Final-- "Feeling"

"Feeling"
Here is my final for 116.
You can listen to the mp3 here.
You can listen to the .wav here.
The final run time is 00:39 (seconds).

Final rough cut

Listen here.

Final Interview With Bassist of Gay Riots

You can listen to the mp3 here.
The wav here.
Run time is 1:34.
Questions:

• What inspires you?
• How did the band form?
• What do you see in the future?
• What kind of music do you play?

Interview Rough Cut

This is the rough cut with my interview with the bassist of gay riot. Listen here.

Essay #3 Extra Credit

Aural Architecture

             I'm screaming at the top of the grand canyon. All I can hear is my voice bounce off the rough surfaces of the rocks into the ears of the animals around me. Everything is loud and echos like my voice is traveling all over the world. The grand canyon has an aural architecture that is a large space that allows my voice to echo and travel. "The composite of numerous surfaces, objects, and geometries in a complicated environment creates an aural architecture," (Blesser and Salter 2).

             Aural architecture is a combination of everything in a room. Every room has its own tone that allows listener to feel something evoked from that particular room. The sound of a room can provide a feeling for a listener. "The acoustics of an open area can produce feelings of either freedom or insecurity," (Blesser and Salter 2). Everyone has their own experiences; therefore, everyone's experiences with aural architecture are different. My experience at the grand canyon can be totally different from someone else's. While I think the grand canyon is vast and relays a feeling of openness and potential with the traveling of my voices, someone else may think it is daunting and too big for one to compress sound. 

             Aural architecture is dependent on one's understanding on the world. "Depending on the physical design and the cultural context, aural architecture can stimulate anxiety, tranquility, socialization, isolation, frustration, fear, boredom, aesthetic pleasure, and so on," (Blesser and Salter 11). The experience of aural architecture is all very subjective. To have a basic understanding of aural architecture, one must have an understanding of spatial awareness. "These four aspects of auditory spatial awareness correspond to four aspects of aural architecture: social, navigational, aesthetic, and musical spatiality" (Blesser and Salter 12). This is also where deep listening can come into play because deep listening allows for one to have spatial awareness.

          Overall, it is important to know that aural architecture is a part of our everyday lives. The rooms that we surround ourselves with all have their own aural architecture. The way we have lived shapes our understanding of that structure. 

    

Works Cited

Blesser, Barry, and Linda R. Salter. Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007. Print.

My Rant about South of Nowhere

This is my rant about season three of South of Nowhere. (recorded in my car)
It's nine takes in one! Final run time is 1:52.
Listen for the mp3 version here.
Listen to the wav. version here.

Unnamed Sound

This is my Unnamed Sound Project. You can listen here. (wav.) Or here. (mp3)
The total run of my recording was 2:03. The final edit is 00:32.
There is a buzz in the background due to the input jack on the recorder.
A google maps link can be found here.

Essay #2

Sydney McBee

Essay #2

10/26/15

Deep Listening

            Deep listening involves a certain discipline of control and patience. It can be explained as taking in all the sounds around one, but also, having the ability to focus on one sound and expanding the world around one with sound. A better explanation comes from Pauline Oliveros from a short writing she wrote back in 2003, “Deep Listening is a practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible,” (Oliveros, 2003). Thinking of deep listening, what comes to mind is a song. First, a listener takes in the whole song, then a listener can depict certain elements of the song. The listener can hear clearly the drums, the guitar, and the bass. The listener is able to focus one instrument. That is a quality of deep listening. Deep listening can be seen as kind of a broad concept. One needs to determine whether he or she is listening or hearing. Listening involves the act of focusing in on sounds and creating a culture with what one is hearing, according to an interview with Oliveros, (Baker, “An interview…”).  “Deep Listening is a process. I guess the best definition I could give is listening to everything all the time and remind yourself when you’re not listening. You also have to understand that there’s a difference between hearing and listening,” (Baker, “An interview…”). Listening is understanding the sounds going around oneself. It is important not to just hear the sounds but understand them. It is always good to depict the sounds around oneself. For instance, a person sits on a hill. He hears the wind through the trees, cars on the road, people chatting besides him, birds chirping, and his own breathing. If he can zero in on each of these sounds and realize their presence, he is deep listening. Deep listening is a process used to gain better understanding of a culture and an environment.

 Works Cited

Baker, Alan. "An interview with Pauline Oliveros." American Mavericks. American Public Media, Jan. 2003. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.          

Oliveros, Pauline. "Introduction." N.p., 24 June 2003. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

Field Recordings

For this project, I went on a a couple drifts for several hours in order to collect unique sounds. This took intense listening. It was an exhausting process.

My drift strategy involved a random generator app that I used every two minutes to tell me which direction to take.

The first sound, Trapped, I recorded can be listened to here.
I recorded it on October 14th, 2015. The total length of the recording was 4:02 minutes. The final cut ended up being 1:13. This was recorded at 2:33 pm on Water Street underneath the bridge at the Milwaukee Swing Park. Here is a google map link.

The second sound, Realism, I recorded can be listened to here.

I recorded this on October 14th, 2015, as well. This was at 4:17 pm. The full recording was 3:16. The final cut ended up being 1:20. It was recorded on North Jackson by a plastic bag tied to a bench. It created unique sound. 

Here is a google map link.

My last sound, Row, can be listened to here.

I recorded this on October 17th, 2015 at 6:03 pm. The full recording was 6:43. The final cut ended up being 00:53. 

It was recorded off of Humboldt by the river. Here is a google map link.

FIELD RECORDING ROUGH CUTS

• Sound One Listen here.
• Sound Two Listen here.
• Sound Three Listen here.

Drift Strategy

Every two minutes, I will use a random generator that will tell me to go either go left, right, straight, or diagonal. This will determine the direction that I will walk.

Found Sound Final Recording

This is the final recording of my found sound project. You can listen here.

This recording was especially difficult to make because it was so experimental and new to me. I think it turned out pretty good despite my lack of experience. I should give off a hectic kind of eerie feeling. It is kind of showing the horrors of everyday life with laughter; yet, this loud static noise that creates a suspense, heart-racing feeling.

Sound Logs:

·       Sound 1: The sound reminds me of an airplane. It is full of static and loud and rough. It’s a dark and twisted feeling.

·       Sound 2B: This sound has a distinct rhythm that sounds like a crinkling. It evokes a dark feeling.

·       Sound 3: This sounds like aliens and very sci-fi like.

·       Sound 3B: For some reason this sound makes me think of the beach or a windy day with a flag flying the background.

·       Sound 3C: This sound feels like a fall day while it’s raining while some men are working on a house or construction in the background.

·       Sound 3D: This kind of sounds like a film reel projecting a film. It is long and has a good basis.

·       Sound 4B: There is a bird chirping and people talking in the back. It sounds like a picnic at the park.

·       Sound 5B: It sounds like another sound of birds chirping while someone has a microphone while walking. There is a lot of rustling.

·       Sound 5C: There are more birds in the background with the sound of cars whizzing past.

·       Sound 5D: It sounds like birds chirping in the forest. It feels adventurous but also relaxing.

·       Sound 7: There is a lot of wind noise and clinking. It feels very industrial.

·       Sound 7B: People are working on something in the background and water falling into a bucket.

·       Sound 8A: There are birds chirping with a loud clip noise that is super distinct.

·       Sound 10: Sounds like wind and cars driving past with people talking in the background and a small conversation.

·       Sound 11B: Birds chirping with cars in the background driving. It sounds like a nice spring day.

·       Sound 12: Sounds like someone in some industrial setting with either cars or some large machine making a whizzing noise.

·       Sound 13: It starts off with a jingle, like someone is walking a dog with quiet conversations in the background.

·       Sound 16: It sounds like someone is sitting on a hill watching cars drive past on a busy street.

·       Sound 16B: A dog is barking in the background quietly with wind in the back. It sounds like I am sitting on a bench while reading a book.

·       Sound 17: First starts out with creaking and then some man talking about gas.

·       Sound 19A: It sounds like a dark and stormy night. You can hear the thunder and the heavy rain.

·       Sound 20: There is a drill noise in the background with another creaking noise.

·       Sound 21: It sounds like a night with conversations in the back and crickets chirping. It sounds like a nighttime bonfire.

·       Sound 22: There are a lot of cars driving past with a car beeping in the background.

·       Sound 23: This sounds like construction and beeping in the background. There a machines backing up and it sounds rough.

·       Sound 24: This sounds like a scuffing and a stream of noise in the background. It sounds rough and rustic. 

FOUND SOUND ROUGH CUT

Found Sound Rough Cut: Hectic

The track is rough and hectic. It is only the beginning of a track that should sound rustic and chaotic. I hope is shows that.

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/smmcbee/public/Film_116/sounds/McBee_FA_Rough.wav

Essay #1

Essay #1

Soundscape

            The article “The Rural Soundscape” written by Murray Schafer discusses the difference between hi-fi soundscape and lo-fi soundscape. Hi-fi soundscape is when a listener can hear sounds in the distance due to a low ambient noise level (Schafer 43). For example, when I am in my large empty home, I can hear my dogs feet tap on the tile floor downstairs because of the quietness in the house. A lo-fi soundscape is when small sounds like tree rustling or footsteps are blocked out by surrounding city noises or busy noises (Schafer 43). For example, it is hard to hear someone opening a soda can from across the street due to people rushing on the sidewalks talking and cars zooming past. Hi-fi and lo-fi soundscapes explain how acutely sounds can be heard in different landscapes.

            Schafer talks about a soundmark that he remembers distinctly from his childhood. He remember the sound of churning butter and how it changed over time as the butter started gaining a better consistency (Schafer 48). He talks about he did not notice it much as a child, but it is a soundmark of his youth. By listening to the distinct sounds of the butter, he was able to realize when the butter was getting closer and closer to being done. A soundmark from my youth would be hearing high heels on the wooden floor. The distinctive click on the ground would alert me of my mother’s presence in the house. When the clicking stopped, I knew my mom had left for work. When the clicking had just begun, I knew she had just gotten back from work. Without realizing it as a kid, I was taking sound clues to determine whether or not she was home.