Tag: reverb

  • An Animated Wave

    An echo can be understood as a temporal shift in the soundwave. Our minds register the same soundwave returning to us, slightly altered by time and space. From the differences between the original and the time-shifted instances, we are able to read the material qualities of the space we are in. By listening to the echo, we gather information about the space around us and our position in it.

    The fading of the echo is caused by the energy loss of sound as it spreads through space. But while the wave loses energy as it travels, it also gains new information. A sound is not just a wave but also a record of its own journey through time and space. Sounds traverse time and space, but they do not just quietly fade away. They bump into obstacles, rush through materials, losing qualities and resolution, until a filtered, broken, mangled version is left — which, as the energy fades, finally transforms from a lively wave to total stillness.

    For the listener, the fading of energy and timbral changes in sounds are significant markers of their own existence. These changes on our timeline, like the tiny differences between film frames, are what animate our experience. We locate ourselves in time and space by listening to the change of the world.

  • What Is an Echo?

    Not a copy. A return.

    Imagine yourself in a vast architectural space. “Hey?” you send your questioning greeting toward the distant walls of the building, and after a second, you hear your voice return, slightly blurred and diffused by the hall. “Hey, ey, ey…” After a couple of repetitions, the voice seems to fade away.

    We tend to think an echo is a slightly altered copy of the original sound. When you speak your words, the voice is your own, but when your voice is returned to you as an echo, it doesn’t belong to you anymore. It seems to exist outside of you, as if it had a life of its own.

    But an echo is not a copy. It is the exact same wave that you launched with your voice. While traveling through space, the wave goes through gradual changes as it is shaped by the materiality and form of the room, as well as the distance the wave has to travel. An echo is the same sound — but an older, wiser, and more fragile version of itself.

    In order to become an echo, the sound has to return to you. And by becoming an echo, your voice has become less yours. It now belongs to the space.