sound poetry

 

some examples of 'poetry soundtrack'
http://axonjournal.com.au/issue-2/four-sound-poems

and an article.
http://axonjournal.com.au/issue-2/fear-music-sounded-poetry-and-%E2%80%98poetry-soundtrack%E2%80%99


hat tip Issa.

Wow, a really compelling sound+image project from StoryCorps

POV (perhaps the best independent documentary series on the planet)  has a new idea-- hackathons: a space where they are trying to reinvent the documentary form and figuring out how interactive technology can re-shape the medium.  They are doing this through what they call hackathons, and invited a few projects to participate.  The one I'm interested in most is from, guess who, StoryCorps.  See how this course comes full circle, magically, at the end of the semester?  I didn't plan this, I promise.

Check out StoryCorps' hackathon project here.
http://sc.innovent.tv/Player-2/_deploy/

What do you think?  Does it add anything to the sound? 

Also check out the other projects in the hackathon, and read interviews with the storycorps team.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/hackathon/#.ULkS_IVECIY

POV has more projects like this to come, with a full-on hackathon happening in January.

Listening and hearing

A good reminder from a neuroscientist on the difference.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/why-listening-is-so-much-more-than-hearing.html

KUT Questions

1. What do internships consist of? Do interns get a good amount of input or is it more technical and/or busy work? How does that compare to working with KVRX?

2. How do you plan to make radio more interactive? If content is available online, why should people bother tuning in? Wouldn't you have to make more use of live broadcasting and live performance?

3. How will you make the website more appealing and interactive and not have it serve as just an archive? Shouldn't you be placing a bigger emphasis on your online presence? Have you thought about delving into new media such as Popcorn.js instead of having just videos?

KUT Questions (Sonic ID's)

What is the selection process for the Sonic ID subjects?

Has the station ever interviewed a person, only to realize that subject requires a much larger segment?/Which is the best Sonic ID subject KUT has recorded? (most reactions from audiences, most listens online, most repeats on the air, etc.)

Are you worried about the future of radio? If so, is it in any way similar to the way in which print journalist are worried about the future of newspapers?

Do you get the sense that in recent years radio has become cool again, or is this just a dumb observation I have made in my own limited environment?

KUT Questions

1. On O'Dark 30, is the content aired in its original form, or does KUT occasionally edit for time?

2. O'Dark 30 seems to have a loyal listenership, have you met up with many of the followers of the show in real life?

3. Have pieces featured on O'Dark 30 inspired further spinoff shows down the line?

KUT Questions

I'd like to ask Mike, with relation to O'Dark 30, what made him interested in storytelling. Personally, my family is full of storytellers, which helped drive my interest in entertainment and film, I'd like to know if he had any similar influence.

More specifically, what about scary stories does he really enjoy? Are there any specific influences for O'Dark 30?

I'd also like to know what separates KUT in identity from other local Austin stations. If he thinks the presence on campus yields a special influence outside of downtown Austin.

O'Dark 30 Questions

There was another question on why O'Dark airs at the time it does and at the length it does, but I think it has something to do with the demographic they're trying to reach. So I'd ask how their listeners react to O'Dark on air versus reactions on the internet.

I'd also love to ask how KUT keeps such a "local" feel with their content even though they reach hundreds of thousands of people.

Lastly, I'd like to hear Mr. Lee talk about Austin pop culture. Obviously, they feature a lot of local Austin music and music stories. Does he think that's the most distinctive feature about Austin and what are some other 'Austin-ey' elements he's fascinated with?

O'Dark 30

I listened to Friday's O'Dark 30 Podcast. I'd be curious to know how they go about deciding on a topic for a specific week. Is it based on the week's happenings (obviously this one was, cause it was Halloween themed) or do they find a piece they're interested in and build a show around that? Do they write out narration to transition between pieces, or is it off the cuff? And as a whole, why does KUT decide to have a 3 hour block of this show, rather than giving more shows an opportunity for a chance on air?

Questions for Mike Lee

1. How long does it take, on average, to make each 3 hour show of O'Dark? What's your process? Same questions for the podcasts.
2. How did you start doing O'Dark?
3. Since you feature a bunch of work from other artist, do you spend much/any time editing each O'Dark show?
4.  Do you like your late night spot?/Do you find it to be a good hour for O'Dark?
5. How's the new KUT studios compared to the old ones? What's better?

--Josh Hernandez

Walter Murch and Randy Thom

Gurus of film sound, imparting wisdom to Third Coast Audio festival folks.
Almost two hours, but a worthwhile listen if you are interested in this intersection of sound design, film sound, and what it can teach the audio-only world.

Here's the link...
http://thirdcoastfestival.org/library/producers/455-walter-murch

Significant Objects

    a project which pairs fictional stories with objects.
Good fodder for audio stories/drama/documentary or even installation.

Think about objects as totems, idols, talismans, evidence, and keepers/vessels of memory.

He Takes Stuff Seriously 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/garden/at-home-with-joshua-glenn-of-the-significant-objects-project.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

and here's the online home of the project. 
http://significantobjects.com/

Questions for Mike Lee: Sonic IDs

Why make them a station ID for KUT, why not a simple short story?

What is your typical schedule like working for KUT?

How many sonic IDs do you record on a weekly basis? Do you meet with the person only once?

KUT questions

1. How much colaboration is involved when choosing, planning out, and editing pieces?

2. How do you usually find the artists who you feature? For the most part, do you look for them, or do they reach out to you?

3. Is there ever difficulty in trying to tell a story about an artist in such a short amount of time?

Noah Questions for KUT

1. What types of community outreach and youth programming exists at KUT?

2. How do you see the landscape of the Austin theatre scene? How has it changed in the past 10 years? Where do you see it going? How much influence does KUT have on marketing? Are you fostering new audiences or reminding old ones?

3. What input do the artist have on the stories you produce? Do they hear it before it airs?

More radio drama/radio fiction

/cinema for your ears, or whatever you want to call it.

Numbers
http://www.prx.org/series/31758-numbers
A great 10-part series, haunting/paranormal (which would lend itself to genre/OTR) yet contemporary and realist.  You probably need to sign up for PRX to hear it, which you should anyway.  One of my favorites.

NUMBERS is also a part of the offerings from rethink daily, so worth a listen to their other shows: Germany Calling, and The Trailing Edge.

Drama offerings from BBC/Radio 4, The Archers, etc:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/genres/drama

including BBC's afternoon drama:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qrzz

and BBC's 15 minute drama:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qy2s

The rest of Domestic Violins

Here's a link so you can listen to the rest of what we started today in class, the 'making of'-- we had about 5 minutes left.

http://soundcloud.com/jonathan-mitchell-1/domestic-violins

Case Study: This American Life - Getting Away With It

This episode of This American Life is woven around an engrossing theme that while consistently entertaining touches on more serious aspects of life to varying degrees. In Getting Away With It, Ira Glass shares people's stories of sneaky plots and schemes that yield fun and sometimes dangerous and unexpected results. The stories range from a mother and son forced to help his father smuggle $2,000 worth of cannabis across the Mexican-American border, to a couple of pre-teen girls who gleefully sneak a free flight to New York City, to an Oklahoma state representative's ingenious scheme to twist a previously unacknowledged tax loophole into an reason to convince legislators to funnel state funds into a public pre-kindgergarden program, an idea which otherwise would have been written it off as socialism. Although most of the stories were just emotionally stimulating and entertaining, the pre-k story reveals how one person in a position of power, when willing to investigate the truth, can make sound decisions which directly and dramatically affect the education of the next generation across the state. Overall the episode does a great job of coloring the theme with everything from immature trouble-makers to well intentioned criminals to state-sponsered detectives pushing for educated leaps in evolution. It makes me wonder if other state legislatures could redirect their resources more efficiently into education so we could potentially reduce the need for, to take another example from the show, time/money-stretched fathers to commit criminal acts for the sake of their family's survival. In the end I appreciate how the episode illuminates the trickster's perspective as sometimes sinister, sometimes wise, and with good taste, sardonically hilarious.

radio drama/fiction/the truth fans--

A great panel discussion from the team at The Truth, discussing how they make their show, the importance of improvising, treating fiction like documentary, and recording with on-location/film techniques. 

http://radiobeyondradio.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/improvisation-and-finding-the-story-in-the-edit/

Case Study: The Truth

I listened to an episode of the truth called "Do You Have a Moment for Equality?" that is part of a series of election-based horror stories.  The episode succeeded in giving me goosebumps.  Apparently, The Truth is a part of a much larger group of radio dramas that still exist today (of which I had no idea.) The format was extremely effective and told a really interesting, but extremely simple. The story was maybe 15 minutes long, and introduced very few characters. The thing I was most surprised by was how small of a scale the story took place on: a street corner over a few hours.  It was a story that was best served by a lack of image. The Truth manages to create an audio narrative that completely takes advantage of the medium in a really classy way.

Case Studies

This American Life: "The Slingshot"

As per usual on this program, Ira Glass always manages to find spectacular speakers and storytellers with great stories. In this episode, the story is contributed by writer, actor, and Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman. Being that I was familiar with the speaker, I felt it made the story even more relatable than usual, but this never seems to be a problem on the program. Glass's selection of stories always manage to find grounds relatable to people of any and all background, which is what makes the program truly special. The events may be extraordinary or foreign to us, but we may always relate to the messages related by these people and their contemplations on life. If I were to have a complaint about this program, it would be that I don't fully understand the inclusion of music in so many points. I feel like the musical breaks are used often as transitions or mood-setters, but I often find them unnecessary and even distracting. This, frankly is a petty quip and doesn't truly take much away from the program, which is otherwise immensely entertaining and often thought provoking as well. From perceptions of the everyday to humorous stories of the extremes, This American Life tackles everything from philosophy to rodent control, maintaining a cohesive brand of compelling stories.

Case Study responses

After the case study presentations, I was really interested in "A Life Well Wasted" so I went and listened to all of his complete episodes. I really enjoyed all of them. I grew up playing video games but I am definitely not an expert. This podcast really reaches a wide range of audiences. The one that stuck out to me the most was the episode "Why Game?" where Robert interviews the game designer who creates these realistic, beautiful games, but also lives like a farmer, away from the influence of technology. At one point that designer talks about how he makes a living. I think this really spoke to me at this point in my life because I am about to graduate and trying to figure out how I will be making a living. It turns out that this game developer was afraid of the coming years because his benefactor was a man who chooses a game creator to fund for two years and this creator's two years were almost up.

I was really intrigued by Robert's style of podcast because he will talk about his own experiences with that week's certain theme, but mostly the show is interviews with interesting game creators, collectors, or just fans. It is odd that he only made six full episodes. And you can hear how that was not his intention at all when he started. Even the last episode he says something about how he is moving, but will continue the show. And then he just disappeared. So now I have started listening to Radiolab.

Crossroads Blues

I enjoyed listening to this WNYC/Radio Labs Podcast because I am a fan of Robert Johnson as well as blues in general. I am glad that this particular episode was produced because the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to Satan at the crossroads always annoyed the hell out of me. What if he just had talent?!  This podcast traces the origins of this old myth and it turns out that it was created by a man named LaDelle Johnson about his musician brother, Tommy Johnson. Those men were not related to Robert in any way. Coincidently, a man named Pete Welby heard of this legend and because he was more impressed by Robert's music he changed the story to be about Robert instead. With that mystery solved, I can put on "Travelling Riverside Blues" and shoot down any claims of soul-selling I may hear.

This American Life "Accidental Documentaries"

I listened to the "Accidental Documentaries" episode of This American Life, which aired all the way back in 1996! I decided to look beyond the "favorites" and search by category instead, and this caught my eye. This episode seems to be a bit different from others because it is constructed from previously and unprofessionally recorded material.

Ira Glass states in the beginning of the episode that a good recording comes from people who are so used to being recorded that they are almost bored with it. He says that comfort is key, that people need to be comfortable around the person who is recording. I automatically agreed because I have already experienced this while interviewing and following.

What Ira said also made me think about my experience recording my friends a couple weeks ago. After I recorded some needed material one night, I sat around with a few close friends in my room, drinking beers as they spoke into the microphones while I recorded. They talked about their days, pretended to be radio personalities, put on different voices, and generally joked around. By only recording a few minutes of nonsense, I felt like it was the most personally close thing that I had recorded all day, and I saved it on my computer. To me, it is significant.

Which is what made this whole episode so special. There is a family recording messages to their son who is away at college. It made me miss my family so much I swear I could feel my heart sinking down into the depths of my stomach. Today is my father's birthday, and the more I listened, the more each story dealt with fatherhood. The way fatherhood is portrayed in this format comes across so much more personally specific than interviews in a studio. Glass plays clips of his father when he himself was a radio personality in his 20's, providing his own thoughts and opinions throughout. He also gets his father on the phone to talk about his experiences. We only hear commercial radio speaking, but with Ira and his father's commentary, it becomes so much more.

To wrap up, maybe this was not the "traditional" This American Life episode makeup. Yes, it still had a prologue and three acts, but the source material was different. Regardless, it worked. And I felt comforted by the old recordings, and moved by the relationships beneath the voices.

A Life Well Wasted - Big Ideas

  I listened to the "Big Ideas" episode of the A Life Well Wasted podcast. The show has a pretty high production value for an independently created piece. I think this speaks to the ability to work in this medium and produce quality shows for a relatively low cost.

 This was the episode with the opening music created with samples recorded by the host responding to the question "what kind of game would you create?" I thought this opening was a lot of fun and showed how the host uses his own music intermixed with bytes of his interviews.

There was a lot of intriguing material in this episode, even for people that have no interest in videogames. I really liked the story about how the game Tetris came over to the US. The only thing that I wanted out of this story was a link back to the game at the end. The subject of the story goes on to talk about his life after a near death experience and even went as far as to talk about colonizing mars. I really wanted just a tiny link back to how this related to the story about tetris

I loved the story about big games and I think it ties to the kind of work that I want to make in the theatre. It's amazing how the game in minneapolis was able to bring people together through a collaborative experience. I want to read up on the big games manifesto.

Witness to an Execution

          I am definitely more intrigued by documentary pieces at this point in time, which is why I love StoryCorps and Sound Portraits. There is still so much to learn and so many important stories to be told. The meaning that is conveyed through each story is my favorite part. I have really enjoyed the interview process in this class and think that the voice says a lot in and of itself. Sometimes there is no need for effects, music, or sound of any other sort other than the voice. I really enjoyed reading about StoryCorps and listening to Ghetto Life 101.

          After hearing about Witness to an Execution in class, I went and listened to it on my own. The majority of it is just voice and it really doesn't need anything else. The guitar music that plays every now and then in the background was okay to me to set a somber Texas mood in the beginning, but I didn't like when they kept playing it after that. The interviewees are so good at describing the whole execution process and what it means to them, that no sound effects are really needed. (Plus, that would probably be pretty morbid.) The interviewees are the people that work there or are involved somehow and when they explain the way they rationalize what they do, you can tell that they are also explaining it to themselves at the same time. Their voices really bring out the emotion behind what they're saying; it is so much richer than reading a book. 

          There are so many powerful moments in the piece, like when one interviewee describes one of the people being executed singing Silent Night as they drifted away. Another powerful moment is when the interviewees are explaining how the family members of the people being executed react during executions and one woman says "you'll never hear another sound like a mother wailing when she's watching her son being executed". That part really struck a chord with me because it reminded me of my mother's best friend wailing at her son's funeral after he was murdered. The fact that voice can strike chords with people and ignite old memories is another reason why it's so powerful. I think StoryCorps and Sound Portraits do some very important radio documentary work and I look forward to getting more into it myself.

Do You Have a Minute for Equality?

I listened to one of the new episodes of The Truth. The episode I listened to was called "Do You Have a Minute for Equality?" and it was a part of their election horror series. Definitely intrigued me to listen in the first place. There's an incredible use of background noise for creepiness. As soon as it started, I had feeling of intense tension and anxiety. They used just a few simple tones for the background sound and it added a level of creepiness that definitely made the horror of the piece come out. I couldn't help but think that without the background sound, the piece wouldn't be creepy at all. It's incredible to me the potential sound has, not only to tell stories, but to convey emotions.

Radiolab Short: Crossroads

I listened to the Radiolab Short/Podcast called "Crossroads." This podcast details Jad Abumrad telling Robert Krulwich about his pursuit of 'the truth' regarding the blues artist, Robert Johnson. There's an urban legend that Johnson was a terrible guitar player once a upon a time, and then he disappeared. When he returned, he was one of the most talented blues guys to ever exist on this earth. The legend is that he went to a crossroads at midnight with his guitar and sold his soul to the devil to be a great musician.

The beginning is super creepy, because Jad and one of their producers actually go to the famed crossroads in Mississippi at midnight to see the environment and wait for the devil. Of course, he didn't show up, but the rest of the show has clips from documentaries and interviews he performed with people who know 'the real story.' Even after hearing 30 minutes of testimony, however, we are still unsure of what really happened. He theorizes that Robert Johnson's story is actually a pastiche of several different musicians' stories; that they were put together to make him sound more ominous (especially since he has a song called "Crossroads").

I have done some research on Johnson in the past (not a lot but some), and this is the best exploration of Johnson's life I've heard so far. Jad's process of going to Mississippi, finding the music producer who discovered Johnson after he died, digging up recordings of people who actually knew him, and asking for experts' point of view is through and enlightening. So hearing all of the possibilities and what Johnson's life may have actually been like was quite an experience.

Style-wise, the short was fascinating. This may have been said during the presentation, but I don't quite remember. Radiolab feels like a book to me. The way Jad mixes on-location recording, personal commentary on his thoughts at the time, and analysis of the information sounds very novel-like to me. It's like he's reading aloud a book he wrote on trying to find the truth behind the legend.

Long story short, I loved it! I loved hearing facts on Johnson and what experts and his peers thought about the legend.

It's free on itunes! So if you have an extra 30 minutes, check it out :)

The Truth: Moon Graffiti Response

     While in class listening to all the case studies. This one was the one that hit me immediately as the most interesting (though this isn't necessarily the case). This is undoubtedly due to my sci-fi space bias, but that's not a bad thing I don't think.

     The hook that got me in class was the speech written for Nixon, and performed for this bit. It was absolutely chilling. This whole piece didn't just connect me to the astronauts, it actually creeped me out. I felt like this wasn't just a sci-fi drama about being lost on the Moon, I legitimately felt like it was a horror piece, even though there was nothing which I could identify as traditionally terrifying. The music and ambience that was layered under everything was absolutely chilling. It made me feel at every moment as if there was going to be some deep dark secret on the moon; that somehow the moon wanted them dead. Yet when nothing like this happened, I also wasn't disappointed. It did a wonderful job of taking us through the hypothetical last couple of minutes of life for these astronauts. The larger meaning to the mission that these two were struggling to find wasn't heavy handed. It felt real. Overall this piece was just stunning. Chilling is the only word I can think of to sum up how I felt throughout the piece.

Josh Hernandez

case study response/ The Truth

    I really enjoyed the pieces we have listened to from The Truth.  For the most part, most of the different case studies we have looked at are non-fiction documentary like pieces.  And I really enjoy these too, but it is a nice change to hear some fiction pieces.  I find them very entertaining.  I really find it interesting how the producer likes to portray an uncomfortable feeling to the listener.  I often find these sorts of situations to be hilarious.  It reminds me of a Ben Stiller, Woody Allen film.  I have found myself more interested in fiction pieces than when I began this class.  I love the characters that are featured in this show. The piece mentioned  during the case study, Interruptible, shows a good example of how the show gets into the lives of these characters they portray. They go through everyday fumbles and encounters. I couldn't help but sympathize for the taxi driver who has to sit through that ride on his anniversary.  I almost feel like I need to get out of the car as the couple argues. I think the writers are very good at creating the characters they create. They really know how to portray someone without even having to describe what they look like to the listener.  While I listened, I could already imagine the couple as they entered the car.  I could see the woman they pick up, struggling to get into the car and stumbling out of it at the end.  I feel that in the other shows, it is the people who document themselves that are the main highlight.  And in others, it is obviously the interviewers who are the success of the show.  But for The Truth, I feel it is the writers who are carrying the weight of the show.  It is the writers creating these characters and putting together these encounters that make the show as entertaining as it is. I feel that the writers are stars of this show, as opposed to Ira Glass and Jad Abumrad.  I also really enjoyed how they tied the story together at the end. Couple reaches breakthrough in their relationship and the taxi driver also comes to a mutual agreement with his wife, as he decides to come home early on their anniversary, all at the hands of this drunken relationship counselor who they decided to let into the cab.  The serendipity of the situation provided a great conclusion to this piece. Although I enjoy the nonfiction pieces produced in other shows, I have a new found interest in fiction work like those on The Truth. I think I would enjoy creating some of these myself.

AMA with Ira Glass on Reddit

Hey guys, thought a few of you might find this interesting. Ira Glass is doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything, for non-redditors such as myself). It went live at noon. Unfortunately he isn't answering any more questions right now, but you may enjoy reading his answers to earlier questions.

link: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1197d7/iam_ira_glass_creator_of_this_american_life_ama/

so many music links, so little time.

A few places for music:

The most obvious place is the stock music from the UT servers.  We've paid for that already, and it is free to use.  There is the regular stock music, but also loops and beats such that you can create some simple and complex compositions a la garage band for yourself, and time it perfectly to what you're doing.  Sounds daunting, but it's really pretty easy to do.  Thousands of possibilities here.

Search for creative commons music, and inspect the licenses carefully.  There's a lot of free music out there, but you have to be sure that it's royalty free, and that you can use it in broadcast.  Try http://www.jamendo.com/en/     http://www.ccmixter.org/ and http://www.thesixtyone.com

hey, it's Moby!  Yes, your favorite elevator music poseur / pop ambient composer (depending on your pov)  offers free music to filmmakers on his website http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html .  It's really not so terrible (or maybe I'm just that seriously uncool) and it's useful stuff for docs that need easily loopable stuff.

Search for royalty-free music, and pay to download a track.  You will pay a one-time charge for download but this comes with the ability to use as you wish ("pay once, use it forever," as one site says).  You are essentially paying for a license.  Some sites that offer this:  http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/  , http://musicbakery.com/  (this has moods you can choose-- very helpful) , http://www.neosounds.com/  . 

And there are tons of other sites as well.  Here's a list of more:

Archival Sound Recordings <http://sounds. bl.uk/Default. aspx>
Internet Archive <http://www.archive. org/index. php>
Free Music Archive <http://freemusicarc hive.org/>
freesound <http://www.freesoun d.org/>
British Library <http://www.guardian .co.uk/books/ british-library>
test tube - a netlabel <http://www.monocrom atica.com/ netlabel/ index.htm>
FindSounds <http://findsounds. com/>

Soundsnap.com <http://www.soundsna p.com/>
SoundDogs.com <http://www.sounddog s.com/>
Soundrangers <http://www.soundran gers.com/>
<http://www.soundran gers.com/> 

freeSFX <http://www.freesfx. co.uk/> 

Free Sound Effects <http://www.stonewas hed.net/sfx. html>
mp3.com <http://www.mp3. com/>
Magnatune: license music and MP3 download <http://magnatune. com/>
Royalty Free Music <http://incompetech. com/m/c/royalty- free/>
Music Playlists: Rhapsody Music <http://www.rhapsody .com/playlistcen tral>
CC: Legal Music For Videos <http://creativecomm ons.org/legalmus icforvideos>
music alley <http://www.musicall ey.com/>
Magnatune: we are not evil <http://www.magnatun e.com/>

Ira Glass on Storytelling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxJ3FtCJJA&feature=relmfu
This is what I mentioned in class today.  There are 4 parts to this.  I've posted them all here, but obviously they will come up after you watch the first one.

Music as emotional fascism

Here's where I stole that line:
http://www.prx.org/pieces/55315-64-these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things

It's a great master class with Ronan Kelly of RTE / Irish public radio.

If you don't have a PRX account yet, it is worth signing up to hear this.  And I'll make you sign up later in the semester anyway...

Response: Radio, An Illustrated Guide

This was a very good read. I did an excellent job at summarizing everything we've been talking about in terms of conducting successful interviews. Being a comic, it was very conversational and easy to follow and understand. The illustrations also helped give the text even more of a conversational feel. I think this is a great guide for anyone looking into radio.

I loved that they included the stories on how they got started in radio and gave tips on how to get into the field because it is something that I have always wondered about. I always suspected that radio is it's own little world that you just kind of have to dive into in order to start working in it and it looks like I was right. But this really helped me feel like it would be a fun venture and the piece makes it seem like there is good collaboration among people working on a story. It gives a sense of a radio community that I feel compelled to explore.

I was amazed that 12 hours of materials turns into just a few minutes. It definitely helped me feel better about my first project! I thought I was crazy because I gathered almost 3 hours of interview material for only a total of 3 minutes, but I guess it can get a lot crazier than that.

I'm really glad that we were assigned this piece because like someone mentioned before, it was not a boring text read. It actually made you want to keep reading. It even made me want to go get an internship at a station. This is definitely a good reference to have in your pocket.

6th Street Sound Walk

I did this sound walk at night, so that may or may not have factored much into what I heard.

I actually heard the same flurry of sounds over and over again. I thought it would be more varied, but I guess Mondays aren't the best nights to walk down 6th?

There was the constant sound of cars, of course. They all sounded different based on what kind of car it was, how fast it was going, whether it was breaking, how old it was, etc. I could also hear lots of heels as women walked.

There were constant bar and venue noises too. As you walked by, you could hear different music, bar murmuring, shouting, dishes clanking, silverware, etc.

I also heard a motorcycle, people talking through microphones, people throwing stuff in trash cans, and keys jingling as people walked.

One bar I passed by had really heavy bass that I could hear, but I also felt it more than I could hear it. Of course, there were people talking and laughing and one homeless woman who was laughing hysterically by herself. I could also hear drums and hi-hats. It was funny because at one point I could hear lots of hi-hats being played at different rhythms. I could hear one more prominently, but as I walked away I could start hearing another one.

There was also some whistling, beeping coming from a pizza place, a menu sign being dragged across the floor, a guy with bongos, a guy eating chips, bikes rolling by and a car door shutting. Whenever I passed by a sports bar, I could hear the cacophony of TVs, TV announcers, guys talking and people cheering. At one point I also heard what I think was music coming from little speakers inside a police car. I'm not sure if it was music or not and whether or not it was coming from the police cars. There was just too much music everywhere and it was all different kinds of music, of course, and all sounded different: either really loud, normal, muffled, etc, depending on the location.

I also heard a shopping bag as a lady walked by, and someone stepping on something plastic and destroying it. There was one building I passed by that had really loud AC that left me temporarily unable to hear the rest of the city as I walked by it and then I also heard someone stepping on a sewer lid. As I got closer and closer to Guadalupe, I could distinguish smaller sounds better because it was getting progressively quieter. I could hear a guy with boots walking and muffled conversations, TVs, and general restaurant noise coming from a restaurant with closed doors.

Once I got to Colorado it became significantly quieter. There was a girl across the street talking on the phone and I could hear that, but it was funny because I could mostly hear the "s"s in her conversation. She needed some de-essing. I started to hear little rocks as people walked by and someone walking on grass. There was someone walking with sandals and then I heard a homeless person pushing a shopping cart down a sidewalk.

Other things I had noted before from the louder part of the street were the balls from pool tables clanking, street singing, and slow clapping.

Overall, I think I kept hearing the same city and 6th street noises, just at different levels and in different forms.

making radiolab

Sound is touch at a distance...
http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2007/nov/09/making-radio-lab/

More radio goodness to explore

As we are finishing up case studies, here are other places to go to listen to good stuff, that we didn't get to in the presentations.

99% Invisible, http://99percentinvisible.org/
The Memory Palace, http://thememorypalace.us/
Snap Judgment, http://snapjudgment.org/
SOTRU, http://stateofthereunion.com/
Kitchen Sisters, http://www.kitchensisters.org/
Re:sound, http://thirdcoastfestival.org/library/collections/2-re-sound
Transom.org
RTE Documentary on One, http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/

And feel free to add your personal favorite podcast in the comments.

Sound Walk- West Campus

I think this is particularly interesting at night...

Go to Guadalupe and turn onto 24th going west. Turn right onto Pearl Street. Turn left on 26th and then left on Leon. Then turn left on 22nd, take another left at San Gabriel and then a right at 23rd. Take a right onto Rio Grande and then stop wherever you like.

The specific directions don't really matter but general west campus area during the night is interesting.

Sound Walk Notes

These are the things I wrote down (I will summarize and not repeat anything since I wrote a lot):

door creak
stair footsteps
door boom
motorcycles
car breaks squeaking
Equipment Checkout business
cars starting up
birds
rocks during walking/feet dragging on sidewalk
people talking on the phone
big trucks
general construction
cars breaking and whoosing by
church doors opening, kids playing and talking
high pitched sounds coming from cars as they are stopped at lights
keys as people walk, pants rubbing together as people walk
coughing
AC whirring from building
golf cart car
plane overhead
walking on grass
guy getting his bike off the rack
music outside littlefield
kitchen whirr
utensils, Spanish, scanning beeps, murmuring, coins in cash register
doors shutting, bags opening, heels, bottle refills, trash can wheel
kitchen clanking
bus tires, bus parked, bus stopping
crosswalk beeping
enclosure of parking lot
bus air release, crickets, cars zooming by
filling up water bottle in water fountain, pen drop, quiet studio hall

Sound Walk @ Barton

Begin on the East side of Barton Creek. You can park by the baseball field, there’s easy access to the riverside trail here. You can get onto the trail by way of the ramp on the north side of the parking lot. This is where the sound walk starts. Walk north on the riverside trail. Along the trail there are little inlets, water access points. Stop there at each of these. Each time getting closer to the water. If you’re dressed appropriately, stick your feet in and sit there for a minute. Continue walking north on the trail. Pass the bridge where Barton Springs Dr. crosses over. Continue walking until the footbridge on your left. Take the bridge across the creek. Stop in the middle of the bridge and face south. Stay there for a moment. Then turn and face north. And stay there for a moment. Then continue crossing the bridge. Walk South on the other side of the creek trail. Take the fork on the right that takes you up to the road level, where Barton Springs Dr. crosses. Walk east on Barton Springs til you get to the crosswalk. Take the cross walk at Robert E. Lee. Walk along the road. Cross the field to return to where you started.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE/Radio, An Illustrated Guide

  I felt that this reading can be very informative and useful not just to people taking this class, but to anyone who is interested in radio. The comic goes into the process of storytelling through radio in a very detailed and casual way. I think that is probably one of the best parts of it. You don't read it like a text book or an excerpt from  a boring over-priced course packet from Jenn's Copy and Binding.  It's in the form of a comic book, which can be a little disorienting, but it is read as if in conversation with Ira Glass. I feel that the informal approach to this reading works well because the reader does not feel forced or pressured into understanding it. The reader is simply able to understand it because it reads in simple logical words. The illustrations help as well. The information provided is also very good information. Illustrated Ira Glass describes the fundamentals of conducting a good interview and how to work with your interviewee. The part about how one should work with their interviewee, I felt was very important and useful. It even goes on to describe how to attempt to get your interviewee to open up. I really liked how the comic not only addresses the interview process but goes on to highlight the technical equipment used in the field and how to set it up, as well as the editing process.  The thought of all this information squeezed into just a few pages sounds intimidating. But the comic is able to put it into words and examples that are easily digestible. I thought the part that described how to get into public radio was also very helpful. Ira Glass even describes his own experience trying to get into radio. I found this part to be one of the most helpful because many people often wonder where and how to start, and the comic addresses these questions. The reading as a whole has probably been the insightful I've read all semester. It puts things into words that the reader gets. From start to  end, everything mentioned is worth noting.

Radio: An Illustrated Guide Reaction

Wow! This reading was just fascinating. The familiarity Ira Glass puts across in his interviews is all over these pages. My favorite part of this reading is the tone Glass takes towards interviewing. He goes with a plan of information to get and some points to ask about, but allows for flexibility. Life is unpredictable and so are people; it's great that he recognizes someone's story may turn out differently-and probably more compelling-than you expect. His idea of the interviewer sharing one of their own stories is pretty intuitive as well. Trust and comfort are key to any interview. If someone feels comfortable around you, and senses at least a level of mutual trust, they will be more willing to share thoughts and feelings that maybe haven't been before.

The ability of radio/audio art in and of itself to accomplish this is intriguing as well. When suggesting a "tour" of the event being discussed and a present-tense reliving to go along with it, he puts this as a visual interpretation. If someone took a video of Jackie going to her kitchen and talking about how she was shot at there, it would probably feel less real than her detailed description of it and the images it conjures in our heads. In the other case, we have already been provided with a visual, and her voice alone can evoke the fear of that situation. Sound art of bullets whooshing/glass breaking added to her voice could even further entrench the living images in our minds.

Another idea I'm getting from this article (kind of indirectly) is that interviewing anyone and getting an amazing story out of it is possible. As humans, everyone is unique and has their own experiences and perspectives on those events. But an interviewer can use the common qualities: desire to be affirmed, need to be listened to, and drive to be better-to talk with a stranger and find something surprising.

I thought the This American Life, An Illustrated Guide was great. It may just be because I have heard Ira Glass a few times that I could hear his voice pretty clearly speaking his character's lines, but I really did feel like the characters were done really well it it really came alive. Which is great because the whole piece is about how radio is an auditory experience without visuals and how creative storytelling can be without visuals. But that message is being told to us through a visual medium without sound. Obvious but still interesting.

I agree with the points of the piece. The final idea, that is stated clearly at the end as all good radio programs ought to do, was dead on. The radio creator should not try and sound like everyone else creating radio, but it should be an honest expression of their own personality and style. I am trying to think of how I and other classmates can accomplish creating pieces in our own unique style while not including our literal voice. I know this piece addressed that, but I still wonder, especially when so many things Ira states our meant to be common guidelines for creating radio. To a certain degree, every time I hear a character say exactly the point of everything they've been talking about, even though this is effective, I now just think about how that's what every radio program does.

TAL reading response

I have to admit as a complete nerd and long time fan of "This American Life" that I actually own this comic already. However, reading it now in the context of our class, I am able to think about how the concepts Ira discusses relate to what I have already learned from project 1 and hope to accomplish in project 2.

The text does a really great job of outlining the interview process that Ira Glass uses. It was helpful to see how Ira organizes his interview notes and then move through the live event. In interview notes, you would expect to see a list of questions, but instead he pretty much has the story that he wants to hear outlined. This is broken down into big plot points, details, and revelations or hypothesis. It's evident within this technique that you would need to do a pre-interview and have a pretty good idea of the anecdotes that will make for an engaging piece.

I enjoyed the quote "Doing an interview is like hosting a party" from Noah Adams. I am used to teaching which takes a similar philosophy and can relate to the idea of setting the tone for participation.  Although, I have a bit of a harder time applying this concept to interviews. I think a part of it is that I'm still intimated by the equipment. This probably shows through when I am frustrated during the process of getting the mics set up and adjusted. The other part of it may be that I'm nervous that my enthusiasm for the story isn't as easily shown through facial expressions and nodding. I want to let them know that I'm listening and appreciate the story, but I am so used to doing that with verbal affirmations. I guess this is something that takes practice.

It's interesting that Ira suggests that you tell your own stories in order to get people to open up. I am currently working with some young people and I can see how this might be a helpful tactic. I don't want to take up a whole bunch of time, but it might be useful to engage them in an idea with my own example. It might also model the type of descriptive details and anecdotes I'm looking for in their stories.

I'm intrigued by the ethics of documentary work and I like how Ira stated, "my obligation is to undertand and document their point of view." I think we have a sense of responsibility with this work to tell others stories with a sense of respect and care. The ease of editing allows us to potentially alter what the interviewee may have intended and I think it's important to place this value up there next to our desire to engage audiences.

The form of this guide really serves it's content and function. The visual medium of comics and the way in which it uses frames, symbols, and time relates to some of the unique attributes of radio. While comics are visual, they are not quite as vivid as theatre or television. They rely on a limited amount of words and images, forcing us to fill in the rest of the story. I think Radio's intimate storytelling and ability to be a visual medium without the use of any pictures pushes our brains to work in a way similar to comics. There was a book that came out a few years ago called "Understanding Comics" and it really made me think about other artistic mediums. I'm curious if Ira Glass maybe read this book and was inspired to make his radio guide in comic form.

It could also be that Ira just wants to have that DIY hipster kind of appeal that comes from making a comic or zine about making stuff.

Sound Walk

This is what I have written from my sound walk:

footsteps
doors
stairway reverb
air conditioning (inside and outside)
construction- hammering, etc. and the jackhammering in the CMB
motorcycle (from inside and out)
muffled talking behind doors
cars, buses, traffic moving and breaking
wind
birds
people on phones
children, playground in church
car radio
Littlefield radio
chatter in restaurant
cabinets
food cartons
trashcan
tearing plastic off a case of coke
oven beeping
whistling
cash register
people ordering
jingling change
silverware
leaf blower
airplane
siren
dumpster
coughing
idling engine
crickets
talking in Spanish
coke machine hum
someone holding class
movie in CMB

Sound Walk Notes

Doorhandles
Footsteps echoing in stairwell
Walkie-talkies of construction workers
Metal Clangs
Trash hitting the dumpster
Motorcycles speeding by
Large truck starting its engine
Hammering in the distance
Breaks squeaking
Music from passerby's earbuds
Kids playing
Metal gates squeaking
Bumping into metal sign
Couples talking
Keys jingling on carabiner to the rhythm of the walker
Car door shutting
A/C machine outside building
Birds chirping
Radio music playing loudly
Cash register/money handling
Trays sliding and being set down
Unloading boxes
Plastic tearing
Crinkling wrappers
Rolling garbage can
Bus driving thru a puddle
Crickets echoing in parking garage
Suitcase rolling
Footsteps up stairs
Chairs rolling

Response Radio: An Illustrated Guide

To begin, this was the most entertaining piece of academic reading I've yet to come across in college. Ira Glass was made to be a cartoon. Prime cartoon material, if you will.  That being said,  this Illustrated Guide essentially served to reiterate mostly topics that we've already addressed in class, but in a little bit more precise detail.
     The piece began by discussing how difficult it can be to actually choose a story.  Much less several stories relating to the same topic.  Ira argued that you can find two stories that are both thematically strong, but it's always a better idea to roll with the one that can be told as a narrative, or a sequence of actions. Even more, a narrative that, as it progresses, has the ability to constantly raise ever deepening (or widening) questions. On top of this narrative, a good story also needs reflection.  Otherwise it might as well be a "bar story" as Ira referred to it.  He even argued that talk radio follows this format; always closing with some sort of reflective conclusion about the MEANING of whatever was just discussed.

Ira then proceeded to talk about interviewing, reviewing all of the techniques we've discussed thus far. A few new and interesting comments were made, though. He began by saying, "doing an interview is like hosting a party." This  didn't make sense at first, but then his following comments helped clarify.  Make the interviewee as comfortable as possible. He suggested telling them a story in order to elicit one from them. Apparently this is an old tactic, but I'd never heard of it... Along with making them comfortable, you have to push for more than a "here's what happened" story. If you're in a space they're comfortable with, ask them to take you on a tour and describe significant places. Not just where they were, but how they sounded, what they looked like, smelled like, what kind of feelings they caused you to feel, and why you think they caused you to feel those feelings.   It was put in simple terms at the end. Something happens. Here's why we're talking about this. Here's what it means.  Or "What happened?' "Why are we talking about this?" "What does this mean?" Once these three questions have been answered in detail, it can be considered a solid interview.

After the section on interviewing, they talked about editing, and that seemed to be the most redundant part of the article (comic?).  The main point here was to maintain rhythm.

After this, Ira made a few interesting points about music, that will help me consider when, and when not, music will be appropriate (if at all) in my future projects. He referred to music as the frame around the picture. It adds an extra layer of depth that can make an interview more than "two guys talking." Music can be used to add emphasis to an important point.  Even more emphasis can be added by bringing down the music right before a key point is made.

They continued to talk about ways to get involved with public radio, but I've fortunately gotten the opportunity to do that already!  JOIN KVRX!  But, a really entertaining article that helped solidify some of the techniques and approaches we've discussed in class up to this point.

Sound Walk Directions - Josh

I have a couple of ideas, partly because I feel like a walk down 6th St. could be construed as a cop-out, though a very interesting one I would say...

Option 1 - The Ten-Minute Tourist Trip:
Start on the corner of 6th Street and Red River on most any evening (evening is best).
Walk west until you hit either Guadalupe or Lamar depending on how far you want to walk.
(I just did this one tonight and it was simply fascinating...)

Option 2 - The Hidden City Serenity:
This one has three different starting places depending on how far you want to walk also...
Either start at 24th St. and Lamar at the Shoal Creek Trail just West/just off of Lamar (this is where I've started from as it's right by West Campus). Or start at Duncan Park between 9th and 10th St. just East of Lamar.
Travel down Shoal Creek Trail until you hit Lady Bird Lake (until you hit the river).

I feel like both these are pretty easy and accesible to students such as ourselves, and both of these can yield a lot of surprises.

Enjoy,
Josh Hernandez

Transom

just wanted to put in a plug for TRANSOM.org
this semester.

A good majority of your case study topics/people are featured or mentioned there, some with complete manifestos about their work.

Also a good source for reviews of gear, software, and all around sound goodness.

Check it out.

Sound maps

Lists of soundmaps

http://www.weirdvibrations.com/2010/01/13/sound-maps-ii/
(also here: a typology of sound maps- http://www.weirdvibrations.com/2010/01/10/atlas-sound-a-typology-of-sound-maps/)

How to make a sound map.

http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/blog_comments/1326/

Some better sound maps, *are what we listened to today in class:

*Sound Seeker

http://fm.hunter.cuny.edu/nysae/nysoundmap/soundseeker.html

*Cinco Cidades

http://www.cincocidades.com/

London Sound Survey

http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/soundmaps/more/96/35/

Soundcities

http://soundcities.com/

Soundtransit

http://soundtransit.nl

*Locus Sonus, live audio stream around the world.

http://locusonus.org/

*Radio Aporee, worldwide sound map, you can add your own.

http://aporee.org/maps/

Mapping Desire at UT  (seemed broken today, don't know if they've taken it down...)

http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/mappingdesire/

Open Sound New Orleans

http://www.opensoundneworleans.com/core/

Please feel free to add more that you find, in the comments section.

Sound Walk-Westin Womack

Hum of lights
Footsteps
Echoes in stairway
Noises
Cars
Machinery
Construction
Rumbling
Bus Stops
Distant Talking
Coughing
Machine hums
Air Conditioners
Birds
Paper Flapping
Doors open/shut
Cash registers
Fan hissing
Oven beeps
Vending machines
Coins dropping
Bag and paper crumpling
Beeping
Pan clanking/dropping
Radio Music
Crosswalk beeping
Door squeaking

Sound Walk Notes

The first thing I noted when we began the sound walk was the door squeaking as we entered the stairwell.  This sound moved us into our first space in my opinion, since we needed a few moments in the hallway to really settle into to what we were about to do. Next I wrote how the collective footsteps echoing in the stairwell sounding like a waterfall. There were construction related radios coming from either the top floor of the stairwell or the bottom, I couldn’t tell. As we waited in the stairwell and all the footsteps settled down I could hear the cars from the other side of the door. I could hear faint construction sounds and a few muffled voices.

Then the door opened and everything changed. The outside rushed over us and consumed us. I could then hear the frantic writing of everyone in our group. There was distant construction and squeaky breaks. We passed a man on the phone and I heard just an excerpt from his conversation. I wish I wrote it down. We came close to the busy street and all the cars sounded different. We passed a church where kids’ voices were nearly drowned out by the traffic. We moved through an invisible barrier that contained a high-pitched A/C noise that disappeared once we moved away from it. Makes the outdoors seem like it is composed of an infinite amount of contained sound rooms.

I could hear the birds. And a boy and girl walked past in a light inconsequential argument. I heard their voices and nothing else about them. A plane flew over the campus. There was dated music outside Littlefield that disappeared when we went inside. A trashcan was being emptied and then wheeled around; plastic being shaken and the floor being scratched. There was a beep I couldn’t place. I’m still really frustrated about that. The workers were speaking to each other; I want to say in Spanish but I couldn’t make it out so I might just be prejudice.  There was a loud ice machine. And someone was whistling.

At this point I might have gotten bored with what we were doing and I wrote “my own thoughts”.  This had two different meanings for me. First, when we were in Littlefield people kept staring at us, clearly curious about why a group of nearly twenty students are standing still and taking notes. Thinking about this distracted me from listening to our environment. The part of my brain that processes what my ears are taking in was busy processing my own thoughts. So I thought it might be worth writing. The second way in which I meant that was the noises I would project onto things I couldn’t possibly be hearing, for example once we left Littlefield we walked by a man eating lunch inside his truck. I heard his chewing. Even though I couldn’t literally hear any sound coming from the man I have seen enough movies where I understand the idea of hearing minute sounds like chewing as if I was in the characters own head with the reverberated crunches echoing through his ears.

Anyway next we moved into a garage where the fucking crickets or cricket were/was the most prominent sound. A man threw trash into a trashcan that made a loud echo. Then we went back upstairs and that’s all I wrote.

sound walk

hands, feet brushing, echoing
builds
quieter now
far away elevator
clamor of workers
cars in a hurry
metallic smash bang crash
beginning cars
squeaking brakes
differences between motorcycles, cars, buses, trucks
differences between approaching and passing cars
click of fixed gear bikes stopping
echo of construction far away
mid-range singing of electronics
vague whispers of conversation
musical air conditioner
feet
shoes
birds
radio as transition
restaurant small talk
crashing behind walls
the majority of human interaction is here
air conditioning blocking all that feels natural
trash cans rolling, louder, louden, louden
change clinking
beep of the cash register
radio and birds as transition to the outside world
cars drive by
idle engines
difference between a car passing us and us passing a car
exhale of brakes
rapid beeping of the crosswalk saying "go"
parking garage intensifies the sound of engines
some loud natural sound, grasshopper?
car noise echoes all around
door opening
transition to new, quiet place
professor small talk
echo of the stairwell
feet are slower now than when we were here before
sounds are softer now as we approach our beginning

Great interviewing

Other interview-based programs to tune into:

Fresh Air with Terry Gross (WHYY Philadelphia)  

http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/ 

• Some of the best examples from this program, which has been on for 20-plus years: Thelma Schoonmaker (Scorsese's editor), first 10-15 minutes. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10170626

• Keith Richards.  http://www.npr.org/2010/12/27/132286240/the-best-of-fresh-air-2010-keith-richards

THINK from KERA (Dallas)
http://www.kera.org/think/

Sound Walk Notes

dull hum the further we go down the stairs
sort of low ringing, fluctuates in tone, sounds other worldly
construction constant knocking
each car has different pitch
bump bump as each car goes over same pothole in road
squeak of bicycle tires
faint music off drag
hum/buzz in alley behind Littlefield house
engine of stopped semi pulses at steady pace
clip on girl's backpack hitting with each step she takes
AC outside of dorm
birds
plane overhead
click of bicycle
American Woman grows louder
can suddenly hear AC blowing like crazy inside cafe
speech that can't be deciphered behind counter
silverware clinks
plastic ripping
wheels on tile
cups being picked up and set down
plastic containers being picked up and set down
birds come in before we have even exited cafe
can hear more human sounds outside cafe
buses let out almost sigh as they stop
cricket amplified in garage
quieter inside
hiss of water coming out of fountain

This American Life Reaction - Josh

     My first reaction to this is, "this seems really familiar." This comic seemed like a neat little summary of our class minus the technical stuff. So basically its a giant hook, showing the great appeal of radio. At least that's what it seems like to me. I like how they go through how they make stories and all of that, but I really enjoyed the blurbs that cut in between the regular story. I found them to be super helpful for someone who is genuinely interested in getting into radio, or even someone who just wants to do this type of stuff for fun at home. Its true this doesn't delve into much of the technical stuff we've done in class, which has been some of the most helpful things we've done and why I can't say that this comic is a summary of the class. But at the same time, the extremely technical stuff is the stuff that would scare some people away pretty quickly.
     I always find it interesting how the story structure of radio works, and I think Ira did a very good job of explaining a general structure to radio stories, and then explaining why this way works. Its true that in most other mediums, blatantly stating the point at the end is almost an insult to the media consumer. Points and meanings are supposed to be more subtle. But in radio it works. It just works. I also really agreed with one quote that said, "radio is a very visual medium." Or something to that regard. It was interesting to see the contrast of the story the lady was telling, and then how he would get her to describe everything. And even in this comic form, I could tell how much more complete the story was. This bit just made a lot of good points that we've gone over in class, including a lot of good techniques for interviewing (some learned in class, some learned by experience already).
     Overall this was a very engaging introduction to how things are done at 'This American Life,' and a possibly persuasive tool for getting someone to join radio. I enjoyed it a lot.


Josh Hernandez

Sound Walk

So obviously these are kind of disjointed and crazy, but it was a cool experience!

Water running through pipes
hum-air conditioning
faint street noise
cars-going, starting, diesel engine, screeching brakes, trailers bumping
Shoes crunching gravel
birds
hammering reverberation
mustang revving
hum alley high pitch
crunching leaves
couple talking-only people talking so far
some birds singing, some chirping
faint music?
loud music
littlefield-very loud air conditioning-->simultaneous low hum and high blowing
ice cashier dinging and closing chatting plastic cracking on packages
boots on tile floors
doors wheezing open and closed
silverware falling
trash can rolling on tile
trays slapping on counter
ringing of (illegible) on standby
parking garage everything deepened and magnified
 -road noise
-grasshopper
-reverberant voices

My favorite sound was the loud vent/air conditioner in littlefield because of its duality. The very loud blowing higher pitched sound with a low humming noise was cool.

Sound Walk

The overarching "theme" of our walk, would definitely be changes in reverberation. The amount of sounds I heard and the amount of detail with which I heard them in all depended on the reverberatory  qualities of the spaces we walked through. Right out of the gate, from the classroom to the fourth floor hallway, I was shocked at how different things began to sound.  Even more so when we entered the stairwell, when the footsteps almost sounded like raindrops.  

When we got outside, there was simultaneously more and less happening, sonically. There seemed to be more sounds happening, but they seemed to be "smaller" in some way.  If everything I was hearing was coming from speakers, the sounds from outside might have been from a small set of computer speakers, or something of that caliber, while the sounds from the hallway and stairwell might have been from a medium sized guitar amplifier. After a little while of walking outside, though, I began to get overwhelmed. It almost seemed like there was no escaping sounds. They weren't too loud (other than the construction happening) but it seemed that an infinite number of sounds sounds were floating my way from all directions. Chirps, bits of conversations, squirrel jitters, cars driving by, AC units humming, keys jingling, feet stepping. Paying so much attention illuminated (to use visual terminology) how MANY things are happening and making sound that I hardly ever notice. 

Approaching Littlefield, I was anticipating escaping the bombardment that was happening outside, but once we entered, it got even worse.  Things came from all directions, similar to outside, but everything was sharp and piercing and pretty abrasive. Things seemed to come from much closer (which they were) and to use the similar illustration, it was like I had a pair of earbuds turned up way too loud shoved inside my head.  Sounds were much higher pitched.

When back outside, there was some relief, but I was still kind of bombarded. Once we reached the parking garage, the sounds softened a little bit, but acquired a brand new reverberatory qualities. I noticed that damn cricket more than anything though.  And the concrete walls did not help at all.

Once inside again, I felt similar to the way I did in Littlefield, but with less sounds, the hallway was a nice relief from the bombardment of the last 10 minutes.  The walls were even tighter, and if the Littlefield sounds were happening in that hallway, I might've exploded. 

Moving back into the CMB was familiar, and in the same way that home smells a certain way, and your favorite tshirt feels a certain way, it seemed like the CMB sounded a certain way.

One thing I noticed throughout the whole experience was, underneath everything, there was a hum.  And it changed pitch with each setting.  Outside it was a very low hum or wind, engines, and machines, and in Littlefield it was almost a squeak. Especially after spending a weekend in the Hill Country, where none of that hum even existed, I realized that city sounds are kind of inescapable. I didn't realize how much sound is constantly happening around us. It's kind of eerie. 

Sound Walk notes by Noah

  As we make our way down the hallway, the first thing I notice is the shuffling of our feet. The sound shifts from a collective shuffle to more distinguished and individual sounds as I listen closer. I hear the squishing of a foot slipping in and out of a sandle as the person in front of me moves towards the doorway. The keys at my side shake and jingle in rhythm with our footsteps. As we enter the stairwell, the shuffling echoes and the soft brushing noise of hands touching walls becomes more present. We wait patiently at the bottom of the stairs. You can hear the hum of the pipes and the clanking of
construction behind the door.

  Finally, the door swings open and the sound quality shifts from the reverberant stairwell to the openness of the outdoors. you can hear the different qualities of engines of various car types humming by. Quietly underneath the noises of the traffic, you can hear the protected high pitch voices of children playing. The swinging carraige of a truck carrying a heavy load of cargo overcomes the other traffic. We continue walking and I am able to zoom in on the distinctive noise of a man scratching a piece of paper against his stubble. A couple holding hands walks by and I am unable to get the full context of their conversation, but recognizable words pierce through. "high school" "senior" This is the first time during the walk I have heard dialogue and it sounds strange against the bed of noise I had become attuned to.

  We transition from one zone of sound to another with the familiar screeching call of grackels. Their screech is met with another, a squealing electric guitar riff. We enter the cafeteria and my senses immediately pick out familiar noises. Silverware clanking, cart wheels rolling against the floor, register opening, the beep of the scanner. These signature sounds are produced in a familiar rhythm that lets me know the tone of the space.

 We find another entrance to the building through a parking garage. I hear the chirping of a cricket and the distant muffled voices of two men in discussion. I can't see either of these things, but I hear them. We travel back up the stairwell and towards the classroom. The last sound I hear is the bubbling and hiss of the water fountain.

  I felt one of the most interesting things about the soundwalk was the performance of us listening in public. I think it was evident that we weren't just going for a walk. Especially when we were inside of the cafeteria space. This act made our collective presence feel almost voyeuristic and I wonder how others perceived our presence. Would the addition of a "listen" stamp might cause other folks to stop and listen or perceive what we were doing differently?

I also found the different zones of sound on campus to be interesting. We talked in class about a sound artist that found the frequency for different cities. Could this be applied to different areas of campus? Although, the amount of continual construction on our campus may throw the idea of different zones off.

Sound walk notes

When the sound walk began, I first noticed our footsteps that created a layer of sound in the stairway. I heard the building breathing as we stood at the bottom of the stairs. The roar of traffic was the first sound to pour through when the door was opened. Walking down Guadalupe, The oncoming and going traffic drowned out much of everything until I heard the high pitched sounds of children talking and laughing. In the distance I heard construction. The clings and hammering sounded scattered across the city. I could hear a drone of machinery somewhere near them. Walking back towards campus, birds were heard chirping and whistling, scattered just as the clings and hammering. Squeaking brake pads passed us by. Approaching Little field, music sounded from some speakers.  The murmurs of voices were scattered throughout the inside of the cafe. Computer beeps sounded out the cafe like birds as silverware clinked like the construction hammering outside. Chip bags could be heard being picked up and opened. Doors opened and closed on all sides of us. Even inside, the music could be heard blaring through the outside speakers. The wheels of a trash can rolled and bumped across the tiled floor. Under all this sound, I heard the A.C. fan humming. Leaving the cafe, on Dean Keaton, bicycle wheels spun as bikers rode by.  Waves of cars roared passed us on the street. A bus coming to its stop exhaled loudly as it halted. Inside the garage, the reverb of outside voices and traffic could be heard. The vending machines stood humming in the corner.
      I couldn't help but notice that the everyday things around us sound alive.  When paying attention to the sound of everything around me, it all seemed to have life. The clangs of silverware sounded almost like the chirps of birds outside and the sounds of construction. They came in short bursts and never from just one direction. They were always scattered around. The computer beeps in the cafe also reminded me of chirping birds. The CMB building sounded as though it were breathing as we stood at the foot of the stairs. The bus I saw come to its stop also seemed to breath as it exhaled loudly. The on-coming cars roared out at us as we passed. It was interesting to see how everything seemed to be alive in sound. It was like walking through a jungle filled with wild animals that all inhabited their own space.  It was almost like a jungle of sound.

My Sound Walk Notes and Reflections - Josh

My exact notes:
Shuffling steps. Friends chat in an office. The stairwell sounds like marching. The door is extremely creaky. The AC reverb in the stairwell. Many papers rustle with pens. A cart is being pulled outside. A vehicle goes by the door. The door opens & opens clear sound. Cars, people, trucks starting. Each vehicle has a distinct sound-small vs. big, small vs. small... Construction somewhere, multiple wheres. Always feet. Children playing. A friend says hello, I hear her music. Cars idle, we move. The sound of generators from each different building is heard everywhere. Impatient truck revs engine at people. Finally birds chirping-usurps construction. Each shuffles different. Conversation: one sided. Cafe music: American Woman. Loud bike lock turns attention. Different conversations, different languages. Food orders, food itself sounds. Sound of work, trash can empty/rolling across tile as man excuses way through crowd. Overwhelming AC--didn't notice till now. A whistle, for attention, not of a song. Conversational laughter. Every sound echoes in the garage--from inside and out. Overwhelming sound of crickets makes it sound like midnight. Rushing water from the fountain. Hands on railing sound like paper brushing together. 'Jo Running Upside Down,' a movie, plays quietly in the hallway. Everyone slams into their chairs.

There was one thought I had about this experience that stood out to me, and that was about how every person, even every thing has a very distinct sound; like a fingerprint. First I noticed how each person steps, shuffles, and scuffs ever so slightly differently. Then I noticed how each car, though they sounded similar, had distinct noises. The different construction sights sounded completely different, and each bird had a different whistle. Every conversation we walked by had a different dynamic that you could here and even every plastic salad container rustled a little different. I just thought it was interesting how everything sounded different and how each project we do takes that, and then shapes the individuality of a person, place, or thing (a noun I guess). I like that.