1- 4/8/13 12:15 P.M. Lowe conference room
2- Students getting ready for dance classes, a cart rolling in the hall, birds from outside
3- studio door opening and closing, water fountain hum
4- my pandora station, pencils
5- Quiet and secluded from the rest of the active sounds of the building
6- tranquil
7-pandora, pencils, birds
1- 04/12/2013-12:40-Hampton Inn (with my parents who are in town to see Five Women)
2- Sounds farthest away from you: Hum of the fan from the bathroom, the refrigerator, and the lights. The hums are all different pitches but create one solid hum, though made up of the different parts.
3- Sounds at medium range: The sound of the television, specifically Craig Ferguson on The Late Late Show, and my father typing.
4- Sounds closest to you: My typing on the computer, sounds higher pitched and “sprightlier” than my father’s typing. The keyboards could have an effect on this, mine being a Mac and his being a PC, but my typing is also faster and softer while his is slower and heavier, regardless of the keyboard.
5- General sound level and amount of sound activity: Sound level is low as is the amount of sound activity. This reminds me of what it would be like at my own home, where we watch TV and work on our computers in peace, without much distraction. This especially reminds me of home because I never have time to watch TV when I’m on my own.
6- One word description to the “sound environment”: Cozy.
7- 3 sounds essential to the sound environment: The sound of the television, my father’s typing and my typing. Sounds comforting and calm.
1- Date/Time/Location.
4.11.13/7:30pm/NAB Black Box Theatre booth
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
The distant but constant buzz of a vacuum, people speaking
3- Identify and list the sounds at medium range from you.
The hum of a fan, keyboard sounds
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you.
Jordan’s chair squeaking, my chair moving
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
Medium level and activity
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.
Lonely.
7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment.
The vacuum, Jordan’s chair, my chair
1) 4/10/13 The Outdoor Basketball Court by the Gym, 2:15 p.m
2) Cars driving on the road, birds chirping
3) People running on the basketball court, music from a car, the basketball bouncing
4) Footsteps on the grass, people’s voices (arguing and swearing at each other due to the game), the wind whistling
5) It’s a medium noise level, active, but still quiet enough to relax
6) Chill
7) People running on the basketball court, the wind, the people’s voices
1. April 11, 8:55 pm, Lowe 106
2. Heavy footsteps, air unit hum
3. Voices talking, papers and pages turning
4. Guitar playing, singing, pencil on paper
5. Low. Generally calm, slightly chaotic.
6. Relaxed
7. Guitar, footsteps, talking
1) 10:20AM, 4/11/2013, Around the Adams Quad
2) Cars going by from the direction of the NAB, people talking by Bits & Bytes
3) More people talking, guttural sounds from the stage combat class, I think, (numerous “ugh”s and “agh”s as people are fighting), the clicks/clops of a skateboard going over the cracks between pieces of the sidewalk
4) Sounds of wheels from a skateboard and the sound of it going over cracks as he passes me by, my own sniffling, people’s footsteps and ambient conversations as they pass by
5) Generally low-medium volume with occasional spikes (often from the “ouch I just got hit” sounds from the stage combat class) and low-medium activity (I don’t think too many people are awake yet, or they’re in class)
6) Jabbing
7) The guttural sounds from the stage combat class, the skateboarder, ambient conversations
1- 4/8/13 – 11:13 PM – Walking from the student center to Lowe in the quad
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – Furthest from me is the sound of a helicopter racing back and forth across the sky. It had a much harsher and deeper tone to the propellers that one would normally associate with a helicopter. It passed back and forth for about three minutes while I sat on the quad.
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. – At a medium range from me I can hear a loud drone of different air units and air conditioners that are pulling air and running a fan at high RPMs. Coming from the building on my left are two different tones coming from two different units. These tones are similar but not identical, making somewhat of a choral effect as they rang through the quad and bounced their waves off of Bits. On the opposite side of the quad (at Bits) there are distinctly three other fans and air units that are running at a very high RPM and making a very loud choral effect as well. All of these tones are extremely loud and overwhelming as they rang through the quad but none of them were the same intensity, quality or tone as each other; however similar.
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant). – Closest to me I can hear the sound of the young grass being squashed under my shoes. This sound had a distinct difference from the noise one would usually hear when walking through grass as the grass I was on was younger and crisper in a colder harder ground.
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – At a far and medium range from me the sounds are overwhelming and I can hardly stand to be in this space but it is almost calming to have the ever so soft pattern of my footsteps on the young grass buds beneath me.
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. – Paralyzing
7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment. Note: you need to try to figure out what sounds make up this environment and which of those sounds need to be there for the feeling of the environment to stay intact. – Drone of fans, helicopter, grass footsteps
1) 3/29/13, 1:28pm, my house
2) The cars passing on the highway behind my house, the road out front, some very irritating television show being watched way too loud downstairs.
3) My mom sanding the stairs, swearing at the stairs, giving up on the stairs and sighing, and sanding again. The creaking of the old stairs every time she moves. Dave coughing in the room next door.
4) My typing and sneezing, my cat attempting to find a comfortable position in one of the moving boxes I’m supposed to be packing.
5) The sound level is medium, with a lot of different activity.
6) Typical
7) The television, my mom ranting about something, the cat making general noise.
1: Monday, April 1, 2013, 10:19 pm, interstate (headed south) to Long Island
2: Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
I’m having one of the weirdest sound experiences of my life, sitting alongside my friend as we roadtrip back to school from Syracuse in his dad’s old car. It’s a 1990 Honda Civic, and something about the way it’s built and how loudly yet evenly the engine runs makes it rather soundproof. I can hear cars flanking us on either side at nearly 80 mph, but they sound very far away and unreal.
3: Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.
The car’s original tape deck has been replaced very haphazardly with an equally outmoded CD player that barely fits inside the dashboard. Additionally, all the sound is coming not from all sides, like in modern cars, but exclusively from speakers at the back. This is surprisingly unsettling when you’re grown accustomed to surround sound. Adding to the odd aural effect of this distance is the fact that, at some moments, the CD player seems unable to keep up with the speed at which I burned the songs to play. Few sounds are as subliminally upsetting as that of a song you know and love slowed down and muddled so slightly that you can’t quite tell if anything’s really wrong.
4: Identify and list the sounds closest to you (– you can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).
The weirdest thing of all occurs when Steve and I sporadically speak to each other, trying to keep each other awake and alert. There seems to be some sort of sonic deadzone in the mere 18 inches of space between us, which perhaps also accounts for the deadening of the music from the back speakers. For the entire five hours, we have to nearly shout to one another. No matter what, the sound seems unable to go very far, like trying to throw a feather. The effect is that of abruptly losing fifty percent of your hearing, and it’s absolutely, maddeningly surreal.
5: Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
The sounds are being emitted at a high level, but the aural experience of these sounds is very diminished and foggy.
6: Assign a one-word description to the “sound environment”.
“Distorted”
7: Select and list 3 sounds that are essential to the sound environment. Note: you need to try and figure out what sounds make up this environment and which of those sounds need to be there for the feeling of the environment to stay intact.
The distant mishmash of sounds that vaguely resemble my favorite songs is very important to this dopey sound environment, as are the sounds of Steve and me impotently hollering to one another. Car sounds seem equally important, in a contextualizing sense.
1- Thursday April 4, 10pm, on the sidewalk near Popeye’s on Hempstead Tpke
2- Down the road, I can vaguely hear the thumping bass of the club nearby. Someone far away honks their horn.
3- The door into Popeye’s opens, momentarily allowing the chatter of the half-full restaurant to be heard on the street. The noise becomes muffled as the door closes with a small whoosh of air. There is a group of people walking on the sidewalk coming towards us. I can hear their footsteps echoing slightly on the concrete and a pair of girls is murmuring to eachother, but other than that, the group is silent.
4- Cars on the turnpike drive by quickly, sending gusts of air our way. The girls I am with chatter excitedly, someone is playing “I’m sexy and I know it” from their phone and the music is slightly tinny. Someone mentions they want to get some Popeye’s before continuing down the road, and this idea is met with a wave of approval.
5- The general sound level is at a medium high, especially due to the loud cars driving by, though the sound activity is closer to a medium low.
6- Pleasant
7- cars driving by, the chatter of the girls around me, and the song playing on the phone