Walking in Pacific Spirit Park, with a daycare on one side and the forest on the other. Chirping birds, laughing children and my own movement in the wet earth were the most prominent sounds. Image on the left I tried to draw how the sounds felt. Image on the right I tried a 3d scan of the forest and then imposed a digital version of the sounds. Below is the audio file that corresponds with the experience.
Wind Play
My walk map in to different sound area on a beautiful sunny day.
Street Sounds in red
Bird sounds in pink
Boat Motor in yellow
The waves in blue
Acoustic Kite: tracing sounds in the sky.
Sound Map of Gary Point Park.
Sound Section of Garry Point Park
Assignment 08:
Trying to understand how sound shapes space or how space can be shaped to change sound perception.
The shapes of sounds as they are understood by me with their audible inflections and abruptness alongside how they fade in and out in volume.
Grey – Continuous Low Tones
Pink – Intermittent Middle Tones
Yellow – Abrupt High Tones
This was my understanding of the space around my residence building and along the open field and garden portions of the exterior space. I wanted to categorize the sounds more generally rather than specifically recognizing any particularly sounds producers. As well I wanted to illustrate that even if an area like the top left was very quiet, almost silent, there was still an overarching low tone that fills the space.
WIND OBJECT
Tuning in
I went to the open space near Harvey Reginald MacMillan Cairn on a rainy day testing out the differences of raindrops hitting different materials.
-umbrella (fabric)
-concrete
-vegetation leaves
Also, the gradual change of sound when a car was passing.
Windplay
I cut tracing paper into strips of different widths and fixed them on cardboard. I also included a tissue strip and the package of potato chips to find out different reactions of different materials.
In-class exercise
I took my previous approach to sound sketching but implemented it in a louder indoor space rather than a soft outdoor space. Sounds here are much more muddled together than in the outdoor space where each sound could be pin pointed to a location. When inside an open concept cafe the sounds really do mix together creating this blanket of very loud flowing noise. It was hard to distinguish what was loudest at times since it was all continuous yet sporadic. Link to video here – https://youtu.be/XCwbwKwMLFU
Not sure why my images are blurry.
Tuning In
I sat on a bench near the seawall to listen to the sounds of False Creek. Even though there were no roads immediately adjacent, the hum of traffic was constant. The aquabus would near then float away, moving the water and creating waves. Cyclists would whiz by, the sound intensifying as they approached. Pedestrians and cyclists would pass, their feet pounding the pavement. A water feature rippled behind me.
After listening to the various sounds and noting where they were coming from, I attempted to draw what each sounded like if it were a line. I also noted the various topics of conversation I overheard — with covid being the most popular.
Recording 1: traffic, aquabus, water, pedestrians, runners, cyclist, crow
Recording 2: rattling bike, podcast playing on speaker, crow
Windplay
I created a windplay object out of paper from my recycling bin. I crumpled up each piece of paper and attached it to a string and hung them at different heights in a cluster. There was not enough wind on the day that I hung it outside to make a substantial sound (see video) so I swung the object around and recorded the sound it made instead (see audio). The crumpled papers hitting each other create a rough and sharp sound, reminiscent of walking on fallen leaves in autumn.
In-Class Assignment: Sounds around my building as a score [will revisit]
Tuning In Exercise: Mapping sounds on campus and their associations
Windplay Exercise:
I created a wind sculpture out of watercolor and trace paper. The watercolor paper served as a structural element from which to affix trace paper strips. First I created one that had a curvilinear spine with trace wrapped around it. Then I figured I would test out a second option, which was watercolor paper strip fixed in a circle with trace hanging from it. I initially brought them outside behind my apartment, but because it is a small park enclosed by mid rise buildings there was no wind. I moved to an alley way next to two high rises because I know there is always a wind tunnel there. The wind sculptures produced slightly different sounds: the first one produced scrapping sounds as the trace hit the watercolor paper whereas the second created loud, shuddering, crinkly noises as the trace bumped itself.
In-Class Exercise
In this exercise I observed sounds from my balcony. My method of representation uses black to show sounds with bass (People talking, walking, and biking) and blue to show sounds with higher pitches (chirping birds and the rattling and rustling of squirrels). The location, paths, and radiation of these sounds are shown both in plan and section.
Assignment 8-
Tuning In
I sat at a bench at Kitsilano Beach Park and observed the sounds around me. I thought about each sound and tried to express its characteristics through lines and how I experienced them traveling into my ear. The loudest sounds were the crashing waves of the water which is expressed in back and forth movement, getting noisier when crashing into a wall or the sand at the shore. The airplane above was loud, but not as crisp of a sound compared to the water. The airplane sound lines are shown as very blurry and dense. Similar distant sounds were the trees and vehicle traffic happening behind me, which are shown as a background noise which was not as overwhelming and distinguishable. The sounds of people walking, talking, running, and biking on the path were significantly dynamic and quickly paced. For example, the sound of a bike zipping by was louder as it approached and became quit immediately when it left. Its closeness allowed me to hear the sound of the tire rubber rolling on damp asphalt. The path of the tires and their rolling shape show their presence in my hearing experience, as the bottoms of the tires are darkened to show their unique sounds when making contact with the wet ground. The sounds of dogs running on the beach were faint, as the small movement of sand from their paws are represented with faint sand-like dots.
Wind Play
I created a wind-play object from plastic. Cutting equally sized strips and tying them together, I formed three long strips. After observing how they behaved in the wind, I was surprised to how the weight of the knots changed the way each strip swayed in the wind. The contrast between the three strips created a dancing effect, as each strip uniquely wiggled but still followed the same motion and direction of the other. The structured fluidity of the object’s movements reminded me of an octopus and its tentacles moving underwater. I learned from creating this object that wind energy plays an important role in not only natural occurring forms and patterns, but how vegetation and habitat behave and move. How can we design so wind can be “seen” or manipulated in the landscape?
Public space sounds study through lines.
Private space sound study through lines.