Drift 2 Map

Link to Drift 2

I did my Drift 2 walk on April 2nd.


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Drift 1 Sound Maps

Sound 1-Running Man














Sound 2-Howling Cars















Sound 3-Sewer Water














Sound 4-Garage Door & Birds















Sound 5-Sirens

Link to Drift 1

I did my Drift 1 walk on March 1


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Soundwalk Response

1. I didn't really have any issues finding areas to listen. Everything was clear and there weren't any overwhelming or distracting sounds.
2. I found it virtually impossible to move without making sounds. I picked up a lot of noise even moving my hand along the mic cord.
3. After i unplugged my ears, they appeared a lot more sensitive to the smallest sounds. Had I just listened normally, I probably wouldn't have been able to pick up as much.
4. people laughing, elevator ding, people typing, vending machine humming, keys opening doors, people replacing copy paper, computers running, feet sliding on carpet, heater blowing, voices dampened by walls, water fountain running, someone filling up a water bottle, clock ticking, keys jingling, paper crumpling, door latching, man putting his coat on, foreign language, elevator door creaking
5. It depended on what the sound was. Although I couldn't see people laughing, I could easily identify it, but there were more ambient sounds like creaking and humming that I couldn't put my finger on exactly.
6. Differentiating between human and machine sounds was pretty easy. I think I've heard enough of them throughout my life to be able to tell the difference.
7. I noticed a change in volume primarily as things approached me or got further away, but never really heard a change in the sound themselves.
8. See question 7.
9. Yea, I did create my own sounds, but it felt like I was trying too hard to create something special. I should've just taken it as is. I like the more natural approach opposed to the synthetic.
10. Absolutely. I appreciate the sounds I hear a lot more. Not to mention I pick up on things I otherwise would've ignored.
11. I think it'll bring an added element of focus to sound. Usually I think about getting sound to match the visuals, but now I find myself thinking the other way. I'll look more at using the sound as the focus of the piece.

To the left is the map of the sounds I heard from where i was seated in the Union. The sounds became repetitive after awhile, but I did notice interesting patterns to them. Specifically with the door to the Union, there was an initial squeak, followed by a deflating or compressing sound and then the door would bang shut. It was like this whether or not people were going in out of. Also, I noticed the difference from feet shuffling along the carpet opposed to people moving along the tile floor. There was a much more distinct click to people walking on the tile, while people drew a much more sweep to their walk when they were on a carpet; similar to an eraser on a chalk board. I think listening with your eyes closed changed my perspective on things. I noticed myself listening to try to identify what sounds were to help label them better. I think it gave some perspective into life as if I were blind. I couldn't imagine only using you ears to convey images, but I think this changed my mind some. Below is a list of the sounds that I heard while on my group walk (more like a sit) and my individual walk.

Below the picture on the left, is a picture of the individual sound walk I took. It was kind of nice. I'm pretty sure I was the only one from my class who went up to the fourth floor of the Union (I could be wrong). Anyway, I noticed myself hearing a lot of typical things, but since I was keeping my ears open for the sake of the assignment, I paid more attention. It was kind of ironic to hear a ding from an elevator as I started, followed by another ding as I ended. I thought the symmetry was nice. Along the walk I noticed sounds of paper rustling while someone was reloading the copier. I heard people's keys jingling as they opened their office doors. I also noticed a constant general droning sound. I'm assuming it was the heating vents and I did notice it get louder at one corner of the floor. There was also a lot of background noise of people talking and typing on keyboards as well as the beeps from pushing buttons on cell phones. There were two water fountains and one remained silent, while the other one was making typical running noise from recently being used. I heard some faculty members talking, but didn't pay attention enough to decipher what the fine details were. Unfortunately, I only wrote a list of what I heard (see pic 2) instead of writing where along my walk I heard those things. I'll keep that in mind for the next walk. Regardless, like i said earlier, below is the picture of the route I took for the individual sound walk.