Five Sound Questions to Stephen Gallagher

I found out about Stephen Gallagher while visiting Social Sound Design, where he was asking questions quite similar to my Five Sound Questions. A good reason to aks him to participate in this series. So I did, and here you can read his answers. 

 

Stephen is a composer, music and sound editor for feature films, commercials, documentaries, short films, theatre, dance and television, working in New Zealand. He already has quite a list of projects on his name. Visit his website to learn more about them: www.stephengallagher.co.nz

1. What sound from your childhood made the most impression on you? 

I used to have an old hand held game that I got in Tokyo when I was 4 years old . It was a baseball game and when you pulled this little blue lever it made a sound like a small race car speeding past you. I loved it! I don’t know quite why but that sound always has stayed with me.

 

Just thinking of it now conjures up vivid images of my childhood in Tokyo. It was an amazing place for a little kid from New Zealand to spend a few years. The city was, and still is,  full of fascinating sounds. I guess I could go further and say that living there has had a profound effect on the way I feel about sound in general.

2. How do you listen to the world around you?

It really depends on where I am, what I am doing and what is happening around me. I remember that my composition lecturer, Jack Body, began his courses with a small exercise about listening to the world around you; He divided the class up into pairs. One in each pair was blindfolded and was then guided around the campus by his/her partner for a half hour. Then you swapped around. It was amazing.

 

It felt like your ears were suddenly wide open and all this, previously unheard, wonderful tactile audio information was rushing in. It was an aural wake up experience in many ways because you felt like you were hearing your environment in a new and clear manner and, at the same time, you became aware of how much information your ears provide to guide you through the world in terms of gauging things like depth, distance and proximity. 

3. Which place in the world do you favor for its sound?

At the risk of sounding parochial, I love New Zealand for sound.

There are so many varied sound environments within close proximity in this small country. Mountains, forest, beach and city all virtually within walking distance! There is a relatively low level of man made noise in most parts too. 

 

I’d have to add Tokyo for sound also. The sound design you encounter on an everyday level in that city is wonderful. I love the way, for example, in some of the train stations recordings of birdsong are played over the PA in the mornings.

4. How could we make sound improve our lives?

By paying more attention to it! I mean that largely in a design sense I guess. It’s always seemed to me that if as much attention was paid to the designing of sound for objects we use / encounter everyday as it is for designing their look and function, the world may be a better sounding place. Thinking about how sound affects us and our environment is key to improving our lives and in that way, maybe it’s time for the rise of some sort of ‘sound ecology’? 

5. What sound would you like to wake up to?

Funnily enough, at the moment, I love waking up to ship foghorns sounding in Wellington harbour. They bounce around off the surrounding hills, making soft slap-delay echoes. It’s a lovely alarm clock!

Also read the answers of other artists in the Five Sound Questions section.