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A Parabolic Suite

I have developed the central theme of my sound work. I want to create a suite that is essentially an interpretation of the three primary uses of a parabolic microphone. These uses are nature/ornithological recording, espionage/eavesdropping and sports crowd recording. I want to use what I believe to be the pervasive themes of each as a basis and inspiration for a composition. I have assigned a word to each theme. Nature is placidity, espionage is intrusion, and sports crowds is fervour. Placidity, intrusion and fervour will be the thematic guideline for the piece. Nature and ornithological recording represents the calm and the tranquil, espionage represents encroachment and invasion, and sports crowds represent heady chaos. I will use the intrusion theme to build upon my concept of the sonics of encroachment, possibly recording very close proximity wildlife sounds to capture a private, almost carnal mood, sounds that could appear to some to be too personal and grotesque to ever be shared. I’m building upon Jez Riley-French’s technique of agrarian field recording and will incorporate some of his ideas into my praxis. All necessary field recordings will be done on a parabolic microphone to fulfil the spatialised element of the assignment. I have decided against spatialising my piece in octophonic because I feel my idea is conceptually rich enough as it is without needing to take it to such an elaborate medium. 

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