Tag Archives: outside

Journal Entry #12
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Outside my house, 5/1/14 8:30 pm

Sounds farthest away:

  • Cars driving by down other streets
  • Foot steps at the end of my block
  • A dog running with the person at the end of my block

Sounds at medium range:

  • The running of my engine
  • My blinker
  • Trees blowing in the wind

Sounds at close range

  • My breathing
  • My footsteps against the pavement

General sound level:

It is super quiet and feels later than it is. The sound activity is very low.

One word description:

Vacant

Three important sounds:

  • My car engine
  • The leaves blowing in the wind
  • My breathing

Sound Journal #12
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1: Thursday, April 25, 2013, 4:41 pm, outside Alliance Hall

2: Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. Today I had one of the cooler sound moments of my life. I was walking back from class, and I stopped outside my dormitory to listen for the starlings that live in the trees around North Campus. When they’re active in the spring, they’re very feisty in the late afternoon and make the trees buzz and quake with their frenzied chatter. They must not be living in these trees this year though, because I didn’t hear them. I could hear the exuberant chatter of all the students congregated at the picnic tables outside the student center, enjoying the warm weather and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes, and I could hear the whirring spokes of bikes as the occasional hipster pedaled past – but no starlings.

3: Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. At my back, the set of handicap-accessible doors would sporadically make a punchy, metallic pop as the automatic lock would release and the entire thing would swing slowly open. The airy sound of the steady hydraulics could be discerned, as well as the miniscule yet sharp beep that the card swipe makes before granting a homebound student admittance.

4: Identify and list the sounds closest to you (– you can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant). I almost moved on from my spot when I noticed a very aggressive, throaty chirp from directly over my head. The bird call was at once so warbled and so squawky that it sounded more like the noise you’d hear from a mutated frog in a radioactive swamp. I looked up at a low-hanging branch and spotted a puny, grey-brown bird perched there, his chest swollen with the sound he was making and his twiggy legs leaning him forward. He looked absurdly eager for a bird. Just to test my whistling skills, I tried to imitate his call. I didn’t do it quite right, but to my pleasant surprise, the bird immediately repeated the modified call back to me. Of course, I then realized it was a mockingbird, a creature I’ve never encountered in real life. I tried a variety of different, completely made-up calls, and he returned each one with visible excitement. It was a really lovely experience.

5: Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. The sound activity is very moderate – nothing painfully loud, yet nothing requiring closer listening.

6: Assign a one-word description to the “sound environment”. “Quaint”

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 industrial sounds of the hydraulic doors and the beeping card swipe don’t contribute much to the springtime vibe of the moment. However, the bike sounds, the cheery assemblage of students, and of course the highly conversational bird are all sounds that contribute to a cohesive sonic environment.

Journal #4
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1- 2/17/13 – 1:09 AM – On bench in front of Hofstra Hall
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – Furthest away from me I can hear the occasional and very faint tone of a car passing by on the Turnpike. Every noise is quick and is a fast swoosh past the University due to the Doppler effect of where I was sitting in relation to the cars that were zooming past. A little bit closer but still pretty far from me on the other side of me I can hear the noises of the few maintenance guys working on the building behind me. They are generating a series of clicking and clanging noises as they move equipment from their car to the building
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. – A little closer than these noises I can hear the flags on the flag pole whipping in the wind and cracking like a whip with every large gust of wind. Whenever the wind dies down the tension on the cable was released and the clip on the flag would briefly clang into the pole just before another large gust came and pulled the flag away again. To the left of me I can hear the distinct noise of the two posters hung on the light posts clinging onto the pole for dear life. The paper was whipping so hard I thought it could rip off at any moment. 
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant). – Closest to me I can hear a few dry leaves scootch across the concrete and create a very distinct noise i associate with late fall. Just behind me I can hear needles of the evergreen trees cling create friction with the wind sailing around them. Against my ears I can hear the whistle as the wind goes through the fibers of my hat- effectively muting almost every noise I have listed above. 
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – All around me the noises are very intense and there is a plethora of noises around me mostly being influenced by the wind that is whipping through the air. The interesting thing is that the noise of the wind through my hat is that it lessens the intensity of every noise around me. 
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. –  Exposed
7- Select and list 3 sounds which 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. – Wind in my ears, Flag pole, leaves scootching

Journal Entry
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1- 5/1/12, 7:56AM, Outside walking from my dorm building to the Student Center.

2- An airplane flying, cars on the road, rain, birds calling.

3- Water draining in a sewer, a truck engine humming and then stopping, a generator going.

4- My footsteps, rain falling hard from the trees because of wind.

5- The sound level and activity is very low.

6- Chipper.

7- The rain, the cars driving, my footsteps.