{"id":188,"date":"2016-10-01T02:37:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T23:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2016-10-05T20:45:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T17:45:26","slug":"helvacioglu_interview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Helvacioglu Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

 <\/p>\n

Erdem Helvacioglu: Petri Kuljuntausta Interview. On Soundscape Composition<\/h1>\n

May 14, 2008<\/p>\n

<\/h5>\n
– \u00a0There are some composers and colleagues who see soundscape<\/strong><\/h5>\n
composition as subgenre of musique concrete. What is your opinion on<\/strong><\/h5>\n
this matter?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
I don’t see it as a subgenre of musique concrete. Soundscape<\/h5>\n
composition could be understood as part of the continuum, which<\/h5>\n
started from musique concrete and other early art forms, which were<\/h5>\n
based on recorded sound. The importance of context in soundscape<\/h5>\n
composition, and the connection between the sounds and the environment<\/h5>\n
(that particular place and its habitants in particular time) from<\/h5>\n
where the sound textures of the work are taken from, is so important,<\/h5>\n
that I can’t put it too closely to the genre of musique concrete.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
Soundscape composition could be linked to the tradition of musique<\/h5>\n
concrete, radio art, documentary, sound art, and performance art, at<\/h5>\n
least. And what is special in soundscape music is that it could be<\/h5>\n
analyzed from so many perspectives, this is because of its close<\/h5>\n
relation to culture, social relations, environmental matters and to<\/h5>\n
the actual sounds of time that the work presents. Soundscape music is<\/h5>\n
a form of art, but at the same time it offer us something true from<\/h5>\n
the real world, by referring to the (sound) components of our culture.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0What has changed in the soundscape composition genre during its 30<\/strong><\/h5>\n
years? Do think it is still a vital way of composing and raising<\/strong><\/h5>\n
awareness to acoustic ecology?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
It is absolutely vital art form. In fact, now it has reached the<\/h5>\n
point, where the people really could understand the artistic meaning<\/h5>\n
of environmental sounds. The interest among young generation of<\/h5>\n
composers and artists is growing and we could hear more and more works<\/h5>\n
that are based on environmental recordings. Environmental music is<\/h5>\n
slightly different thing than soundscape music, but anyway, it is very<\/h5>\n
much question on the same interest, but slightly from different angle.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0How does the Finish soundscape influence your compositions?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
I record my living environment often, so I have close relation to my<\/h5>\n
own surrounding sound environment. It is trivial environment to me, as<\/h5>\n
I live here and have used to hear these familiar sounds, but despite<\/h5>\n
of that, I could find always new perspectives to my sound environment.<\/h5>\n
It is also important to continue the activity (to listen to your<\/h5>\n
environment), as only then you could notice and understand the changes<\/h5>\n
that happens in your environment. If you record the sounds of Helsinki<\/h5>\n
city during one summer, and continue this some 10 years, then you’ll<\/h5>\n
notice how the sound environment will change. I have recorded Helsinki<\/h5>\n
so many years that I can tell you that it changes…\u00a0 In 1990’s you<\/h5>\n
heard archaic sinewave sounds of mobile phones in every place at the<\/h5>\n
downtown, but this disappeared in few years when the advanced mobile<\/h5>\n
phone technology allowed to use your own music samples.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0What are the differences between Finnish soundscape composition<\/strong><\/h5>\n
and \u00a0soundscape composition in other parts of the world?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
It is difficult to say, and it depends on the case. We have our own<\/h5>\n
fauna here, so the animal sounds affect to the soundscape recordings<\/h5>\n
naturally. We don’t have big city metropolitans or their sound<\/h5>\n
textures here. Helsinki is the capital, and that’s where I live, but<\/h5>\n
the population of some 0,5 million people in Helsinki is not much. It<\/h5>\n
is active city, but not a metropolitan. Finnish have close relation to<\/h5>\n
nature, that is cliche, but it is true. And we could hear nature<\/h5>\n
recordings in many classic Finnish electroacoustic music compositions<\/h5>\n
created since 1960s. But, the use of nature sounds doesn’t give the<\/h5>\n
whole picture in the matter; nowadays we have here a really active<\/h5>\n
noise music scene. The noise musicians might use environmental sounds<\/h5>\n
(like soundscape composers do) in their music, but they’ll do that<\/h5>\n
totally different way. Basically all international trends (from noise<\/h5>\n
to soundscape activity) could be found from here.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0What are the technical tools that you use these days for composition?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
For composing I use portable recorder, mics, computer and different<\/h5>\n
audio softwares, nothing special. But when I am performing live, I<\/h5>\n
have a slightly different view to the music, as I don’t want to just<\/h5>\n
sat down and play files from the laptop. So, I want to really play<\/h5>\n
live and I have built my own electronic instrument set-up, which<\/h5>\n
contains possibility to sample and recycle (live process) the sounds<\/h5>\n
that I play in real-time. The material that I sample could be<\/h5>\n
soundscapes or anything else I like. Also, important part in my set-up<\/h5>\n
is my feedback system, which I have developed for years. In my sound<\/h5>\n
chain, I could generate feedback sounds, control their pitches,<\/h5>\n
textures, densities and so on. So with feedback sounds my sound<\/h5>\n
palette is from tiny bird chirps (like thin sinewave sound gestures<\/h5>\n
controlled w\/ KaossPad) to massive, heavy-metal-guitar-kind of<\/h5>\n
sound-walls. The textures that I generate depends on the context of<\/h5>\n
the piece. I always use my feedback sounds as my “solo sound” — it is<\/h5>\n
my solistic instrument. (You’ll get a better idea if you listen to my<\/h5>\n
concert recording ‘Live in Berlin’, at MySpace.)<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0Do you think that soundscape composition could be the base of new<\/strong><\/h5>\n
electronic music composed outside of Europe and North America?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
Absolutely! It is not a question about technology, or tools, but<\/h5>\n
willing to notice the environment. The sounds are around us, we just<\/h5>\n
have to find them!<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0In the last 10 years, there has been a growing interest towards<\/strong><\/h5>\n
field recording. New terms like phonography, aural safari is being<\/strong><\/h5>\n
mentioned at mailing groups. Do you think that this interest towards<\/strong><\/h5>\n
will affect soundscape composition aesthetics today?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
We could use the environmental sounds in many ways in music,<\/h5>\n
Soundscape composition offers us one possible aesthetic, one possible<\/h5>\n
way to go. I believe there are many possible ways to use the ideas of<\/h5>\n
soundscape music in other music forms. By that I mean, there is always<\/h5>\n
possible to make fusion of aesthetics and styles (or genres). You<\/h5>\n
don’t have to be a real ‘soundscape composer’ to use the basic ideas<\/h5>\n
of soundscape music in your music.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0Do you think that soundscape composition can raise awareness<\/strong><\/h5>\n
towards environmental issues?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
Absolutely! That’s one of the main thing with this music style, raise<\/h5>\n
the listener’s awareness towards the environment around you.<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

– \u00a0\u00a0Who are the soundscape composers you enjoy the most?<\/strong><\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
Uhhh, difficult question. Hildegard Westerkamp of course. She has<\/h5>\n
composed really nice works, which I have used as an example of<\/h5>\n
soundscape music many times at my lectures. The way how she use rhythm<\/h5>\n
of water-drops, for example, has been motivated me especially. I have<\/h5>\n
said this many times to my composer students: “you don’t have to use<\/h5>\n
drums or drum samples to create rhythmic music”… and as an example I<\/h5>\n
have played HW’s ‘Talking Rain’.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Erdem Helvacioglu: Petri Kuljuntausta Interview. On Soundscape Composition May 14, 2008 – \u00a0There are some composers and colleagues who see soundscape composition as subgenre of musique concrete. What is your opinion on this matter? I don’t see it as a subgenre of musique concrete. Soundscape composition could be understood as part of the continuum,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"yoast_head":"\nHelvacioglu Interview - Petri Kuljuntausta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helvacioglu Interview - Petri Kuljuntausta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Erdem Helvacioglu: Petri Kuljuntausta Interview. On Soundscape Composition May 14, 2008 – \u00a0There are some composers and colleagues who see soundscape composition as subgenre of musique concrete. What is your opinion on this matter? I don’t see it as a subgenre of musique concrete. Soundscape composition could be understood as part of the continuum,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Petri Kuljuntausta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-05T17:45:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"PK13425-OVH\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/\",\"name\":\"Petri Kuljuntausta\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"http:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/\",\"name\":\"Helvacioglu Interview - Petri Kuljuntausta\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-30T23:37:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-05T17:45:26+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/helvacioglu_interview\/\"]}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7UaIW-32","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313,"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuljuntausta.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}