The courtyard is cobbled and framed on three sides by heavy stone walls, creating an interesting acoustic fingerprint evident when you clap or shout. On one of these sides is a grassy bank with tall deciduous trees, and on the fourth side, which is also the entrance, there is a low stone wall, a hedge, and beyond it opens out to a larger area of fortress grounds.
As the seasons change, the soundscape undergoes various transformations. Species of birds come and go, winds roll in from the harbour playing with trees in full leaf and streaming through bare winter branches. An expansive area of the city and harbour is within earshot. City noises come and go, diffusing in a variety of ways with temperature, snow coverage, and wind direction.
Sounds were recorded from various positions within the courtyard area over a 6-month period using the MH-Acoustics EM32 microphone, which is a 4th-order ambisonics microphone. Some recordings were made in February, while the majority were captured from March to June 2022.
Extended durations of sound were recorded to capture the temporal variation of the soundscape, including intermittent sounds, repeating sounds, ‘keysounds’ (distinctive and memorable sounds of the landscape), and the continuously varying background hum of the city and harbor.
In addition to recording the soundscape, I also captured the acoustic environment, or in other words, I recorded 3D Impulse Responses (IRs). These were created using a Genelec 8050 loudspeaker, an MhAcoustics EM32 microphone, and the Spat5 Sweep Measurement Kit. (For more information about how these were then used, see these links: Subliminal Throwback and intro to the installations).
