Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Imaginary Sound Walk Assignment (Still Technically Tuesday!)
Boy do I get so much joy out of explaining my plan of attack (sarcasm), but since it needs to be done, I might as well buck up and accept what needs to be done, pull a Sean Astin and be a good little Toy Soldier.
To lessen the blow of work on myself, like a lot of my fellow students, I've opted to continue off of my original Sonic Snapshot project and turn it into this Imaginary Sound Walk project. My original project was recreation of a park and it was a pretty layered ordeal. It has low rumbles of traffic, wind blowing through the trees, tennis players servin' and swearin', an old Jalopy barely starting and making it down the street and some awesome geese! There were others, but that gets the basics out of the way. What I wanted to do from here was leave this space behind, walk past a very busy street (Oklahoma Avenue if anyone is familiar with it) around the time when everyone is going home from work and walk to my house. There won't be too much going on here, but I thought the sound of heavy traffic could be a nice transitional piece. This will be a very naturalistic space. Won't be as layered as the park, but it'll be a nice, calm movement before we get to my final space. My plan is to try to record this a little later when I did my park recordings, which was around 4pm. I want these to be close to sundown so that way when I get to my third space, it's night. I want a shift in time... I hope.
Before I move on to my final space, I should probably list out some sounds...
Background: General atmosphere, wind in trees, possibly birds chirping, sound of traffic as if moves from background to middleground.
Middleground: Bus passing by on opposite side of street, People walking dogs, people chatting as they walk by, Sound of traffic as it moves from middleground to foreground
Foreground: Sound of traffic, heavy bass of ghetto cruisers passing by, occasional car passing on side streets.
This is to name a few off the top of my head.
From this point on, I'll get to my house. This is where I'll have a lot of fun sounds to play with. I'll open the hideaway key box which makes a cool sound, grab the key which is metal and metal, and unlock the door. Once inside, I'll take off my shoes and head up the creaky steps. Mom will more than likely be cooking and have one of her Michael McDonald singing Motown CDs (ughh...). Dad will more than likely be doing his tube feedings which is a very unique sound process in it's own right, and if he coughs... well, that's quite a sound considering he coughs through a hole in his neck now. From that point on I'll take the trash bag from the bin, take it outside again, outback and drop it into the trashcan. Thus concludes my recordings.
Background: General atmosphere, buzzing of the fridge, sound of mom cooking going from background the middleground, mom's CD going from background to middleground. TV being on. Crickets chirping outside
Middleground: Sound of mom cooking, mom's CD, Dad's feeding tube.
Foreground: Sizzle of meat, Mom talking to me, grabbing hideaway key, creaky stairs, door opening, getting garbage bag from bin, throwing bag into garbage can.
This is just to name a few sounds I could think of
If there was time, I was thinking of adding in an extra little twist at the end where after I emptied the trash, I'd hear a strange whirring sound (keep in mind, all of these sounds would be recorded by myself) and we'd hear what sounds like an Alien UFO. It would land (still doing all the recordings myself using hydraulics and power tools I have in basement and some metal instruments), the walk way would open and I'd go inside. In there I'd complete fabricate the space using whirring sounds for machines, broken wind chimes and some old toys that beep. This part I'd have to really plan out, but I thought it would be a fun way to end the piece, but if all else fails, I have a strong piece in which I can really build upon my sound scape regardless.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sonic Snapshot Idea!
I really racked my brain on trying to think of an idea for my Sonic Snapshot project. Especially one that I could record in my area. Sounds that, I feel, define where I live and I believe I've narrowed it down to two...
IDEA 1:
Recreate the sounds of a park.
Foreground Sounds: Geese squawking, people fishing, birds chirping,
Middleground Sounds: Wind blowing through the trees, People talking as they walk past, bikes riding past, bugs making noise, squirrels rustling through trees
Background Sounds: The low rumble of traffic, kids playing on nearby playground
IDEA 2:
Recreate the woods by the train tracks.
Foreground: Birds chirping, Trains passing, bugs making noise, twigs snapping
Middleground: Wind blowing through trees, sound of people walking through trails, squirrels in trees
Background: Rumble of cars in the distance, kids playing at nearby houses
These are my ideas. I feel like I'm going to go with the park idea, but I felt i should post both ideas.
Assignment 2 -- Audio Processing
STE-000 Park/Bandshell
This was the first piece of audio I tried to fix up. If you listen there's a good amount of hiss in the clip so I began with a Channel EQ, not thinking at the time that I could have just as simply removed the sound with a Low Pass Filter. It's also very apparent that they clip is very low, even for ambient noise, so I threw some normalization on to help raise that up a bit. I find that these ambient clips are the most annoying to play with because, at least for me, I'm never sure what dB range they should be peaking at. I tried to stay with a consistent -18dB - -23dB range for ambient sounds.
OLD
NEW
4CH00M Park/Bandshell
This one was a bit more of a headache to fix. Once again I heard the excess of heavy hiss, so this time I applied a Low Pass Filter which worked like a charm. I then went in with a Channel EQ and turned down the bass tones ever so slightly so the traffic hum would be a little less loud and so when the kids come stomping close to the mic, it wouldn't be as intense. I feel t
his track came out well because I still get all
of the surrounding sounds l
ike traffic, a dog's leash and the kids and none of it is lost.
OLD
NEW
STE-002 Park/Bandshell
As is becoming the ritual, I heard loud hiss, so I went in with a Low Pass Filter to smooth it out, but the hiss is becoming the easy issue now. Wha
t this clip has problems with is wind noise passing by the mic. I was recording with an external mic and never put a wind screen on. The wind would peak at about -3dB at times while the main noise would be around -20dB or such. This is an issue, so I went in with a Compression filter to try to cut out the space inbetween the the sounds and, hopefully, smooth out the wind sound some so it's not AS bad. I then also went in with a Channel EQ and tried turning down the bassier tones.
OLD
NEW
STE-005 Park/Pond
There wasn't a lot of hiss in this walking track, but enough for my to justify using my trusty Low Pass Filter again. This is a pretty clean recording ultimately, just a little quiet, so I tried to boost up some of the tones with a normalizer so it would hit appropriate ranges.
OLD
NEW
STE-006 Park/Pond
I again used the Low Pass Filter to get rid of the bits of hiss that are in the clip, but my main goal was to remove some of the wind noise and other loud tones, like the rumble of cars, so I also used a Channel EQ to even the tones out a bit.
OLD
NEW
STE-009 School/Dumpster
This clip was originally a failed experiment I felt the need to clean-up. My goal was to try to capture wind sounds when they blew through the side piece of a dumpster, so I put my mics in there. Issue is, there was no wind so I got stale air and a train. So, I took care of the hiss first so I could focus on the other issues with a Low Pass Filter. I then wanted to get ride of SOME of that stale air sound all the while lowering the intensity of the train, so I went with a Channel EQ to even out the tones. There is still some lingering sound of stale air, but it's not as bad as it once was.
OLD
NEW
STE-012 School/Bush
As always, started with a Low Pass Filter to get rid of the small traces of hiss, which there isn't much of. I thought the clip was a bit quiet myself, so I thought I'd tried to boost the sound by adding a normalization filter on. Not sure if that was the right move, I could have probably used Compressor, but Normalizer seemed like the right choice since the clip is all pretty much a constant tone. I then tried to turn down some of the bass tones, like cars driving, using Channel EQ. Then to top it all off, I turned down the actual volume of the clip a touch.
OLD
NEW
STE-013 Home
This clip didn't need much really at all, just had some hiss issues. I put on a Low Pass Filter and tried experimenting with Channel EQ to see if I could enrich the tones a bit, but really, I couldn't. The clip seems to be good with very little done to it. I may be wrong, but that's my assessment.
OLD
Monday, September 26, 2011
Assignment One
September 19th
Recording #1
Time - 5:58pm
Source – Park/Bandshell
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1 mic input
I feel this is generally good recording. Not too loud, but at the same time it's not too quiet. My only issue is, and I'm not sure if this was because of the recorder or what, but there's a very, very faint noise coming from the right side of the recording. Since I recorded it in stereo 1, it's a mono track and the audio is all in the left ear so theoretically I shouldn't hear anything in the right ear but some hiss (which I do), but occasionally I hear this weird staticy sound as if a bad mic is plugged in, yet nothing is. I'm not sure if I'm hearing things, so let's see if anyone else notices it.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/STE-000.wav
Recording #2
Time – 6:06pm
Source – Park/Bandshell
Mic Type – NT3 and NT4
Settings – 4 Channel Mode
I feel, regardless of this recording being loud and having a loud amount of background tone, it's not a bad recording because of the wide variety of sounds I got. I was able to get the sound of a guy and his son across a large field, some kids right next to me, and a fly flying past the mic. Only drawn back? The kid is really heavy footed and POUNDED his feet when he ran past. It peaks at the end. Lame.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/4CH000M.wav
Recording #3
Time – 6:18pm
Source – Park/Bandshell
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
Same problem as number one. Dead air hiss in the right ear that occasionally sounds like a bad mic. Thoughts? Once again, I like this recording because it's not too loud and not too quiet. I can hear the birds and the traffic, but not get bombarded by it. I quite like the NT3.
Recording #4
Time – 6:27pm
Source – Park/Bombshell
Mic Type – Zoom Mic
Settings – Mic Settings
This recording would have been nice, had I been smart and used the Zoom recorders wind screen. It still sounds nice, but I get occasional sounds of wind passing by the microphone. Well, this is how one learns. The sound of sirens, kids playing nearby and occasional leaves blowing by make this a really neat listen. Damn you wind.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/STE-002.wav
Recording #5
Time – 6:40pm
Source – Park/Generator
Mic Type – Zoom Mic
Settings – Mic Stereo
This is a very clear recording of the constant hum of a power generator. You can hear the background sounds of cars and people which gives it a time and a place, but what's unique about the recording is how the longer you listen to it, the more and more the hum begins to sound distorted.
Recording #6
Time – 6:46pm
Source – Park/Generator
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
Pretty much same as above, but with a NT3 mic. It's another nice, clean recording.
Recording #7
Time – 7:06pm
Source – Park/Pond
Mic Type – NT3 with Shock Mount
Settings – Stereo 1
I love this recording. I can hear geese freaking out when I get too close and clapping their little feet in the water, I can hear kids in the background, I don't really hear myself. My issue is... once again I hear that staticy sound in my right ear that signals a bad mic even though I'm recording and getting sound through the left channel. This is weird and frustrates me to no end.
Recording #8
Time – 7:10pm
Source – Park/Pond
Mic Type – NT4 with Shock Mount
Settings – Stereo 1
First off, ignore the initial clipping sat the head of the clip. This clip is good and I like it quite a bit, but the mic being how it is, made a much louder recording. It's kinda of nuts. But the constant sound of the nighttime bugs as I walk is my favorite part, next to the woman calling out for a cat. There's once of twice I can hear myself walking and hear the back shock mount move my mic, but other than that, it's a good recording.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/STE-006.wav
Record #9
Time – 7:40pm
Source – Park/Bandshell
Mic Type – Lav
Settings – Mic Stereo
The park's bandshell had some holes blown in the wall so I thought why not drop the mics down in the holes and try to get a weird echo or stale air. Oddly enough I hear traffic more than anything, but a fun experiment nonetheless.
Recording #10
Time – 7:46
Source – Park/Playground
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
I did another walking recording, this time without the pesky shock mount. Once again, I hear that annoying sound in the right ear, but strangely I feel I got a better recording. I don't hear any mic handling. The only issue is I was walking too fast so you can hear my walking.
September 20th
Recording #11
Time – 10:25pm
Source – School/Dumpster
Mic Type – Lav
Settings – Mic Stereo
Warning! Intense freaking clipping as soon as you hear the train! Holy Gods there were trains every few minutes. I live a block from the train tracks. This is a cold hard fact of life that I've grown used to, but I've never known them to come to regularly. When I WANT them to come, they never do. My goal was to record wind. It was a freakin' still night. I thought by putting my Lav's in the handle's of a dumpster, when wind finally DOES blow, it'll blow through there and pick up a cool noise and I'll hear it. WRONG. Never happened. I just have a long ass train recording clip.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/STE-009.wav
Recording #12
Time – 10:30pm
Source – School/Dumpster
Mic Type – Lav
Settings – Mic Stereo
Same deal, tried to get wind with my dumpster idea and it didn't work. Just got a bug clicking and my occasionally breathing from still being sick. Woe is me. There are times where I think there's wind, but I'm not sure if it's wind or stale air, but I start to hear the rumble of a train so I cut the recording off.
Recording #13
Time – 10:34pm
Source – School/Rain Garden
Mic Type – Lav
Settings – Mic Stereo
I tried ever so hard to get wind. I even clipped my mics onto plants hoping to get wind going through the plants. All I got were some fascinating bugs, my mics rubbing against the plants and a car with a bad muffler that thought he was awesome that lingered for BLOCKS. Shockingly... he didn't clip.
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/msviers/Public/Sound/STE-011.wav
Recording #14
Time – 10:37
Source – School/Rain Garden
Mic Type – Lav
Settings – Mic Stereo
Same as above. You can still faintly hear the car.
Recording #15
Time – 10:57
Source – Home
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
I couldn't find any natural running water, so I faked it. I turned on the hose on the side of the house and recorded that.
Recording #16
Time – 11:00pm
Source – Home
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
Same as above, but I moved back 12ft.
Recording #17
Time – 11:02pm
Mic Type – NT3
Settings – Stereo 1
Another 12ft back but with a little wind noise.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Weekend Sound Walk
I thought the best place to take this Sound Walk would be the local park by my house. So, I walked to Humboldt Park and made my first stop -- the Veteran's Memorial Gazebo.
What I heard at the Gazebo:
- Wind blowing through leaves on the trees.
- A bus' squealing breaks coming to a halt at what I assume is a stop light.
- Low rumble of a Passenger jet overhead.
- Faint sounds of cars moving by.
- A the beeping of a "kneeling bus" reverting from it's kneeling position back to normal then driving away. - Low hum of traffic.
- Windblown crusty leaves dancing and scraping across the pavement.
- The vibrations of a bad engine in a crappy car. More distinct than other car sounds.
- The rhythmic clicking of a bike chain.
- High pitched yelp of a small dog.
- The chime of the dog's metal tags clanking together.
After the Gazebo I walked down the trails a bit more until I came across the pond. I decided to sit on the dock so I can look at the geese and hopefully hear them. It was really cool being able to hear the geese searching for food. It was a rather amusing noise because they'd flip upside down in the water the faint sound of their feet paddling frantically could be heard. It was rather amusing. What really ruined the tone and mood of my spot was the road I thought I got away from. The traffic now at this point was reduced to a barely audible hum, until a group of overly loud motorcyclists decided they just HAD to zoom past the intersection close by as quick as they could. But I digress.
There were two deterrents while doing this exercise:
1) Being able to turn off my brain and focus on the sound. A side effect to having A.D.D.
2) Discerning dominating sounds from middle sounds because neither would last long. I eventually came to the conclusion that traffic was the middle ground, but wind would come and go, and sometimes traffic would boom louder than the wind. It kept shifting.
However the sounds of kids playing nearby was always a constant "tiny" sound that, if I wanted to, I could focus on, but I could then just as easily drone it out.
Finally, before walking home, I took a walk over to the Baseball bleachers and popped a squat to draw my Sound Map. The results are below.
What I heard at the Gazebo:
- Wind blowing through leaves on the trees.
- A bus' squealing breaks coming to a halt at what I assume is a stop light.
- Low rumble of a Passenger jet overhead.
- Faint sounds of cars moving by.
- A the beeping of a "kneeling bus" reverting from it's kneeling position back to normal then driving away. - Low hum of traffic.
- Windblown crusty leaves dancing and scraping across the pavement.
- The vibrations of a bad engine in a crappy car. More distinct than other car sounds.
- The rhythmic clicking of a bike chain.
- High pitched yelp of a small dog.
- The chime of the dog's metal tags clanking together.
After the Gazebo I walked down the trails a bit more until I came across the pond. I decided to sit on the dock so I can look at the geese and hopefully hear them. It was really cool being able to hear the geese searching for food. It was a rather amusing noise because they'd flip upside down in the water the faint sound of their feet paddling frantically could be heard. It was rather amusing. What really ruined the tone and mood of my spot was the road I thought I got away from. The traffic now at this point was reduced to a barely audible hum, until a group of overly loud motorcyclists decided they just HAD to zoom past the intersection close by as quick as they could. But I digress.
There were two deterrents while doing this exercise:
1) Being able to turn off my brain and focus on the sound. A side effect to having A.D.D.
2) Discerning dominating sounds from middle sounds because neither would last long. I eventually came to the conclusion that traffic was the middle ground, but wind would come and go, and sometimes traffic would boom louder than the wind. It kept shifting.
However the sounds of kids playing nearby was always a constant "tiny" sound that, if I wanted to, I could focus on, but I could then just as easily drone it out.
Finally, before walking home, I took a walk over to the Baseball bleachers and popped a squat to draw my Sound Map. The results are below.
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