INTERVIEW WITH SOUND ARTIST LASSE-MARC RIEK

"Seeing with your ears": Sound artist Lasse-Marc Riek about his work with soundscapes and his passion for listening to the world

Lasse-Marc Riek has designed a listening room for the exhibition “Sound Sources. Everything is Music!” which aims to familiarise visitors with the concept of soundscapes while at the same time introducing them to attentive listening. But what actually is a soundscape, and what kind of art can be produced with it? We met up with Lasse-Marc Riek for an interview.

Weltkulturen Museum: As a sound artist you frequently deal with the concept of a soundscape. Can you tell us in a few sentences what a soundscape is really about?

Lasse-Marc Riek: A soundscape is the interplay between all the noises that can be heard in a particular place, room or landscape. Depending on the situation and the location, at a specific moment we can perceive noises from weather phenomena as well as social and functional sounds from the animal and human worlds.¹

WKM: You also work in bioacoustics – what is that exactly? Can you give us an example?

LMR: Bioacoustics is a sub-discipline of biology that investigates animal vocalisations. Recordings were first made in the early twenties century, and since then they have been catalogued in archives. There are a number of extensive sound archives which make it possible to study the behaviour of living creatures and communicate the findings. The ongoing development of recording technology allows us to record noises made by the tiniest insects, mammals, amphibians and birds. This lets us render signals audible that we otherwise could not hear, such as infrasound warning noises made by elephants or the ultrasonic hunting sounds of bats. Thanks to sensors and underwater microphones we can record the courtship displays of insects under the water or in the earth, while parabolic reflector microphones permit us to listen in on animals from a great distance and tiny handheld recorders allow us to capture long exposures of a natural setting.

WKM: What made you want to explore environmental sound so intensively? What do you find so particularly fascinating about soundscapes, bioacoustics and everyday noises?

LMR: When I was a child I discovered conscious listening by accident. One day, at the age of fourteen, I went too far into the nearby forest with a good friend at the end of the day, and we forgot the time. It quickly got dark and we only realised once it was already too late to get home safely. After those first few moments of utter shock I realised that using our sense of hearing was our only chance of escape. So we tried to analyse our surroundings with the help of our ears. After a while we heard a single car, then some more in the distance. Bit by bit we got closer to a road by listening out for it, then followed it on the long march back home. Since that experience my passion has only grown for listening out to the world and listening in to myself.

WKM: How do you approach your sound recordings? Do you always have a recording device on hand, or do you consciously go out and look for suitable places or situations?

LMR: I work out how to access sound locations and situations in various ways. The recordings are both planned and accidental. There are landscapes and places where we determine a high incidence of all kinds of living creatures. Whether in the sea, at a lake, or in the mountains the sound situations differ according to the time of day or the season, and I can prepare for these by doing advance research and planning. The recording set-up is prepared to suit the situation, the commission or the concept. Small portable recorders work well for spontaneous ventures because they are ready for use immediately. For larger, planned recordings it’s absolutely possible that several boxes full of all sorts of equipment will be needed, such as stereo microphones, directional microphones, parabolic reflector microphones, contact microphones, sensors, ultrasound detectors and hydrophones for underwater recordings.

WKM: What’s the most beautiful soundscape you’ve ever personally heard?

LMR: That’s a good question, but difficult to answer. After so many years of listening and eavesdropping I’m less concerned with the best or most beautiful noise, it’s more about perception itself and what you experience as a consequence. Even though the issue of usability is often at the fore for me professionally, I do try nonetheless to experience each of these precious moments holistically, whether in the field or in the studio. 

BIO The sound artist Lasse-Marc Riek from Hanau specialises in exploring soundscapes. In addition to his field work, Riek is also active in bioacoustics and soundscape composition. Since 1997 he has participated internationally in exhibitions, concerts and art projects and has produced numerous international audio production, for instance for Hessische Rundfunk, Arte and the BBC. 

You can also find the interview in the Weltkulturen NEW #9!