Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen? Yes, we went into the union and sat downstairs. It was really interesting because I could hear all the comotion upstairs by the food court, but I could also pick out certain sounds that were closer and more distinct.
Was it possible to move without making a sound? It was very dificult to move without making a sound, especially as a large group. I could hear people's footsteps or their winter jackets rubbing up against each other making a scratchy noise.
What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them? When I plugged my ears I could still hear loud sounds but they seemed distant and not as pronounced. I closed my eyes and tried to block out all noise. At that point the only thing I could really focus on was my own heartbeat so that was the only noise I really recognized.
What types of sounds were you able to hear? If your original notes are legible, and include all of the sounds you heard, then simply link to the scanned image(s). You can see the list here.
Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place? There were a lot of sounds I recognized right away because I hear them every day. The piano playing and people's footsteps were probably the most basic. Some were more difficult to place because they were new to me. There was a humming noise as we walked outside between Mitchell Hall and the Union and it wasnt until I looked up did I realize it was a helicopter flying overhead.
Were you able to differentiate human, mechanical, and natural sounds? It was pretty easy to differentiate between human, mechanical, and natural sounds. Most people were talking, some were even shouting. I heard a few different languages being spoken and it was interesting to hear them intertwined. There were cell phones ringing and an air return vent outside that were easy to tell were mechanical.
Were you able to detect subtleties, changes, or variations in the everpresent drone? There were times it was difficult to detect any changes in the drone of noise, but it sometimes seemed to pulse. I was sitting almost directly under the stairs so I could hear people getting louder as they walked toward me (even though I couldn't make out what they were saying) and quieter as they passed and walked away from me. As the next group got closer it bacame louder again creating the pulseing effect.
Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away? As this weird pulsing was going on, I could also hear just the rumble of people walking and talking in the background as a big sheet of noise.
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.? Unfortunatly no, there were no items around me to add noise to the atmosphere besides me opening and closing doors or making footsteps on the stairs and ground.
Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape? I don't know about that, but I definately don't feel lost in a sea of noise anymore. It was really easy for me before to just tune everything out and feel like everything was swarming around me. At times it could be overwhelming. But now I have an easier time focusing on certain things and picking out thier origin.
How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all? I most definately think this experience will affect my practice as a media artist! I never realized how many sounds we hear a day, that our brains just filter out because they are unimportant to what we are doing at the time. Sounds that you would never even realize you heard unless you were trying to focus on them. I dont know how many cell phones I heard ringing and different voices I heard talking. None of these things I would have payed any attention to otherwise. Now I am going to have to be more conscious of where I record and film because the camera/microphones are not going to filter any of these sounds out for me.
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