News - The School of Sound

Announcements about our network of schools, festivals, artists and practitioners, and other things we want to tell you.

Over the last several years, I’ve been creating works that bring together music, sound and text in increasingly integrated ways. I use the term Klangspiel* to describe this evolving form.

Klangspiel is a German composite word, used here to suggest play with sound in its widest sense; encompassing musical, sonic and spoken elements. The term implies intentional arrangement, tonal awareness, and a poetic or aesthetic dimension, allowing for a broad range of artistic, dramatic and musical interpretations.

Klangspiel works are created using computer software that enables music, sound design, and live audio to be woven into a single, flexible tapestry. This approach allows the artist to work fluidly across the roles of composer, performer, writer, and sound designer.

Most of these pieces are conceived as binaural works, intended for listening on headphones, creating an intimate one-to-one relationship between artist and listener.

Examples can be found here:
https://www.stephen-deutsch.com/klangspiel
(The works under Occluded Illuminations sit fully within the Klangspiel aesthetic.)

My colleague Richard Nye and I are interested in connecting with other composers and sound artists who are exploring related territory. Our aim is to develop this field further and to build a critical mass of work and practitioners that may attract the interest of broadcasters.

If you would like to discuss Klangspiel or explore collaboration, please get in touch:
https://www.stephen-deutsch.com/about-contact

Stephen Deutsch

*There seems to be no definition of this composite word, but its components are Klang, generally meaning sound – and spiel, which can have several meanings including; play; game; gambling; acting; and performance.

Practical Sound Design online course, 7 – 11 April

7 – 11 April, online
10am – 5pm

Sound design is the emotional heartbeat of a film, TV show or game, combining technical skills with a passion for telling stories through sound. This course provides an introduction to the principles of sound editing and design for film and TV. 

Through exercises, you will learn how to layer audio to enhance storytelling and where sound fits in the post-production workflow. You will learn about session management and technical aspects of sound editing, which, reinforced by conceptual thinking, will help you take your project to the next level. The course is taught in Pro Tools, however, those using other editing software with a timeline-based editing for sound and picture can also take part in the course.

NFTS Scotland offers world-class training and innovation in Scotland. We run a diverse range of short courses, certificate courses, and diploma courses. We also offer bespoke courses, designed and delivered to support the breadth of talent in Scotland. 

Course info and application: Practical Sound Design | NFTS

EchoCat – Sound Design in China

If you need a sound design studio in China, we suggest you contact EchoCat Sound Studio, an award-winning sound design team based in Shanghai.

EchoCat Sound Studio specializes in pre and post-production of film sound design, as well as sound work in animation, advertising, games, and other related fields. They are a young team dedicated to independent artistic creation including areas such as feminism and LGBT+. Owned by Sishan Chen, it has collected a series of awards and nominations at international festivals. See how they work at echocatsound.com/.

echocatsound@gmail.com

Books and Recordings

Recordings of Events from 2023-2024

Video recordings of all our events from January 2023 – June 2024 are now available in our Shop.

Anyone who purchased a ticket to one of these events has unlimited access to the recording. You’ll find it under My Recordings in your SOS account.

Suggested Books

Here is a list of titles by those who delivered talks in the last year along with some by other practitioners.

 

Sound Principles:
Creative Game Audio Production & Direction

by Rob Bridgett

Based around the series of talks Rob gave at The School of Sound, Sound Principles brings together, and expands upon, three main themes; sound in a software development environment, ludic sound that delivers gameplay information to a player, and the early involvement of sound in defining pillars and principles for audio direction in video game projects. The book also includes extended discussion and conversations on the topics and themes raised in each of the three talks. With a foreword by Larry Sider

Sound Principles is available as paperback or pdf e-book from Blurb.
Interview with Rob Bridgett about Sound Principles.

 

Wild Track – Sound, Text and the Idea of Birdsong

by Seán Street

Wild Track is an exploration of birdsong and the ways in which that sound was conveyed, described and responded to through text, prior to the advent of recording and broadcast technologies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Street links sound aesthetics, radio, natural history, and literature to explore how the brain and imagination translate sonic codes as well as the nature of the silent sound we “hear” when we read a text. This creates an awareness of sound through the tuned attention of the senses, learning from sound texts of the natural world that sought – and seek – to convey the intensity of the sonic moment and fleeting experience. To absorb these lessons is to enable a more highly interactive relationship with sound and listening, and to interpret the subtleties of audio as a means of expression and translation of the living world.

Order from Bloomsbury Press
Other books by Seán at seanstreet.com

 

Sound Design for Film

by Tim Harrison

Sound Design for Film offers an in-depth study of one of cinema’s most powerful storytelling tools, exploring the creative landscape and powerful storytelling tools, exploring the creative landscape and proposing a variety of contemporary approaches to audio design. Opening up a hidden world of narrative techniques, experienced designer Tim Harrison provides key insights into how sound works on audiences to guide them through stories. Topics covered include: the creative process from script to delivery; visualizing your design ideas; developing characters and settings, and using motif and metaphor. Also covered is recording foley and sound effects along with editing and manipulating audio and the final mix. Serving as a tool for creative reflection and development, this unique book offers invaluable approaches for enhancing your storytelling skills, wherever you are on your filmmaking journey.

Order from The Crowood Press
See other books by Tim at t-harrison.com

 

The Audiovisual Chord: Embodied Listening in Film

by Martine Huvenne

This book is a phenomenological approach to film sound and film as a whole, bringing all sensory impressions together within the body as a sense of movement. This includes embodied listening, felt sound and the audiovisual chord as a dynamic knot of visual and auditory movements. From this perspective, auditory spaces in film can be used as a pivot between an inner and an external world.

Order from Amazon

 

Michael Chekhov’s Acting Technique: A Practitioner’s Guide

by Sinéad Rushe

Intended for actors, directors, teachers and researchers, this book offers an exceptionally clear and thorough introduction to the renowned acting technique developed by Michael Chekhov. Sinéad Rushe’s book provides a complete overview of the whole method, and includes illuminating explanations of its principles, as well as a wide range of practical exercises that illustrate, step by step, how they can be applied to dramatic texts.
Part One provides an outline of the ideas that underpin the work, which help to prepare practitioners to become responsive and receptive, and to awaken their imagination. Part Two charts a journey through the foundational psychophysical exercises that can both orient an actor’s training routine and be applied directly to the development of a role. Part Three focuses on more specific and elaborate methods of scene work, characterisation and the art of transformation.

Order from Bloomsbury
Other writings by Sinéad at sineadrushe.co.uk

 

Production Sound Mixer: notes & thoughts

by Edgar Iacolenna

Edgar Iacolenna takes you on a discovery of the profession of production sound mixer. This book represents the ‘journey’, in a figurative sense, that he wanted to undertake in order to discover the various ways of understanding this profession; the various ways of approaching the profession of production sound mixer and, therefore, the recording of sound on set. He had the opportunity to interview seven top international sound engineers chosen by him and ask them twelve questions.

Order from Amazon

 

3 books by Budhaditya Chattopadhyay

Between the Headphones:
Listening to the Practitioner

Sound is a new area of interest in the Arts and Humanities. The study of sound in cinema has only recently been established in Film and Media Studies. Furthermore, so far, attention has focused on Hollywood and European cinema in this regard. Reading sound from other world cinemas, particularly those from the global South, remains underexplored.
As India is currently the world’s largest producer of films with a formidable global presence, this book bridges the gap with a collection of interviews, introducing leading film industry sound practitioners from the subcontinent. The book examines historical developments from the advent of the talkies to present-day digital cinema productions, providing an embodied understanding of the unique Indian film sound world with new perspectives on cinematic narration in the practitioner’s own words.

Order from Cambridge Scholar

 

The Auditory Setting:
Environmental Sounds in Film and Media Arts

The Auditory Setting introduces and investigates how narrative and a sense of place are constructed in film and media arts through the reproduction and mediation of site-specific environmental sounds, or ‘ambience’. Although this sonic backdrop acts as the acoustically mediated space where a story or event can take place, there has been little academic study of sound’s undervalued role in cinematic setting and its production. The aim of this book is to question classical assumptions about sound in film and media arts (e.g., image-based relationships) and shift the focus towards the site and its sonic environment, whose presence is often carefully constructed in a film or media artwork’s diegetic world as a vital narrative strategy.

Order from EUP

Sound in Indian Film and Audiovisual Media:
History, Practices and Production

This book is the first ever systematic attempt to study film sound in the Indian subcontinent by artistic research. The book aims to fill the scholarly void on the issues of sound and listening in the Global Souths’ cultures. It develops a comprehensive understanding of the unique sound world of Indian film and audiovisual media through the examination of historical developments of sound from early optical recordings to contemporary digital audio technologies.

Order from AUP

 

Sound for Moving Pictures

by Neil Hillman
with a forward by Walter Murch

Sound for Moving Pictures presents a new and original sound design theory called the Four Sound Areas framework, offering a conceptual template for constructing, deconstructing and communicating all types of motion picture soundtracks; and a way for academics and practitioners to better understand and utilize the deeper, emotive capabilities available to all filmmakers through the thoughtful use of sound design. With a forward by Walter Murch.

Order from Routledge

X-Raying Sound with Izotope RX

by Simone Corelli

The text is suitable for sound technicians interested in a quick, simple, and clear approach to the famous iZotope RX restoration system, which is increasingly appreciated and used worldwide.

Order from Amazon

Pro Tools in un’ora (compressa la pausa caffè)

Pro Tools in an Hour (including the coffe break)

by Simone Corelli

Order from Amazon

Dialoghi, Musica, Effetti: il Suono nell’Audiovisivo

Dialogues, Music, Effects: Sound in Audiovisual

by Simone Corelli, Stefano Mainetti, Gilberto Martinelli
with a preface by Claudio Strinati

Il volume tratta in modo approfondito il suono nell’audiovisivo nei suoi aspetti tecnici ed espressivi, principalmente per film e documentari. I tre autori, noti professionisti del settore, affrontano sia i lati produttivi che postproduttivi, fino all’ascolto dello spettatore, trattando anche la musica per film. Il saggio è impreziosito da una dettagliata cronologia sull’avanzamento scientifico e tecnologico correlato al suono, e da grafiche e fotografie originali. È un’opera per esperti ma anche per appassionati e studenti di cinema. La prefazione è di Claudio Strinati.

Italian Kindle edition
Order from Amazon

A new book on game sound

Based around Rob Bridgett’s series of talks given at The School of Sound in January 2024, Sound Principles brings together, and expands upon, three main themes; sound in a software development environment, ludic sound that delivers gameplay information to a player, and the early involvement of sound in defining pillars and principles for audio direction in video game projects. The book also includes extended discussion and conversations on the topics and themes raised in each of the three talks. With a foreword by Larry Sider.

“The importance of collaboration is often touted as the key to creative success, but it’s rare to find such vivid insight into what this actually means and practical strategies for achieving it. In Sound Principles, Rob Bridgett has distilled decades of experience as a leading game audio director into their purest form, brilliantly brought to life through conversation with other audio professionals.” – Kenny Young – Sound Designer, Composer, Audio Director

“This is an excellent overview of the processes involved in creating sound for games, particularly as it goes beyond the technical to focus on the creative ‘messier’ part of the artistic process. Bridgett writes simply about complex topics, always a mark of quality in any kind of writing, using examples and a dialectic style that makes the book both instructive and enjoyable to read. I certainly learned a lot reading it!” – Gianluca Sergi – Professor of Film Industries, University of Nottingham, author of The Dolby Era

Order at https://www.blurb.com/b/12031196-sound-principles

Practical Sound Design online course, 18-22 March

NFTS Scotland is offering an online short course in sound design. Taught by Ania Przygoda this course provides an introduction to the principles of sound editing and design for film and TV.

Through exercises, you will learn how to layer audio to enhance storytelling and where sound fits in the post-production workflow. You will learn about session management and technical aspects of sound editing, which, reinforced by conceptual thinking, will help you take your project to the next level.

18-22 March 2024, online, full-time, 10:00am-5:00pm. Details at nfts.co.uk/practical-sound-design

Film and Video Umbrella: No Ordinary Protest

No Ordinary Protest, by Mikhail Karikis, is the latest online release from the Film and Video Umbrella.

Made in 2018, Karikis’ video was perfectly in tune with a moment when children, led by teenage activist Greta Thunberg, rose up in anger at the imminent prospect of future climate emergency.

Combining sound, experiments, performance and unscripted debates, the resulting collaborative scenes oscillate between the real and imagined, evoking the irresistible power of collective action. Watch

Private Kitchen

We’d like you to know about the PRIVATE KITCHEN, an initiative by our friends in the Netherlands.

PRIVATE KITCHEN is an online platform by and about Dutch media composers.

It provides a mix of videos and feeds about how composers work and how they develop(ed) a career within their media disciplines. They share their experiences, insights and tips and tricks about developing an idea into a final composition, the production, and music release for media.

The Audiovisual Chord: Embodied Listening in Film

The Audiovisual Chord: Embodied Listening in Film, by Martine Huvenne, has been published by Palgrave Macmillan.

“This book is a phenomenological approach to film sound and film as a whole, bringing all sensory impressions together within the body as a sense of movement. This includes embodied listening, felt sound and the audiovisual chord as a dynamic knot of visual and auditory movements. From this perspective, auditory spaces in film can be used as a pivot between an inner and an external world.” 


For information, see The Audiovisual Chord

Success

People learn in different ways. That’s the principle behind this project. With single lectures, short courses, articles on practice and theory, seminars and the Teaching forum, we want to take the study of sound away from the limitations of higher education and vocational training. Rather than focusing on ‘the industry’ or separating theory from practice, our aim is to integrate the diverse ideas that inform this fascinating subject. That has been our intent from the beginning of the School of Sound.

After the first SOS in 1998, Chris Darke wrote in The Independent, “If the School of Sound was conceived as an intervention, taking on the sclerotic notions of technocratic professionals that dominate British film schools, then it was seen by the industry and film schools alike as an unqualified success.” And so we hope to continue.