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Antarctica - Musical Images from the Frozen Continent

'Antarctica', an electro-acoustic composition by Craig Vear, will have its first performance at the Natural History Museum in London on 23rd September. A drummer with a commercial band, an improvising percussionist, a qualified sailor and dive-master, a theatrical sound designer and a workshop leader and composer, Vear embarked on an ambitious musical project in Antarctica in the winter of 2003/4, having been awarded a joint fellowship from the Arts Council of England and the British Antarctic Survey's 'Artists and Writers Programme'. What ensued was, for Vear, the journey of a lifetime; a profound physical, artistic and emotional experience that had a deeper, more resonant, effect on his life than he could ever have imagined.

'Antarctica' is an impressionistic, large-scale electro-acoustic work of audio art, created from an original sound library compiled during Vear's journey and residency in Antarctica. The library comprises field recordings of the many audible aspects of human life, animal life and the environment in Antarctica. Selected sounds were then layered, stacked, collaged and combined to form a rich and complex theatre of sound. 'Antarctica', realised in cinema surround sound, enables the audience to be absorbed into a three-dimensional soundscape portraying both Vear's own responsive emotions and experiences and those of the communities in Antarctica.

The focus of Vear's many field recordings was to capture and reflect the relationship between the British Antarctic Survey and the continent it embraces, and the life and populations of the area surrounding the Weddell Sea. Under these headings, the natural sounds (wind, sea, weather and wildlife), the human sounds (scientists living and working, boat captains, whalers, 'talking heads' interviews and conversation), the mechanical sounds (machinery, generators, boats, scientific experiments, travel and television), and the phenomenological sounds (whistling rigging, clanking objects, crunching ice floes, musical accidents) were of equal significance. All were recorded both technically and emotionally. As Vear says: "Words cannot describe the effect of these sounds on one's heightened senses in such an environment."

Vear goes on to explain the technical aspects of the project: "From the outset I was aware that the success of this project depended entirely on the quality of the sound recorded. The technical system not only had to be sensitive enough to record a variety of situations ranging from the minute sounds of glacial movements to the rumpus of a 15,000 strong penguin colony. It had to be portable so that it could be transported hundreds of miles to the centre of a frozen continent aboard ski-doos and planes or slung over the shoulder whilst descending a giant crevasse. Also, recording ten thousand miles from England, with possibly over three thousand miles between myself and the nearest audio outlet, reliability and power consumption were of paramount importance."

Vear continues: "I immediately contacted Sennheiser and spoke to their technical applications manager, John Willett, about the difficulties of using recording equipment in an environment as hostile and remote as Antarctica. He explained how most of the recording equipment would be capable of surviving the temperatures and weather but that the moisture produced when it was brought into a warm environment like a tent, plane or base could prove hazardous. Willet suggested that recording using an MS (mid and side) configuration, using the MKH 30 and MKH 40, would produce better results than a standard stereo set-up (the mid and side are later separated and 'decoded' into a wide and deep stereo field. Left = M+S, Right = M-S). He also informed me that DAT tape could snap due to the lack of humidity and the extreme temperatures - possibly as low as -60° Celsius, with freezing winds gusting to 100 mph. An HHB Portadisc MDP500 professional mini-disc recording unit, on the other hand, would tolerate such conditions, also offering direct digital file transfer and a convenient, ready-made archive in the form of the mini-disc itself."

Willett also advised on the essential use of shockmounting and windshielding of the microphones, to achieve the purest recordings under the conditions Vear would face, and a full Rycote Suspension, Windshield and Windjammer system was chosen to provide the optimum solution.

Vear was grateful for the help and support he received and explains: "It was thanks to two men, John Steven at Sennheiser and Steve Angel at HHB Communications, that I was able to put these ideas into practice and emerge properly equipped to carry out this project. The clarity of the sound recorded on this system was quite unbelievable, picking up much more than I could discern with my own ears. It was possible, for example, in the instance with the Elephant Seal colony at Grytviken, South Georgia, to hear every nuance of sound from the colony and the sound reflections off a glacier twenty kilometres away across the bay."

In picture: Craig Vear and the Royal Research Ship, the 'RRS James Clark Ross'.

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Antarctica - Musical Images from the Frozen Continent

20th August 2004

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