un(wanted) sounds
Andrea Borbála Sinkó
What are the soundscapes that Budapest residents most associate with or hate? The Sound Garden group's podcast "Budapest as a soundscape" was the subject of a series of questionnaires over several weeks, asking people on the street about their soundscape. Hundreds of responses were collected to create a map of soundscapes, leaving it up to the listener to decide whether they are hearing the sounds that local people like or dislike.
The exciting conclusion of the research was that several sounds were identified which revealed that a sound could be either an unwelcome sound or a favourite one according to another respondent. Attitudes to the soundscape are subjective, which raises difficult questions: where should the conscious planning of a city draw the boundaries, what are the choices that negatively or positively affect the sonic well-being of its inhabitants?
As an Electroacoustic Music Composer student at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and the Universität der Künste Berlin, Sinkó aims to answer these questions, with a particular focus on the design of the soundscape through spatial music pieces and interactive multimedia artworks.
Special thanks to: Soundgarden, ASS, Krisztián Kertész, Dániel Kovács, Liza Nádor, Gabriella Fábián, Emőke Domokos, Bence Kovács-Vajda.
Bio
Andrea Borbála Sinkó (1984) is a film sound designer, improvisational musician, composer and producer who uses field recordings and edited foleys as substantive voices in her artwork. Sinkó studied Electroacoustic Music Composing at Liszt Ferenc Music Academy and at Universität der Künste Berlin, Sound Design and at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design.
I think that geophone and biophone sounds are an improvisative orchestra, where the human being is merely one voice. Finding the connection with our sonic environment is a way to understand and position ourselves in the spatial system.” My main interests are the recorded sounds, and using them for real-time editing audio in an improvisation, or for spatial soundscape design and animated film sound design. I strongly believe that the connection between our sonic environment, and our perception of the world is unique and defines us. My intention is to communicate these interactions with the recordings in my audio pieces. The way how climate change affects our acoustical ecology is essential, the connections between nature and sounds are decisive, and this parallel has been very important in my work since the beginning. I am committed to protect and record, as well as process the acoustic moment where we live.
