Category: CMM 225 (Page 2 of 2)

I was a bit stumped on how to do this one as I had already done an indoor soundscape and that was my one idea. I ended up brainstorming with Chloe in class to try to figure out what a good space with characteristic sound might be. I was planning on going to Elements to look for a birthday present for one of my friends anyway and that’s probably why Elements popped into my head. I personally enjoy spaces like this especially to study as the constant background noise makes me feel more concentrated. Too much silence makes me uncomfortable so I’ve gone to Elements before to study as I find it much more relaxing. It was definitely interesting to go and just sit as I recorded, especially because I brought a friend who kept clinking her cup to give me “good audio” which was very sweet.  

I struggled with the narration portion a lot as I thought potentially reading a book may be a good idea. But after talking with Professor Cripps he made a good point about how I should make sure my narration shouldn’t take away from the sounds I recorded. So I thought about making a narration of what me and my friend were doing there. Or potentially making my reading sound as though it blends into the soundscape not overpowers it. Eventually I went with the narration as I liked how I got to highlight the friend I went to elements with rather than a book.

Here are my screenshots for the project!

I didn’t have many voice messages besides my mother going, “Yes it’s your mother please call me back.” so I was unsure of where I was going to go with this prompt. But after listening to a few I realized I had gotten a couple from my family around the time of me going home last semester for my cousin Megan’s wedding. Now nothing about the wedding is mentioned but it got be some voice messages from a lot of people. I also thought it was interesting to hear my mother and grandmother both introduce themself on the phone (even though I already knew it was them calling) but my little sister didn’t. I thought it was a fun little dip in the pool of my family getting to see everyone’s personalities a little with their voice mails. I got the idea to make it sound like an answering machine. I wanted to lead into it better than just starting a voice message. So I looked for a recording of the lady that says “please leave a message after the tone” but instead found a recording of an answering machine. Which makes more sense in my head as it sounds like the listener is listening to my answering machine rather than leaving me a message. I thought it turned out neat!

When I first heard about the assignment I had thought that I’d want to do a postcard from my child hood with different sound markers but then I saw that in the assignment it said to do a postcard from Biddeford. So I thought it would be interesting to do the second floor commons which is usually such a quiet place. Usually the fireplace is on as well but unfortunately on the day I went to record it was off so I had to edit the sounds in later. There was a little conversation going on behind me in the background but my microphone didn’t pick it up very well which I wished it had picked up on better. But otherwise I liked the way the ambient sound turned out. I wanted to keep the narration light because it isn’t a space where a lot of conversing is supposed to happen.

1. Using Guzi’s essay (perhaps Part I for the most part), how would you present your own definition of a soundscape. Try to distinguish it from a sound. Distinguish it from a landscape. The point is NOT to present Guzi’s definition, Wikipedia’s, or mine. Make it your own!!

I liked her idea that organisms have their own sound frequencies or bands to communicate with. Sticking with that I’d say a soundscape is an ecosystem of sound. In any given space or soundscape the sounds there can work in harmony or work against each other and become chaotic or too much. It all depends on the type of sound in the space or even the type of space. A quiet study room may have a more harmonious soundscape, light keyboard tapping, the hum of the ventilation or people breathing with far off conversations drowning into noise you can’t quite understand. Whereas the dining hall may have more of a chaotic sound to it, a speaker playing loud music behind the counter, people laughing and talking over one another, pots and pans banging in the kitchen. These two ecosystems of sound are very different because these spaces are very different. I’ll definitely try to pay a bit more attention to each room’s soundscape now that I’ve been introduced to this idea.

1. What are two sonic elements that stand out from the soundscape you chose to listen to as you read Guzi’s essay? Why do you think they stood out?

I listened to the soundscape of the kitchen and I thought it went in an interesting direction. I thought they would be a bit more similar as food preparation is something that has connected us throughout the centuries. I honestly didn’t like the modern section as there was so little personal movement in it. It didn’t feel very alive unlike the historic one. I still think of kitchens as a very lively place, at least they are in my house, where people come to congregate and make food together. I thought it was going to be interesting to hear how the background noise may have changed a bit, the hum of a refrigerator instead of the stirring of coals, but that there would still be that unmistakable sign of people there as well. But I didn’t get that which I thought was an interesting choice to go with creatively. I wonder if it’s supposed to be a commentary on how people are being disconnected as time goes on. Though now I may just be reading a bit too far into it. So it was more of the lack of sound that stood out to me there. But I also really liked how the fire stoking sounded in the historic soundscape. I have a fireplace at home and I thought it was captured very well and I knew almost immediately what it was supposed to be. It’s a sound that reminds me of home so it made the historic version feel more home like to me. Though that may be my own bias.

Transistor file:

I decided to go in this direction with the prompt for a few reasons. I had nowhere that I really felt like would be interesting to do a tour for other than my dorm room. I spend a lot of time in the commons and library and while some background chatter may have been interesting it didn’t seem like a reflection of me. Whereas considering how busy and warm my dorm room feels it honestly is the place I know best in Maine. 

I thought about doing a tour for my mother as she never gets to see my dorm setup, she only gets to move me into the new dorm. But she knows all my decor and things well considering it’s all scattered around the house when I’m home in summer. I also didn’t really want to talk about the tapestries or fairy lights I have hanging up. I wanted to talk about something a bit more meaningful. I wanted to talk about the stuff that made my dorm feel like a second home. One of which was the blanket my mother made me and the picture my grandmother cross stitched me. My grandmother and mother both learned these skills from my Nanny who passed away when I was eight months old. 

So I thought about her for a moment and how I’d try to talk to her if I got that opportunity.  I find a lot of my writing explores themes of generational connection. I’ve talked a lot about my relationship and feelings towards my grandmother and mother. But I haven’t explored the connection I feel with my Nanny. Even if I’ve never met her. I thought this would be a good medium to try to start doing that.

I thought making it sound like a phone call might also make sense for what I was trying to say. I feel like it highlights the distance between us better than a crisp audio might.

Here are the links to my finished things for the peer podcast! It should all be able to be found in my shared google driver under “Gardner” then “Peer Interview” then “Finished uploads for peer interview” but just in case there is any confusion here are the links to it as well.

Transistor file:

Garageband file: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1JjmbGwGYKydbNgbSSQpVGkWO0w6G15U

MP3 file: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/17mvUNRW7VN5t4qEc5tlEZ8UlD58YT5u8

Picture of script: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/17mvUNRW7VN5t4qEc5tlEZ8UlD58YT5u8