‘An engaging and visually arresting emotional response with some good cultural links to Scotland. To improve this piece further the judges suggest strengthening the narrative journey and sense of place for the viewer, whilst also focusing on a communicating a more focused environmental message. The standard of the submissions was very high. The judging panel appreciated your dedication to the brief and your technical execution. Well done!’

This was my official feedback for my entry into the Scottish Soundscape Prize 2022 held in partnership with the Scottish Wildlife Trust and sponsored by Sustainable Acoustics and d&b audiotechnik. I was briefed to create an audio/visual piece that could be played in a contemporary acoustic environment with the aim of generating an environmental narrative in a contrasting, abrasive soundscape like traffic.

I wrote an original 8 minute piece with a visual element alongside. The track incorporates Scottish highland field recordings along with ambient synthesised textures generated using Ableton Live. The video uses GAN AI technology to feed in images of the Scottish landscape and generate entirely artificial images based on the original input. Using Artbreeder, these images seamlessly blend together along with some tweaking using Adobe Premiere Pro.

Overall, the piece is geographically distant with images that appear familiar but do not exist. The sounds phase in and out with one another, developing a sense of steady progression and calmness that should be associated with the wellness found in natural locations. I am honoured to have been shortlisted for such a prize and that so many have listened to my piece in an immersive space.

The judging panel was varied and comprised several professionals involved in cutting edge soundscape research and application.

Josie Nixon – Emerging Careers Group, Acoustic Consultant

Colette Martin – Young Leader, Scottish Wildlife Trust

Rebekah Strong – Nature Based Solutions Policy Advisor, Scottish Wildlife Trust

Prof Chris Barlow – Head of Research and Innovation, KP Acoustics Research Labs

Peter Rogers – Managing Director, Sustainable Acoustics

Katherine Howlett – Sustainability Manager, Sustainable Acoustics

Prof. Jian Kang – Professor of Acoustics and Soundscape, UCL.

My entry can be accessed here.