Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

Location: Laundry room of Enterprise Hall

Sounds: Washing machines are whirring and dryers are spinning away

Location: My dorm room Enterprise Hall

Sounds: Typing, Blink-182 playing as I’m working on research for 179

1. February 7th, 8:03pm, sitting on my bed in my dorm room (8th floor of Enterprise)
2. Farthest sound: elevator dinging, cars driving on the street below, the shower running in the bathroom
3. Medium far sound: someone walking in the room above me, my neighbor screeching with her best friend, the heater blowing hot air
4. Closest sound: breathing, typing, my roommate shuffling through papers
5. Sound level: overall quiet and subtle, like the flicker of a candle
6. Description: peaceful
7. Essential sound: elevator dinging, my neighbor screeching, and my roommate shuffling through papers

Location: 6th Floor, Enterprise Hall

Sounds Heard: The tuning of an electric guitar with some conversation among my residents.

1- February 6, 2014, 6:00PM, Enterprise 6th Floor

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

Furthest away from me, I can hear the Green Day Music my residents are playing in their room down the hall. I can hear them walking around talking really loudly about their plans for the evening and how their days went so far. Their voices become louder and softer as they pass by my door.

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

At medium range from me, I can hear the two boys talking right outside my door about their rugby team and how excited they are for the season. They’re telling each other how they think their team is better this semester and that it should be really exciting.
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant).

Closest to me, I hear the sounds of Law and Order: SVU on my tv as I’m laying in my bed trying to breathe. I hear the sound of my sniffles and coughs and I blame the residents for getting me sick.
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity.

It’s always really rowdy on my floor, but in the most inclusive way possible. My residents have an “open door” policy among them, since they’re all friends, which means something is always going on. It keeps things interesting.
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”.

Exciting
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 sound of the music coming from down the hall, the conversations being had right outside my door, and the sound of Law and Order: SVU on the tv are all essential to the sound environment.

1- 2/9/13 – 2:05 AM – My dorm room
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – As I laid down on my bed the furthest noise from me that I could hear an identify was the sound of the elevator cables pulling the few night owls back up to their rooms in Enterprise hall. It was a deep and mechanical noise that did not fluctuate in tone or intensity but varied in length. It is a sound I hear often. A little bit closer to me but still outside of my room I could hear the sound of someone in the bathroom taking a shower. The high-pitched noise of water running through the plumbing was traveling through our walls and very faintly and sporadically I could hear the sound of water falling and splattering on the shower floor. 
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you.  – Within my room but at the far corner from me I could hear the deep breathing of my roommate who was fast asleep with his computer on his lap. It was a sound of normal breathing and not snoring but was much deeper than a normal breath. It is a noise of breathing that people very easily can identify with sleep. Just hard enough to imply that he was tired and unbothered by the other activity around us.
4- Identify and list the sounds closest to you (You can include internal sounds if noticed or relevant). – Closest to me on my left side is the whistling and humming of the wind from the Nor’easter against my window pane. It was a very random and sporadic pace of wind that seemed to be blowing in all directions. Every so often I would hear tiny ice pebbles plow into my window and make the sound similar to that of a rainstick when it is turned upside down. Occasionally the wind would get very deep and powerful and at other times it would seem high-pitched as if it was blowing quickly and parallel to my window pane.   
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – the loudest noise to me from my location was the sound of the wind. It was rather noisy and powerful. The rest of the noises were only loud enough to hear if you were paying attention otherwise they would simply blend into the background and become ambient noise as I drifted off to sleep.
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. – Harmonious 
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, Snoring, Ice pebbles against window