Blog #9: The Art Of Listening
As I write this post, I’ve got music playing nice and loud through my headphones. An alternative indie group named “Still Woozy”, to be exact. Why am I playing music while doing school work? I definitely know I am not the only one who does this on a regular basis. We all have our own reasons as to why we play music while engaging in certain activities, but I believe everyone does it to shape the sound environment to their liking. School work in and of itself can be a bit of a drag- so it is possible that we are all just trying to make work more bearable and pleasant by playing these tunes and sounds that make our hearts flutter with glee.
Through this course, I have learned the sheer power of sound. It is pretty unbelievable how our bodies and minds respond to different sounds- cognitively, psychologically, physiologically, and behaviorally. Most sounds are uninvited, and actually rather unpleasant. Maybe we’ve become somewhat numb to the sound of the train tracks screeching on our daily commute, or the harsh coughs of some people on the street, or the inundating honks on the city streets. Most of us wouldn’t outright say we hate those sounds, but they definitely don’t bring about positive feelings. With technology advancing, we’ve got noise-blocking headphones that enable us to block out any sound that doesn’t appeal to our liking. We now live in a society where our sound environments are much more malleable.
Sound can change the aura and energy of a space. We learned quite extensively about sound environments and soundscapes, which is a term popularized by R. Murray Schafer. A soundscape is described as the acoustic environment perceived by the human ear. Schafer also talks about lofi vs hifi soundscapes, and how we live in an increasing lofi sound environment, as we are overwhelmed by sounds of technology, construction , and the hustling people who are constantly on the move. A hifi sound environment might be a more natural space, like the forest or a lake. These areas are pure and the sounds we hear are only what nature has produced which, according to Schafer, makes this soundscape of high quality.
In film production, the focus is on creating a world in which viewers can get immersed. Through Sound Design, I have learned that sound can be used to invoke a particular mood or tone. Placing sounds intentionally in a scene can help viewers quickly get a grasp of what they are watching without further explanation. I thought it was really interesting how sound designers create sounds for films, and I now think about this whenever I am watching a movie. What sounds were naturally there, and what sounds were added in? In my future creative endeavors, sound will definitely take a higher priority. Sound plays such an important role in the creation of an experience, so if I can use sound to my advantage, I can certainly level up my future creative projects.
I am a Media Production student and we are taught every aspect of a production- from the production (visuals, lighting, storytelling, and sound) to post-production (editing, refining). This course gave me an in depth understanding of a part of the production process that I do not typically put in priority or importance. I learned that creating a sound environment, whether it be for a film or not, can be a truly powerful skill. A skill that I want to improve on and use to enhance my future creative endeavors in school and outside of the classroom.
Now we know how sound affects us in major ways, and it’s really important to be aware of this fact as we go about our daily lives. Wouldn’t society be better off if we all understood how to use sound to create a happier environment? How listening to music we enjoy puts us in a better mood or how we can calm ourselves down listening to nature sounds. It’s also very fascinating how certain brands have come to use sound to bring in more customers and profit. Our brain has this innate ability to connect a sound to an image, and brands have created jingles for this very reason. I’m sure you have at least one that sticks out in your mind. I don’t think I will ever forget Pizza Nova’s or Sleep Country’s, which probably means they did a good job!
Works Cited
Schafer, R. Murray. The Soundscape: The Tuning of the World. Destiny Books, 1993.
Treasure, Julian. How to Speak so That People Want to Listen — Youtube. June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI.
Treasure, Julian. “ITAB Retail Insights — Multisensory Experiences with Julian Treasure.” YouTube, YouTube, 5 June 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xUz9dxEt5I.
Thom, Randy. “Randy Thom: Designing a Movie for Sound.” A Sound Effect, 23 Feb. 2018, https://www.asoundeffect.com/designing-a-movie-for-sound/.