Hofstra Drama 20 – Sound for the Theatre

4/6/2017  4:30 PM  Dormroom, Hague House, Netherlands North, Hofstra University

2  thunder, cars/traffic

3  rain against window

4  youtube video on laptop: talking and sounds from game, crunch from eating goldfish

5  quiet, even the video is as low as it can go, constant

6  dim

7  the goldfish crunch, rain, and video noises (indistinct)

Location: Backstage in Adams Playhouse

Sounds Heard: You can faintly hear the sound of the tap dancers as they perform their routine onstage. They’re going through their number and their accompanying music is playing through the speakers behind them. You can hear everything faintly because I’m sitting behind the curtain backstage and that tends to block out the sound.

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- 4/20/13 – 11:13 A.M. – Conference room
2- Identify and list the sounds farthest away from you. – Furthest from me I can hear the sounds of a drumline practicing for a performance. The drums appeared to be a part of a larger band that was getting ready to perform in the stadium. The sound of the drums rattled across the campus and as I sat working on my homework I could distinctly hear each tap of the snare drum at a volume that I could not block out of my head as I worked on my paper. All three windows in the room were closed at the time and the sound of the band was pretty much impossible to hear. The sound of the snare drums were not blaring but had a clean and crisp slap that echoed into the space I was working in.
3- Identify and list the sounds at a medium range from you. – At a medium range from me I can hear a man just outside of Lowe. He is standing between Lowe and Memorial on the phone with someone that he is conducting business with. Again, all the windows are closed in the room but I can distinctly hear every word this man is saying as well as the clear diction from the man he is speaking to on the other end of the phone. It is interesting as to how this tone of the other man’s voice was able to pierce through the windows so cleanly that I could clearly understand everything the man was saying. 
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 Phil walking to and from the bathroom as he slams his feet into the ground walking back and forth. I can always tell who is walking in the hallway simply based upon the rhythm and noise they make while walking. I know that this noise was Phil as each step had a soft pounding noise from the rubber soles of his converse. 
5- Describe the general sound level and amount of sound activity. – There are many noises effecting the space in which I am sitting and they are all coming from different places but none are from within the room I am sitting in. Despite the fact that each noise is having to travel through another medium to reach me in the conference room. They are all very clear and recognizable sounds. 
6- Assign a one word description to the “sound environment”. – muffle 
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. –  Snare Drum, footsteps, voices on phone

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