Sound Walk Responses

# Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?

>Yes I was. It was hard to find a place where I could get away from the ambience of the city. The traffic was a problem but if I walked to an area between building or a place with less congestion I could really hear some interesting sounds.

# Was it possible to move without making a sound?

>Yes, however it was some what difficult. My clothes would make a sound every now and then and also my feet. I had to walk at a slow pace to quiet my shoes hitting the pavement.

# What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?

> When I plugged my ears I could only hear loud specific sounds. When I unplugged them all the ambience of the city like cars and people came flooding back into my ears. I wish there was away to drown out the ambience sometimes and only get those specific sounds. 

# In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear? List them.

>Cars, busses, people talking, people walking, running water, trees blowing in the wind, cars running over bumps in the road, bikers pedaling, food being cooked, music, crickets, and buzzing of power cables.

# Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place?

>The sounds that I could place were always loud sounds or sounds that were easily recognizable, like a car or bus. The sounds that I could not place were always soft and seemed to only last for a few moments at a time. When I was walking around campus I heard a strange buzzing sound and I could not place it. I know it wasn't power cables or anything like that. I looked all over for a while to find the source but eventually I gave up cause it was no where to be found. 

# Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds?

>In the beginning I only heard Human sound like people talking and moving about. Then as I focused my ears I began to hear more Mechanical sounds of food being cooked and tools being used. Once I was outside I heard a great deal of traffic. It was easier to hear Natural sounds outside to like the wind and animals. I listened to some birds for a while and I even heard a squirrel running around in a tree.

# Were you able to detect subtleties in the everpresent drone?

>Yes I was walking down a side walk and all I could hear for the longest time was traffic. Then I came across a small field where I heard a cricket. I found this very interesting cause I'm so use to always hearing "the city." It was nice to hear something that was part of nature rather than the city.

# Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?

>Depending on where I was i heard many different close sounds. People talking, Crickets, and water running are just a few of them. Far away sounds were mostly the sounds that were always present like traffic and sometimes sirens.

# What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)?

>Trees, flags, cords hitting flag poles and also a whooshing sound when the wind hits a building.

# Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?

>I found some rocks which I through into a body of water. This made a cool spelunking sound. I took a metal object and knocked it against  bike rack which made a ringing sound.

# Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?

>Yes before I really didn't think much of the sounds I heard. I would only dwell on the noise of traffic and people talking. Now I realize there is so much more.  All you have to do is focus your hearing. Now I hear things that I would have never guessed they were there.

# How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?

> As a media artist I will now be looking for and recording sound. Now that I have practiced the art of hearing sound I believe I am ready to make a Drift. I know what to listen for. Had I just been handed an audio recorder before practicing I probably would have only recorded meaningless sounds.