Sound Studies
Project 1. (Nov – Jan 2025)
Brief: The brief was to create a composition informed by a selected topic within Sound Studies, demonstrating a critical understanding of a specific sonic framework. The project communicates its ideas through abstraction, emphasising conceptual clarity, experimentation, and critical reflection.
Topic Choice: This project explores graphic-led sound as a method of visually representing sound and audio signals. The work investigates how auditory information can be translated into visual form, focusing on the relationship between sound, colour, and perception. Drawing on ideas of synaesthesia, particularly the phenomenon of perceiving sound as colour, the project examines how sensory boundaries can blur, and how sound can be experienced beyond hearing alone.
Artist Inspiration: This project is informed by a range of artists working with graphic notation, visual sound, and non-traditional forms of musical representation. Key references include Iannis Xenakis’s graphic notation piece Mycenae Alpha, which explores sound through architectural and gestural forms, and Ioana Vreme Moser’s Hand-drawn Sounds, which translates sonic qualities into expressive visual marks. The abstract relationship between colour and form in Wassily Kandinsky’s Thirty, further influenced the visual language of the work. Additional inspiration comes from Rainer Wehinger’s visual listening score for György Ligeti’s Artikulation, as well as Christine Sun Kim’s Silence, which critically examines sound, absence, and accessibility.
Starting Process: Informed by both theoretical research and artist inspiration, the project developed through an exploration of the relationship between colour, motion, and sound. Drawing loosely on synaesthetic perception, where colour can be understood as sound. I began by creating short, playful video fragments inspired by the simplicity of childhood. These visual experiments later informed the construction of a soundscape, with audio elements responding directly to the colours and movements within the videos.
Project 1 – Process Examples
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Tulips
The soundscape for Tulips was composed using a glass harp. Each wine glass was filled with a measured amount of water to produce a specific pitch, allowing the instrument to function as a controlled tonal system. Individual notes were assigned to certain colours, based on an intuitive yet considered correspondence between pitch and visual tone.
As new colours enter the video, their corresponding notes are introduced and layered, gradually building the composition. Through this process, the soundscape develops in direct dialogue with the visual material, reinforcing the relationship between colour and sound while creating a structured yet organic audiovisual progression.
Sweets
The soundscape for Sweets was composed using a DAW. Individual sounds were assigned to certain colours, based on an intuitive yet considered correspondence between pitch and visual tone.
As new colours enter the video, their corresponding sounds are introduced and layered, gradually building the composition. Through this process, the soundscape develops in direct dialogue with the visual material, reinforcing the relationship between colour and sound.
Blue
The soundscape for Blue was composed using the piano. Unlike previous works that layered multiple colours and corresponding tones, this piece focuses exclusively on a single colour. The restriction to blue creates a more concentrated and introspective audiovisual experience, reflected in the restrained and solemn quality of the composition.
In developing the work, I considered how the colour blue might translate sonically, associating it with slower tempo, lower register, and sustained dynamics. The visible strokes of the paintbrush in the video mirror these musical qualities, with the speed and pressure corresponding to shifts in rhythm and intensity. Through this approach, colour, gesture, and sound operate as parallel expressive systems.
Project 1 – Process Evaluation
Realisation: Through experimentation with different approaches to exploring play with videos, it became clear that a more direct and simplified visual approach was needed. I recognised the importance of clarity in colour, as this strengthened the relationship between the visual elements and the resulting soundscape.
Development: In response, the project developed into a more tactile and visual process of creation. An idea was by pouring paint directly onto a canvas, colour became clear, physical presence rather than abstract. This method emphasised materiality and gesture, allowing colour to act as a primary driver for the soundscape.
Impact: This shift in approach deepened the conceptual connection between sound and image, reinforcing the idea of graphical sound as both a visual and auditory system. The use of physical paint introduced an element of unpredictability and embodiment, enriching the translation from colour to sound. As a result, the final work offers a more immediate and accessible exploration of synaesthetic perception, encouraging the viewer to engage with sound as something that can be seen, felt, and interpreted visually.
Project 1 – Final Outcome
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Motivation: The motivation was to create a representation of graphic-led sound as a method of visually representing sound and audio signals. The work investigates how auditory information can be translated into visual form, focusing on the relationship between sound, colour, and perception. Drawing on ideas of synaesthesia, particularly the phenomenon of perceiving sound as colour, the project examines how sensory boundaries can blur, and how sound can be experienced beyond hearing alone.
Development: The Final Outcome video presents colour poured onto a plain canvas as a visual representation of graphic-led sound. The accompanying soundscape was developed through hands-on experimentation with found objects in an art room, including marbles, bells, and pens. These objects were dropped from varying heights and distances, producing a range of percussive sounds that were recorded and composed into the final audio.
If developed further, the project would expand the sonic vocabulary associated with each colour, introducing greater variation and nuance. Further exploration within a digital audio workstation (DAW) would also allow for greater refinement of the composition and technical control.
This process contributed significantly to my development as an artist, pushing me beyond my comfort zone and encouraging experimentation with technologies and methods. Engaging with both physical materials and digital tools strengthened my confidence in sound-based practice and reinforced my interest in working across disciplines.
Project 1 – Final Outcome Evaluation
Project 1 – Outtakes
‘Exploring Touchdesigner’
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