Our task this week was about critical listening. We were tasked with going on a Soundwalk were we would analyse sounds that we pick up along our route.
For this task I used a Zoom H4n. This is a portable recorder that features a variety of different settings and features. One of the features I made particular use of was the wider recording angle. There are two settings, 90 degrees and 120 degrees. For the purpose of outdoor recordings I chose to use the 120 degrees option, as this would provide a wider range to pick up sounds. I also attached a muffler to the device to prevent the wind from affecting my recordings.
I met up with a friend, and began my soundwalk in the centre of town. The walk rounded up being about 2 hours long which gave me sufficient time to record a variety of sounds. This distance allowed me to visit busy areas as well as quieter ones, which helped with specific sounds that required a certain amount of background noise.
In the end, I wound up with about 24 recording files. A lot of these were useless, but this let me know that next time I should adjust my settings more for particular areas. One issue that continued to creep up was wind along with movement from myself. At the time I didn't quite realise just how much noise the H4n picks up. Next time I plan to make more extensive use of the mic level feature in order to reduce these noises.
Once I got a chance to review all of my recordings, I selected the ones that turned out best and created a sound file featuring them all using Reaper. I felt I achieved a good variety within these recordings, a lot of the sounds are distinct and easy to tell what they are from a listen. I chose not to add any major editing to the sounds as I wanted to keep them raw, I added a Fade In and Fade Out to each sound for the sake of the collage, and trimmed parts that didn't provide much use. The link to the sound file is below, I encourage you to listen to it and try see if you can distinguish what is what.
I then decided to create an annotated map for reference of where I managed to capture that particular sound. This will allow me to revisit specific spots to re-record a sound if I feel I want a better recording.
Once I had the recordings that were distinct and useful, I created a spreadsheet that breaks down some of the key components of these sounds.
By doing this I can begin to understand the different elements that make up the sound.
For example, the 'Lift' sound is isolated as its within a closed space not part of a bigger scenario. It was recorded close to the microphone thus producing a much clearer sound. These elements make the 'Lift' sound particularly useful as it could now be put into a variety of scenarios, even if the original context was vastly different.
Compared to the 'Siren' sound which is unique to an emergency vehicle and doesn't allow for as much creativity. On top of this it's repeated in a wider context thus limiting its use further. This doesn't make it a bad sound at all, it just means that there is a much more specific use for it. It also means it may require more work in order to get it to fit within a creative scenario.
This walk has encouraged me to not only continue to go out of my way to record sounds, but also to listen into sounds that surround us in our daily living, and think of how they could be designed to work in another scenario. I look forward to continuing more of this type of work and using the sounds within my assignment.