The Domestic Soundscape making, listening, thinkingfelicityford@outlook.com
Art projects
Wednesday’s Numbers
90 seconds I am loving the 90 second long recordings that Paul is putting up on the sound diaries website as part of his 90″ project… it is a nice length of time, 90 seconds… just long enough to get into listening but not too long, either. £5.11 This is the price of a shade […]
The Sonic Tuck Shop book…
All the writing about/thinking about food has inspired me to develop The Sonic Tuck Shop installation idea into a book form. POP – the final design for my own-design, handprinted paper bags, in which popcorn was served at Sonic Art Oxford. There is more about the design process/ideas here. At the opening night of Sonic […]
FO – Tweed Bag
I am sorry to bore you all to death with yet another one of these bags. However I cannot stop myself from making this pattern; everytime I turn out those cute pockets I begin visualising yet another lining/outer fabric combo and when I surveyed the moth-eaten pile of ebay-won Harris Tweed left over from the […]
Counting
I got back from Edinburgh to discover that my bank have cancelled my overdraft facility. This is good on one hand as it means I am not constantly living in overdraft mode; however it is also bad as it means I have far less money this month than I was budgeting for. The situation is […]
Gentle Fire
Gentle Fire is a bit of an obsession for me; it is an Alvin Lucier score which I have written about before, and what fascinates me is its imaginative, material treatment of sound. I find it really interesting that realising any version of the score involves collecting sounds from life – a process which me […]
Good weekends
I’ve had two good weekends on the trot now, and it’s made me think about what makes a weekend good and what things I love doing on the weekend – especially when the weeks are extremely busy! Last weekend it was Lara’s birthday and so after my day spent at Didcot Railway Centre recording the […]
Steam Sounds – for my Pops
My Pops – more than anyone else in the world – has fostered my geekery for trains, I SPY books and random obsessions, and it is his birthday today, so this post is for him. I spent the day last Saturday working on a feature that will be included in the April series of The […]
Sound Wonders and loving the ordinary
This week I got an email about a project exploring the idea of sound tourism, and the idea of a map detailing the world’s sound wonders. This is very interesting, both because I wonder what defines a sound wonder, and because I like very much the idea of selecting holiday destinations in the future based […]
February FOs – Love Is Awesome
Progress continues on the to-do list; I had a fruitful day of designing packaging for the sonic tuckshop at Sonic Art Oxford, and my recorder is filling up with sounds for Gentle Fire by Alvin Lucier. I will be performing Gentle Fire in the afternoon on Saturday 27th February at Oxford Brookes University in the […]
The (Anti) Valentine
Posters at Love Is Awesome, group show, February 2009, Gallery 10, St Mary’s Butts, Reading Last year around this time of year I was working on the Love Is Awesome show, and I made these anti-Valentine’s-day cards in celebration and recognition of my (then) very Broken Heart. I am feeling much more positive about Love […]
Sound Art To-Do list:
Sometimes there’s just so much going on that you have to do a to-do list to get through it all. I have loads of sound-art projects going on at the moment, and I need a list to get through it all! If I place such a list here then A, it is in the public […]
::: framework250 compilations ready to ship :::
Framework is one of the longest-running field-recording radio shows that I know of. Patrick McGinley – the creative force behind the Framework radio show and the Murmerings website – is one of the most consistent makers and producers that I’ve met, and the longevity and sustained quality of Framework make it my favourite radio show. […]
I SPY / I HEAR
I SPY in the country has become my most entrusted creative companion. For the past month I haven’t left the house without it, and my knowledge of the countryside around Oxfordshire and Berkshire has genuinely broadened through organising interviews and visits connected with investigating all the items contained within its beautiful, vintage pages. I was […]
Site specific socks
I really enjoyed reading Kate’s recent post on walking and how we build up imaginative representations of places as we patrol them. It made me think about my familiar routes, the places which I habitually visit, the things I note along the way, and how I remember places. Pigeons in the snow in Palmer Park, […]
Indoors
I have been loving reading people’s posts about how they are spending the cold and snowy spell indoors, and I’m really loving seeing so much appreciation for domestic space in the blogs that I follow. It is a time for loving the sheltering qualities of home. Nobody appreciates these sheltering qualities more than our mascot* […]
Discovering a love for snow
Looking at all the beautiful photos of snow on other people’s blogs of late, I have been feeling a little ashamed of my own comparitively negative response. You see I have not until today, been especially enjoying the snow. I have not been able to muster up the enthusiasm to create an amazing snowman or […]
Listening in on the walk!
I experimented with posting a sound and pictures account over on the 2012 walk blog, but if you fancy listening to our short audio logs from the three days, they are here. I have been very inspired by the inimitable Ramblings programme, created for Radio 4 by Clare Balding and I want to work on […]
Scratches on records
There is a perfect DOT of sound when the stylus on a record player hits a scratch. Sort of prickly and bassy at the same time, the scratch quickly tails off into a kind of whispery, rustly, fizzing noise. But that first contact with a deep scratch – the “Bd” sound, is quite unique
Supermarket
If anyone reading this has been caught up in the last-minute provisions purchasing of Christmas, you may be familiar with the soundscape of the Supermarket at this time of year! BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Out of my way… fsh… sorry… aaaargh… sigh… OUT OF MY WAY… SORRY… AAAARGH! SIGH! SORRY… SIGH! FSH… This year’s trip […]
Pine needles, Scratching
While replacing decorations the cat had knocked down & repositioning various baubles & decorations on our tree, I noticed the very bristling, brushlike, rasping sound of the needles brushing against my fingertips & the ribbons. This made me think of & remember the specific sound of pine-needles dropping onto the ground on Xmas we had […]
Car engines on TV: “Top Gear” sounds + “BADDIE’S” car in Tarantino film
Watching TV tonight, the sound of car engines & their specific tones or aural qualities stuck out for me. On Top Gear, the sounds of a 3 V8 engine bellows was discussed, while in Tarantino’s “Deathproof,” the menacing sound of The Bad Guy’s car-engine became a very important sound in terms of building anticipation & […]
Different kinds of paper in pass-the-parcel
When playing pass-the-parcel today at The Oxford Bluestockings Xmas party, I was struck by the different sonic qualities of various types of wrapping paper. The foil papers have an almost tinny quality; a kind of treble, high-pitch (relatively!) rustle with a metallic twang. The brown or duller papers tend to make buckling, woody, more bassy […]
Bubbles in the bath
The sound of bubbles fizzing and popping in the bath is miniscule & dainty. A brittle, wet sound. Tiny bursts of sonic, watery waves.
Twig snapping in fire
BASS TONE TREBLE AFTERMATH
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