5 Questions to Gianpaolo D'Amico & Sara Lenzi

sounDesign, or Gianpaolo D’Amico and Sara Lenzi from Italy are next in the ongoing series of Five Sound Questions. With their projects and events they want to focus more attention on the importance of great sound design. Visit their blog at soundesign.info 

Sara Lenzi is a saxophonist and a composer as well as a teacher. She founded the sound design company Lorelei.

Gianpaolo D’Amico works at the Media Integration and Communication Centre of the University of Florence. His main interests are sound design and new media.

  

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

Gianpaolo: My beautiful mother and some other amazing women in the kitchen at childhood home, dealing with domestic activities, feminine laughs, washing machines, forks & spoons…

 

Sara: The sound of coffee coming out. It meant that it was Sunday morning and that my parents were both at home, and we were going to have breakfast all together, and to spend the whole day together. In brief, it meant Happiness.

How do you listen to the world around you?

Gianpaolo: My ears are wide open. A lot of years ago a teacher told me that Sound was just there. My world turned to a big audio system. Sometimes I stop talking and dedicate myself only to listen. When I was a rebel boy I used to play in a indie-rock band, you know :), then every sound is a potential tune to develop for creating a song. It’s a natural and violent process. There’s no way out for me.

 

Sara: With ears wide open. Ahi! Gianpaolo and I gave the same answer! ;) 
Furthermore, I tend to place every sound I can hear in a certain moment in a sort of endless composition. Every single sound finds its place, creating…the tuning of the world! One thing: I do not only mean the outside sounds you know… I think most interesting sounds are those coming from inside! Sometimes I put my ear plugs on to listen to the beautiful sound of a brain working hard.

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

Gianpaolo: all the places in which I have to be quiet to be able to hear the Sound around me. I love to discover new vibrating molecules.

 

Sara: my bathtub. I live at the first floor, and under my flat there’s a huge garage. You cannot imagine how sounds coming from down there sound like, if you keep your ears under the water. It’s like deep deep space…

How could we make sound improve our lives?

Gianpaolo: Sound could be a good solution for the crisis our society is living. At home, at the office, in the streets, in the shops, at 
the airport, at the railway station, we must apply the principles of good sound design. No need to use those f***ing mp3 player headphones, no need to mask the noise pollution.

 

Sound and audio professionals must work with designers, architects, engineers and all the people who have an active role for the creation of social user experiences. Sound could change our emotional state, it’s a dramatically important point. 
I don’t think people are conscious about this, then all the sound and audio professionals must also educate them to understand that sound can improve our lives, even if this could make our sonic solutions less fascinating. We must communicate very clearly why Sound can improve our lives. 

 

Sara: designing it better. Most of the sounds we live in are not designed in any way. First thing, therefore, is to plan and design properly our artificial soundscape. I mean, for instance, creating nice and soft alarming sounds, or re-creating our everyday objects sounds. We do not need loud sounds, but informative ones. As for natural sounds, there’s not much we can do, except trying to comprehend them better. I’m sure we’ll love them, after all. They’re informative and useful at the highest degree.

What sound would you like to wake up to?

Gianpaolo: Birds singing in the countryside & my lovely Michelle breathing close to me in the bed. This is my heaven of sounds…

 

Sara: I remember one episode, back during my university days. Very very early in the morning, my bedroom radio turned on (possibly I had planned the alarm but I could not remember). By chance, in that right moment the radio station was playing Somewhere over the rainbow in the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version (The one with the beautiful ukulele). I woke up slowly with this sound coming from another world. The few seconds before I realized what was going on, it’s one of my best waking up memories. 

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

Photo by Nunzio Talamo