Building the microphone was a very frustrating process. It was frustrating not because it was hard, but because there was a lack of supplies for the amount of students. We only had one wire cutters and four solder guns, one of which did not work well, for a class of over twenty students. I spent two class periods (four hours) waiting for supplies and attempting to use inadequate equipment, and had not yet finished my microphone. Then I lost the microphone I was working on and had to pick up new supplies. By this time most the people were done with their microphones and I was able to have a good working solder gun right away and instant access to wire cutters. It took me twenty minutes and they worked great! I then found my other microphones that I had "lost" inside my backpack and was able to finish those up. It took me five minutes. So, since I had two microphones, I hooked one of them up to a stethoscope I had bought to get some interesting sounds, and set up a wind screen on the other. I took a quick walk around campus to test them out and was pleased by the sounds I got.
The drift walk was really frustrating to find time for, since I didn't want to be rushed and wanted to do it all at once. I'm gone most weekends at ultimate frisbee tournaments, and don't have any long gaps in my school days. So I only had one shot on a Friday to go out on my drift walk. The pair of headphones I bought for the drift walk decided to break right as I was getting on my bike to leave for my drift spot. So I had to quickly grab my crappy smaller pair that fits into my ears and use those instead.
Because I had to use crappy headphones, it was very hard to focus on the sounds I was hearing and get in the mood of the drift walk. Another frustration was when I pulled out my stethoscope microphone rig and tried to record sound with it. I found out that in the process of biking to my spot the microphone had broken. My original microphone that I had the wind screen on, however, worked great!
My ideal microphone and recorder setup, with unlimited money, would include a large crew of sound technicians that knew what they were doing with sound. I would allow them to buy whatever equipment their minds could conger up to record the sounds around us. I would also hire a couple dozen traveling performers to entertain us while we went on our drift walks, a master chef, and a traveling tiki bar (all traveling with us as we went). We would tour the world and eventually go into space (since we had unlimited funds) and go to the moon and to Mars and record sounds there. Since we had unlimited time, I'd also like to visit other galaxies and see what the sound was like there. As for actual equipment I'd use... I don't really know... probably a shotgun microphone. I don't really know anything about sound equipment, but those things are pretty sweet.
The only thing annoying about the MiniDisc recorder was that each time before I started recording I had to switch it from automatic to manual gain. I've used MiniDisc recorders before to record sound, so it wasn't a new thing for me, and I don't really have much experience recording sound with anything else, besides a tape recorder and a video camera. Compared to those two, I feel a MiniDisc playing is more portable and records sound better.
In an ideal world, my recorder would do whatever I wanted it to do. I would not have to push any buttons or operate anything, it would just "know" what I wanted and do it. Also, my ideal recorder would not take up any actual space, so I wouldn't have to carry it around. It would just do what I wanted without me doing anything, and would exist in thin air so I wouldn't have to carry it around, and would be free.
I first started off trying to edit my sound with Audacity on the school computers. This proved to be very frustrating since the certain computer I was working on did not have the correct plug-in to export in MP3 format. It was also frustrating how many of the filters on Audacity were preset (ex. the user cannot control how much something fades in/out, just when it will start fading and when it will stop). The user also cannot preview the sound while they are using a filter. They have to apply the filter before they are able to preview it. It was also very frustrating trying to save one of my files on audacity (which took over 15 minutes to save - making me late to class). Also, working on the school computers are just frustrating in general.
Once I got on my own computer and started using Adobe Audition, I felt a lot more comfortable, and things moved a lot more smoothly. I believe these upper level programs are much more user friendly then the lower level, freeware programs. The interfaces just make sense, and the user is able to do a lot more without being constricted. Also, using my own computer that I am familiar with really helps, and it's really nice not to have to log in and out of it or save things to my flash drive every time I leave the computer.
In the future, I will probably never use audacity, and will most definitely use Adobe Audition. I've spent most my high school career working with inferior programs and equipment. It was good to teach me to be able to work with a broad range of equipment and to think creatively to get certain effects. But that phase is over for me, and I'm ready to start working with higher level programs/equipment.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Ten Questions
1. Are there any places away from constant traffic where I could start my drift walk?
2. Where could I find the most interesting sounds, and the most interesting culture and people?
3. Where is the "ghetto", since that was what I was originally trying to find and was unsuccessful in finding on my first drift walk.
4. Where/How can I find sounds that stand apart from their background? Where can I find sounds that are "single" sounds?
5. Would the sounds be more interesting if I went out at night as opposed to the day?
6. Can I find more experimental ways to record sound (hooking mic up to stethoscope, putting it in contact with certain objects and places it in interesting places, etc)
7. Is there any interesting tunnels or alleyways I could explore along my walk?
8. Is there any public parks in the areas that I am walking?
9. Is there any interesting architecture in the area's that I am walking?
10. Is there any thing small and seemingly unimportant details of objects where I am walking, that if I was to focus on would give me a very interesting and perhaps beautiful result?
2. Where could I find the most interesting sounds, and the most interesting culture and people?
3. Where is the "ghetto", since that was what I was originally trying to find and was unsuccessful in finding on my first drift walk.
4. Where/How can I find sounds that stand apart from their background? Where can I find sounds that are "single" sounds?
5. Would the sounds be more interesting if I went out at night as opposed to the day?
6. Can I find more experimental ways to record sound (hooking mic up to stethoscope, putting it in contact with certain objects and places it in interesting places, etc)
7. Is there any interesting tunnels or alleyways I could explore along my walk?
8. Is there any public parks in the areas that I am walking?
9. Is there any interesting architecture in the area's that I am walking?
10. Is there any thing small and seemingly unimportant details of objects where I am walking, that if I was to focus on would give me a very interesting and perhaps beautiful result?
Drift Assessment
Two situations that aggravated me on my Drift One Walk were the constant sounds of cars driving by, and the lack of what I perceived to be "good" or "interesting" sounds, and the boredom that resulted because of both. I feel I was lulled into some kind of evil trance by the constant sounds of cars driving by. It brought me into a kind of depressed state which was hard to shake off. I don't really even mind these sounds too much, but I don't like intensely listening to them, and certainly not trying to record them. So that was the most frustrating thing for me. The constant cars driving by mixed with the lack of interesting sounds.
When I got to the start of my drift walk and got everything together and working I felt a sort of peace, listening to the sounds through my headphones and getting "in the moment." This kind of peace also resulted later from being in Washington park, where I was surrounded by flocks of geese. I got "in the zone" then, knowing that great sounds were in front of me waiting to be captured.
I got to this place of peace by an unexpected event of finding a trail that worked with my drift strategy. The trail led down into Washington park, where I was surprisingly greeted with hundreds of geese. This was a pleasant surprise. But as I was walking down the trail at the park I ran into another surprise. I had clipped my microphones onto my sweatshirt as I was walking through the park recording sounds, and as a result my left microphone fell off and started dragging along the ground. The contrast between the two sounds of the dragging mic and the one still clipped to my sweatshirt really interested me. I ended up playing around with this for a while, and got some interesting sounds from it.
The third surprise of mine that wasn't so pleasant was the sense of boredom that came over me in my walk. I felt the place I picked to start my drift was not very interesting, and the sounds I gathered I felt were also not very interesting. Basically, my overall experience with my drift walk was sub-par (something I am going to try to fix in my second drift walk).
My favorite experience was, again, recording the geese in the park. I realized then that this is what I really love to record, and not the sounds of the city. Quite frankly, I hate the sounds of the city. The constant "hum" seems to get into my ears and fill my brain, hypnotizing me into a senseless state of mind. The sounds of nature, however, I love. Recording the sounds of the geese and manipulating how they sounded by running at them and making them all take off at once was very exhilarating to me. I love how interesting animals can sound, and how presenting them to an audience can be even more interesting. I hope my next drift walk will carry me farther away from the city and closer to nature.
When I got to the start of my drift walk and got everything together and working I felt a sort of peace, listening to the sounds through my headphones and getting "in the moment." This kind of peace also resulted later from being in Washington park, where I was surrounded by flocks of geese. I got "in the zone" then, knowing that great sounds were in front of me waiting to be captured.
I got to this place of peace by an unexpected event of finding a trail that worked with my drift strategy. The trail led down into Washington park, where I was surprisingly greeted with hundreds of geese. This was a pleasant surprise. But as I was walking down the trail at the park I ran into another surprise. I had clipped my microphones onto my sweatshirt as I was walking through the park recording sounds, and as a result my left microphone fell off and started dragging along the ground. The contrast between the two sounds of the dragging mic and the one still clipped to my sweatshirt really interested me. I ended up playing around with this for a while, and got some interesting sounds from it.
The third surprise of mine that wasn't so pleasant was the sense of boredom that came over me in my walk. I felt the place I picked to start my drift was not very interesting, and the sounds I gathered I felt were also not very interesting. Basically, my overall experience with my drift walk was sub-par (something I am going to try to fix in my second drift walk).
My favorite experience was, again, recording the geese in the park. I realized then that this is what I really love to record, and not the sounds of the city. Quite frankly, I hate the sounds of the city. The constant "hum" seems to get into my ears and fill my brain, hypnotizing me into a senseless state of mind. The sounds of nature, however, I love. Recording the sounds of the geese and manipulating how they sounded by running at them and making them all take off at once was very exhilarating to me. I love how interesting animals can sound, and how presenting them to an audience can be even more interesting. I hope my next drift walk will carry me farther away from the city and closer to nature.
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