Sound Inspiration

Part of my soundscape will be recorded in the arcade and of the rides on the pier. This will subsequently feature loud, artificial sounds.

Janet Cardiff is an artist from Candada who creates sound installations. Most of her work is done solo but she often works with her husband George Bures Miller



This piece beings very minimally with only a couple of noticeable sounds (an accordion melody and a simple beat of drums). Then an echoed sound of a rattle is introduced and then a layer of voices is added. After that, the original sounds almost completely change and start to sound more horrific; noises such as a baby crying and a man coughing can be heard. The accordion melody returns and then disappears shortly after, leaving just layers of different voices and the rattling sound. Finally a sneeze triggers the melody and a multitude of different sounds to come to together for the climatic end.

Altogether I am inspired by the way Cardiff and Miller have layer different and mainly ambiguous sounds in order to create a more artistic sound portrait. I think this is useful for my soundscape as I will be building up many layers to paint a portrait of the funfair. I could possibly even distort some of the sounds to represent my own perspective of the pier.




Cardiff's sound installation reminded me of the theme song for the television programme, 'American Horror Story: Freak Show'. It starts of with eerie noises, chimes and warping. The jewellery box kind of melody begins accompanied by the sound of drums, creaking, and heavy breathing. The sounds build up with chimes, screeching, and more voices.