Skate audio is present in every day life, as well as the acousmatic properties of skate audio. Similar to cars and other motorvehicles in the way they manipulate sound as they pass by, skateboards also do that in a very interesting way. Not only contorting air by rolling at often high speeds, the resonant materials that consist of the parts of skateboards sing out of their own accord. Not only do they resonate on rough textures and surfaces and aesthetically sound abraisive, they can also sound soft and polished depending on the smooth texture they ride on. Depending on disposition, some may deem skate sound, and skate ‘noise’ with antisocial rhetorics and negative labels, usually stemming from councils or people of a certain class complaining about noise. If however, listened and consumed without any preconceived notions, one may find that the sounds of skateboards are actually compelling and have beauty within them. As opposed to hearing a group of skaters skating down the highstreet as a barraging onslaught of sound, listen closely and notice its an orchestra of different textures emitting in harmony. The sonics of skateboarding can often be overlooked if you are not a skater, but when you find appreciation and understanding within it, it will be an avid sound mark that you immediately recognise, becoming a new medium of art that may grasp your eyes like intricate architecture.
I feel appreciation and understanding of the sound leads to an appreciation and understanding of the culture, which in part leaves skateboarding to be more accessible and widely known, for what it truly is, an art form