We all hear selectively, meaning we focus in on certain sounds and out of others. Think of the last time you went on a walk with a friend. You were probably only actively listening to what was right in front of you, perhaps, the person you were talking to, and were probably not listening too closely to other conversations taking place or the overall sound of the space. This is where Deep Listening comes in. It’s an idea pioneered in the 1970s by a composer named Pauline Oliveros, in her words, it’s “a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible, to hear no matter what you are doing.” Deep Listening is an act of tuning in to one’s environment by intentionally listening to surrounding sounds. It’s so profound, there’s even a Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute! It elaborates on this practice further:

“Deep Listening, as developed by Oliveros, explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature of listening.  The practice includes bodywork, sonic meditations, and interactive performance, as well as listening to the sounds of daily life, nature, one’s own thoughts, imagination, and dreams. It cultivates a heightened awareness of the sonic environment, both external and internal, and promotes experimentation, improvisation, collaboration, playfulness, and other creative skills vital to personal and community growth.”

What we choose to listen to is indeed personal, but Deep Listening allows us to connect to where we are in the moment we’re in, and in a year so uncertain, finding new means to connect can give us all an extra anchor.

Under normal circumstances, we’d ask you to plug in those earphones and find some solace in the stories we’re lucky enough to tell and the experiences we work so hard to create, but this time, we challenge you to go outside (stay six feet away from others, of course) and listen closely. Meditate on what you hear! We’ll leave you with this advice from Pauline herself:

“The key to multi-level existence is Deep Listening – listening in as many ways as possible to everything that can possibly be heard all of the time. Deep Listening is exploring the relationships among any and all sounds whether natural or technological, intended or unintended, real, remembered or imaginary. Thought is included. Deep Listening includes all sounds expanding the boundaries of perception.”

Excerpt from “Quantum Listening: From Practice to Theory (To Practice Practice)” by Pauline Oliveros. SoundArtArchive, December 1999.

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Note: We recently recorded a conversation between Alison Koch, the Digital Content Producer for Playwrights Horizons, and Acoustiguide’s Julie Treumann and Tony Cirne, about Playwrights’ new podcast series.

You can hear it here.

We often call our audio experiences ‘theatre for the ear.’ But Acoustiguide’s recent partnership with Playwrights Horizons took that idea to the next level. Over the last year, Acoustiguide has been the creative production consultant to this esteemed off-Broadway company as they’ve embarked on the first season of their podcast, Soundstage.

Initially scheduled for release in summer 2020, Playwrights Horizons decided to step into the shelter-at-home space now, with a schedule of radio plays to be released every Thursday or every other Thursday over the next few weeks. Working with Alison Koch, the Theatre’s Digital Content Producer and Associate Artistic Director Adam Greenfield, Acoustiguide got to go—literally—behind the curtains to see how theatre gets made and contribute our own expertise in creating audio-based experiences.

On April 30th, Jordan Harrison’s Play for Any Two People will drop. Harrison experimented with a play that involved having two people listen to the same thing at the same time and interact with each other. As Tony Cirne, Acoustiguide’s Manager of Multimedia Production/Composer, put it: “What it’s meant to do is to have two people acting in front of each other – it’s an ambitious concept to try to pull off. Especially because it requires participation of the listeners.” In this concept we saw overlap with what we create for our in-gallery experiences, where museum visitors can look, listen to commentaries and talk to each other at the same time.

The Playwrights team suggested a binaural recording to enhance Harrison’s concept, and Cirne transformed the idea into reality. If you’re not familiar with binaural, the highly simplified explanation is that it’s a three-dimensional audio experience in which you hear sound as if you’re moving in space. And the only way it works is if the listener wears headphones.

We started with “Steve,” the wonder binaural head. He has a mic in each ‘ear.’

Next, we needed the right space. Binaural recording requires the kind of audio ‘reflections’ any normal room has, so this session couldn’t be recorded in our typical soundproof studio.

We settled on the Green Room (aka the staging room where talent hangs out before they start to record) at CDM, who kindly set things up for us. Someone (well, Alison) had to walk up and down the hallway to act as noise enforcement and shush people going to and coming from the elevators. The ambient sound that inevitably crept in was a substantial challenge for Cirne’s post-production work.

On any given day, Acoustiguide’s creative team works closely with voiceover actors, but recording Playwrights’ actors was quite different. Some sessions lasted five to eight hours! Playwrights experimented endlessly—testing, pushing and prodding their actors—to get the right performance. And because each podcast runs as long as 30 minutes, final storytelling arcs can accomplish #storytellinggoals in profound ways: They can build on emotion, create drama, reward listeners with a sense of release, go for laughs…and sometimes even toss in some salty language. Acoustiguide has brought back these lessons to our own work, and it has given us plenty of ideas for future work (omitting the salty language of course!)—particularly about interactive audio experiences.

The result of all of this heightened creativity, inventive production and hard work is a series of undeniably original, dramatic experiments in audio storytelling. You can hear the audio plays on your regular podcasting channels. Check out @phnyc or @SoundstagePH to find out when the next one drops.

For more information, read more here:

New York Times
PodNews
Playbill

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Here are a few recent highlights, from funny, to humbling, to freaky!

1. From Degas at the Opéra at the National Gallery of Art
   • In Degas’ day, a watering can was left in the dance studios to wash down the dusty floors!
   • Did you know the original Little Dancer Aged Fourteen has ACTUAL human hair??
2. From the new permanent collection at the Seattle Art Museum Asian Art Museum
   • Actor Hudson Yang suggests that making a television show isn’t so different from making a work of art like this one — and this was part of a manuscript that took 15 years to make way back in the 1500s.
3. From K-9 Courage at National September 11 Memorial & Museum
   • Did you know that dogs have a greater filtering system in their noses than humans? It’s why they smell *everything*. More importantly, it may be the reason so many of them stayed free of respiratory diseases during the cleanup of the World Trade Center site.
4. From “Stories of Daily Life” at the Jewish Museum
   • The Jewish Museum’s permanent collection contains many tzedakah boxes (or charity boxes), but one particularly charming one was discovered floating in the East River! Listen to the stop here!
5. From Flesh & Blood: Italian Masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum at the Kimbell Art Museum
   • Famed Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni reportedly had a pathological fear of women! Dr. Babette Bohn, Professor of Art History at the College of Fine Arts at TCU, says this may explain Reni’s less-than-believable paintings of nude women, like ATALANTA AND HIPPOMENES, a stop on this tour. And she offers a story about taboo laundry. One day, Reni’s basket of laundry arrived at his studio… and, according to Bohn: “To Reni’s horror, they discovered a woman’s blouse mixed in with the laundry. And Reni insisted that everything needed to be rewashed in pure water, and he never sent the laundry out again.”
6. Located on the historic Angels Quartz Mine in Calaveras County, CA,  Angels Camp Museum tells the story of California’s original ’49ers – those who migrated to the West Coast (in 1849) to take part in the Gold Rush—and the patent technology that’s still used today! For example… take a look at this beauty:
   • That’s the Pelton wheel, invented by—you guessed it– Lester A. Pelton 130 years ago or so. Funny fact: At the time, the standard wheel was named the hurdy-gurdy. (Who knew?) Pelton’s new design was so efficient that it’s still being used today, often to generate hydroelectric power. Ciao, hurdy-gurdy!

You can hear the clips here. The stories we get to tell are always a privilege. We have a lot in store in the months ahead and look forward to sharing more here!

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Caption: From left to right, artists Alex and Maira Kalman, David Barbosa & Lee Varino from Acoustiguide, and Nora Rodriguez at Russ and Daughters. Mural designed by Maira Kalman.

This story begins about 18 months ago when our long-time creative partner, the Jewish Museum, told us they were “moving away from audio tours.” The museum wanted to rethink how they talked about their collection while redefining their mobile visitor experience. 

We said…

After all, at Acoustiguide, we’re all about creating experiences. Not ‘tours’ or ‘guides.’ Experiences.

A little background…in January 2018, the Jewish Museum debuted their newly installed permanent collection galleries. They had radically re-conceived their collection to not only honor their identity as a Jewish museum with a one-of-a-kind collection, but also their identity as an art institution. They organized their permanent collection into six galleries with objects spanning over 4,000 years and encompassing myriad subjects and mediums – all connected to Jewish tradition, ritual, and culture.

The museum designed and implemented a new mobile platform (by Code and Theory) and we collaborated to create compelling content that showcased their distinct voice and core missions. The approach was nimbler, more flexible – with shorter thematic experiences and pithy stories that conveyed poignancy, humor, and a decidedly un-fussy tone of voice. Forget in-depth interviews; we opted for tighter conversations. Forget formal narrators; when we even decided we even needed to have them at all, we tapped museum staff as guides. Forget formally produced soundtracks; we featured the sound of the galleries from hours of on-location recordings embellished with thematically-inspired music. 

Out of this came Artists’ Voices, Director’s Highlights, Jewish Rituals, Migrations, Family, Verbal Descriptions, and others. These modules celebrated personal reactions from the Museum’s Director, Claudia Gould, artists, rabbis, writers, academics, community leaders, and even…fifth-grade students.

The result is a vibrant and diverse collection of voices speaking in authentic, heartfelt ways about a broad array of objects and art works. But the story doesn’t end here. We are already at work on new projects that will showcase the voices, perspectives, and insights that amplify the Museum’s unique perspective and mission. 

A special thanks to our collaborators at the Museum, most especially Nora Rodriguez, the Museum’s Interpretive Media Producer, without whom none of this would have been possible.

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Aaaannnddd…that’s a wrap for the annual MCN (Museum Computer Network) conference. We are simultaneously beat and energized by everything we saw and learned—and everyone we met—over the course of four days in San Diego. We already miss the camaraderie and the perfect blue skies of San Diego. 

Now that we’re back to the good work of creating the best audio experiences for all, what are we thinking about? What resonated the most from the conference?

Partnerships…were a resounding theme of the conference—not least because we announced own exclusive partnership with the leading purveyor of mobile platforms, Guru.  Guru produces digital platforms that harness the best of augmented reality, data analytics, intuitive UX, and failsafe wayfinding to empower the visitor to have the best experience possible at a museum, tourist site, zoo or attraction. Paired with our award-winning content and storytelling expertise, it’s a match made in heaven. You can hear about how and why the founders of Acoustiguide and Guru came together here, and read more about the announcement here. 

But that’s not all. We attended sessions that highlighted the sometimes-tricky relationship among stakeholders, be that client-vendor relationships (what BlueCadet’s Brad Baer prefers to call ‘partners’—as do we) or getting to yes with internal stakeholders, as beautifully and entertainingly strategized by Alison Koch and Anjuli Maniam.  Key take-aways? Honesty above all else in developing a trusting relationship, open and clear communication, allowing for ample timelines, preparedness on both sides, having everyone in the same room at the same time and creative thinking in helping communicate complex ideas to those who may not be the ‘digital unicorns’ (phrase to be trademarked by Alison Koch) many of us are.

Creativity…Of course and always.  How far can you push the limits of expectations?  We heard about that from our co-presenter, Sarah Wambold, who ideated a new digital audio experience when she was Head of Digital at the Clyfford Still Museum.  Opting out of a traditional audio experience, she devised a four chapter podcast that could be heard in and out of the galleries… and created an approach that brought listeners closer to the man behind the museum (and kept people listening so long they stayed in their cars and missed appointments!). 

Data Safety … took center stage. We all risk data breaches. A plenary session explored this subject and drew a few snappy conclusions:  Select what data your institution will actually use, create an internal advisory group made up of all departments who actually collect data , discuss and develop a plan for security and safe-keeping, and develop an organizational plan to quickly resolve data breaches.

We’d like to say thank you to everyone who participated and attended our sessions and for the tireless MCN team for making San Diego such a success!

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Accessibility is a key priority for museums.  But in Germany, it means more than wheelchair ramps, elevators, video guides in sign language, and audio descriptive tours.  In Germany, content in what’s called “Leichte Sprache” (Easy Language) is a fundamental pillar of the accessibility mission. Never heard of it? It’s a special form of standard German that follows specific rules of grammar, vocabulary, layout, and structure. The goal is to enable people with cognitive disabilities or a limited knowledge of German to access information and, by law, many authorities are required to have documents and other content available in Leichte Sprache.

Take a look at this example:

Original: 
“Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany, as well as one of its 16 constituent states. It has a steadily growing population of approximately 3.7 million. Berlin is the second most populous city proper in the European Union behind London and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.” (Wikipedia)

Translation in Leichte Sprache:
Berlin is the capital of Germany.
Berlin is the largest city in Germany.
Almost 4 million people are living in Berlin.
Many people are moving to Berlin.
So the number of people living in Berlin is growing.
Berlin is the second largest city in the European Union.
Only London is larger.

Writing Leichte Sprache can be challenging because of the decisions you have to make about prioritizing information to get to the essence of the meaning.  And, as you can see from the example above, there are other attendant challenges:

• You need more words than in standard German and thus more space and time to convey the information.
• Audio guides in Leichte Sprache are narrated at a much slower pace than in standard German to allow the target audience to understand and process the information.
• Many terms have to be explained and the vocabulary is repeated to support comprehension.
• You have to trim a lot from the original texts if you’re anticipating a finished product that does not exhaust your visitors with an overwhelming supply of endless audio commentaries.

It goes without saying that cutting information often involves many, sometimes very passionate discussions, because – understandably – details are very dear to the client.

In 2017, Acoustiguide Germany translated the audio guide for the SKD, Dresden State Art Collection’s Royal Castle, into Leichte Sprache. The result was a total of 235 tracks and more than nine hours of audio content for the different exhibition spaces in the New and Historic Green Vault, Coin Cabinet, Turkish Chamber and Hall of the Giants.

Here are some examples from that project. Even if you can’t read and comprehend German, you can detect the simplicity and pacing of the sentences.

55: Straußen-Ei-Pokale

Sprecher:
Die Menschen benutzten diese Vogel-Figuren
im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert bei Trink-Gelagen.
Das waren fröhliche Treffen, bei denen sehr viel getrunken wurde.
Können Sie sich vorstellen, aus solch einem Gefäß zu trinken?
Das ist sehr schwierig,
weil der Vogel-Hals sehr lang und dünn ist.
Und die Flügel der Vögel bewegten sich beim Trinken.
Die Menschen dieser Zeit hatten mit den Figuren viel Spaß.

73: Obeliscus-Augustalis

Sprecherin:
Was erzählt Ihnen dieses Kunst-Werk?
Im Mittelpunkt steht das Email-Porträt von August dem Starken.
Es zeigt ihn als Herrscher.
Das erkennen Sie zum Beispiel an der polnisch-litauischen Krone
und dem roten Kurhut über dem Portrait.

Nur wenige Fürsten durften den Kurhut tragen
In der Zeit Augusts des Starken
gab es neun Kurfürsten im Deutschen Reich.

Der Hut war das Zeichen ihrer Macht.

The Acoustiguide Germany team has been specially trained to write in Leichte Sprache by capito Berlin, one of our creative partners. We are eager to provide our expertise to cultural sites and to ensure that accessibility-for-all remains a priority.

To learn more about Leichte Sprache, follow these links:

• Leichte Sprache  A website of a network lobbying for Leichte Sprache and that provides resources
• Hurraki  A dictionary providing some translations

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The project is part of the museum’s bicentenary celebrations; two hundred years is a long time to stay relevant and the Fitzwilliam is a notable case of a museum being able to evolve with the changing perceptions of the function of museums and galleries. Key to this development is their ability to understand and respond to visitor needs.

Acoustiguide were asked to produce a digital guide to help visitors navigate and access the Fitzwilliam’s collection. The app uses interactive maps to locate certain objects within the galleries. Visitors can either download the app straight to their phones or hire one of the on-site devices.

The museum holds 100 smart technology devices and 10 of Acoustiguide’s brand new proprietary Opus+ devices.

Opus+ is the next generation of our Opus series and has evolved to take advantage of improved technologies in the industry. The Fitzwilliam chose the Opus+ for their audio descriptive content because of its accessible and uncomplicated delivery.

All devices are supported by our brand new wireless charging facilities. The inductive charging rack has no physical connectors, to give a reliable charging process and reduced scope for damage. This translates to an easier delivery of the guide and a more efficient charging solution.

As part of the bicentennial celebrations, there will be a selection of exciting temporary exhibitions throughout the year. The first of these is Death on the Nile: Uncovering the afterlife of ancient Egypt, which runs until 22 May. This exhibition explores the beliefs and working practices behind the Fitzwilliam’s remarkable collection of Egyptian coffins and reveals new information on how they were made. A live conservation area within the exhibition provides visitors with a unique insight into the science behind conserving and examining the objects.

An interpretative tour is available for the exhibition within the digital guide. In addition, we have prepared an audio-descriptive tour, which is available on our Opus+ devices.

The second major exhibition for 2016, COLOUR, celebrates the Fitzwilliam’s bicentenary with a stunning display of 150 of some of the finest illuminated manuscripts in the world. The exhibition showcases advanced cutting-edge research from the MINIARE project undertaken by the Fitzwilliam’s curators. Running from 30 July – 30 December 2016; a main tour and VI tour of the exhibition will again be available for visitors to make the most of their experience.

Working closely with The Fitzwilliam Museum on their digital guide has given us a fantastic insight into changing visitor needs. The app will be a welcome and engaging addition to their visitor experience and if you are ever in Cambridge, it is well worth experiencing this informative and enjoyable guide.

We shall be exploring the challenges and successes of this exciting project in more depth at this year’s Museums and Heritage Show. Our talk 21^st Century interpretation in a 19^th Century Museum takes place in the New Technology theatre on Thursday 19^th May. Come and meet us… We’ll be waiting for you!

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The National Gallery of Australia has fully embraced the use of this technology offering their visitors a choice of three tours – Adult’s audio tour, Children’s audio tour, and AUSLAN (sign interpreted and subtitled) tour.  Interesting and inspiring content with clear voices and great production elements, accompanied by high resolution images and transcript enable the visitor to deeply explore the works and life of Tom Roberts.

Positive visitor’s comments are plentiful – just to share a couple…

Isla (8) says: It was very informative and interesting.  From the first word I wanted to hear more.

And Kris says:  The Audio was wonderful – clear diction – easy to hear and understand.  Interestingly told with some subtle and suitable sounds to compliment the presentation.  The audio was easy to use – good setting out.  I also tried the children’s audio – wonderful with sounds and children’s voices clearly audible.  Thank you.

Katie Russell – Head of Learning and Access explains why the NGA chose Acoustiguide to supply their Acoustiguide Mobile App and Smart Solutions for Tom Roberts: “The NGA was keen to adopt an audio tour system that enhanced our visitors’ experience of exhibitions and collections. Acoustiguide Smart Solutions has delivered a user-friendly platform for our three tours of the Tom Roberts exhibition with the capacity for visitors to zoom in to view details on the images that are described in the audio commentary. The public response has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re very much looking forward to utilising Smart Solutions to provide interpretation of the NGA’s art collections in the near future.”

This extraordinary exhibition runs until March 28, so be sure to visit and enjoy the art; and the tours…

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Has this ever happened to you or someone you love**? A tourist from France visits a museum in New York City. At the Information Desk, he sees there’s an app available for download and wants to access it.  The app requires two downloads: the first is the shell of the app and the second is the bulk of the content. The app alerts him to the size of the second download, and he taps ‘yes’ to continue.  Back home in Paris, he gets a 250 euro usage bill for the additional download.  He is surprised and understandably upset.  He feels misled by the museum.

So what are some best practices for museums to let visitors know about the potential costs involved with the ‘double download?’

• A museum can stock hardware like our Opus units to offer international visitors who don’t want to use their personal devices.

• Signage at Information Desks should clearly indicate that the app is available but that data usage rates may apply.

• Visitor Services and other associate museum staff must themselves understand how large the app is so they can guide the visitor accordingly.

• Strong WiFi hotspots are crucial to facilitate an easy download process.

**Please note, details have been adjusted to protect the innocent. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Post script

Incidentally, this isn’t a new story, but it still happens. The debate continues about the convenience and efficiency of what Nancy Proctor, Deputy Director for Digital Experience at the Baltimore Museum of Art, calls the “double download.”

We think it has its advantages: When new content is available on the app, the user only has to download the new content (or updates), not the whole app.  The minute you make any changes to the CMS, the app is immediately updated.   And it seems infinitely better than streaming an app, which requires very reliable WiFi access and is prone to frequent short pauses while content loads on the fly.

As always, comments are welcome.

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