About the project

Soundlapse is a transdisciplinary research initiative related to the FONDECYT project No. 1190722, “Time-lapse method to preserve the soundscape of urban wetlands”, funded by Chilean National Agency for Research and Development. The project brings together several research lines related to the study of wetland soundscapes and seeks to highlight the patrimonial value of these natural environments through the development of novel soundlapse techniques.

The project is preceded by a pilot study carried out at Lancaster University, England, in collaboration with the sound artist Chris Watson. During this study the basis for the soundlapse method was developed, which consists in presenting an expedited view of how large soundscape recordings evolve. The method consists of selecting short, even-spaced samples across 24-hour soundscape recordings of the wetlands (Figure 1) and subsequently assembling them, according to method designed to produce gradual transitions and seamless soundscape evolution.

The project aims to continue the development and application of the sound-lapse method across the research lines detailed in this website: soundscape recordings, signal-processing applications, environmental education, interactive technology, and artistic expression.

Fig. 1. The diagram shows the process of sampling and assemblage that characterizes the sonic time-lapse method. The top part shows the spectrogram of a continuous 24-hour recording of the Miraflores wetland; the bottom part shows the spectrogram of the resulting 4-minute audio file, composed of 24 short samples.