigorous and
extensible than its visually based counterparts.

Implementation
There were several program design requirements for Peripheral Patterns. First, the desired
timbrel qualities called for the assembly of high frequency machine like sounds, similar to
the incidental sounds found in the urban environment. These sounds are arranged
computationally in regular patterns that exhibit interplay, similar to the patterns observed in
the natural soundscape. Second, each time the program is run the resulting composition is to
be different from the last, fulfilling my expectation of a generative music system. Lastly, to
make the system self-contained there should be little or no pre- or post- production required.
In developing the incidental urban sounds I adopted an analysis by synthesis
technique. Analysis by synthesis was described by Max Mathews in 1973 (Chowning, 2000)

8 A good general investigation on computer music, including the MUSIC system, and its history is

provided in the text Electronic and Computer Music by Peter Manning, Oxford University Press, 2003.

35

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

(earlier developed by Mathews and Jean Claude Risset) as a method of synthesizing complex
instrument tones. Mathews and Risset achieved a favorable result of synthesizing instrument
tones by using a computer to analyze the instrument tones and synthesizing those tones based
on the description from the analysis. A subjective comparison was used to determine the
success of the synthesis. Similarly, I used the spectrograms of the recordings from urban
soundscapes (Figures 5 and 6) to formulate a profile of incidental machine sounds in those
environments. I also performed analysis of several post industrial noise music pieces, such
as those seen in figure 7, and made subjective judgments on the quality of my synthesis
based on a combination of city sound and contemporary post industrial noise music. Figure
10 shows a spectrogram of Track 4 on the accompanying CD and demonstrates the resulting
output of the above analysis through synthesis.

Figure 10. Spectrogram of resulting analysis through synthesis.

36

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

The SC3 synth definition code for the generation of the sound of the aforementioned
audio clip is shown in Caption 1. A synth definition is a conglomeration of unit generators
and operations that make up an instrument or synthesizer.
b = Buffer.read(s, "sounds/glitchManifest2.wav") ;
SynthDef(\Peripheral, {|bufnum=0 stpos=0 stretch=1 pitch=1 end|
var source, env;
source = PlayBuf.ar(1, bufnum,
BufRateScale.kr(bufnum),
rate:stretch,
startPos:stpos
) ;
source = HPF.ar(source, 15000) ;
source =

PitchShift.ar(source, pitchRatio: pitch) ;

env = EnvGen.kr(Env.new([1,1,1], [0, end]), doneAction:2) ;
source *= env ;
Out.ar([0,1], source)
}).send(s) ;

Caption 1. SC3 code of the synth definition for Peripheral Patterns

The synth definition in Caption 1, first reads a sound file as an audio data buffer
(Track 5). The sound file is a synthesized sine tone generated in the Processing environment
using the ESS sound library. Filter and pitch parameters are manipulated from a graphical
user interface (Figure 11). When manipulating the parameters, digital artifacts are created
which are then used in Peripheral Patterns and is the primary reason I chose this tool. The
resulting ESS output was piped internally through Sound Flower, and digitally recorded with
Audacity, a digital recording software, at a sampling rate of 48KHz and 32bit resolution.

37

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

Although the re-synthesis of the signal breaks from the notion of a self-contained system in
that it requires an external sound source, I found this process facilitated a higher tendency for
varied output from the sequencer routines, which are discussed in the following paragraph.

Figure 11. Screen grab of sound generation tool built with Processing and the ESS library.

The dynamic generative quality of using a sound file outweighed the potential loss of
a self-contained system in Peripheral Patterns. I will now describe the individual unit
generators used in the Peripheral Patterns synth definition in the order of the signal chain. I
will thereafter go in to detail regarding the pattern generation system and how the unit
generators operate on the sound for a dynamic output.

38

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

A PlayBuf unit generator was used to generate an audio signal from the sound file
buffer. The PlayBuf makes parameters available to manipulate the audio signal rate,
effectively changing the duration and pitch, and play anywhere along the length of the buffer.
The signal is passed into a high pass filter (HPF) that only passes signals above a selected cut
off point. A time domain granular pitch shifter (PitchShift) again changes the pitch of the
signal, but unlike the rate parameter in the PlayBuf, the granular pitch shifter does not alter
the duration of the signal. Along with the ability to change pitch the granular pitch shifter
introduces agreeable artifacts to the sound, which are common with granular techniques. A
triangular amplitude envelope with a variable end point is then applied to the signal. When
designing the above synth definition it was important to consider the resulting sound and also
to provide enough flexibility through unit generator parameters for dynamic results.

Patterns
The primary function of the pattern system is to generate patterns that have qualities like
those that exist in nature, as previously discussed. Caption 2 shows the SC3 code for the
sequencer routine and list generator that provide data to the synth definition parameters and
sequencer.

39

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

Task({
// Pattern generator
~numSequences = 10 ;
~numEntry = 10 ;
~totalTimes = 100 ;
~prime = [2,3,5,7] ;
~parts
= {rrand(0, b.numFrames*0.75).asInteger} ! ~numEntry !
~numSequences ;
~times = {~prime.choose} ! ~numEntry ! ~numSequences ;
~reps
= {~prime.choose} ! ~numEntry ! ~numSequences ;
~rates
= {rrand(0.2, 0.8)} ! ~numEntry ! ~numSequences ;
~ratios = {rrand(0.5, 2.0)} ! ~numEntry ! ~numSequences ;
// Sequencer routine
~numSequences.do({|i|
Task({
~totalTimes.do({|j|
~reps[i][j].do({
Synth.new(\Peripheral, [
\bufnum, b.bufnum,
\stpos,
~parts[i][j % ~parts.size],
\stretch, ~rates[i][j % ~rates.size],
\pitch,
~ratios[i][j % ~
ratios.size],
\end,
~times[i][j % ~times.size]
]) ;
~times[i][j % ~times.size].wait ;
}) ;
~prime.choose.wait ;
}) ;
}).start ;
~prime.choose.wait ;
}) ;
}).start ;

Caption 2. SC3 pattern generator and sequencer

Each of the lists and their uses are in Table 1. Each list is populated by numbers
chosen within a random range. The random range was a subjective decision based on the
quality of the result through a trial and error process. In the future I would like to further
analyze patterns in soundscape recordings to produce more rigorous and coherent methods of
generating numbers.

40

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

List Name

Use

~parts

Start position of the PlayBuf
along the sound file buffer

~times

The length of time to keep the
amplitude envelope open

~reps

Number of repetitions of
current part

~rates

Speed of PlayBuf

~ratios

Ratio of the pitch shift
(PitchShift)
Table 1. Lists generated and their application.

The sequencer starts a Task (a routine wrapped in a pauseable stream) that starts n
sequences, each seperated by an offset time. Each newly created Task starts a process with a
number of repetitions defined in ~totalReps with a wait period after each iteration. A process
is started on each iteration with a number of repetitions defined in ~reps[i] with a wait period
of ~times[i]. In each iteration, an instance of the Peripheral Patterns synth definition is
called and the parameters for start position, rate and pitch ratio are retrieved from the
corresponding list.
Varying the start position when reading the audio buffer provides a varying signal for
processing, as the digital artifacts present in the recording may or may not be read in the
current part. Applying a reduction to the rate of the PlayBuf increases the duration of the
segment being played thereby providing a greater time to pull out the nuances of the signal.
Alteration of the pitch ratio in a positive direction brings the frequency of the signal up into

41

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

the range of frequencies I was wanting to explore in Peripheral Patterns. By focusing only
on higher frequencies with no low frequency material I found that there was no requirement
for post-production processes of the recorded output. I experimented with several
compression and equalizer treatments and found there was little adverse difference made to
the recorded output.

Listening experience
It was desirable for Peripheral Patterns to reflect interplay between patterns, with a tendency
for high frequency machine like sounds. As an overall aesthetic I wanted to aim for the
sound of minimal post industrial noise music. From the program described above I was able
to experiment with the effect by changing the synth definition and sequencer parameters,
recording the resulting output. Table 2 lists the recording names, the corresponding CD track
number, and changes to the parameters.
Recording name

# on CD

Parameter adjustment

One

6

numSequencers = 1.

Three

7

numSequencers = 3.

Eight

8

numSequencers = 8.

Ten

9

numSequencers = 10.

Table 2. Track information and adjustments

A component of the iterative working process adopted for this project was to receive
feedback from listeners on their response to the Peripheral Patterns sound and composition.

42

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

This feedback would help in determining the success of components in the current program.
For the purposes of receiving feedback on the experience of listening to the recordings, I
played the tracks listed in Table 2 to a small audience and simply took note of their
responses. The listening space was a large black room with subdued lighting. While not
acoustically ideal there was a quadraphonic monitoring system of four (4) Mackie HR824.
The recordings, which are two-channel stereo, were played back as four-channel stereo. To
prepare the audience for the listening experience I asked them to notice the acoustic and
bodily sensation of the size of the space. I hoped they would carry this awareness of their
body position within the space into the listening experience. Each recording was played in
the order given in Table 2, with a 30 second interval between tracks.
After we finished the listening exercise I asked people to comment on what they felt
whilst listening. One person who had previously experienced seeing shapes with sound,
commented that they saw spherical and conical 3D shapes whilst listening. The synesthetic
phenomena was also experienced by another person who saw colors, she had not previously
experienced a strong synesthetic response. On this occasion I experienced textures in my
vision and I felt the sound was resonating in my body. There was also a heightened spatial
phenomenon that was shared by everyone. People commented that they experienced discrete
sound coming from a 3D sound field even though audio was emitted from a left and right 2D
sound field.

43

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

Exhibition
The application of Peripheral Patterns was extended for the inclusion in the 2010 Graduate
Exhibition at the Charles H. Scott gallery in Vancouver. I was given a room measuring 3x5
meters to install Peripheral Patterns. I was hoping to provoke a similar experience that
people had listening on the previously mentioned occasion. Four (4) Mackie HR824
monitors were set up in a quadraphonic arrangement. The ideal listening position was
located in the centre of the four-channel layout. A bench was supplied to highlight the
listening position and provide comfort for people to experience the piece for longer
durations. Due to the smaller dimensions of the room I also built several sound panels that
were installed on the walls at key points to limit the reverberant qualities of the room. Figure
12 shows the floor plan for the installation of Peripheral Patterns at the Charles H. Scott
gallery.

Figure 12. Layout of Peripheral Patterns installation in Charles H. Scott Gallery

44

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

The installation piece was a medley of studies and experiments made with the
Peripheral Patterns program. The pieces were arranged into a piece 45 minutes in length
using the Reaper digital audio workstation. I drew on my experience of sound design to
attempt to create a journey for the listener. Included on the accompanying CD are three (3)
excerpts of the piece (Track 10 11 and 12), chosen because of their tendency to exhibit
peripheral features and a strong composition style.
During the exhibition of Peripheral Patterns I observed how people were
experiencing the installation. On several occasions people would walk around the space and
towards the speakers, in an organized pattern. Questioned about their behavior they replied,
"the piece has a varying interactive response depending on where you stand in the room". I
received a similar response from a number of individuals. I surmise that because the
installation of Peripheral Patterns had no active interactivity, people were responding to the
patterns exhibited in the piece and the psychoacoustic qualities of distance and direction in
high frequency sound.
A concern was that arranging smaller pieces of Peripheral Patterns into a layered and
longer piece would contribute to an overcrowding of the sound. I gave consideration to this
by arranging the sound so that it would not inhibit the interplay of patterns and still be within
the style of post industrial noise music. Two comments that supported the qualities I was
seeking were given. One by a person who has experience with experimental music and said

45

Chapter 4. Project - Peripheral Patterns

that the experience was "sublime", having "thoughtful qualities". Another comment regarded
the patterns as something she was "..interested in exploring as the piece unfolded".
The objective for Peripheral Patterns was to develop and implement a computer
program to explore the convergence of peripheral machine like sounds, and patterns similar
to as those found in the natural soundscape. I wanted to investigate the effect of organized
peripheral sound on the listening experience, especially concerned with spatial sensation.
The program enabled me to experiment with different arrangements and qualities of sound,
and make recordings of the resulting output. I had the opportunity to receive casual feedback
from a number of people on the recordings. There were not any direct comments regarding
spatialization in the sense of "the room is bigger" I can infer a spatial reaction from people’s
responses.

46

Conclusion

Motivation for this thesis began with the experience of the Vancouver soundscape. This
experience compelled me to delve deeper into the implications of the soundscape on the
human psyche. The process of investigation involved the analysis of a number of
soundscapes from natural and urban soundscapes through a means of spectro-analysis. The
organization of sounds, spectral content, and patterns evident in natural and urban
soundscapes were shown to be components of noise music. It was found that in post
industrial noise music there was present the seemingly superfluous high frequency machine
sounds in urban soundscapes arranged in organized patterns similar as those found in nature.
Examining incidental sounds from a phenomenological and physiological point of view I
formed the opinion that these sounds can be considered as peripheral within the context of
human audition. Taking this perspective of the periphery into account I was further
interested in what effect the purposeful arrangement of these sounds would have on the
listening experience.
A computer program was created to generate music that explores the arrangement of
peripheral sound. The arrangement procedures, whilst generative, were based on qualitative
data based on observational analysis of spectrograms. An avenue for further development of
the generative system would be to formulate an equation that describes patterns in nature,

47

and its implementation into the software. Equally the spectral content of peripheral sounds
would benefit from a more rigorous technique of analysis and synthesis. An initial
investigation in this line of inquiry would point toward building a software module to
generate synthesis units from the profile of a soundscape recording.
My research and practice is now directed toward deeper thinking of how people
experience sound and patterns as an aware body. I still hold the view that the natural world,
even in its abstraction, is key to a richer experience of being. It is apparent that cultural
producers, especially with sound, have responded to this innate sense within contemporary
practice. What I now find at the junction of natural and city environments is an emerging
tension between an inherent desire for the essential qualities of the world and a seemingly
boundless homogeneity. Working with this problematic, I see potential for exploration and
analysis of how sound, interaction, and computational algorithms that represent dynamic
qualities of natural systems affect the listening experience.

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