INvironments is the podcast that puts you back into your ears. Lou Raskin is on a mission to reattune himself to natural ecosystems by listening to their soundscapes. To know more, he talks to ecologists and artists who also use soundscapes as a way of learning about ecosystems. He also does a lot of walking and recording himself to experience first hand how soundscapes change, and how they relate to their landscapes. Maybe there's more to soundscapes than just learning about nature. Maybe this is a way to think, listen and act ecologically. 

INvironments was made in association with Concordia University. Artwork by Lily Cowper. For all things INvironments, visit the website: https://lucrask.wixsite.com/invironments

Sound is real, the way we listen is made up. So what is a soundscape? And how much of the answer depends on you? If we want to learn about the world through its acoustic signatures, where do we start?

In this initial episode of INvironments, sound researcher Lou Raskin takes a historical look at the term "soundscape" and tries to use his ears to figure out what it actually means. For a full transcript of this episode, please visit the INvironments website.

INvironments was made in association with Concordia University. Artwork by Lily Cowper. For all things INvironments, visit the website: https://lucrask.wixsite.com/invironments

An ecosystem never truly makes the same sounds twice. All soundscapes are unique, and within them are hidden universes of information that can tell us who is living within the ecosystem, and how well they are thriving. For decades, ecologist Bernie Krause has been been working on taxonomies of ecosystem sounds to better understand how a soundscape recording can help determine the overall health of an ecosystem and its biodiversity.  In a time when these ecosystems are starting to fade into silence, the snapshots provided by these soundscape recordings are more precious than ever.

In this episode, Lou speaks with Bernie Krause, as well as ecologists Almo Farina and Raphael Proulx, to figure out what soundscape ecology is all about. How does natural sound get recorded and analyzed? How are sounds described and classified? How are we listening to these recordings? And most intriguingly, what are we leaving out when we listen in a particular way? 

INvironments was made in association with Concordia University. Artwork by Lily Cowper. For all things INvironments, visit the website: https://lucrask.wixsite.com/invironments

Take a minute to listen to what’s around you. Now, turn 180 degrees and see if the world sounds the same. Your proximity to sounds changes the way you hear them. Yet at the same time, what your listening focus latches onto seems to happen automatically. Where does that come from and why does it happen? 

We all listen differently, and this episode is meant to dive deep into why that might be. Lou does some field recording, more interviewing and lots of hiking to think about where his listening positionality comes from. A position can change the physics of a sound recording, but our positionality as listeners may be just as important to think about. If an ecosystem’s soundscape is the object of our attention, maybe it’s time to consider how our listening plays a big role in shaping our understanding of it.

INvironments was made in association with Concordia University. Artwork by Lily Cowper. For all things INvironments, visit the website: https://lucrask.wixsite.com/invironments

A soundscape can be our connection to the dynamics of living and non-living entities within an ecosystem. We’ve spent some time thinking about how listening works, how recordings shape our knowledge of ecosystems, but what if there’s a bigger moral to the story? 

Soundscape ecology doesn’t just have to be about collecting data, but it can be a strategy for how to think and listen ecologically. In this final episode, Lou speaks with the ecologists, and artist Nik Forrest to tie the listening we may use in soundscape ecology to a wider ecological awareness. 

INvironments was made in association with Concordia University. Artwork by Lily Cowper. For all things INvironments, visit the website: https://lucrask.wixsite.com/invironments