Music of Sound

Alva Noto – unitxt/univrs (Derivative Version) from Derivative on Vimeo.

Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) at Ars Electronica 2010. Visual developed with Wuestenarchitekten (Markus Heckmann) and produced with TouchDesigner.

Ok, so as a collective group of random recordists, sound editors & designers (& therefore metadata users) what fields are currently missing from the spec? Hang on, which spec? Well, I am going to suggest SoundMiner only because it is thus far definitive & the developers are responsive… If all we achieve is a bit of (informed) crowdsourced opinion then even thats valuable….

So here is the question:

If you’re tagging your files (eg recordings, samples etc) with metadata, what fields of data are currently missing? Which ones have you reached for, only to find they don’t exist?

Lets try & keep this platform agnostic, although inevitably a suggestion will require checking if the app you use supports it already – I use SoundMiner Pro so I’ll inevitably only ask for things it doesn’t already support…

My first additional field would be for GPS coordinates. I’d like to tag every recording with GPS, in some standardised format, so that I can use the field’s data with as many different apps & devices as possible eg from google maps and google earth through to a Navman (eg say you want to go visit the place in Indonesia where those amazing frogs was recorded…)
Is there a standard for GPS data?

Recording so many ambiences this year I almost wish there was a descriptive field for LOCATION (or is there already?)

I also wonder if there isn’t an advantage in having at least two timecode fields; one for duration 00:03:03:00, one for timestamp 01:13:10:00 (but would that also require a TC frame rate field? ARG it gets complicated fast….)

I also think there is still a need for timestamped markers within a file – remember Sound Designer 2 and its exportable playlists/region markers? So could that work as a series of metadata fields? Cue01: 00.00.20.15, Cue02: 00.00.30.15 etc but then you’d also want to name the markers = another field for marker name….

Hmmmmm……

 

> Fascinating conceptual art project: Negative Sound

 

The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry, narrated by Academy Award Winner Benico Del Toro in theatres March 2011

 

 

> How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me)

 

> docomo 1 apple 0

 

> Paradigm shifting: the way we perceive a problem limits our thinking

 

> Chernobyl field recording

 

 

 

A tree, its shadow…. and the sonic equivalent

 

 

 

> I am more busy than I can even pretend to explain – this week has been the most creatively challenging/deeply satisfying week of my career thus far. It’s Thursday night and I am resonating in a warm glow that is far, far beyond my own aspirations of self-determination…. Next week I rejoin the other (3D) project, which is many, many cuts later in my absence, so my free time may well/likely continue to be scarce – 3 weeks ’til predubs etc…

 

Until normal transmission resumes I strongly suggest you spend some time at this site, but don’t go there expecting instant gratification; the immediate posts will consume hours, and the subject will require days and days of your time, pursuing essential parts of history that are far more important than this weeks blockbuster…. So only pursue it if you are actually able and willing….. you can lead a horse to water, just as you can lead a “sound designer” to art, but….

 

 

> and heres another random photo from the archives, can you hear it?

 

 

 

 

> that is all….

 

 

It rained & drizzled & rained all Saturday, so much so that Pihas Lion Rock occasionally disappeared

 

Frustrated at not being able to record the sounds I was here for, I reverted to shooting photos… but in the back of my mind I was thinking what if tomorrow is the same!?!

 

 

 

 

Thankfully woke up early Sunday morning & although the sky was still grey at least it wasn’t raining. Went for a dawn walk & shot this waveform/reflection:

 

Did a bit of recording round the rocks but nothing too startling, so then packed up & headed to Muriwai & wow!!!

 

 

Once the tide was coming in that sign was an understatement!

 

 

The sound of the ocean is very interesting when it is constricted – all that energy & force has to go somewhere, and in this rocky inlet known as The Gap I recorded a lot of big powerful wave crashes, with that lovely delay as the spray splashed on to the rocks in front of me.

Muriwai Waves by timprebble

But the most unusual sound I recorded at this location I found when I put my mic down into a crack in the rocks – it almost sounded like it was underwater, but when a wave smacked into the base of the rocks this is what I heard (although you really need to hear the 192kHz recording on decent speakers with a subwoofer!)

Muriwai waves through crack in rock by timprebble

 

I’m going to borrow a quote from a great interview with Richard Beggs because it sure applied to finding this sound: “A location reveals itself in unexpected ways” – amen, brother!