Cities and Memory: Dada Sounds

February 5, 2016 marks 100 years since the founding of the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, and thus the beginning of Dada. To mark the occasion, Cities and Memory: Dada Sounds applies the techniques and practices of Dada to field recordings from around the world.

I also contributed one field recording and its corresponding Dadaist remix …according to Tristan Tzara’s method How to Make a Dadaist Poem.

Edit: I am glad to announce that the piece is now included on the Dada Sounds highlights album, available as a free download release at bandcamp.com. 

Explore more Dada Sounds at Cities and Memory.

A soundscape remodelled

Urban square Nauener Platz in Berlin was recently remodelled and reconstructed by urban planners and acousticians in order to improve its ambiance – with special regard to its sonic properties. One of the outcomes of this project is a middle-sized noise barrier (gabion wall) reducing the crossroads’ traffic noise on the playground by 3 dB.

Nauener Platz playground with noise barrier (gabion wall)

Following a distinct ›soundscape approach‹, acoustician Prof. Dr. Brigitte Schulte-Fortkamp and her colleagues at Technische Universität Berlin not only took measurements and calculated noise contour maps. They also conducted ›soundwalks‹ and even invited local residents to participate in the planning process. In the end, local residents required more pleasant sounds at Nauener Platz.

In respondance, several ›audio islands‹ were installed: today’s visitors of Nauener Platz are supposed to sit down on ›ear benches‹ with integrated speakers to listen to ocean surf or birdsong (sound devices by Barbara Willecke, sound files by Konstantin Dudel).

Traffic noise, Berlin – time stretch manipulated –

Two field recordings of traffic sound from Ackerstraße/Bernauer Straße and from Ackerstraße/Torstraße, Berlin.

Photograph by Kaylie Wibberley

Both recordings are radically changed in duration and in tone pitch. First, traffic sounds are replayed in quick-motion. After 30 seconds, it starts to fade over to traffic sounds in slow-motion.