Sound research
Sound can express feelings, sensations, and embodied experiences that transcend written word. As a researcher, Andi uses audio both as a medium to collect samples and to present findings. Some of her recent projects are detailed below.
Go back to where you come from
In April 2020, Andi sought to examine the impacts of heightened anti-Asian racism on Asian-Americans. Using an empancipatory inquiry framework, she analyzed anonymous audio recordings from Asian-American students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Andi’s prompt invited participants to answer the question “How is anti-Asian racism impacting you?” by submitting sounds of any kind - sound effects, noises, spoken stories, etc. The resulting composition includes the sound clips submitted by research participants organized to present the patterns of her findings.
We are Okinawa
What is the sound of the experience of being a young Okinawan today? For this ethnomusicological inquiry, Andi analyzed Okinawan folk music to identify prominent instruments and themes, and mixed them into American House - style beats layered with modern synths. This composition features four traditional Okinawan folk elements - the sanshin lute, taiko drum, sanba castanet, and voice, surrounded by the sounds of waves breaking on a Ryukyuan coral reef. Andi created this piece at the Electronic Music Studio at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology.
Lockdown
Dance music is an inherently social genre composed for large soundsystems and intended to be enjoyed in clubs and at parties. For this Arts-Based Research (ABR) project, Andi analyzed and organized audio submissions from dance music lovers sharing how they felt about dance music during the 2020 pandemic - a time during which many dance music venues were closed and events were postponed or cancelled.
Wait
This piece explores the potential for convolution reverb to express the sound of memory. When we reflect upon a single day, how do the sounds interact in our new mental soundscape? Do they occur in chronological order? Do they blend together into one complex sound? Andi composed this piece using a fellow composer’s single-sound and ambient-sound field recordings.