MDes Sound for the Moving Image School of Innovation & Technology
Ellie Ford
Sound designer, sound artist and composer.
My work focuses on creating soundscapes using feedback processes and working with spatial audio to create immersive listening experiences.
Projects
Collaborative Work
Meshes of the Afternoon
Sound Redesign of the short film ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’.
Sound Design and Score by Ellie Ford.
The sound design in Meshes uses an integrated approach that recognises the interconnectedness of all soundtrack elements. In Meshes there is no hierarchy of sound. Sounds move freely within the diegetic sound design and score, challenging the conventional boundaries of the audio-visual contract and providing a sense of otherworldliness. In a surrealist warp to the audio-visual contract, objects in the house respond to the character’s interactions in unusual ways.
Underwater Spatial Soundscape
Made from underwater recordings and bowed harp drones processed with electronics. Created using HOA in Reaper and rendered to binaural for playback on headphones.
Imagine yourself sinking down below the water line. On a journey from its shimmering surface into the depths of an underwater realm.
Why Has It Taken So Long?
The Clyde’s world-renowned shipbuilding industry and the men who worked on the shipyards have been documented extensively. Still, it may surprise some to find that women also built The Clyde.
This film searches for the lost voices and untold stories of the women who worked in the shipbuilding industry. Stillness, sparsity and silence draw parallels with the invisibility of women in the industry’s documented history.
Inspired by the story of Janet Harvey. In 2018, at 97 years old, Janet was recognised for her work as a shipbuilder and awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering by Glasgow Caledonian University. In an interview with the BBC (2018) after receiving her award, Janet expressed, ‘I’m quite thrilled about it, the only thing I can say about it is, it’s taken an awful long while, why has it taken so long?’
Written, filmed and directed by Ellie Ford.
Sound design & music by Ellie Ford.
Chiaroscuro (Sound Redesign)
This is a sound redesign project for Ellie Ford’s postgraduate course at Glasgow School of Art. Sound Design and Score by Ellie Ford.
Original Credits:
Directed by Daniel Drummond
Sound Design by Carson French
Original Score by Austin Ray
CG Artist – Daniel Drummond
Additional FX – Samuel Malone & Chris Purse
Additional Animation – Marie Cheng Musicians – Austin Ray & Aidan Evans
Music Collaborator – Max Speed Wofford Music
Copyright © 2014 by Austin Ray
Copyright @ 2014 by Daniel Drummond
Cassette Loops
This work features infinite loops of harp, voice and effects recorded in layers using a 4-track tape recorder. The result is a rich, blurred sound that explores sonic textures in meditative soundscapes.
One Cassette Loop
A tape loop played infinitely on a cassette player. The sound features layers of harp, voice and effect layered and bounced using a 4 track tape recorder. This experimental sound piece explores the cyclical nature of audio, creating an evolving, immersive sonic landscape.
Drift
Drift is an autonomous musical feedback system built using self-regulating feedback processes in Max. Drift’s subtly evolving layers of sound invite attentive listening and contemplation.
As a sound installation, Drift responds to the external environment by capturing, processing and playing back sound into the space. This creates an immersive sound environment highlighting the relationship between sound, listener and space.
Through exploring collaborative composition with feedback systems and generative processes, my research dismantles the notion of a singular creative authority, where the work is a direct expression of the composer’s artistic vision.
The work is not viewed as fixed in its content and form but rather as a dynamic and evolving process.
I am currently further developing Drift into a site-specific work, leveraging the structure of a building in a large-scale, immersive sound installation.
Note: The following work can be played individually and simultaneously.
Rain
Few phenomena can be considered more common to human experience than rain. Across the globe rain has meaning to everyone, though what that meaning is varies greatly depending on culture, opinions, and beliefs. From a life-giving necessity to the cause of devastating disasters, rain can be both a torrential force of nature, or irritation in the background.
In Glasgow, rain has become part of the fabric of the city. The third wettest city in the United Kingdom, a country with over 100 words or phrases for rain, it rains here on average every other day.
As a common, shared experience rain, and our perception of it, is an ideal topic for opening interesting and engaging topics of conversation with interviewees, giving insight into how they feel about wider topics, and how they engage with the world in a wider sense.
This work is a collaboration with Ellie Ford, James Fairlie, and Jamie Graham.