Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

1 – 3/6/14 – 5:30pm – Middle Country Public Library, Centereach

2 – Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
-A library patron’s footsteps as he walks up the stairs loudly.
-The wheels of a cart full of books and DVD’s being pushed toward the elevator.
-The furious clicking of keys on the computer keyboards.

3 – Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.
-A kid crying to his mother that he wants to leave.
-The fish tank’s motor up and running smoothly.
-The beeping of the alarm as someone walks past the sensors without checking their item out.

4 – Identify and list the sounds closest to you.
-A Librarian asking, “How may I help you?”
-The conveyor belts moving as I return the videogames I borrowed.
-Librarians helping a patron to find a book she wants.

5 – Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
-There was a lot of activity occurring where I was in the library, as there was a program going on. The library was very busy today, and seemed like it was louder than normal as well.

6 – Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.
-Active.

7 – Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment.
-The conveyor belts operating.
-The sounds of the cart being pushed.
-The motor in the fish tank running.

1- DATE-TIME-LOCATION of the sound environment
>Friday, February 7th
>2:30 A.M.
>Study Lounge, 6th floor of Nassau Residence Building

2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
>Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal playing all the way down the hall.
>A first responder’s siren lightly pulsing a few blocks aWay.
>Footsteps approaching from down the hall.
>Trash being thrown away down the hall. It contain glass. I hope they recycle.

3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.
>The couple making out in the room next to me.
>A very bass-filled male voice vibrating the wall.
>A t.v. playing in the room next to me.

4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).
>The heating unit that clanks and chinks every 23 seconds.
>The buzz of the light that seems to overpower everything.
>The cracking of my big toe.
>The sound of the couple hitting against the wall behind me as they make out.

5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
>Sound level is at a filling dull roar.
>Sound activity can best be described as casual and lightly paced.

6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.
>Alive

7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment.
>The heating unit.
>The couple hitting against the wall
>The muffled television.

1- DATE-TIME-LOCATION of the sound environment
Thursday, January 30th, 2014. 2:36 p.m. EST. Room 107 Emily Lowe Hall, AKA “The Psibrary”

2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.
>The whirring of a distant machine, possibly something in relation to the heating.
>Footsteps from way upstairs, they’re more of a shuffle than a step.
>A professor speaking. The noise is way too muffled to even determine the gender.

3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.
>There’s a door that keeps slamming, the slam consists of two very rapid clicks, one for the collision of the door and the other for the locking mechanism.
>Voices in the next room over, students. The voices are orderly, not one speaks over the other.
>A stapler has been being used consistently for almost two minutes at this point. Followed by the occasional ‘Ah, shit’ from Angela.

4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).
>The noises nearest myself are very quiet.
>The clock ticks in a manner that makes you feel like it’s working too hard. The sound of a marker on an easel from the updated Act Facts of the day.
>Another clock is ticking, and it’s slightly out of sync with the other.
>A very calm tapping, something just short of a water droplet on the ceiling.

5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.
The sound level is a few steps above eerily silent. The voices at medium range allow for a relaxing background that isn’t all that unnerving.
The activity can be described as dispersed, free, very thinned out, and passing.

6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.
>Sparse.

7- Select and list 3 sounds which are essential to the sound environment.
>Out of sync clocks
>Footsteps
>The orderly voices of students

1-  January 29, 2014 9:50 am Bits & Bytes at a table

2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you.

• The rumble and crackling of the radiator
• The morning news on the television
• The door opening and closing
• The wind brought in by the opening and closing of the door

3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.

• The footsteps of students
• The rotation of the ceiling fan
• The shaking of sugar packets by a cafeteria worker at the coffee machine
• A student pulling out a chair and arranging their things

4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).

• The humming of the toaster oven
• The conversation happening between cafeteria workers
• My pen writing on paper

5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.

• The general sound level is low but the sound activity is very low.  It is still considered early in the morning for most people, so there is no conversation made by any passing students. It is also a time where the cafeteria is generally empty. Most of the sounds are coming from objects.

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

• Asleep

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.

• The conversation among the employees
• The humming of the toaster
• Footsteps

Assign category “Journal Entry” to the post.

Add your first name as a tag. Add appropriate tags to the post (location, sounds, etc.).

1. 1/29/2014, 1:08 AM, Home on Front St.

2. Identify the sounds farthest from you: Four housemates upstairs, their muffled voices above my ceiling. They laugh and scream with excitement, not a care in the world. I hear very faint music as well, so faint, in fact, I’m not quite sure what it is. The water in the sink upstairs goes on occasionally and reminds me our water pressure is harsh when the facet is turned up high and tonight, it seems to roar like thunder.

3. Identify the sounds at medium range: As the housemates joke around and enjoy themselves, I hear the sounds of a loud, squishy mattress, on a rickety, old hardwood floor. The floor creaks beneath them every time they jump off the bed and walk down the hall to another room, and I can hear it ALL from my room down below.

4. Identify the sounds closest to you: The vaguely rhythmic clicking of the radiators in my room as the heat attempts to warm this frigid night. Someone is in the bathroom outside my room. The water from the faucet is much softer and I hear the opening and closing of the medicine cabinet.

5. General sound level and activity: It feels rather chaotic in the house tonight. It seems I’m the only person with homework. The feeling seems to intensify with every creaky footstep, every rustle in the bed above my head, every muffled laugh. Even the heater in my room seems to tease me by assuring me I’ll get no silence tonight. While most of the sounds are muffled through the ceiling and the walls, they are all too familiar and are indicative of an active, loud house of college students. The sound of every footstep on the old hardwood is like nails on a chalkboard. The worst.

6. One word to describe the sound environment: Distracting.

7. 3 essentials sounds to the sound environment: The creaking hardwood above me, the constant clicking of the radiator in my room, the near constant rustling, tossing in the bed in the room above me.

1- Wednesday April 10, around 7:30pm (or whenever it began to downpour), intramural fields

2- Girls screaming and shouting to each other, scrambling to the cars; another car drives by humming through the rain

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

Location: Social Sports Kitchen — February 17, 2013, 6:33 pm

Sounds Heard: I am taking a lap around the interior of the restaurant/sports bar in which I work, starting first in the dining room, in which the raucous voices of the men who decided to stay and get drunk after the Hofstra Wrestling Team’s Poker Tournament can be heard cheering and carrying on loudly.  About halfway through the sound bite, my shoes can be heard on the wooden floor, as the noise dies down abruptly with my transition into the kitchen (the door of which can be heard).  I make my way past Elvis, the bar back, (apologizing for getting in his way) as a kitchen staff member moves a rack of clean silverware.  I complete my loop by pushing through a swinging door and reentering the main room of the bar, at which point the inebriated patrons can be heard once again.

Main Unispan

I originally took this clip to try to capture the way the footsteps echoed across the unispan in adjunct to the passing conversation. I was standing still near the middle of the unispan when a blind student bumped into me. I think this is what makes the clip especially interesting because my interaction created an unplanned accent to the field recording.

Background gabber from the drama lounge down the hall, Geena walking up the stairs as I stand below, Me walking up the stairs, tripping, and giggling, Lee walking up the stairs, Lee confusedly saying “Hi?”, Lee’s keys jingling, doors closing.