SoundHide SPILL 2016

Main pic

SoundHide SPILL 2016

SPILL Video

The SoundHide reveals natural sounds to people that they might miss because they aren’t there when they happen, usually early in the morning, or at night, or a different season, so it becomes a kind of time machine. Ipswich and the surrounding area has so many parks and wild spaces to explore in this way that I thought it would be good to bring these into SoundHide; spatial as well as time travel. I decided to go to a variety of sites around Ipswich and beyond, at various different times of day and throughout the season, making recordings for SoundHide.

The sounds for SoundHide-Ipswich include the dawn chorus in Christchurch park, and the Nightingales and the evening chorus in the Orwell Country Park. I also have recordings from Chantry Park, Purdis Heath, Stoke Park and Holywells Park. With the estuary, I found it difficult to get good recordings, as the Orwell Bridge enables traffic to dominate the soundscape so I have gone further afield for these recordings; the birds and the soundscape are much the same but without the traffic. There are underwater recordings and bats too.

The learning classroom in Christchurch Park is almost perfect as a space*. I love the setting in the glade above the ‘wilderness’ area with its curving path inviting you in. I have softened the space, deadened the acoustics and provided smells and touch sensations with straw bales to create a den.

SoundHide is really about giving you an excuse to sit still and listen. To feel safe and secure in a space that it is good to pause in, meditating on the sounds of the natural world around us.

These quotes are from the visitors book from the SoundHide I made last year on the Waveney:

“A haven of calm and connection with nature. I came in wondering if I had time for this! Says it all about modern life. I thank you.”

“should be available on prescription”

Mike Challis

SPILL Video

*sadly this hut has burnt down in 2017