Natasha Barrett Lecture and Presentation - Reconfiguring the outdoor sound landscape: revealing music in the noise

Sound penetrates our outdoor spaces. Much of it we ignore, its qualities too quiet, fleeting or mundane to pay heed to amidst our thoughts and activities, or we may experience the sounds as an annoyance or disturbance. Manoeuvring our listening to be excited by outdoor sound, especially urban or city soundscapes, is not so easy. Yet amongst the noise can be found qualities of interest. In this presentation I show how I use 3D sound recording, analysis and electroacoustic composition to reveal the music under the noise, with examples from some recent outdoor sound installations.

Artist Biography: Natasha Barrett (1972) is a composer exploring new technologies and experimental approaches to sound in a broad range of contemporary music, including concert works, public space sound-art installations and multimedia interactive music. She is internationally renowned for her electroacoustic and acousmatic music, and use of 3D sound technology in composition. Her work is commissioned and performed throughout the world and has received over 20 international awards including the Nordic Council Music Prize, the Giga-Hertz Award (Germany), five first prizes and the Euphonie D'Or in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Awards (France), two first prizes in the International Rostrum for electroacoustic music and most recently the honorary Thomas Seelig Fixed Media Award for 2023. She collaborates with performers, visual artists, architects and scientists and is also active in performance, education and research.

Photo by Carsten Aniksdal