R. Murray Schafer

I have looked over Raymond Murray Schafer writings a lot for inspiration for soundscape studies and the beginning of this project. ‘The soundscape of the world is changing. Modern man is beginning to inhabit a world with an acoustic environment radically different from any he has hitherto known.’ (Schafer,1994)

His book, The soundscape: our sonic environment and the tuning of our world, speaks so much about the deterioration of our soundscapes. Natural acoustics are changing and his writings had encouraged me to think more about the changes. And think of my own perception when It comes to noise... (What do I perceive as noise?)

‘For Schafer, the modern soundscape increasingly consists of a high degree of harsh noises what he calls “lo-fi” sound – sounds that impose themselves indiscriminately and with an increased level of disturbance upon the body, society, and the environment. Acoustic ecology sets out to reduce such noise’. (LaBelle,2015)

This question of modernity has also came to mind, There are noises and frequencies that are submitted into our everyday lives which we can not hear, unless we ourselves have the technology to pick up signals. The idea that we constantly have sounds and noises imposed on us and other biological creatures like birds for example has expanded my interest within this subject.