I did record this by complete accident. I had just done a data save, and turned the recorder back on and put it into record mode. It automatically started recording after that. At the time I was scribbling in the path I had taken on my walk so far. When the woman said "I'm just waiting for my stimulus check," I noticed that I could hear her in my headphones. I thought to myself that this would have been a good recording if I had been aware enough to record it. I looked down at the recorder and saw that I accidentally had been. I couldn't pass up on posting it. Obvious ethical issues arose, but I deducted that there is almost no chance that she or anyone she knows will A) be able to recognize that it is her in the recording and B) ever year this recording.
I really enjoyed the hissing of the bus as well. It's a familiar yet constantly interesting sound.
This was recorded at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen -----------------> SECRET
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Recording #5 - Birds
Bird sounds are a staple of summer life. If one were to go through a full 24 hour period and not hear a birds chirp, they must be either living in a dirty dungeon somewhere, or they must have damaged their hearing somehow. Because of the frequency that I hear birds, I was reluctant at first to record birds chirping. At the end of the day though, I couldn't resist. I stuck my microphones through a metal fence and began recording a whole gamut of birds in an old tree. I liked the way the audio quality changed after sticking the microphones through the fence. I am not usually such a morning person, so hearing birds in the morning, when they sing the most (I'm told), was a worth while experience. Chirp Chirp!
This was recorded around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen ------------> BIRDS
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Recording #4 - Planes
I like the sound of planes. While many people are scared of flying, I enjoy it thoroughly. As I was walking, I stumbled upon a particularly silent area in the street. I stopped to listen to the silence, because usually some ambience was present, when immediately the noise of a plane could be heard. I began recording, because I thought it was really cool that the plane was so faint, yet could be heard because of the silence. I ended up making a note on my original map, siting this recording as "Nearly Unadulterated Plane." A car noise appears a ways into the recording, otherwise, it's a pretty serene recording. This recording appears as the second plane noise in this audio clip.
The first plane that appears on the recording was an accidental recording. I must have let my recorder record without knowing, or I was meaning to record something else and this appeared. After reviewing this, I really liked the jet noise, and decided to do the same thing I did with the lawn mowers. I melded the jet (first recording) with the regular plane (second recording) together and I thought it turned out very natural sounding. If you like plane noises, look no further!
This was recorded between 8:50 and 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen ------------> PLANES
Recording #3 - Mailbox
Mailboxes make for some interesting noises. At this point in the drift, i was feeling very into the recording and wasn't thinking about how the outside world would see me. So, after approaching a mailbox, I decided to put my microphones inside of it and squeak the hinges. After I felt that sound was pretty cool, I smacked the mailbox and it sounded interesting as welll. It actually sounded like giants stomping through an ancient castle, which I thought was cool so I kept banging on the thing. I am reminded of the classical tune "Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg when I hear the thumps. My kindergarten teacher used to play that song and my best friend and I would put our shirts over our legs and stomp around like chubby trolls. I imagine that the banging noise in this recording is what I would have liked my stomping to sound like.
After a minute or so, a woman approached the ATM directly to the right of the mailbox. Seeing the look in her eyes made me realize that I must have looked like a crazy person, smacking a mailbox and opening it's hinges and listening to the squeaky noise it made. Perhaps she thought I lost my mail and couldn't get it out. Suffice to say, I pulled my microphones out of the mailbox and walked away pretty fast after that. Here is the portion of the recording I chose to display. Enjoy.
This was recorded at around 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen -------------> MAILBOX
Recording #2 - Construction
A block after starting my drift, I began to hear the sounds of construction. I walked towards the construction site and thought I could possibly get some cool sounds from it. I got closer and saw that two construction workers were cutting up the road with a giant cement cutter. The cement cutter looked like a ripsaw for giant beasts. The construction worker was holding this mammoth tool himself and was grinding away at the road. It was a pretty intense sight. Having such feeble, frail and twig like arms, I naturally respected the fact that this dude could tear up a cement road singlehandedly.
After reviewing the two minute recording, I actually didn't like most of it. The part that I chose for this recording though, I especially liked. My favorite part about the recording is the point in which the construction worker turns of his cement cutting machine, and a high pitched winding down sound occurs, along with the sound of the blade clanging against the frame of the saw. After years of doing wood work with my father, the clang of a blade and the hissing sound the machine makes while winding down is an especially nostalgic and meaningful sound to me.
This was recorded at around 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen ---------------> CONSTRUCTION
Recording #1 - Lawn Mowers
These recordings were both very random occurrences. I recorded them a few blocks away from each other. I turned down Cass Street and heard a gas lawn mower. I didn't think too much of it. I figured that a lawn mower is a pretty common sound, and wouldn't be interesting in the least. Nonetheless, I recorded the sound as I was walking by. It wasn't until I stumbled upon a man mowing his lawn with a manual/push mower that I thought the lawn mower sounds would be pretty interesting. I thought it'd be a cool contrast to combine a gas mower with a push mower in one recording to see what sounds / aesthetics came out of it. The resulting recording is just that, a gas mower and a push mower, going head to head.
As a side note, I had to ask the man with the push mower to push it around more, because when I arrived at his lawn, he had finished mowing. After he finished mowing for me, we had a short chat about how much better manual mowers compared to gas mowers. I myself grew up with a manual mower, so I completely agreed.
This was recorded between 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008.
Listen -----------> MOWER
Drift Strategery
Pushing my arrogant nature to the forefront, I decided to write my name in capital letters across a section of town to determine where I would walk. After writing my name over a good portion of downtown Milwaukee, I drifted around the area. I originally set a path for myself that touched every part of every letter, but I decided to follow my ear instead when I actually started recording. I still obeyed the perimeters I set out for myself within my written name across the map. I ended up touching every letter, so I feel I fulfilled my obligation to my drift strategy. I like to improvise, so setting a perimeter was about the tightest constraint I could have put on myself without affecting my enjoyment of the drift.
The map on the left is the map I used while I was on my drift. I filled in where I had walked every few blocks or so. If you look closely, you can see where I had marked certain sounds that I liked. By the end of the drift, the map was a bit of a mess.
Drift Map
After drifting along my path, I composed this map. I chose to "drift" around the northern downtown area because it is an area of town I have yet to touch with my own two feet very often. Having just recently moved not very far away from this area, I decided that going on my drift in that area would be keen. I left on my drift at 8:00 a.m. and I found it to be a perfect time to go walking, as well a swell time to record things. The sounds in the early morning seem to jump out more than any other time a day. I suppose it may be that my ears are used to such sounds yet, but it could be a number of reasons. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful drift. Below are 6 recordings I fancied the most from this drift. I hope you enjoy.
Sincerely,
Noah Therrien
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