soundwalk for headphones | 2010
group project at the Institute of Sonology | Hubertuspark, The Hague, Netherlands
Hubertuspark is near Madurodam, on the way to Scheveningen. Formerly an area used for hunting and artillery target practice, it was built between 1930s and WWII. Hubertuspark consists of a forested area interspersed with large sand plains, remnants of ancient sand dunes and a few villages.
Two tracks contributed to the soundwalk, each of them meant to be experienced on headphones while walking at specific locations in the park.
#2 – Hubertustunnel
Piece based on vibrations and rhythms produced by the traffic in a highway tunnel which runs under the dunes in the park. Original source recordings made with geophones and accelerometer in the ground surrounding the area and on metal structures.
Starting in an elevated viewpoint from where the highway can be seen, a visual/auditory connection is created during the experience, the rhythms of the cars passing as seen from this location coincide and overlap with the resonances of the same traffic in the piece, which gets blurred and textural as the listener walks into the forest.
#5 – Bloedberg
For a walk through a straight path leading to a long staircase up to a unusually high hill within the forest.
Aiming to play with the perception of the listener and to create a disorienting effect, the piece makes use of the auditory illusion known as shepard tone. This consists on the perceived effect of a tone that continually ascends or descends in pitch, yet which ultimately seems to get no higher or lower. The process consisted on re-recording binaurally on location the electronic tones played through two loudspeakers situated at the top of the staircase while doing the same walk. The recording constitutes the base of the piece which aims to create the illusory effect of sound being there at the moment of the walk.