Jasmine had us consider soundscapes and how our mind prioritises different sounds in order of their importance and relevance to us. We categorised the modes of listening into figure, ground and field. The figure sound is perceived as the primary sound source and it is brought to the forefront of our attention because it is either the loudest noise or most poignant. The ground sound would be the sounds that are resonant, though, are not as important. Then there is the field sound which is audible, but only through actively seeking to observe it.
This was contextualised by the presentation of the photo of Phan Thị Kim Phúc and the child survivors of a horrendous napalm attack during the Vietnam War. It was photographed by Nick Ut and entitled The Terror of War.
We were asked to categorise the sounds in this shot, and for me they were;
Figure – The sounds of the children screaming in terror, one can almost hear their crying.
Ground – Would be the sound of the flames, the pops of gunfire and perhaps the yelling of the soldiers.
Field – I imagined as the loading of the rifles, the tiny feet on the road and sound of the wind pushing the smoke to the right of frame.
The Terror of War by Nick Ut
A sound designer may choose to manipulate sounds in order to emulate this human prioritisation. With the use of reverb, a listener may get the sense that the sound has been captured in a large room, likewise, the sound of a whisper brought to the foreground (figure), may thrust the sense of intimacy upon the listener by the use of amplification.
On a theatre production that I produced the sound for in 2013, I had to start a piece with the sound of a child whispering which began as the figure sound initially until, the hum of a war plane grew louder and louder until it dominated the soundscape. This was achieved by the use of various automation techniques on the software program Protools. The plane sounds were sourced from archival files on Freesounds.org.
Working with sounds on Protools.