allow
for a slight drift in timing between the individual CD’s but identical players
were used and started from a single remote control unit so as to minimise this
problem.
The musical/textual material of Boomtown
The materials used in Boomtown all came from the North-West Sound Archive, an oral
history archive based in Clitheroe. Two sorts of material were used:
- Recordings of industry and environment:
These included mill hooters, various looms, printing presses and some street
sounds, including a May Day parade.
- Interviews with local people:
These were mostly former mill workers, people from politically active families
and a lady whose grandmother had witnessed the Peterloo Massacre.
Interview material was presented in the wall speakers along with processed
and unprocessed industrial recordings, the corner speakers being used for
more environmental, and harmonic and ambient material.
Representational Space, Metaphorical Space, Structural Space
Just as individual sounds may have a directly representational significance, a
metaphorical significance and a structural significance within a work, the spatialisation
of the sounds can itself perform representational, metaphorical and structural
roles:
- Representational or Illusory Space
At various points during Boomtown space is used as a representational device,
enhancing the ‘realism’ of the sonic experience. The spatial distribution
of sounds contributes to the possible reality of a virtual world. This is
exemplified by the multiple chattering looms and other industrial machinery
near the beginning of the work or the passing overhead of the May Day
Parade. In these passages there is an illusion of “being there”. This is akin
to Trevor Wishart’s very representational approach to space as advocated in
Wishart 1986 p. 44–49.
- Metaphorical Space
A metaphorical use of space is exemplified during the more text-based parts of
the piece. Individual loudspeakers carry the voices of local people (recordings
from the North West Sound Archive) remembering their early experiences
of industrial life and their parents’ political involvement. These overlapping
stories are often heard against a background of voices, other stories and
background babble, yet due to the unusual layout of the room one is always
closer to one or another loudspeaker, so each listener can follow an individual
story. The stories are therefore presented both as individual experiences and
shared
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