Monthly Archives: March 2013
Journal Entry #9
1) 3/28/13, my bedroom at home, 11:42pm
2) The movement of cars on the highway behind my house, branches hitting each other in the wind.
3) The movement of the occasional car in the street right next to my house, the general creaking of my house and its heaters.
4) My cat snoring on my dresser, my other cat knocking things down outside my room, the water pipes in the wall next to my bed.
5) The sound level is extremely low, but there is a decent amount of sound activity.
6) Familiar
7) The cars in the highway outside, the creaking of my house, my cat snoring.
Field Recording #7
Location: My Dorm Room, Alliance Hall — Friday, March 22, 10:13 pm
Sounds Heard: This isn’t a sound I stumbled upon entirely, as I do regularly listen to ASMR videos on YouTube. (I got permission to post this user’s voice.) However, the sounds in this one surprised me — I didn’t realize that SK’ing was a regularly requested trigger. I have wanted to post a clip of an ASMR video though, and this seemed like a good opportunity. The ASM-artist (as creators of ASMR triggering sounds are affectionately called) is first “SK’ing,” creating a very clicky sound with the two letters over and over, and then saying “okay” over and over to the same end. She briefly introduces the second sound in the middle. She is whispering and barely audible, as the video is meant to be viewed while wearing headphones, for maximum relaxation and triggering. In the original post of this audio, the sound can be hear binaurally, as she recorded with special microphones.
Sound Journal #8
1: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 11:10 pm, House on Braxton St
2: Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
I’m taking a bubble bath in my friend’s newly installed tub as a rare treat, because the tubs on campus seem dirty. I am also doing this with the specific intention of creating a sound journal for what I hear underwater. Once submerged, the only distant sounds that can be heard are of so low a register that they seem more like pure vibrations – the sonorous thud of a shutting door and the dull footsteps of a heel-walker on the hall floor outside the bathroom door.
3: Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.
I can hear the hot water rushing out of the faucet, making frothing sounds and splashes as it divides to slap the surface of the water and churn down to the closed drain with its stream. Once I turn off the faucet (with a feeble squeak), I can hear the occasional, singular plink of water into the tub, and even the fluid rustle of water displaced by my shifting limbs.
4: Identify and list the sounds closest to you (– you can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).
Internal sounds are more audible than they’ve been in any previous sound journals with the water pressure pushing up against my eardrums. I can hear my heart beating with a thud, with the sonic clarity of hearing it through a stethoscope. Occasionally my viscera make squishing noises in hunger – as my friend Greg once described the growlier of these noises, they’re like “a monster submerged in pudding.”
5: Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
The sound level to an external ear would be very low – in fact, most of the sound activity I’m observing would be practically inaudible to anyone as far as the other side of the small bathroom. But beneath the water, the sounds are very full.
6: Assign a one-word description to the “sound environment”.
“Internal”
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 sounds from outside the bathroom give clues to context like dulled honking outside a sealed up car, but they aren’t vital to the vibe of the sonic environment. The sound of the water of varying sizes and speeds (from a downpour to the sporadic droplet) go well with the internal sounds of my body, as there is a fluid, quality to both. After all, the human body is filled with fluid; therefore, being inside a bathtub is aurally like being inside a body. Thus, listening to the fluid in my body while submerged in fluid is like meta-sound-journaling. (Whoa!)
Journal Entry 8
1- 3/21/13, 10:30 PM, Babysitting
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you: Slight rustling of wind blowing and animals moving in the backyard
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you: Something making slight clanking noises from the other room (maybe the heater?), the dog snoring on the other side of the room
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).- The Daily Show on TV, clacking as I play 7 Little Words on my iphone
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.- Quiet, it’s late and the volume is low so I don’t wake the baby, and everything is fairly quiet, making the clanking and the sounds from outside really stand out
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. Spooky
7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment. Clanking, Wind Rustling, Dog Snoring
Field Recording 7
Journal Entry #8
1) 3/22/13, 9:43am, Adam’s Playhouse wings
2) A truck backing up outside, blaring it’s signal, the punch of time cards in the shop.
3) The buzzing of my audio feed which has no input from any mics yet, the tick of the clock above my head, the air quietly blowing overhead
4) My own sick sniffles and typing.
5) The sound level is low, and the sound activity is low, but existent.
6) Patient. The playhouse is waiting for its shows.
7) The buzzing of the speaker, the tick of the clock, the rhythmic punching of time cards.
Field Recording #7
Journal Entry #8
1. 3/22 – 8:59 AM – Room 100 Breslin (History of Drama 2)
2. The heater spitting in the most obnoxious way it can at 9 AM, talking in the hallway, Dr. Kolb ruffling through papers
3. Corinne talking to her prospective student about Alpha Psi, Gianfranco commenting here and there, Beep chatting to Christina
4. My typing, crunching (lucky charms, yum!)
5. The sound level and amount of sound activity are very low in comparison to how this room normally is. Everyone is very quiet – so much so that the heater is one of the loudest sounds in the room. The amount of activity is pretty low as well, with only the heater and people as the main sources of activity.
6. Tranquil
7. The heater, the talking, the ruffling of papers
Field Recording 7
Student Center and outside it
I walk out of the student center in my slightly-too-big snow boots. You can hear the doors slide open with a squeak and my footsteps change from a “clopping” noise to a wet “double-thump” as I walk through the slush. An airplane rumbles overhead and you can hear it fade into and out of hearing. At a certain point, the sidewalk dries up and makes way to an even more slush-y area and you can once again hear the change in my footsteps.