On this note, we once again took to the streets of Auckland City in a 'Sound Walk', another way to add to our growing repertoire of ways to explore and experience the city. This time, we went on the same pathway though on our own, listening and recording the sounds we hear in terms of distance, volume, frequency and other similar aspects. There was no sort of set format in which we were meant to record it so I chose to do it in terms of a timeline / graph with different colours.
I have never extensively studied music so describing the nature of sounds it isn't some I have a lot of experience with. When encouraged to think of it compositionally, as though putting together a musical score with harmonies, gave me more to think about as I went along. Though most the recurring sounds were the same with only about five or six dominant sounds, what I found more interesting was in fact how they seemed to be composed. Thinking past just listening to what the sound itself was, the challenge was to listen to how it was and how it changed.
Like a musical score, I found interesting occurrences in the city sounds. Some noises followed patterns which seemed to repeat at more or less regular interval, such as the sin or cos graphs. The most dominant noise in the city is of course that of traffic but even that rose and fell, both in distance, volume and pitch. Then, other sounds seemed to reply in conversation with this, as the car noises died away, the more subtle noises such as peoples voices, footsteps and birds rose in apparent volume and distance, then dying as the cars dominated again, creating an inverse graph.
In terms of the journey itself, this can be expanded further depending on the location. Directly alongside the streets would be a strong introduction, softening as I entered Myers park where the streen noises were a faint accompaniment to the people's voices - imagined as though the vocal accompaniment - the wind in the trees, footsteps and other sounds occuring as the result of physical movement, the singing of the birds, and even the trickling of water into the drain. Exiting the park and up the steps which would gradually take me back to the bustling streets of K' Rd, the music of the cars would once again intensify and dominate, yet with a gradual transition between the two.
In contrast to this activity, the next day's project instead took us to the architecture department where we were sealed inside a Anechoic Chamber to experience the absense of sound. We found that with all noises from outside the room completely sealed off, we were able to focus completely on our internal noises, such as the high pitched squeal of the nervous system, and the low pitched thud of the heart. Noises inside the room as people moved, breathed and spoke were experienced in a completely different way as the accoustics of the room were designed so that sounds didn't reflect of the foam walls. When the lights were turned out, the mind was completely disoriented with no reference points with which to place sound and even a cough from across the room sounded like it was in your ear.
By developing a greater understanding of how we experience and register sound, we will be able to take this into the context in which we create our sonic objects. I felt these activities were helpful as they helped me think about sound in new ways by removing some of the filters we apply automatically in everyday life. I will use these to inform my research and develop my initial ideas and concepts.
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