The Unsettled Soundscape: Field Recordings, Composition, and the Computerized in Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract A site-specific case study involving recorded soundwalks in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the exploration of their compositional potentials through digital collage, algorithmic methods, and live coding reveals questions around the nature of soundscapes and the concepts of fidelity and representation. Building from a catalog of the activities of our group and paying attention to shifts in sound–computer interactions, from untroubled to troubled, this article traces a series of computer–sound interactions that subtly reveal aspects of the computerized, from being ubiquitous and seemingly neutral to being intrinsically entangled. Recordings of soundscapes should be seen as compositions, the success of which depends on the intentions for which they are used. This has implications for the methods employed in their production. Compositions using such material can reveal characteristics of those places; however, we prefer to avoid calling them representations of place. Claims of representation are difficult to make, but some recordings may be useful in this regard for a limited set of intentions, with sufficient and nuanced attention given to issues of fidelity. Through our reflection, we discover these and other ways that computers and soundscapes interact.