Additional Information
Torino composer and sound designer Sara Berts is using Buchla synthesizer to complement and process field recordings done in the natural landscape. After having studied sound engineering at SAE Institute in Milan, she has been involved in multiple artistic projects, organizations and festivals, Club2Club Festival, Primavera Sound and Elementi to name a few. Sara Berts combines field recordings and synthesis, looking for a sonic in-between space between naturally generated sounds and the famous Buchla semi-modular synthesizer.
PAN M 360 : Is it your first time at MUTEK?
Sara Berts : Yes, it’s my first time at MUTEK and my second in Montreal – I just came as a tourist to visit to visit friends.
PAN M 360 : Your creative process is quite interesting. It starts from electroacoustic studies and it leads to field recordings. Can you explain?
Sara Berts : My creative process is strongly influenced by nature. I spent time in isolation in nature, somehow it’s a practice to me, similar to meditation or yoga. This happened the first time when I was in Peru, in the Amazonian rainforest. And that experience led to the composition of my first EP, which was released in 2021, which is composition of field recordings coming from the Amazon and Buchla semi-modular synthesizer, which is the main instrument I use.
And the second EP, that was released last September 2022, was also influenced by a long period spent in isolation in the surrounding forest, next to my house in Torino, in northern Italy. It happened because it was during the pandemic when the city lost all its attractive power (no concerts, no theater, no cinema, no restaurants. So I spent a lot of time in the woods near my house in Torino. And every time that I spent time in, in nature, it’s like, the quality of my presence gets better. And I feel like plants, insects and birds are somehow inviting me to join in with my music. So it’s a kind of an invitation coming from the sound of nature but not only from the sound also from the animals but also the movements of the animals and vegetation. I love to transpose this into sound.
PAN M 360 : There are a few electronic producers or electroacoustic composers that are recording sounds in the nature. So do you feel being part of a community?
Sara Berts : Of course, there is a community of creative people embracing this same inspiration. So many musicians believe in that beauty and in its musicality. For example I heard this Korean artist called Kohui. So yes, there is definitely a huge movement for recording the natural soundscape.
PAN M 360 : Can you tell us why you use Buchla synthesizer?
Sara Berts : It’s a unique synthesizer and quite iconic because was designed by this physician Don Buchla who was the master of the West Coast sound synthesis. It’s a very unpredictable instrument, it has a range of random voltages. Somehow you need to spend time with the instrument and connect with it, I feel sometimes that it has its own will! So during the pandemic, I spent a lot of time on this instrument, it helped me very much coping the stress of isolation.
PAN M 360 : And what do you craft with your field recordings? What is the process after finding sounds in nature? How do you filter those sounds?
Sara Berts : I don’t really edit those sounds. I don’t filter very much those field recordings, I just equalize them, so I can take away the frequencies that are problematic or not aesthetically interesting. But mostly I leave the field recordings as they are. So I don’t modify it so much.
PAN M 360 : Those sounds are quotes from nature in a way.
Sara Berts : Yeah. When I hear a natural soundscape, I can already feel the musicality in the sound. Then I come back home, I start to listen to the field recordings, and I start to equalize it. Somehow it is an invitation from the soundscape and also after another invitation from the Buchla synthesizer. It’s like having a jam session with a natural soundscape !
PAN M 360 : And what do you add yourself with the synthesizer ?
Sara Berts : I can add the layers from the Buchla synth, I also can mix and play with with the volume or the field recordings. Sometimes it’s louder, sometimes the synth becomes the main character or the main voice. So it’s more of a mixing process than an editing process.
PAN M 360 : And then when you perform this music, is your live set a sort of reproduction of what you’ve recorded?
Sara Berts : There are some clips that I will launch with Ableton Live, and then I will play live some layers from the Buchla synth on those field recordings.
PAN M 360 : So what is the next soundscape you’re going to explore?
Sara Berts : For the next project, for sure there will be some natural elements in the next record, which I am working on right now. But I will experiment and this time I find it very interesting to work with voice and with my singing. I started to explore singing one year ago, this will be a new element that wasn’t present before in the previous EPS. And I will also be experimenting with some rhythmics. So it won’t be just melodic and downtempo, I will also have some drums and more rhythmic tracks.
PAN M 360 : Will you use human voice and new beats in the Montreal concert ?
Sara Berts : No, I will perform my previous projects.
PAN M 360 : And then you will come back with the now material !
Sara Berts : Yes I hope so!
SARA BERTS IS PEFORMING À MUTEK, SATURDAY, 5 PM, ESPLANADE TRANQUILLE
