Audio Records and Analysis in Material Behavior

In long-term observation records, sound is one dimension of observing material behavior. Compared to visual forms, most materials show very limited audio activity when left untouched, during resting states, or in final storage.

To present sound phenomena in material behavior objectively, records distinguish between "sounds produced by the material itself" and "accompanying sounds produced under conditions like movement, container contact, tool intervention, and applied force."

1. Classification of Sound Sources

Based on existing observations, sounds occurring during material behavior mainly come from the following states:

2. Specific Sound Phenomena Across Material Systems

1. Alcohol and Alcohol Ink Systems

• Static State: Alcohol and alcohol ink produce no noticeable sound when resting in containers. During evaporation, spreading, and final drying to form marks, no sustained self-produced sound has been recorded.
• Movement and Transfer: When liquid pours from one container to another, or when sucked up using tools like pipettes, a soft liquid flowing sound occurs.
• External Tool Intervention: When using a heat gun to assist movement or spreading, the continuous sound comes from the heat gun device itself running, not from the material.

2. Dry Pigment Powder and Liquid Pigment Systems

• Powder State: Dry pigment powders make no sound while static. Shaking a container filled with powder creates sound as particles hit the inner walls; digging or scooping powder with tools produces friction sound between tool and particles; heavier particles hitting the bottom when transferred into a new container may create a faint impact sound.
• Combining and Grinding States:
  • When mixing pigment powder with binder materials, sound depends on system state. Thicker, higher-resistance systems produce steady, noticeable mixing sounds; fluid, low-resistance systems produce very weak sounds.
  • During grinding, pigments with coarse or rough particles create noticeable friction sounds when contacting grinding tools and surfaces repeatedly. Sound volume relates to particle texture and tool contact.
• Bubbles and Settling:
  • Bubbles or foam forming in resting liquid pigment systems produce short popping or air-release sounds when scooped out, flattened, or popped naturally.
  • For systems experiencing separation or settling, shaking containers to re-disperse the material creates liquid impact sounds against container walls; clearing or stirring bottom sediment with tools creates corresponding contact sounds.
• Bottling and Post-Drying States: A brief sound may occur as pigment liquid squeezes out of bottle mouths during bottling. No self-produced sound is observed during natural drying or after completely drying into solid watercolor.

3. Solid Watercolor

• Static and Dry States: Solid watercolor paints show no self-produced sound while static or drying naturally.
• Painting Process: Sounds appear during active operation. Brushes touching pigment surfaces produce friction sounds between bristles and paint; moving across paper surfaces after dipping produces brush-on-paper friction sounds. These sounds result from human force, tool properties, paint surface, and paper substrate acting together.

4. Acrylic Systems

• Squeezing and Mixing: Squeezing acrylic paint out of bottle containers creates slight friction sounds as liquid moves through the opening. During color mixing, stirring tools colliding or rubbing against containers produce operational sounds.
• Centrifugal Spraying: In fluid pouring techniques, when acrylic material rotates on a centrifugal platform and flings outward, hitting the inner splash walls of a semi-open enclosure, it creates continuous spraying and impact sounds. This is physical contact sound from fluid hitting surrounding structures under force.
• Drying and Storage: Acrylics produce no noticeable self-produced sound during natural drying or after forming a dry film in storage.

5. Oil Pastels

• Static State: Both new and used oil pastels show no noticeable self-produced sound when resting untouched.
• Painting and Tool Operation: Sounds concentrate during active operation. Moving oil pastels directly across paper creates continuous contact friction sounds; stippling or tapping creates short, repeated contact sounds; using tools like palette knives to scrape, push, or smear produces friction sounds among tool, pastel, and paper. Volume depends on applied force, layer thickness on paper, and contact methods.
• Finished State: Once artwork is complete and enters a static storage state, the material produces virtually no further sound.

3. Summary

According to long-term observation records, sound phenomena in material behavior follow these patterns:

1. Static self-produced sound is extremely rare: The vast majority of materials produce no sustained, directly noticeable sound on their own when left untouched, unforced, or without visible form changes.
2. Sounds rely heavily on dynamic processes: Recordable sounds mostly accompany dynamic processes such as material displacement, container impact, state changes (like bubble popping), tool contact, and applied human force.
3. Sound is a compound phenomenon: Sounds heard during painting or preparation are mostly joint results of materials, tools, substrate materials (paper, container walls), and external force, rather than fixed, inherent properties of the material alone.

In a material behavior archive, sound is recorded as an accompanying observable phenomenon tied to material movement, environmental contact, and external intervention.