Ten Questions
Where can I find a situation that exudes the look of claustrophobia?
Can I record sounds that make a person feel confined and panicky?
Where can I go to find every kind of transportation in one area?
Is there a place where the sound alternates between very loud and quiet frequently?
Is there a building or area that is very colorful next to a place that is dull and colorless?
Where can I find a place that is red white and blue colored but not necessarily patriotic?
Can I find a sounds that are music like by accident?
Can I find people moving with rhythm without trying to?
Where can I find a lone person standing out in unusual surroundings?
Is there a place I can go that looks like it isnt in the United states?
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)
-I became very bothered during the first 45 minutes of my drift walk. It was cold, very windy, and relatively quiet outside. I had not come across any interesting sounds and I was losing hope and becoming very frustrated. In fact I had pretty much decided to turn back and try again the next day when I came across my first interesting sound.
-I was stressed during the recording of the girls playing tennis because it just so happened that just behind the court was a police and fire brigade station and there was a fire truck backing in and out of the garage. Thus roaring its engine vigorously and every time it went to back up it made that annoying high pitched beeping sound. I still have no idea what it was doing backing in and out of the garage for 15 minutes but I did no I could get any real good sounds from the tennis court till it stopped. Thus my patience was tested.
2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.
-I definitely felt very oddly peaceful when I was recording bikes passing by on the pavement under the bridge by Riverside Park. The echoing noise of the humming as the bikes passed and the warm breeze put me in a semi-peaceful/hypnotic state while I sat there for a good 20 minutes recording. It took me back to a time when I was younger and enjoyed playing where there was a breeze and under bridges.
-The walk home I would say I was at ease and contemplative. I was relieved to know I had recorded some good sounds and as I walked I thought about how I could possibly edit them. The weather had changed from when I had original went out. Instead of cold and harshly windy it was now warm, sunny and there was a small breeze.
3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)
-One aspect of my walk that came up that surprised me was that I had to change my drift strategy when it a-ran out of room to turn and b-found interesting sounds off my walk path. I ultimately decided to not follow my strategy so conservatively and kind of followed the area that seemed abundant in interesting sounds.
-I also come to be surprised by the fact that I did not have to participate in my surroundings and did not need to alter any sounds. When preparing for the Drift walk I had planned on, for at least one or two of my sounds, playing with the environment, such as tapping wood against metal and so forth. But when it came down to it all the sounds I recorded were going to happen with our without my presence. That fact actually pleased me for my project.
-I was shocked by how little I had to ask permission to record. During the tennis court and bridge recordings no one seemed to be bothered in the least that I was there recording. Of course I told them why I was there, but I wasn't questioned much beyond that.
4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.
-My favorite experience by far was talking and recording the serviceman servicing the liquid oxygen tank. It was a really interesting experience.
-I became very bothered during the first 45 minutes of my drift walk. It was cold, very windy, and relatively quiet outside. I had not come across any interesting sounds and I was losing hope and becoming very frustrated. In fact I had pretty much decided to turn back and try again the next day when I came across my first interesting sound.
-I was stressed during the recording of the girls playing tennis because it just so happened that just behind the court was a police and fire brigade station and there was a fire truck backing in and out of the garage. Thus roaring its engine vigorously and every time it went to back up it made that annoying high pitched beeping sound. I still have no idea what it was doing backing in and out of the garage for 15 minutes but I did no I could get any real good sounds from the tennis court till it stopped. Thus my patience was tested.
2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.
-I definitely felt very oddly peaceful when I was recording bikes passing by on the pavement under the bridge by Riverside Park. The echoing noise of the humming as the bikes passed and the warm breeze put me in a semi-peaceful/hypnotic state while I sat there for a good 20 minutes recording. It took me back to a time when I was younger and enjoyed playing where there was a breeze and under bridges.
-The walk home I would say I was at ease and contemplative. I was relieved to know I had recorded some good sounds and as I walked I thought about how I could possibly edit them. The weather had changed from when I had original went out. Instead of cold and harshly windy it was now warm, sunny and there was a small breeze.
3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)
-One aspect of my walk that came up that surprised me was that I had to change my drift strategy when it a-ran out of room to turn and b-found interesting sounds off my walk path. I ultimately decided to not follow my strategy so conservatively and kind of followed the area that seemed abundant in interesting sounds.
-I also come to be surprised by the fact that I did not have to participate in my surroundings and did not need to alter any sounds. When preparing for the Drift walk I had planned on, for at least one or two of my sounds, playing with the environment, such as tapping wood against metal and so forth. But when it came down to it all the sounds I recorded were going to happen with our without my presence. That fact actually pleased me for my project.
-I was shocked by how little I had to ask permission to record. During the tennis court and bridge recordings no one seemed to be bothered in the least that I was there recording. Of course I told them why I was there, but I wasn't questioned much beyond that.
4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.
-My favorite experience by far was talking and recording the serviceman servicing the liquid oxygen tank. It was a really interesting experience.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Reading Response
1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.
I chose "On A Clear Day I Can Hear Forever" by Gary Ferrington as the article to respond to. I chose it because the article had a great sense of first-person which I enjoy greatly. You really got a sense of a human being at the top off a tall building, overlooking all others and really listening to all the interesting sounds coming from below, and above. It struck me in a profound way as a sense of isolation versus connectedness with the world.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
I saw the essay as a basic story of this man relaying his experience in listening to a city that grew from a still, quiet morning to a noisy but interesting day. I think he accurately explored the joy he gets from learning the sounds of his city (even memorizing train routes and planes departures by sound). Even though he wrote of the many sounds he hears coming from traffic and humans, he seems to relish the quiet periods like the very early morning and the muffling of winter, where he proclaims "It is a time when I think I can hear forever."
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
What i really come away with from this essay is sense of community of sounds. The sounds that you can hear about you, from say your window, that if you pay attention or have the patience to listen to can create a tableau of a world of sounds. Sounds that can be irritating, peaceful, ambient, distant are all relevant and if we just listen they can give back to us an almost tangible feeling of community.
I chose "On A Clear Day I Can Hear Forever" by Gary Ferrington as the article to respond to. I chose it because the article had a great sense of first-person which I enjoy greatly. You really got a sense of a human being at the top off a tall building, overlooking all others and really listening to all the interesting sounds coming from below, and above. It struck me in a profound way as a sense of isolation versus connectedness with the world.
2. What are the main points of the essay?
I saw the essay as a basic story of this man relaying his experience in listening to a city that grew from a still, quiet morning to a noisy but interesting day. I think he accurately explored the joy he gets from learning the sounds of his city (even memorizing train routes and planes departures by sound). Even though he wrote of the many sounds he hears coming from traffic and humans, he seems to relish the quiet periods like the very early morning and the muffling of winter, where he proclaims "It is a time when I think I can hear forever."
3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?
What i really come away with from this essay is sense of community of sounds. The sounds that you can hear about you, from say your window, that if you pay attention or have the patience to listen to can create a tableau of a world of sounds. Sounds that can be irritating, peaceful, ambient, distant are all relevant and if we just listen they can give back to us an almost tangible feeling of community.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Soundwalk Response
Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?
Yes, Definitely by the inner tree grounds over by the dorms. The large, robust noises faded a significant amount and I was able to focus the the smaller, more rare, interesting noises.
Was it possible to move without making a sound?
I would say it was practically impossible. Between my feet making swooshing sounds over the grass or crunching sounds on gravel and the shuffle of my backpack my body almost always created ambient noise when I moved.
What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?
The noises seemed to become tunnel-like when I plugged my ears and when I unplugged them the sound rose to a very loud volume for about fifteen seconds. The noise of the streets around us went from hearing them at about echo level to someone talking directly in my ear.
In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear?
-Keys jangling against cloth
-Breaks squeal in the distance
-Constant Whistling sound of bird to the right
-Sandals scraping against concrete like sandpaper over wood
-Loud bellowing laughter off to the left
-Wind cooing through trees overhead
-Constant Car alarm tone off in distance
-Plane whistling by high overhead
-Thuds of books being dropped in trash barrel.
-Clunking of wheels of small cart hitting cracks in sidewalk
-Thundering engine of bus driving by
-Car Bass intermittently booming
-Chirping of single cricket to the left
-Constant rolling/grinding sound of skateboard over pavement with repeated thuds of it hitting cement cracks.
-Shoes brushing across grass with a low shuffling sound
-Branches violently snapping underneath rubber soles of shoes.
Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place?
Sometimes. There were a lot of bug sounds, or I at least believe they were made by bugs, coming from the wooded area but could not see or really place what they were coming from.
Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds?
Mechanical sounds were easy to differentiate but they were definitely not always easy to trace back to their origin. Especially in the parking garage. Mechanical noises seemed to be coming from all directions at once. Humans were harder for me to detect for the simple reason that I instinctively want to block them out as when I am walking outside with a friend or reading outside, I tend not to pay attention to the everyday talk and shuffle sounds of humans.
Were you able to detect subtleties in the ever present drone?
It seemed the more I listened and longer I did more sounds popped out of nowhere. Sounds that were there, that I just had to strain my ears to hear. Such as interesting shoes against the grass orchestra that the class was making in unison or the faint wind through the trees overhead.
Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?
The talking and laughter of people are the first sounds I think of when I remember what was close. The occasional bus braking and shuffling of my backpack seemed to prod my ears when I paid attention to them. The plane whistling far above and the electronic hum of a car bass in the distance were definite sounds I hear more clearly in the distance by stopping and listening hard.
What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)?
One of my favorite sounds was the wind blowing through the leaves. I was actually a bit surprised I was able to hear it over all the other much more voluminous noise. It had a very calming effect even in the middle of a busy district.
Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?
I tried not to intervene at all during the exercise for the fact that I was interested in everyday sounds that I usually do not hear but I definitely noticed the different types of sound a person makes depending on how fast or slow they walk in a parking garage.
Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?
My personal view is that I have not scrapped the surface of what is to be heard in a contemporary city if you really stop and train yourself to listen hard. I envision a plethora or utopia of sounds coming from lets say a park at lunch time or during set -up for jazz at the park. I am beginning to understand the depth of the variety of sounds that can be heard but I feel I need much more experience.
How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?
I am not sure how it will effect me as of yet but I did do a lot of thinking about the ambient and depth of noise during a very ordinary scene like a walk down a city block. About what kinds of sounds with give a scene originality and what sounds would give an authenticity to such scenes.
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