The Absent Listener is a project of work that is derived exclusively from continuous soundscape recordings that I have been making since 2019 on a rural property 22 KM west of the village of South River, Ontario, Canada. After the recording button is pressed I walk away from the recording location in order to minimize any influence my presence may have on the events and activities captured in the recording of the environment where the microphones are located. Listening back to these recordings has inspired the creation of many different types of soundscape pieces since 2019, including installations, fixed media audio pieces and video work.
I have presented a lecture on the project at the Listening Pasts – Listening Futures conference in March 2023 which was hosted by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, USA. It is included in the proceedings published in the Acoustic Ecology Review.
Recording Technique
The Absent Listener project began in February-May 2019 as an “open microphone” soundscape stream hosted on the locusonus world-wide network of open microphones. Since then the stream has been mostly limited to the first weekend of May during the annual Reveil broadcast of daybreak soundscapes.
The recordings that I made during this initial period were done directly to a laptop using AC power so that settings can be monitored and adjusted off-site, thanks to the livestreaming element. The microphones consisted of a matched pair of DPA 4060 miniature omni-directional microphones mounted on either side of a sheet of plywood attached to the overhang of a small out-building. This location was convenient to access WIFI for streaming as well as for providing protection from the elements. The microphones were routed to the computer through a Sound Devices Mix-Pre-6 audio interface.
Livestreaming was abandoned starting in May 2019 in order to have the freedom to record in locations on the same rural property that could only be powered on battery and that had no WIFI access. These recordings were on average between 24 to 36 hours long with short breaks roughly every 14 hours to change the battery. At various times, a hydrophone and/or geophone were added to the recording setup in addition to the DPA pair.
The mobility with this setup was wonderful for exploring different areas of the property and listening to their similarities and differences. However, it also meant the microphones were more susceptible to moisture and eventually the DPA mics died after 3 years of rugged use. They were replaced with a pair of LOM Ucho small condensor microphones that are currently mounted under the roof of the Weathered Pianos site on the same property. This location also has access to electrical power, which reduces the number of interactions with the equipment. The microphones have been handling the colder than normal temperatures of the 25-26 winter very well, mainly because they are always dry. The same Sound Devices Mix-Pre-6 is still in use. It is now kept in a plastic box under the deck of the piano site. The box is insulated in the winter time with blankets on both the inside and outside of the box which prevents the Mix-Pre from operating in freezing temperatures.
Fixed Media Piece – The Rhythm of Winter
This was the first fixed media piece made in The Absent Listener series and it focuses on the expansive way that time and rhythm are conveyed through the sounds of winter. The sound of the wind follows long enveloping curves as it activates different branches from pine and cedar trees in succession. The tapping of freezing rain and snow on the roof of a small building creates repeated tapping. At one time the tapping increases so much that the rhythm becomes a texture. The wind’s changing textures also becomes rhythmic, a very slow imperceptible rhythm; not unlike the rhythm of breathing.
Human presence was minimal in February 2019 when these recordings were made, save for times when I went out for a casual walk in the woods or when gun shots could be heard in the distance. Other movements and vocalizations near the building are those of woodpeckers, ravens, rabbits, chickadees and red squirrels. But the most pronounced events are the sounds of wind, sleet and rain. During a period of calm there is a drop in temperature, marked by cracking sounds in the trees and the structure of the building, which is one of my favourite winter sounds.
Fixed Media Piece – Winter at the Waterfront
The second fixed media piece in the Absent Listener series was composed in a 60-minute version in March 2020 and it is derived from a continuous soundscape recordings between March 16 and 18, 2020, which was close to the start of the COVID-19 social distancing measures in the local region. The difference between this piece and the previous has more to do with seasonal changes between mid-winter and late-winter then with the sudden COVID-19 shutdowns. Also, the location of the microphone was located on the waterfront shoreline and the sound of the ice on the lake shifting and changing is an attractive feature of this piece.
Online Composition Generator from Spring Recordings
An online audio installation version of The Absent Listener premiered in May 2021 at the Re: Flux Festival in Moncton, New Brunswick. In this version, online listeners generated compositions for later listening by choosing from a small set of parameters – dates of recording, time of day, duration and degree of recording variance. The listener made their choices and submitted them for the installation to generate a new composition. The installation intentionally avoided real-time interaction in order to support focused listening with minimal human intervention.
It used recordings from the spring months, which have an extreme range of listening experiences. In March and April there is a quiet subtlety of sub-zero conditions which are contrasted with short loud events (ice and trees cracking) that later would evolve into blustery windy conditions. Later in the spring after the temperature warms, the soundscape becomes dominated by many species of birds and at select times, a chorus of peeper frogs.
I am very grateful for the assistance of Sonia Paço-Rocchia for Max and Web programming, to the Re: Flux Festival for presentation support and to the Canada Council for the Arts for financial support. In 2022, additional programming by Ian Jarvis was supported with funds from the Ontario Arts Council.
Fixed Media Piece – Absent Near Dawn
“Absent Near Dawn” is based on recordings that happened within one hour before or after daybreak. They are arranged in a chronological sequence of recordings that happened approximately every 4 to 6 weeks between December 2021 and June 2022. All of the recordings retain their original character, pitch, speed and spatial imaging. Multiple recordings are overlapped throughout the piece. The piece was premiered for multichannel concert presentation in April 2023 at the Ear Sound Scape series in Copenhagen and Malmö.
The Ice Tuner Installation
Support from the Ontario Arts Council also allowed for me to work with Kyle Duffield who coded another installation. The Ice Tuner allows listeners to tune into different recordings of ice according to temperature. This installation is not a composition generator like the previous one but it does offer a rewarding listening experience over extended periods. The listener manipulates a tuning dial that is like a radio tuner except it is organized by temperature values.
The winter of 2023-24 was milder than normal, which allowed the opportunity for me to make continuous hydrophone recordings of Deer Lake with the hydrophones placed close to the shoreline. The temperature frequently dipped above and below freezing which created a number of interesting delicate sounds and textures. This installation does not have the big clunking thuds and barking sounds that are normally associated with a frozen lake in the winter time. It offers a different perspective on ice sounds on a small lake in Northern Ontario.
Fixed Media Piece – Changing Weather
Influenced listening to the Ice Tuner installation and by my experiences making the Winter at the Waterfront piece, I set out in 2025 to avoid my natural inclination for layering together recordings from different moments in time. Instead, I created pieces where I would select one segment of recordings made at the Weathered Pianos site and let individual events play out as long as I wish to keep listening to them. My judgement of where to start and stop an edit of a recording was determined by striking a balance between my personal listening attention and instincts versus my interest in preserving the natural flow of events. View this page to listen and to read more:
Soundscape Video – Absent in Spring (May 5, 2025)
In January 2026 I made my first video piece Absent in Spring (May 5, 2025) by adding photo documentation of the recording location along with time and weather data. The soundscapes in the piece were organized chronologically from recordings made between 2 and 11 am on May 5, 2025. No other sounds were added. Like the Changing Weather pieces, the recordings were made at the Weathered Piano site at Warbler’s Roost in Lount Township, 22 KM west of South River, Ontario, Canada. The audio on the left and right channels are from different times, sometimes minutes apart, other times mere seconds. The photos and time and Weather Data assist the listener with more contextual information.
Funding Acknowledgement
The Absent Listener is supported with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
