scholarly journals STILL RECORDING AFRICAN MUSIC IN THE FIELD

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-158
Author(s):  
Gerhard Roux
Keyword(s):  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Process ◽  
African Music ◽  
Recording Equipment ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
Multiple Field ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Field Sound ◽  
Made In

Field sound recordings are an indispensable source of data for ethnomusicologists. However, to my knowledge there are no standards or guidelines of how this data should be captured and managed. With the progress made in machine learning, it has become vital to record data in a way that also supports the retrieval of information about the music. This article describes a model developed for field recordings that aims to aid an objective data gathering process. This model, developed through an action research process that spanned multiple field recording sessions from 2009–2015, include recording equipment, production processes, the gathering of metadata as well as intellectual property rights. The core principles identified in this research are that field recording systems should be designed to provide accurate feedback as a means of quality control and should capture and manage metadata without relying on secondary tools. The major findings are presented in the form of a checklist that can serve as a point of departure for ethnomusicologists making field recordings.

scholarly journals Thoughts in the Field: ‘Self-reflexive narrative’ in field recording

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isobel Anderson ◽  
Tullis Rennie
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Collaborative Project ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Qualities ◽  
Getting Lost ◽  
Made In

This article considers the presence of ‘self-reflexive narrative’ in field recording. The authors interrogate a common presumption within sonic arts practice and sound studies discourse that field recordings represent authentic, impartial and neutral documents. Historically, field recording practice has not clearly represented narratives of how, when, why and by whom a field recording is made. In contrast, the social sciences have already experienced a narrative ‘turn’ since the 1970s, which highlighted the importance of recognising the presence and role of the researcher in the field, and also in representations of fieldwork. This provides an alternative framework for understanding field recording, in considering the importance of the recordist and their relationship with their recordings. Many sonic arts practitioners have already acknowledged that the subjective, personal qualities of field recording should be embraced, highlighted and even orated in their work. The authors’ own collaborative projectThoughts in the Fieldfurther explores these ideas, by vocalising ‘self-reflexive narratives’ in real time, within field recordings. The authors’ collaborative composition,Getting Lost(2015), demonstrates the compositional potentials this approach offers.

Imperfect Sound Forever

Resonance ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-167
Author(s):  
Christopher DeLaurenti
Keyword(s):  
Remote Control ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Audio Tape ◽  
Recording Equipment ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
History Of

What is phonography? In this essay, Christopher DeLaurenti, a phonographer with three decades of experience, maps an axiomatic 13-lesson pedagogy through an abbreviated history of field recording, from Jesse Walter Fewkes in 1890 to Tony Schwartz in the early 1960s. This paper surveys various meanings and uses of the term phonography from a text published in 1701 to the formation in 2000 of the phonography listserv, an online community of makers of field recordings. The author, himself an early member of the phonography listserv, discusses three traits to define phonography as a community in the early 2000s: inexpensive recording equipment; a community of knowledge; and the “easy fidelity” made possible by portable and lightweight Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and MiniDisc (MD) recorders. The author contrasts the traits of phonography with elements of soundscape composition as articulated by Barry Truax, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Andra McCartney. The paper concludes by proposing possible elements of post-phonography, including remote control recording, the possibility of voice print identification, and the generation of unimagined data.

scholarly journals Mask-Making and Drawing as Method: Arts-Based Approaches to Data Collection With War-Affected Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 160940691983247
Author(s):  
Amber Green ◽  
Myriam Denov
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Visual Methods ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Mask Making ◽  
In Captivity

Globally, the numbers of children living in conflict zones and displaced by war have risen dramatically over the past two decades, and with this, scholarly attention to the impacts of war on children. More recently, researchers have examined how war-affected children are being studied, revealing important shortcomings. These limitations relate to the lack of child participation in research, the need for researchers to engage children in the research process as “active agents” rather than “passive objects” under study, as well as the need for researchers to pay closer attention to ethical dilemmas associated with researching war-affected children. To address these realities, innovative research methods that can be adapted across diverse sociocultural contexts are warranted. In light of these shortcomings, our research team integrated two arts-based methods: mask-making and drawing, alongside traditional qualitative data collection methods with a particularly marginalized population of young people: children born in captivity within the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda. In this article, we provide information on the context of northern Uganda. We describe how the use of mask-making and drawing was used as data gathering tools and the ways in which these arts-based methods had important benefits for the research participants, researchers, and impacted on the validity of the research as a whole. We propose that the use of these participatory visual methods enriched the themes elicited through more traditional methods. The article describes how these arts-based mediums fostered community building among children typically excluded from their communities and were successful as a tool to build trust between participants and the research team when exploring sensitive topics. The article concludes with implications for future research with war-affected children.

scholarly journals London Street Noises: A Ground-Breaking Field Recording Campaign from 1928

Acoustics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-136
Author(s):  
John L. Drever ◽  
Aysegul Yildirim ◽  
Mattia Cobianchi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sound ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Recording Technology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
Subsequent Discussion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
The Uk

In a leading article by Sir Percival Philips in the UK popular newspaper, the Daily Mail, July 16, 1928, came the following headlines: “Millions Lost by Noise – Cities’ Worst Plague – Menace to Nerves and Health – What is Being Done to Stop it”. The article was supported by research from Prof Henry J. Spooner, who had been researching and campaigning on the ill-effects of noise and its economic impact. The article sparked subsequent discussion and follow-up articles in the Daily Mail and its international partners. In an era of rapid technological change, that was on the cusp of implementing sound pressure measurements, the Daily Mail, in collaboration with the Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd, experimented with sound recording technology and commentary in the field to help communicate perceived loudness and identify the sources of “unnecessary noise”. This resulted in the making of series of environmental sound recordings from five locations across central London during September 1928, the findings of which were documented and discussed in the Daily Mail at the time, and two recordings commercially released by Columbia on shellac gramophone disc. This was probably the first concerted anti-noise campaign of this type and scale, requiring huge technological efforts. The regulatory bodies and politicians of the time reviewed and improved the policies around urban noise shortly after the presentation of the recordings, which were also broadcast from the BBC both nationally and internationally, and many members of the public congratulated and thanked the Daily Mail for such an initiative. Despite its unpreceded scale and impact, and the recent scholarly attention on the history of anti-noise campaigning, this paper charts and contextualises the Daily Mail’s London Street Noise campaign for the first time. As well as historical research, this data has also been used to start a longitudinal comparative study still underway, returning to make field recordings on the site on the 80th and 90th anniversaries and during the COVID-19 lockdown, and shared on the website londonstreetnoises.co.uk.

scholarly journals Evidence produced by qualitative investigations on type 2 diabetes: a review of the literature

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (36) ◽  
pp. 257-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Eduardo Pfeiffer Castellanos ◽  
Nelson Filice de Barros ◽  
Cristiane Spadacio ◽  
Sarah Monte Alegre ◽  
Philip Tovey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Care Management ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Treatment Compliance ◽  
Healthcare Network ◽  
Disease Concepts ◽  
Methodological Procedures ◽  
Patient Relationships ◽  
Made In

Type 2 diabetes has a major impact on patients lives and the healthcare network. Given the growth in qualitative information on diabetes, it becomes important to systematize this knowledge. A meta-study on diabetes was conducted through analysis on 42 articles that were made in journals at the periodicals portal of the Coordination Office for Advancement of Higher-level Personnel (Capes). We found that the studies reviewed had a good theoretical basis, which included: care management, health-disease concepts, professional-patient relationships, professional practices and treatment compliance. The articles clearly described the methodological procedures used. The use of interviews and focal groups for data gathering predominated, and it was sought to explore different views of the individuals investigated. It was reaffirmed that it was important for health professionals and managers to implement healthcare policies, programs and models that are appropriate for the specific features of chronic illness, guided by comprehensive care and co-responsibility.

scholarly journals Field Recording or Field Observation?: Audio Meets Method in Qualitative Research

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Smiley
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Field Observation ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Social Setting ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
Preliminary Research ◽  
Pauline Oliveros

The field observation, an ethnographic practice of collecting data and information about a given social setting and situation is often used in preliminary research to have an understanding of the community one is researching. However, from an artist/musician's perspective, the field observation has many commonalities with techniques used in audio field recording. How can field recording be used in parallel with field observations to explore and understand a community through art? This essay will begin with a comparison of field observations and field recordings as methods in their own disciplines, and continue with the concept of “attention” in art, music, science and anthropology. It will follow and conclude with a project that looks at combining qualitative research and art to explore a community of gardeners through recorded interviews and sounds. The work of Pauline Oliveros, Walter S. Gershon, Clifford Geertz, Anne McCrary Sullivan, and Steven Feld will be important in making the connections across disciplines.

scholarly journals Book Review: Field Recordings of Black Singers and Musicians: An Annotated Discography of Artists from West Africa, the Caribbean and the Eastern and Southern United States, 1901–1943

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 194
Author(s):  
Molly Molloy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Sound Recording ◽  
African Music ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
The Caribbean

This last work of author/compiler Craig Martin Gibbs joins his other unique discographies from the same publisher—Black Recording Artists, 1877–1926: An Annotated Discography (2012) and Calypso and Other Music of Trinidad, 1912–1962: An Annotated Discography (2015)—to provide detailed access to the legacy of African American and African music from the earliest years of sound recording. As noted in the front matter, Craig Martin Gibbs died in October 2017.

Conclusion to Part III

2020 ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
Yelena Baraz
Keyword(s):  
Poetic Texts ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Made In

IN THESE CHAPTERS I HAVE TRACED THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIStinct set of meanings, limited to the superbia cluster, beginning in the Augustan reconfiguration of the pride script. My point of departure was the argument I made in Chapter 3, that the Republican elite’s investment in its members’ equality underlies the exclusively negative articulation of pride and its corresponding centering as the signature anti-republican, monarchical quality. Here I showed that change to one-man rule motivated an intense engagement with the concept of pride in contemporary poetic texts that allowed a positive and neutral version of the emotion to be expressed. In ...

Country music on location: ‘field recording’ before Bristol

Popular Music ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
TONY RUSSELL
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Country Music ◽  
Careful Planning ◽  
Commercial Success ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
Vernacular Music ◽  
Carter Family ◽  
Made In

From 1923 to 1931, record companies based in the northern USA stocked their catalogues of Southern vernacular music, particularly African-American blues and white ‘old-time’ music, largely with ‘location recordings’ made in Southern cities such as Atlanta, Memphis and Dallas. These recording trips, which are sometimes characterised as speculative, were in fact partly planned, the uncertainty of discovering recordable new talent offset to some extent by the prior booking of artists with whom the companies had already had success. The evidence for this careful planning, however, has been somewhat obscured by the unscheduled discovery, in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927, of Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family, whose commercial success and stylistic innovations would have enormous influence on country music.

Hearing How It Feels to Listen: Perception, embodiment and first-person field recording

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
Iain Findlay-Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Sound Art ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
First Person ◽  
Art Practice ◽  
Auditory Space ◽  
Field Recordings ◽  
Field Recording ◽  
The World

This article explores recent theories of listening, perception and embodiment, including those by Mark Grimshaw and Tom Garner, Salomé Voegelin, and Eric Clarke, as well as consequences and possibilities arising from them in relation to field recording and soundscape art practice. These theories of listening propose auditory perception as an embodied process of engaging with and understanding lived environment. Such phenomenological listening is understood as a relational engagement with the world in motion, as movement and change, which grants access to the listener’s emerging presence, agency and place in the world. Such ideas on listening have developed concurrently with new approaches to making and presenting field recordings, with a focus on developing phonographic methods for capturing and presenting the recordist’s embodied auditory perspective. In the present study, ‘first-person’ field recording is defined as both method and culturally significant material whereby a single recordist carries, wears or remains present with a microphone, consciously and reflexively documenting their personal listening encounters. This article examines the practice of first-person field recording and considers its specific applications in a range of sound art and soundscape art examples, including work by Gabi Losoncy, Graham Lambkin, Christopher Delaurenti and Klaysstarr (the author). In the examination of these methods and works, first-person field recording is considered as a means of capturing the proximate auditory space of the recordist as a mediated ‘point of ear’, which may be embodied, inhabited, and listened through by a subsequent listener. The article concludes with a brief summary of the discussion before some closing thoughts on recording, listening and the field, on field recording as practice-research and on potential connections with other fields in which the production of virtual environments is a key focus.

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