![]() 2020 News!
We are installing multiple private gardens with customized traffic noise mitigation solutions. Site-specific sound art immerses and distracts. Read more. |
![]() 62 Miles of Sound!
Ultra excited to unveil my first public project in a long while, and completely socially distanced! Instead of a ’soundwalk’, I have created a sound drive through the beautiful rolling hills of Sauk County, west of Madison, Wisconsin. Take the EarTour from now til Oct 4! |
Philosophies of Soundscapes

Dr. Livingston has been exploring the outdoor perception and history of sound to shape a new experience. This includes issues of noise pollution and the subjectivity of personal experience when it comes to public sound, such as sounds associated with commerce, tourism, transportation, civic functions (police and fire), and industry. These perceptions are tempered by the value of soundmarks, the associations of historical uses of soundspace.
A second aspect is the history of outdoor musicmaking, associated mainly with Asian musical traditions and sheepherding around the world. Yodeling, a particular type of communication developed for mountainous regions, actually exists in 17 cultures around the world. Other interesting traditions include the Chinese gu qin, probably the quietest instrument ever built, in contrast to the penetrating sounds of bagpipes, drums, church bells and similar outdoor musical soundmakers. An ancient poem reads, "with the sounds of the wind in the pines, it is not even necessary to play gu qin". It is said that the musical accompaniment to the traditional Vietnamese water puppet theater sounds only discordant and poorly balanced when heard up close. But drifting across the water in the summer evening dusk, the instruments meld into a perfect balance to the listeners. I use these ideas to create outdoor explorations of our perceptions and to recreate historical associations, utilizing both live performers and electronic multichannel sound reproduction.
A third aspect is the model of the natural world, and the way bird calls and other animal sounds have evolved to create a total biome that maximizes interspecies communication and therefore economizes on energy consumption, while minimizing conflict for the same soundspace which would render communications inaudible. This is known as the Niche Hypothesis, and was radical when introduced by Bernie Krause but now is accepted as the only way to parse the natural environment.
In my own design of aesthetic and functional outdoor sound experiences, I combine all of these tranches with psychoacoustic principles - the precedence effect, for example - to create particular experiences. An aesthetic outdoor sound environment helps to call attention to the existing soundscape, making the real birds or wind whistle seem a bit more present, a bit more alive to the jaded listener, while gently shading that same soundscape with the motion of a few trilling instruments, an occasional snapped twig, a circulating hum that seems blown on the wind, a nocturne that evokes nostalgia, the sonic madeleine dipped in a warm cup of tea, remembrance of summer cicadas in the humid nights of youth.
A functional sound environment uses the aesthetic principles to solve problems of function in the space, particularly the mitigation of perceived noise pollution.
A second aspect is the history of outdoor musicmaking, associated mainly with Asian musical traditions and sheepherding around the world. Yodeling, a particular type of communication developed for mountainous regions, actually exists in 17 cultures around the world. Other interesting traditions include the Chinese gu qin, probably the quietest instrument ever built, in contrast to the penetrating sounds of bagpipes, drums, church bells and similar outdoor musical soundmakers. An ancient poem reads, "with the sounds of the wind in the pines, it is not even necessary to play gu qin". It is said that the musical accompaniment to the traditional Vietnamese water puppet theater sounds only discordant and poorly balanced when heard up close. But drifting across the water in the summer evening dusk, the instruments meld into a perfect balance to the listeners. I use these ideas to create outdoor explorations of our perceptions and to recreate historical associations, utilizing both live performers and electronic multichannel sound reproduction.
A third aspect is the model of the natural world, and the way bird calls and other animal sounds have evolved to create a total biome that maximizes interspecies communication and therefore economizes on energy consumption, while minimizing conflict for the same soundspace which would render communications inaudible. This is known as the Niche Hypothesis, and was radical when introduced by Bernie Krause but now is accepted as the only way to parse the natural environment.
In my own design of aesthetic and functional outdoor sound experiences, I combine all of these tranches with psychoacoustic principles - the precedence effect, for example - to create particular experiences. An aesthetic outdoor sound environment helps to call attention to the existing soundscape, making the real birds or wind whistle seem a bit more present, a bit more alive to the jaded listener, while gently shading that same soundscape with the motion of a few trilling instruments, an occasional snapped twig, a circulating hum that seems blown on the wind, a nocturne that evokes nostalgia, the sonic madeleine dipped in a warm cup of tea, remembrance of summer cicadas in the humid nights of youth.
A functional sound environment uses the aesthetic principles to solve problems of function in the space, particularly the mitigation of perceived noise pollution.