- Find out about using found sounds in music.
- Learn how Billie Eilish, Blood Orange and Pink Floyd have used found sounds in their music.
- Create your own music using found sounds.
Watch how music can be made with found sounds.
Tara: Hey! I want to try and do a bit of an experiment. Are you guys up for helping?
Dujon & Marcelo: Yeah.
Tara: I want to try and create a track using just sounds recorded while we’re out and about.
Marcelo: Nice idea.
Tara: We can record the sounds on voice memo on our phone or you can download a free recording app.
Sarah: What should we record?
Tara: Anything that inspires you. It would be good to get a good mix of sounds though. You could focus on melodic or musical sounds like a bird tweet, and we should try and get rhythmic sounds, like taps and knocks so that I can try and create a beat. And we could also add ambient sounds from crowds and nature, which would also add contrast to the track.
Ben: Sounds good.
Tara: Background noise can be a bit tricky to get rid of, so we need to try and record the sounds as clearly as possible.
Recording:Door opening.
TAP TAP TAP
BEEP BEEP BEEP
BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE
CLICK CLICK CLICK
TRAIN PASSING SOUND
DONG
RING RING
Recording:Door closing.
Tara: Here we go.
Recording:
Doors closing.
RHYTHMIC SOUNDS
Doors opening.
RHYTHMIC SOUNDS
Dujon: That was awesome. What did you do?
Tara: I imported all the sound recordings from your phones into this free music production software. Then I created a beat using the different rhythmic sounds.
Recording:RHYTHMIC BEAT
Tara: I edited your samples to fit the right tempo, then I added them to different tracks to build up layers of sound. So for example, I split up your lift voice recording into different parts.
Recording:
Doors closing.
BEEP
Doors opening.
Tara: Then, I added all of your recorded elements to build up a multi-track piece of music until we have…
Recording:
Doors closing.
RHYTHMIC MUSIC
Doors opening.
Doors closing.
Doors opening.
Music doesn’t always need to be created using instruments. Many people use found sounds to make music.
These sounds are from the world around us. They can be anything - a ball hitting the floor, a pedestrian crossing or a lift door opening and closing.
This technique is often called sampling as the musician is taking a sample of something else and using it in their work.
Musique concrète – the original found sounds
In the 1940s, a group of avant-garde French composers created a new style of music using found sounds. They called it musique concrète (concrete music).
Pierre Schaeffer’s composition Etudes aux chemins de fer is constructed entirely from sounds found at a train station.
The piece is like a musical collage, featuring train whistles and the sound of steam engines clattering along a track.
During this time, sounds could only be recorded onto physical magnetic tape.
To edit the recordings, composers would cut out the sounds they wanted with scissors and stick them together.
Many musicians use found sounds in their music. This style has been developed since the 1940s by musicians such as Steve Reich, Delia Derbyshire and The Beatles.
A found sound can be ambient or percussive.
Listen to the opening of Money by Pink Floyd. It features an ostinato made from a cash register, the clinking of coins and the printing of receipts.
Listen to the opening of Orlando by Blood Orange which features a recording of a New York City street. It sets the scene as the music emerges from the found sound.
Listen to the chorus of Billie Eilish's Bad Guy. Can you hear the percussive ticking noise? This is a sound recording of a pedestrian crossing in Australia that Eilish captured with her phone whilst on holiday.
Listen to the sounds of different birds in Cantus Arcticus by Einojuhani Rautavaara. The samples are played over the top of an orchestra.
Make your own found sounds
It’s easier to compose with found sounds today than it used to be.
Most phones have a recording function meaning you can capture an interesting sound on the go. There are also lots of portable recording devices.
Once you have a found sound that you like, there are many ways to incorporate it into music:
- Ambient sound - Use a constant sound in the background to set the scene and compose music over the top. This is used by Blood Orange in Orlando.
- Percussive beats - Use shorter sounds to create a found sound beat. Lower sounds can take the place of the bass drum and higher sounds could replace the snare or hi-hats.
- Music technology - Import your sounds into a music production app or sampling keyboard. Use it to create a beat or melody with the samples by pressing the keys or buttons.
Quiz
Keywords
| Keyword | Definition |
|---|---|
| found sound | A ‘non-musical’ sound used creatively in a piece of music. |
| avant-garde | A term used to describe experimental or forward-thinking artists. |
| musique concrète | A style of composition using only found sounds. |
| sample | A sound. or a section of music. used in another piece of music. |
| sampling | The act of taking a sample and using it in another piece of music. |
| ostinato | A repeated musical pattern. |
| ambient sound | Atmospheric, background sounds that are present in a particular location. |
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