I really enjoyed building microphones. Initially I expected the process to be rather difficult, but it turned out to be more detailed than difficult. Learning to solder was really fun, but it took a lot of patience and precision. During my Drift walk, my microphone rigs worked really well, except if I happened to move the microphones during the recording, they picked up a muffled sound that does not sound good. Nevertheless, I was so surprised with how well the microphones picked up sound! I was able to pick up overall ambience, like traffic noise or wind noise, but I was also able to pick up extreme close-ups, such as the flapping of birds’ wings. With unlimited time and money, I don’t think I would change anything about my microphones, in fact. I think they work really well, and I like the idea of homemade things. I suppose that with unlimited time, I would just spend more time on my soundwalk, seeking out the extreme close-up sounds, because I really like the feeling they give.
Overall, my experience with the MiniDisc recorder was positive. It took me a bit of time to figure out how to set the audio to “manual,” but once I got it, it was great. I don’t really mind having to set the audio to manual every time; however, if I had my ideal recorder, I would make it so I wouldn’t have to set that each time. I don’t have a whole lot to compare the MiniDisc recorder to, considering I haven’t used a whole lot of other audio equipment. I was really impressed with how good the sound that the MiniDisc recorder sounded, though. Ideally, I would change the screen of the recorder so it was easier to get around all the Menus, but other than that, I was happy with the MiniDisc recorder.
As for audio-editing software, I chose to use SonicStage and Audacity. Prior to Drift 1, I had never used either of these applications, but I found them to be pretty easy to figure out and use. I chose these primarily because they had good demos, but also because a lot of other people were using these applications, so I could get help if I needed it. I like how easy-to-use Audacity is; this characteristic of it helped me to accomplish my creative goals. For future projects, I will continue to use this software.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ten Questions
1. Would it be interesting to record dialog of people chatting?
2. Could I find interesting sights or sounds indoors somewhere?
3. Could people be the subject of a drift- whether this includes dialog or noises people make as they walk down the street?
4. Could I base my drift on only one color? Yellow, for instance?
5. Could I find more sound differences between night and day?
6. Would sounds be recorded differently if I was in a tunnel?
7. Is there a place I can find where there are NO car noises?
8. Can I find deeper sounds, sounds that record more than one noise into each individual microphone?
9. Are there any train tracks nearby?
10. Is there a place downtown that I could classify as the "quietest," and to contrast that, a place I could classify as the "loudest?"
2. Could I find interesting sights or sounds indoors somewhere?
3. Could people be the subject of a drift- whether this includes dialog or noises people make as they walk down the street?
4. Could I base my drift on only one color? Yellow, for instance?
5. Could I find more sound differences between night and day?
6. Would sounds be recorded differently if I was in a tunnel?
7. Is there a place I can find where there are NO car noises?
8. Can I find deeper sounds, sounds that record more than one noise into each individual microphone?
9. Are there any train tracks nearby?
10. Is there a place downtown that I could classify as the "quietest," and to contrast that, a place I could classify as the "loudest?"
Drift 1 Assessment
While I was out on Drift 1, I got a little bothered when I couldn’t seem to find any noises other than car noises. I felt like everywhere I went, there was a car in the background of my recording. However, as my soundwalk brought me into neighborhoods and away from major streets, I realized that this was not worth being bothered by, because I ended up recording many sounds that did not have cars in the background. Another thing that kind of stressed me out during Drift 1 was once when I ended up in a neighborhood (on the other side of Oakland) that I didn’t know anything about, and everything was really eerily quiet. I got a little scared, so I purposefully had to turn around and go back towards Oakland.
I felt more emotions than simply bothered or stressed during Drift 1; I also felt at peace and contemplative at times. As I walked through the park in Shorewood, the sounds of nature caused me to think a lot about how people rarely stop to just listen to what is around them. This contemplative mood was good, and heightened my awareness to soft noises or potential noises, like the wings of birds, for instance. Another time I felt really at peace was when I turned off of Maryland Ave (at the beginning of my soundwalk) and entered into the neighborhoods there. The noises of cars died down rather abruptly, and I felt really at ease at how my project would turn out.
One thing that really surprised me while I was on my soundwalk for Drift 1 was when I was on Cramer Street, and all of a sudden my microphones started picking up a noise. I couldn’t tell where the noise was from, and I was pleasantly surprised by this! I stood still for a few minutes and just listened into my headphones to try to decipher what the noise was. It turned out it was the bobcat that I ended up recording a few seconds later! Another time I was surprised during Drift 1 was after I recorded myself stepping on fallen crabapples. I thought this noise would be really neat, but when I listened to it, I was surprised to find that it was actually pretty boring! On the other hand, a noise I thought would be really boring—when I patted on the yellow bouquet of flowers outside of Sendik’s grocery store—turned out to be a pretty interesting noise! This surprised me, and taught me that sometimes, subtle noises are more interesting than quick and kind of “loud” noises.
My absolute favorite experience from Drift 1 was definitely in the park when I recorded the birds flying out of the big bush. I wasn’t sure if the microphones would pick up their wings, although this was my hope. Even with my headphones on, I couldn’t really tell if the wings were recorded, so it was a wonderful realization when I listened to it on my computer and found out that I could hear the wings really well… and that they sounded really good, too! This made me feel really proud of my homemade microphones and of the sound that I had found while on my soundwalk. This experience affected me because through it, I learned that many of the best sounds I’ll pick up are soft, and I learned that my microphones do an awesome job picking up these soft noises.
I felt more emotions than simply bothered or stressed during Drift 1; I also felt at peace and contemplative at times. As I walked through the park in Shorewood, the sounds of nature caused me to think a lot about how people rarely stop to just listen to what is around them. This contemplative mood was good, and heightened my awareness to soft noises or potential noises, like the wings of birds, for instance. Another time I felt really at peace was when I turned off of Maryland Ave (at the beginning of my soundwalk) and entered into the neighborhoods there. The noises of cars died down rather abruptly, and I felt really at ease at how my project would turn out.
One thing that really surprised me while I was on my soundwalk for Drift 1 was when I was on Cramer Street, and all of a sudden my microphones started picking up a noise. I couldn’t tell where the noise was from, and I was pleasantly surprised by this! I stood still for a few minutes and just listened into my headphones to try to decipher what the noise was. It turned out it was the bobcat that I ended up recording a few seconds later! Another time I was surprised during Drift 1 was after I recorded myself stepping on fallen crabapples. I thought this noise would be really neat, but when I listened to it, I was surprised to find that it was actually pretty boring! On the other hand, a noise I thought would be really boring—when I patted on the yellow bouquet of flowers outside of Sendik’s grocery store—turned out to be a pretty interesting noise! This surprised me, and taught me that sometimes, subtle noises are more interesting than quick and kind of “loud” noises.
My absolute favorite experience from Drift 1 was definitely in the park when I recorded the birds flying out of the big bush. I wasn’t sure if the microphones would pick up their wings, although this was my hope. Even with my headphones on, I couldn’t really tell if the wings were recorded, so it was a wonderful realization when I listened to it on my computer and found out that I could hear the wings really well… and that they sounded really good, too! This made me feel really proud of my homemade microphones and of the sound that I had found while on my soundwalk. This experience affected me because through it, I learned that many of the best sounds I’ll pick up are soft, and I learned that my microphones do an awesome job picking up these soft noises.
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