Cover Page
The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/47914 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation
Author: Chattopadhyay, B.
Title: Audible absence: searching for the site in sound production
Issue Date: 2017-03-09
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Acknowledgments
My background as a sound practitioner has helped me to intervene with a novel perspective in the ongoing debates in sound studies, providing critical observation and reflection alongside an analytical approach to sound production. Hence, my research has been artistic, practice-based, and at places self-reflective, in order to capture the aesthetic, historical, and technological developments in film sound and sound art . First, I would like to acknowledge the inspiration drawn from fellow sound practitioners. Their vital contributions have enriched the development of sonic experience in film and media production. This project would not have been possible without the active participation of many eminent film sound practitioners in India. I wholeheartedly thank Shyam Benegal, Resool Poockutty, Jyoti Chatterjee, Anup Dev, Nakul Kamte, Anup Mukherjee and others who provided their valuable time for the interviews. Their work truly remains the impetus for embarking on this journey.
I warmly thank Prof. dr. Marcel Cobussen and Prof. Frans de Ruiter of the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts at Leiden University for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am particularly thankful to Marcel Cobussen for kindly accepting to become my supervisor and promoter at the final and crucial stages of this work, providing me with most helpful guidance. Thanks also to Sharon Stewart for carefully reading through parts of the dissertation and performing the necessary editing with many helpful comments.
I thank the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen for supporting and financing this research, in particular the head of department Maja Horst, Prof. Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Arild Fetveit, who remained supportive throughout the development of this project. I would like to thank Brandon LaBelle at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design for inviting me to the seminar series Dirty Ear Forum. Thanks also to Morten Michelsen of IKK for inviting me to hold a panel at the ESSA2014 Sound Studies conference, where I had the chance to discuss this project with fellow film sound scholars, such as Martine Huvenne, who read the thesis and gave helpful advice and comments. I sincerely thank Ulrik Schmidt for inviting me to work as a guest researcher at Roskilde University in order to further develop the project. Interaction with the students who took part in the two courses I taught at the University of Copenhagen has considerably enriched my research. I would like to thank BAR1 and the India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore, for providing me with resources, funds, and infrastructure for the development of the sound artwork Elegy for Bangalore. My heartfelt thanks go to Prof. Andrew Lewis at the School of Music in Bangor University, North Wales, U.K., for providing hospitality during my residency to develop the piece while working at the Studio 4. I would also like to thank
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Charles Wallace India Trust London for funding my travel and stay in Bangor. Thanks to Deutschlandradio, Berlin, for broadcasting the work and Gruenrekorder for publishing the work on CD. I would like to thank the Prince Claus Fund, Amsterdam, for providing financial support for the fieldwork conducted in India to develop the project Decomposing Landscape.
I thank ICST, Zurich University of the Arts, for providing the resources, funds, and technical facilities for the development of the piece during the residency at their Computer Music Studio, equipped with an Ambisonics system. My heartfelt thanks go to composer Johannes Schütt for providing technical guidance and all the other support offered during this residency. I would also like to thank the label Touch for publishing the work. Finally, I would like to thank my mother Shipra Chattopadhyay as well as my sister Debika Chattopadhyay and her family. On this occasion, I heartily express my gratitude to all the close friends, associates, and well-wishers; without their continuing support this project could not have seen the light of the day.
