THE SOUNDSCAPES SERIES

Journey
Odyssey
Yoyage

Description
Sound art, designed as abstract sound collages containing multiple layers of drone frequencies and other sound elements that invite the listener on inner fantasy space journeys. 18 works divided into three albums, where each work is ten minutes long, created in stereo surround and Dolby Atmos.

Each work consists of a complex sound gallery, consisting of mild abstract sound frequencies, from low deep to high tones, mixed with nature recordings, for example, underwater, or the wind in the trees, choirs and church bells. The deep sounds are often associated with meditation where different unknown worlds symbolize and manifest themselves in the subconscious.

Old radio analog frequency noise can sometimes be sensed in the distance. Rhythms connect the distant past with the future. The tempo is slow, so slow that you can almost experience that time stands still. All put together, it becomes a complete meditative space journey or sound story.

The story behind the project
It all started as a coincidence. I had designed some different drone strings for a techno project. They were all in a document with each track on it, so I could listen to them and choose one. I left my workstation for a short while while they were playing in a loop. When I came back later and put on my headphones, several of the sounds were open and they were starting to transform into each other, and all at a very slow pace. It was a strange disharmony, and in that new harmony arose, and in that it turned out that this wanted something more, so the project took shape and I continued to work on it continuously, just as an experiment.

I shared the very earliest alpha sound test with my girlfriend and an old acquaintance, both of whom fell asleep while listening with headphones. Something we had a lot of fun with afterwards, but I considered it an exciting sign, and that I had found some interesting.

After a small study on the subject of sound healing, about the power that deep frequencies could have on the body and soul, the project then developed in a serious direction, especially after a great source of inspiration that I got after listening to (Data Sonification) NASA’s audio recordings of the universe “Sounds” of Space. [See explanation below].

The project has been meaningful to create, as the result ended with 18 mystical inner meditative journeys. Although the projects are experientially out in the universe, both of my feet have been well placed on the ground in the process. Every second of the work throughout has been a pleasure to work with.

After so many moments of profound creative workflow, which to this day, I don’t quite understand where it came from, I have often wondered why this project actually happened. I myself experience that the journey has reminded me of painting a series of paintings. Just not with pigments, but with sound.

A project that was 15 years in the making.
The project did not have continuous or regular attention but was created over different periods over the years, with occasional longer breaks, among other things because I had two wonderful children during this time period, and I was working on many other projects that all required their focus.

It was not at all planned that these works would take so long to create. But because it took about 15 years to create, it gave the project a different depth, where the result has gained more completeness in its entirety, especially if you take as a starting point how the earliest recordings sound, compared to 15 years later.

And in that process, many new ideas arose, and many tracks, especially spoken voices, were discarded. For example, I have used old recordings from the 50s, including philosophers, scientists, or people who talk about their experience with UFOs, or a woman who voluntarily participates in an LSD experiment, describing what she feels.

Many of these spoken sound elements ended up being cut out. Among other things. because they stole the focus from the “journey” and the instrumental worked best. It ended up with only a few spoken elements in there.

The technical
The project started in 2011, long before it was possible to use AI. So there is no AI used in this project. All sounds are mainly self-created, including drum programming where most were programmed from scratch, all in collaboration with SFX from the open sound design community www.Freesound.org.

The nature recordings are my own recordings from my Zoom H4N. Recorded on trips to France, Greece, Denmark and in the wonderful Swedish deep forests.

The synthesizer sounds, which are the most dominant sounds in all the works, were created on a Roland System 8 synthesizer and then modified in Reason Studio.

Far into the process when most of the works were almost complete, I decided that the entire project should be mixed into the 3D sound format Dolby Atmos. The works made much more sense that they could be experienced in 3D. So what took the longest time in creating the creations was undoubtedly the actual mixing, which was done in Apple Logic Pro.

What is Dolby Atmos?
Dolby Atmos is a 3D sound format (a so-called immersive audio format) developed by Dolby Laboratories. This means that the sound is no longer only placed on the right/left or in front/behind — but can be placed above, below and around the listener in a three-dimensional space.

How to experience these space journeys to the fullest.
To achieve the absolute best sound experience of these space journeys or “soundscapes”, it is recommended to use good quality headphones (Hi-Res Audio) that can play the Dolby surround sound format. The best result is “over ear” headphones where all outside everyday sounds and noise are filtered out. Although the works were originally created to be experienced to the fullest in the Dolby Atmos sound format, it can also be experienced in stereo surround.

It is not recommended to play the works with either cheap headphones or small, cheap speakers, which are not capable of reproducing the many different frequency nuances that the listener is meant to experience in the works.

NASA. Recorded “Sounds” of Space (Data Sonification)
Since space is a vacuum, sound waves cannot travel through it. However, Voyager’s Plasma Wave Science (PWS) instrument detects electromagnetic vibrations from ionized gas (plasma), which scientists convert into audible sound. 

Voyager 1 recorded rising tones caused by solar eruptions hitting the dense interstellar medium. The Cosmic Hum: Voyager 1 also detected a persistent, low-frequency hum representing the background activity of interstellar gas. During flybys in the 1970s and 80s, the probes recorded the complex radio emissions and magnetic field interactions of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. 

Although space is a virtual vacuum, this does not mean there is no sound. Sound exists as electromagnetic vibrations. The specially designed instruments aboard the space probes were designed to pick up and record electromagnetic vibrations. This information, when sent back to Earth and decoded, can be heard as intriguing and beautiful sounds from space. The real music of the spheres.

The sounds was decoded information on interactions of the solar ionic wind, the planet’s magnetosphere, plasma wave phenomena and interactions between the planet’s ionosphere and magnetosphere. These vibration frequency recordings are all within the range of human hearing (20-20,000 cycles per second). These recordings have been specially processed, filtered, and spacially mastered in 3-D sound with frequencies for achieving deep states of relaxation.