Our current call for submissions:

Call for submissions

We are looking for submissions of sound compositions that have been generated from the natural and/ or man-made processes occurring in the Severn Estuary (see map). These may include tidal phenomena, weather phenomena, patterns of animal migrations, human traffic and/or industrial processes. Most of these processes are interlinked, and in many cases even dependent on the intertidal rhythms that make the Severn Estuary.

Many fascinating facts are known about the Severn Estuary, for example that it has the highest tidal range in Europe; and second highest in the world. At the very highest tides the sea level will rise by as much as 14.5 metres over 5.5 hours. That is 3 times the height of a double-decker bus.

You are asked to research one particular phenomenon of the Severn Estuary, and identify one particular location in the estuary where this process may be observed best. You may then tackle your composition in a number of different ways:

  1. By going on a site visit to record the sound of your particular environmental phenomenon in the best possible way (edit as little as possible, focus on best playback experience).
  2. By going on a site visit to record particular environmental sounds and then arranging them in such a way that they clearly reveal to the listener the phenomenon you have researched (a perceptive reconstruction).
  3. By using publically available data for the Severn Estuary (weather data, tide tables, sun and moon tables, statistics about bird migrations, port data, etc.) as the basis for your composition. These could be used to either drive a real-time composition (a data sonification), or a sound composition that is defined by the patterns and rhythms of these phenomena in other ways. In any case, the finished composition should be able to reveal some of the typical intertidal patterns and rhythms.
  4. By using a mix of the above mentioned compositional techniques.

The playtime of the final sound file should be between 2 and 6 minutes in length, and clearly sonify your chosen phenomenon in some way (some phenomena might become easily perceptible to a listener within two minutes, others may require a longer period of time to really become perceptible). Please submit one high quality version as .aif or .wav, stereo; and one compressed version as .mp3, stereo. You also need to submit one high quality .jpg image of your location/phenomenon, or a .jpg image that shows you recording on location. Please send your submission to mic.reiser@uwe.ac.uk.

Please note that you should be able to give some information your chosen phenomenon: how you recorded it and/or composed it, what the main challenges were, how you overcame them and why you overcame them in that way. You may also want to outline the context of your piece somewhat, by referring to a related work by another sound practitioner.

The deadline for submissions is 31st August 2011. All submissions will be moderated prior to publication.