Exercise 4 > Everyday Sounds
A – OUTDOORS
I wore an old down vest and a woolrich jacket Wednesday evening, but was cold nonetheless. And I was wearing a wool jumper underneath it all, too. Anyway, I reclined against an old (and very large) tree in the South East corner of Kensington Park. It wasn’t all that busy, but there were a few passer-bys and park-goers, as usual.
I sat attentively, not really having anything to do. My legs drawn in, and my arms held across my chest – I observed my surroundings; a little dog sat quietly, tied to the black wrought iron fence beside his best friend ten meters to my left. His owner was reading a novel. At my ten o’clock there was a young couple sitting along the path leading to the South Western edge of the park; they were roughly thirty meters from my position, and had brought a blanket. It appears as though they may have had some food as well. Twenty meters ahead, sitting on, and around, a bench next to the water fountain, were a group of seven skid punks. They were a fun, loving bunch of people as far as I could tell. There was to be a fair bit of cheering and jeering from that direction. Other than that, a person or two would seldom walk down Augusta towards Dundas. Hearing those walking North on the East side of the street was difficult and hardly audible.
**Sidenote : After investing a quarter of an hour lookin’ around, I took out one of my 50′s murder mystery, pulp novels by Ross Macdonald and started reading (and listening).
Noises :
Pages turning (not my own), dog shuffling in the grass, speech from a distance, amused chatter from the skids, footsteps on the far side of Augusta, wind, rustling leaves, cars passing, doors open and close, laughter from the couple across the park, distant crowd, bicycle clicks and bells and creeking and squeeking, running.
There were not any patterns that I could identify. Everything was happening seemingly at random, and people came and went, as did their sounds. I feel as though I didn’t miss much, although I am more than certain that I must have missed things that I shouldn’t have. Certain sounds were definitely more prominent than others. Seeing as I was sitting in a park, clearly there are folks and objects creating sound close and far alike. Also, some were much louder, harsher, more abrupt than others. The sound quality altogether was quite nice. Sitting in the park was very airy as anyone could imagine, therefore there wasn’t much echo, boundary to distort the sound. The quality was very good.
A – INDOORS
I sat quietly in a quaint coffee shop, Moonbeam, to do this exercise. It’s near my place in Kensington Market and is usually quite busy, so it seemed as though it would be a fitting location to record sounds in an indoor environment. The time was half-past seven in the evening.
For the record — you enter the shop and the counter is to your left; it spans the length of the room until it meets a couple stairs and ends. These steps lead to a raised portion of floor, still in the same room, which is used for seating and tables. Opposite the counter you’ve got an assortment of tea and coffee – the usual stuff. Anyway, beyond the tables you’re lead to a corridor of roughly seven six yards; the bathroom doors, to both the mens and the womens rooms, are to the right. Following this hall you are lead to a back room (which also contains tables), and an outdoor patio. I was seated at the table in the North Western corner of the first room. Meaning that the counter was at my two o’clock, and the opening to the hall was at my ten.
**Sidenote : I had an Irish Breakfast tea with honey and cream while my company had the same, but with a tablespoon of sugar. Oh – we also split a piece of chocolate cake. It was rich, so much so that any more than half a piece would have been unreasonable. She sat quietly for the most part, aside from a few remarks concerning how she had over-sweetened her tea.
There were a number of occupied tables in the room; a couple, a young man and woman, shared the furthermost table diagonally across the raised division. A blond woman wearing a feather in her hat sat alone directly to my right pretending to write in a journal of sorts. There was an older woman reading the paper between myself and the couple, an elderly man enjoying a fresh cup of brew to my left, and a middle-aged Jamaican woman counting change by the hall (soon after she ordered an expresso).
Noises :
clock ticks, steam, footsteps, stirring, pen on paper, turning of pages, sipping, cups being put down on saucers, ruffle of newspaper, chairs being pushed and pulled, milk being poured, coats being donned, occasional cough and sniffer, pocket change, chatter, plates, cutlery and running water, a dog barking, young adults hollering outside, bicycle bells, automobiles, the toilet in the womens lavatory.
There were a few noticeable patterns but I feel as though the most distinct was the coming and going of patrons — its was like clockwork. Of course, along with the latter came the expresso machine, the walk up the two steps towards the seating around, and the odd chair-pull. In regards to missed sounds, I don’t feel as though I missed much. I was so on edge. Some sounds were definitely more prominent than others, however seeing as I was in a small space the majority of the sounds, other than the faint ones outside and the odd loud noise inside, were rather even — very level. This created a grey tone, I suppose; a very two dimensional audio-space. The quality of the sound was good. Unlike the park, this space was more concentrated, however the sound was not distorted or disagreeable. It’s odd when you hear something from around a corner though. It tends to bounce and you may think it is coming from a different direction — very deceiving.
Very cool.
B – EAVESDROPPING
Not paying attention to two or three conversations happening around was was pretty easy. All you’ve got to do really is speak louder to yourself in your head than they’re speaking. If you’re making a conscious effort not to think, then things just become a mess because not only are you trying to accomplish something which doesn’t make any logical sense, you’re going to hear them even if you do manage it.. This being said, the key, as far as I’ve found, is to speak or think loudly.
Listening to one conversation of three is very easy. It’s the same concept as speaking to yourself, but all the work’s being done for you. Zoning out noise, or conversations taking place in the area is easy, especially if they’re talking about something interesting. If they aren’t your mind seems to wander to other noises/conversations.
Tuning in on two or three conversations is the most difficult, although certainly not impossible. It all depends on the speech in which they’re speaking. If it’s quick, it’s tough. If it’s casual it’s fairly easy – it is also very interesting, usually. Your mind seems to draw ties between both conversations and it gives you something to think about while you pick up their conversation unconsciously.
The quality of the sound is a weird thing to think about. If they couples are on different sides I find it more difficult. Most likely because I have to focus on both ears; on more than a fraction of my atmosphere. If they’re sitting on the same side I can ‘aim’ my hearing, and even point my ear in their direction. This made the sound quite good. I could hear both distinctly, and although they were overlapping, their voices were easy to differentiate which made things much easier than they may have been otherwise. I sat in a long concrete hallway for part of this and found it very shitty. The sound quality made it harder — there was some kind of reverb which made it harder to focus. It was a lot more work to pick up less audio. It really made a difference.
C – FIVE SENTENCES
A sound that evokes an image:
The sound of thunder. It’s interesting because thunder has a direct (yet delayed) relationship with lightning. One follows the other, they do not happen simultaneously, depending. The image isn’t much of anything either. It’s a flash of light; it’s a line in the sky. It’s frightening, it’s bright, it’s powerful — it’s bigger than us. It’s just an instant, too. A FLASH. It doesn’t stick around like thunder does.
An image that evokes a sound:
The iconic Jaws poster. It still haunts me. You can hear me cringe it’s so bad. When I see it I feel as though I can hear myself being consumed. I can feel the breath being squeezed out of me. Underwater, too; where sound is muffled and things get really lonely, really fast. I just want to scream — it’s simple.
A sound that provokes a feeling:
A dog’s whimper. Man, I hate hearing a dog whimper. I can really respect the dog species. They give everything and take nothing. When a dog whimpers you know someone’s doing something wrong to something undeserving, and that makes me feel bad — simple as that.
A sound that provokes a thought:
Definitely like an old-school audio clip of Hitler or something. Whenever I hear clips like that I can’t help but think of what they are saying, and why they are saying it as they are. I feel as though it may even be more interesting not understand anything. You can’t pay attention to the words themselves, so you listen to how they are delivered.
A sound that competes with an image:
A sound that works counter to an image:
The ones which I have a personal relationship with. The ones I have thought about myself, on my own time, while experiencing them. The references in exercise C are common feelings to me. Those which
Add a comment October 28, 2010
Exercise 2 > Transitions
Here’s my transition video. Personally, I didn’t like this exercise at all. I thought it was pretty tedious and very boring.
Add a comment October 28, 2010
Exercise 1 > Light Glitch
The following is a stop motion exercise. Simply took pictures, one every minute for an hour. It was pretty boring but the result is rather interesting. I chose to photograph an environment without people because I can’t stand slow stop motions with people glitching around. That being said, the vines on the column present a similar effect. I enjoy the shadows though, and find that they offer a nice contrast with the latter. I feel as though black and white make this simple exercise that much simpler, and I like that.
Add a comment October 7, 2010
Introduction
This blog will be used to publicize process work, drafts, and final exports of time-based related projects. This being said, chances are that I’ll post an occasional body of word which follows the criteria of this time-based exploration. Come to think about it, I’ll most likely post things that have nothing or little to do with time-based for the sake of sharing them on the internet. The post title says it all, so just make sure you browse accordingly.
Cheers,
CPL
Add a comment September 24, 2009
