Jez Riley-French is a field recordist and sound artist who’s audio work stems from an interest in microphone and recording technology and a naturalist and durationalist approach to recording.
He records the sound of “mediums other than air” using contact microphones and hydrophones (amongst others) and likens recording sounds of the natural world as they occur to improvisational music, in that the results are relative to many variables and always surprising. He also notes that little is really known about environmental sounds citing examples he demonstrated of recording orchestra mediated by the buildings they perform in.
The demonstrations of some of his work were quite unusual, and he made the point that some of his work has been picked up for use in films and games with a leaning towards sci-fi. He argues this is because they tend to be otherworldly, but retain a basis in reality. He believes that getting the audio right at source is critical for game and film sound design, and that too much EQ is the addition of an unreal element to the sound, equating this with a ‘loss’ of the natural.
Jez made the point that exhibiting sound art can be difficult and is relatively underdeveloped and misunderstood at the level of institutions, warning that sound artists should be learn to be forceful about the requirements for their pieces. He also commented on the barriers to entry for the sound art audience as being the unskilled curation, and that many artists don’t have a strong artistic voice and are very reactive.
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