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Brian Green: Space as an Influence

  Tobias

Do people find your fascination for sound strange or fascinating?
I guess I would have to say it’s 50/50. I think the people who approach me about it who have never heard of this style of work are usually in the middle in terms of what they understand and like about it.

What did your first forays into the world of field recording look like?
I would say I was initially influenced in the 3rd grade when my mom had a tape recorder in a cupboard that I like to mess with by recording sounds outside and playing the tape back. When I was young, I was not really aware of the term “field recording”, and I still hardly look at it as what I am doing because this is just what moves me.

Why did you start building your own recording devices?
I think it is really the idea of doing something in your own way and making it more of your own by furthering what you’re doing. It’s not necessarily an issue of what is cheaper or better, because in some cases it can be more expensive.

When you set out to hike, do you map out your trajectory with potentially interesting sound-spots in mind?
Not at all. I usually find a place and just go. I find every spot interesting as there are always tons of things constantly changing the sounds in the environment.

Are these field trips a direct influence on your compositional ideas?
In terms of my field recording work and sound art, yes. The space I am in is the only influence. I never really go to a place with ideas already in my head. I like entering a place with an open mind and going from there. What could be gained if more people started listening to their environment? For myself, I do this because I love it. I think it’s a personal choice whether someone chooses to appreciate the things around them and to take that in.

While your blog mainly deals with field recordings, you have also released works in between ambient/drones and field recordings. What makes this field interesting for you?
I have worked with many different instruments and with various things in general, and one thing I like is making texture levels and working that way. I try to stay away from what I consider melody or harmony and work only on building a piece that can be taken in however someone may want to interpret it. With melody, I think you are setting the piece in a specific direction and saying, “Hey, this is going to be listened to this way.” Now, I do arrange my pieces in a way I like for them to be taken in mentally, but that does not have to be the case.

Have you arrived at some kind of conclusion about what constitutes a „beautiful“, appealing or simply „interesting“ sound to you?
I have never found sound uninteresting. I could lie back day to day listening to what is going on around me and feel so moved and never get bored even if I was sitting in the same place every day. That is the lovely thing about it; everything is constantly changing.

Japanese Sound Artist Shinobu Nemoto mentioned that listening to the sounds of animals made him feel his own (composed) music was very small and unimportant. Do you sometimes feel the same way?
I really don’t have a specific answer to this. I agree that my work is unimportant as compared to what is really going on, because I’m altering the recording. I feel the original sound holds more value.

Homepage: Seeyouinsleep / Brian Green