UNNAMED SOUND

OUTSIDE

"Aloe Drinks Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1:08)

Summary: I took the Green Line bus south and wound up in Humboldt Park, Bay View. I had an empty bottle of aloe drink with me and an empty coffee cup. I shoved one microphone in the bottle and clipped the other in the cup. I sat on a small dock over a pond and dropped the bottle in. I put the cup behind me, facing away. The gentle movement of the water guided the bottle and the cup produced a nice distortion for the audio of the external world. While I was recording an airplane flew overhead and a group of people were taking in a field trip to the park, hanging out behind me. They reminded me of some of the characters from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." These two events happened simultaneously the I think it sounds alright.

Download: AIFF or MP3

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INSIDE

"SEWER LYFE" (0:42)

Summary: While walking along the Milwaukee River, I discovered an opening that lead to a water drainage system. This was a couple months ago when there was still a ton of ice and snow on the ground. The day I decided to walk around was exceptionally warm and the ice had began to melt. I descended into the drainage system and walked down a long, narrow corridor. Eventually I reached a more open area. The sound of the ice melting paired with the acoustics of the tunnels created an interesting auralscape. Although I did edit out a portion where you can hear me move one of the microphones, I kept a section where you can hear me walking and crunching ice as I carefully climbed from one platform to another, hoping I wouldn't fall onto the ice. I guess that's against the rules or whatever, but I think adds drama and interest to a somewhat monotonous recording.

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VOCAL PT. 2 [FINAL]

"Stench" (0:59)

Download: aiff // mp3

ROUGH CUT OF FINAL

Far from done...

download: mp3

INTERVIEW **RE-EDIT**

Here's a re-edited version of my interview with Xav.

Duration: 3:22

Download: aiff, mp3

INTERVIEW

My Interview with Xav (2:10)

Listen/Download: mp3, aiff

INTERVIEW rough

A rough edit from an interview with Xav from Riverwest Home and Video

AIFF LINK

RANT

"A Man Who Gets Aroused at a Strip Club Could Get a Hard-On at a Funeral" (1:34)

A.M.W.G.A.A.A.S.C.C.G.A.H.O.A.A.F. aiff

A.M.W.G.A.A.A.S.C.C.G.A.H.O.A.A.F. mp3

I used the compression tool along with the equalization tool to manipulate the recording you see posted. Below is a screenshot of the equalization I used on this piece.

ESSAY 1 // PROMPT 1

Schafer describes the hi-fi soundscape as an environment in which “discrete sounds can be heard clearly be heard clearly because of the low ambient noise level” (Schafer 43). What he means is that sounds that are in the foreground are able to be heard clearly because of a lack of noise created in the background. He cites the country as an example of a hi-fi soundscape (Schafer 43). In contrast, in a lo-fi soundscape, “individual acoustic signals are obscured in an overdense population of sounds” (Schafer 43). What he means is that sounds in the foreground are difficult to hear because of the variety of noises present in the background of the environment. He cites a downtown street corner in a modern city as an example of a lo-fi soundscape (Schafer 43).

A couple examples from my own experience: a holding cell at a police station is a hi-fi soundscape. There is little to no background noise and something as simple as dropping a quarter will produce a resonant and noticeable sound. A crowded bar during a punk show is a lo-fi soundscape. You have to shout over the music to ask your friend if she likes the band and because of the amount of people trying to talk to each other, the sound of the music also becomes obscured.

ESSAY 2

The idea of an “anti-tourist” is a concept I identify with. Kalder defines anti-tourist is a traveller who embraces spaces which are less travelled. The anti-tourists seeks experiences which are unique to them and rejects conventional travel destinations. He explains that he felt a “strange boredom creeping in” when he visited these types of locations. He feels conventional tourist destinations have been “experienced and seen so many times that you don’t experience them for yourself... you follow an almost automatic path.” Instead the anti-tourists seeks “locked doors and demolished buildings,” “truth,” “disorientation,” “invisibility,” “hunger,” etc... He speaks about his travels in Russia as an example of anti-tourism. Exploring towns and buildings which are often overlooked by both visitors and even by individuals native to the towns.

Though he doesn’t explain what his version of a “tourist” is in depth, it is easy to infer what he thinks a tourist is through his description of an anti-tourist along with common qualities the public associates with tourists. A tourist is someone who follows some sort of guide, maybe a pamphlet from a gas station or a list of “beautiful destinations” they came across online. They visit popular places that have historical significance or are renown for exceptional natural beauty. They post selfies on their Instagram from that time they visited Central Park.

FIELD RECORDING 2

Date: 03.10.2014
Time: 6:12 PM
Location: Pierce and Hadley, Riverwest
Duration: 1:41
Download: AIFF, MP3

DRIFT STRATEGY

When you see a hole in the ground, stick one receiver in it.
Gently move this receiver up and down.
Hold the other receiver away from the hole.
Record until you feel a sense of "completeness."
Check your clock when done recording.

If the last two digits are...
1 or 2: Head North
3 or 4: Head East
5 or 6: Head South
7 or 8: Head West
9 or 0: Continue recording in the same spot

Find another hole in the ground.
Repeat process.

FIELD RECORDING 2 [ROUGH]

A rough edit of "Cylinder Room" in two parts.

I. Deep (0:00-0:45)

II. Soft (0:45-1:49)

Location: The Sewer

Cylinder Room (Rough) AIFF

Cylinder Room (Rough) MP3

FIELD RECORDING 1

"VIP Room" (0:39)

Recorded: 1:11 AM, 03.04.2014

Location: Ash's House

Description: Over the course of a crowded birthday party, I placed a microphone in three different places in my friend Ash's apartment. The microphone was kept a secret until after the party had concluded. The third place I hid the microphone was in Ash's room, the microphone was concealed by her drapes. This environment proved the most interesting: people entered and left the room, having conversations unaware that they were being recorded. Beyond the candid dialogue, the microphone's position provided a nice foreground (the people talking in the room) and background (the people dancing and partying to music, muted by the closed door).

I chose this particular portion of the recording because I thought the dialogue was funny and clear in the foreground, while the music and party-goers are loud enough to be present but quiet enough not to take over. The clip ends with the people having a conversation leaving the room and one exclaiming "exactly! Let's drink." The listener can hear the door open and the volume of the music rise. The song in the background is the perfect 80s party jam. If I close my eyes and try to visualize the clip, I can see credits rolling over a freeze frame of the three conversationalists.

VIP Room aiff

VIP Room mp3

ESSAY 1 // PROMPT 2

In Schaffer’s “The Rural Soundscape,” he mentions that the hand-operated pump “snaps into memory as a soundmark of [his] youth” (Schaffer 48). He mentions a variety of sounds present on the farm he was raised, some of them bright and intense (the screams of sleigh runners), some of them signals (the gong that signaled dinner), and some of them rhythmic (the whirring of the windmill). Yet, it was the pump, which “at the time [he] listened to carelessly” (Schaffer 48) which seems to be the most vibrant keynote in his mind. I imagine the pump to be rather innocuous. The only signal it must have given him was that butter was being made. When the pumping began, it wasn’t a call to action. When the pumping ending, there would be no immediate result.

It’s funny that seemingly meaningless sounds come to be the ones we remember. I guess this has to do with regularity, giving sounds the status of a keynote. A soundmark from my childhood was the mechanical humming and screeching that occurred when using dial-up internet. It was a sound I would hear when myself or a family member logged on to the web (or if I picked up the phone while the internet was in use). Though it would sound abrasive if I heard it now, at the time, it barely even registered in my mind. I’m going to again stress regularity: I heard this sound at least once a day, if not multiple times. It became a keynote in my household. Something familiar and nostalgic, but largely ignored at the time.

FOUND SOUND

"JPEG Room" (1:13)

Description: Audio from a room where JPEGs get compressed

JPEG Room aiff

JPEG Room wav