Some projects using ecological sound:
Lumière Immobile
One of my first attempts at using nature sounds was a flute and computer piece called Lumière Immoblie, or Still Light. My wife and I took a trip to Tofino, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in 2004, where I recorded sounds of the ocean, and of the natural environment. The idea was that while the flute was performing, background sound from an outside environment would be brought into the concert hall. This soundscape has crows, wind, and ocean sounds. The equipment used for this was basic; a minidisc recorder and a cheap microphone.
Cercle du Nord II
In this, my very first fully acousmatic work completed in 2003, sounds of throat singing, drumming and natural sounds of the north (geese, ravens, ice, wind) are heard. Many sounds were found in archival recordings, as I had yet to venture into the field. A low drone was created with a cello, and tapping sounds on a violin followed by high harmonics. Ice sounds were created by crunching ice in the mouth.
Cercle du Nord III
In 2005 I received my first commission from the Kronos Quartet. A work with amplified string quartet that was to be paired with sounds from the Arctic. I've been interested in the Arctic for a long time. After a few summers traveling in the Yukon, Alaska and the NWT I actually moved to Inuvik, where I lived between 1998 and 1999. It was a life changing experience, and it’s a place I feel very strongly connected to. I almost decided to stay for good. But other realities, namely completing my schooling, compelled me to move elsewhere. After receiving this commission I traveled back to Inuvik in order to record sounds. As I was trying to capture these I found noise from modern life infiltrating the pristine environment; especially snowmobiles, trucks driving on the ice road and an ever pervasive hum of the Inuvik power plant. I realized, and probably for the first time, just how our image of the sonic landscape, and the actually reality of it, are at such odds with one another.
Song of the Tides
After this experience, and with updated equipment and fresh ideas, I began another commission. This time for wind ensemble, accompanied by sounds from the Bay of Fundy. This soundtrack includes wind, water, foghorns, seagulls and the tide roaring through the entrance of the Minas Basin, at the tip of Cape Split in Nova Scotia. During the work there are moments when an acoustic landscape is heard, both on its own and paired with instruments.
Tundra Songs
In 2007 the Kronos Quartet requested a new work for the quartet and Inuit throat singer, Tanya Tagaq. Tundra Songs uses an immersive, 30 minute soundscape from the Arctic that accompanies the ensemble throughout. After recording sounds in Nunavut, I spent a month in Banff working on the piece, and then another 6 months (or longer) in my studio at home in Nova Scotia. The string quartet, singer and soundtrack are intended to blend seamlessly. This has become a benchmark now for my working approach to new electroacoustic works: to create a seamless integration of the electronics, the field recordings and the acoustic instruments. Here's a quote from my program notes; "In March of 2007, I traveled to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. Fresh off the plane, and in minus thirty degree weather, I travelled by dog sled to a polynia, an open area of water kept free of ice due to the strong currents. Dropping my hydrophone into the water I recorded sounds of shrimp, krill, seals and other marine life. The next morning I set the microphone on an ice flow and recorded the cracking ice; huge chunks of ice grinding together as the tide came in pushing the entire frozen ocean up. Later that afternoon, and back in town, I positioned a microphone in the centre of some dog food to attract the ravens. I recorded their calls and shrieks, their wings flapping in the frigid weather as they attacked the food..."
Warning! Gustnadoes Ahead
In 2008 I was commissioned by the National Flute Association to write a work for flute and CD. “Gustnadoes” uses airy, breathy and other storm-like sounds. A gustnado is a "colloquial expression for a short-lived, shallow, generally weak tornado found along a gust front." The sound track is made of transformed flute sounds, some of which emulate sudden swirling figures, others a sudden explosion, and some granularized – sounds that are stretched in time, or are granules, short and fast.
Falling from Cloudless Skies
In 2009 I completed a new work for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra that incorporated processed and synthesized sounds of ice – creaking ripping, tearing sounds – flaw leads, water and underwater sounds. Electronic and ecological sounds are paired with the orchestra, both as an instrument in the orchestra, but also juxtaposed, as if in competition with the acoustic instruments. The ultimate goal is to place the musicians into an environment that is not normal; an abstraction of an all too familiar concept amongst scientists dealing with global warming. Again, this work attempts to seamlessly integrate electronics with acoustic instruments. The computer part allows for flexibility in tempo, there is no click track, and the conductor has complete control over the temporal domain of the work.
Some brief descriptions of recent projects utilizing field recordings:
10 Electroacoustic Studies
In 2010 I created a set of EA studies, each based on a singular sound source.
Tidelines Installation
In 2010 I also created a work in collaboration with a local artist, Dick Groot. Tidelines uses sound sources from the Bay of Fundy.
Deliquescence
Our new music festival at Acadia University, Shattering the Silence was dedicated to acousmatic composition in 2011. I created this work for the festival.
Don’t be Alarmed
This work was created for the Nova Scotia Music Educators Association, and premiered by Paul Hutten and his students.
Symphony no. 1 – Transient Energies
This work uses a 45 minute soundscape of sounds of energy production and consumption, with symphony orchestra.