Anti-noise claims no connection with music at all, but is used in the same ‘environmental’ way as Muzak and background music. The basic principle behind anti-noise has been known for a long time. Sound is simply waves of changing air pressure, with peaks and troughs. If you can create the precise opposite of a particular sound, one that dips where the intrusive noise peaks, and fire it at the noise with a loudspeaker, the result is virtual silence. The waves cancel each other out like two sets of ripples meeting each other in a pond. A device based on this principle was patented in the Thirties by a German, Paul Lueg, who claimed that he could turn noise into silence instantaneously, but commercial applications only became feasible with the introduction of computer technology. If the anti-noise doesn’t match the intrusive noise exactly, the result is more noise, so any changes in sound have to be analysed and used to “tune” the anti-noise wavelength. Now microprocessors can monitor such changes and respond within milliseconds by adjusting the mirror-image version accordingly.
Various prototype systems have been developed. Noise Cancellation Technologies, a US-based company, have created a “Silent Seat”; an executive’s chair equipped with anti-noise speakers to create a quiet zone for its occupant. It won’t be long before washing machines, fridges and other domestic appliances come with noise cancellers, as they are starting to do in Japan. Once we as consumers are given the option of buying quiet products however, we may find that they actually make us more sensitive to noise by forcing us to think about it. The brain’s natural response to a constant, low-level noise like that produced by a fridge is to block it out after a certain period of time. Once we start thinking about noise however, it won’t go away.
taken from: http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/muzak.html
Anti noise is another great methodology to explore and is very very different from both my ambiquitous sound project and Liminal. Instead of adding even more sound to a space, it literally neutralises the sound waves omitted by certain “annoyances”. Targeting specific sounds and frequencies enables anti-noise systems to generate the opposite frequency wave to cancel each other out. If we start thinking in terms of “too much noise inspires negative cognitive reactions” (no matter what sounds they might be) then anti-noise seems the most viable way to gain control over an ambient soundscape of an environment. Again this is definitely an area I would love to further research into and I feel like it lends itself greatly to what I was trying to achieve. Instead of my layering my soundscape over an existing one (which is still there) it completely takes that layer away. This would effectively give me a blank canvas to then feed my ambiquitous sound into.
“because music is art, but Muzak is science. And when you employ the science of Muzak: in an office, workers tend to get more done, more efficiently, and feel happier. In an industrial plant, people feel better and, with less fatigue and tension, their jobs seem less monotonous. In a store, people seem to shop in a more relaxed and leisurely manner. In a bank, customers are generally more calm, tellers and other personnel are more efficient. In general, people feel better about where they are; whether it’s during work or leisure time. Muzak is all this and more. That’s why we say Muzak is much more than music.”
Liminal is very similar to my project in the sense that it is trying to change the ambient soundscape of an environment but in a completely different manor. My project overpowers the natural ambience of a space, adding more sound to that environment which kind of restricts it in how much it can do before it starts becoming detrimental to its purpose. Liminal uses a great methodology whereby it recycles the sounds that are already available in that environment but “recycles” them in such a way as to put back in and change the emotive properties of the space. This is a great reference for me to start critiquing the methodology of my own project, and to identify areas such as this for scope to further develop my idea into a more refined project. One of the key points for consideration that has come out of my feedback is to consider the various ways of creating the sound and its purpose. The two suggested by my tutors were filtering and augmenting. Changing sounds that are already present, or selectively amplifying/muting existing sounds.
Projects:
Scanner
Liminal
Environments to consider:
Portland Square Building – 50+ embedded speakers
Note:
The placement of the output speakers has a large influence on the ability to fill a room properly with ambient sounds. This should definitely be an area to consider for the future… I’m starting to think for my degree show in June that I should get this up and running anyway!
Just to quickly explain my patch. From my processing sketch I receive data from my xbee which I am expecting for individual PIR sensors (think of them as ID codes). Each ID corresponds to the PIR number and its state (on/off). From here processing sends a signal over OSC (udp) on a port which my pd patch has created and is listening on.
It can get these messages and split them to each individual sub patch to trigger relative sounds. Ultimately the state affects the toggle box, which subsequently controls a ramp object that fades in and out over preset time frames.
On my sub patches (they’re all the same aside from file names) I’m simply loading all of the individual sounds in at the startup with a loadbang. One thing I noticed with readsf~ object is the file has to be loaded into memory before each time it is played. With this in mind a lot of what you can see are catch bangs which will reload the sound file. After readsf~ has finished playing the sound I then bang the file to load it again. This has enabled me to create a playback loop.
To get the level balance across my sounds and collective soundscape, I’ve modified the ramp variables to make sure they work well with the other sounds.
Another thing you can see which was mentioned in an earlier post, is a very long delay on the fade out. Basically the toggle box (PIR state) will be used to control the volume fader.
From what I have learned about ambient sound, making subtle changes and transitions is much more effective than sudden changes which the ear can easily pickup. Having the sound shift around also opens up an infinite possibility of different sound sets. A track can fade out but fade in before it has fully faded out, this adds a lot of depth to the atmosphere of the room and is itself a powerful element that is based purely on how the space is used. The patch is very simple but I wanted it to be completely solid. I have definitely achieved that and it has been rigorously tested to flatten out errors.
So after much research, testing and tweaking I have got my final soundscape sorted. Now the sounds are available individually to listen to in this post
I’m happy that they work with each other in any combination so well as well as collectively to create this powerful ambience. Below is the track:
“…the basic difference may be summed up by saying that while formal logic, exemplified by simple mathematics, focused on the singular identity and differences between elements, dialectical logic focused on relationships between elements and the process by which new states of affairs arise out of deep contradictions in the status quo.
Pg 120 – Shields, Rob. LeFebvre, Love, and Struggle : Spatial Dialectics.Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 1998. Copyright © 1998. Routledge. All rights reserved.
I have incorporated a very long (30 second) fade out to all my triggered sounds. The reason being is that I want to keep my sound as ambient as possible. Sudden changes in sound will interrupt and damage the atmosphere that I am trying to create. Acoustic reflex is a cognitive reaction to audio changes detected in an environment. Being aware of changes make you concentrate on them more, if the inhabitants are focusing on the music they are more likely to understand how its generated, the inaccuracies and ultimately negate its psychological impact.
an involuntary muscle contraction that occurs in the middle ear of mammals in response to high-intensity sound stimuli. (From Wikipedia)
Nick Marshall | Interactive Sound Environments 
