Sound #5 - Best and Most Surprising Recording!

This was a wonderful sound recording and totally unexpected!

As I was returning home and walking down South Herman Street, I heard some more wind chimes. Since I captured the wind chimes earlier that day up close, I decided to record these ones at a little more distance. I started to record and out of no where a neighboring home's residents started to have band practice. The beat of the drums took over the environment. It was a pleasant surprise, but that wasn't it. Listen to what else I ended up capturing! I was truly delighted.

This recording is a bit long, but I just couldn't cut it in the middle of it all. Click here to listen (3 mins 11 secs).


Note: You can click on map image to view it larger.

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Sound #4

On South Quincy Avenue I stumbled across some beautiful sounding wind chimes and decided to capture them. I was excited to capture an air plane flying overhead as well, and some other wonderful sounds.

Click here to listen (38 secs).



Note: You can click on map image to view it larger.

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Sound #3

I laid down on the ground (which in retrospect was a silly, I got pretty muddy) in Humbolt Park, looked up into the barren trees, sun on my face, listened to and recorded the birds. There is a hum from nearby traffic and some unavoidable wind.

Click here to listen (33 secs).


Note: You can click on map image to view it larger.

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Sound # 2

I stopped walking on South Clement Avenue across the street from a U-Haul truck that was idling out in front of a house. I thought the idling engine would be a unique ambiance sound and then also used this as an opportunity to test out stereo recording (one microphone out to the left the other out to the right) with the traffic going by me.

Click here to listen (30 secs).


Note: You can click on map image to view it larger.

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Sound #1

I sat on a little hill, in the grass, near where the Lake Parkway (794) bridges over South Kinnickinnic Avenue. Really early morning, so luckily I captured a decent sound without too much traffic overpowering the recording. The sun on my face felt wonderful as I sat and captured these sounds.

Click here to listen (53 secs).


Note: You can click on map image to view it larger.

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Third Walk - Finally Success!

As they say, "Third time's the charm."

My third outing was longer, warmer and far more successful. I was more focused, attentive and way more comfortable with the equipment. I covered the rest of my Star Shaped Drift 1 Area Map and am happy with the next following posts containing my top 5 sound recordings. Once I got the hang of it (and my fingers not being frozen also helped!) I really enjoyed myself.

The experience of listening closely to the environment around you can be very rewarding.

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Second Walk - Sound Blunders

On my second time out, to try and cover some of my Drift walk area, I was able to venture up and cover most of the Northern point of my mapped out Drift 1 Star Shape. However, the recordings were horrible! Ha ha, but a learning experience none the less. I really understand the equipment much better now.

Again it was really chilly out and maybe my patience was thin and my attention was a little distracted by my cold finger tips, toes and nose. I really wasn't out for too long, because of the cold. Sound Walks and Winter are not my favorite combinations. My recordings suffered as a result. Here were my top 2 blunders of this outing:

BLUNDER 1 - Make sure you are recording!
When I came up on the school yard on E. Russell Avenue, there were two teenage boys there. Just hanging out and talking. One of the boys was kicking the fence in a rhythm as they conversed. I was far enough away not to disturb them, and to not to pick up what they were saying exactly, but close enough to capture the fence shake as he kicked it. It was a cool sound and I set up to record it. It sounded great through my headphones and I was really excited. The boys weren't there too much longer and started to walk away, but I thought I got enough recorded. Man, did I feel like a dope when I later realized I didn't hit the pause button a second time to actually start recording. What a typical first-time blunder. I was pretty disappointed and I ventured on.

BLUNDER 2 - Don't record with the volume level up to high!
My next sound blunder was in a yard next to a house on E. Potter Avenue. The house had an plastic American Flag in it's yard and it was making a great sound when the wind blew. It was really windy out. I set up my microphones and tried again to make a decent recording. In the cold wind I was a little clumsy with my stiff shoulders and I hit the little sound leveler on my headphones down to low by accident, so I was hearing everything a lot quieter then I was actually recording and I kept turning up the volume. I recorded on a volume way too high. Later when I listened to the recording it was full of peaks when the flag flapped, wind and handling noise. Click here to listen to the mess (53 secs).

Oh well, I didn't capture anything worth editing on this outing, but I learned a lot from these mistakes that made the following adventures way more smooth and successful.

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First Walk - Fail, But Rainy-Day Recording Practice

After I had gotten my windscreens created, I packed everything up and I was off on my first walk to capture sounds. To my dismay it was freezing out, and by the time I thought I found an interesting first sound, my hands were frozen and it began to rain. I didn't want to get the equipment wet, and I had stupidly forgotten my umbrella in the front hallway when I left, so I circled back.

I returned home disappointed, damp and very cold. However, I found a really cool sound awaiting me at home. The rain was hitting the kitchen pantry's window in a weird pattern, so I decided to do some recording practice in the house and captured the rain hitting the twangy old window. Listen to it by clicking here (1 min 43 secs). I caught an air plane going overhead in this recording as well, which was a nice bonus.

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Custom Recording Icon for Google Maps

It took me 3 different outings/walks to cover my whole Star Shaped Drift 1 Area Map and to capture all my sounds and I decided to make my own custom recording icon, to use on my Google Map, to show where I captured my main sounds. It was a fun to create and a great way to add more personalization to the mapping experience.


UPDATE: Well, how frustrating.

Google Maps doesn't appear to be very stable with custom icons. As much as I would like to use this icon I created, the icons are only showing up 1/4 of the time when you look at my Drift Area Map.

Since I don't want my map to be completely absent of sound markers 3/4 of the time, I'm changing them all back to generic markers. I took a screen-shot before changing the markers back, so at least you can see how cool it could have been:


The Silver Lining: The icon ended up a little too detailed anyways for a Google Map icon. When it gets smaller, you can't really tell what it is suppose to be.

But still, a total bummer.

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Prep for Drift 1 and Custom Windscreen Build

In prep for my drift soundwalk, I gathered and organized all my materials and equipment. The film bag we received didn't fit all the items I wanted to bring with me, so I dug up my old Mac computer bag. It was perfect. Everything fits in it with room to spare, so I added some fabric for extra cushioning protection. The added color made the bag look pretty slick too - nice presentation. All set.


Before departing, I decided to test my microphones around my apartment. I wanted to make sure I felt comfortable handling and recording with the equipment before taking it out on my walk. Right away I realized the windscreens on my microphones were not going to work for me.

First off, it took a lot of prep time to get the fabric/felt wrapped just right around the mic and then to tape into place. It did not feel secure enough no matter how tightly I taped it. Always needed adjustments.

Secondly, I didn't want the windscreen on for every single recording. Thus the on & off process became pretty tedious (especially with previously stated prep time of wrapping perfectly).

What to do?

With a little bit of cutting, sewing and wrapping - I made my own windscreens:

















I think they turned out great! Now I have a quicker assembly (easy off & on) of my microphone windscreens that fit snug & secure. I'm ready to go!

Note: You can click on any image above to see a view a larger version.

Drift Strategy #1

I want to start my Drift 1 literally in my backyard. I've lived in Bayview for about 2 years now and it still feels foreign to me at times. I want to explore my neighborhood more closely and get a new appreciation for it through capturing it's sounds.

Drift 1 Strategy - I will cover the grounds, roads, paths, alleys, secret nooks and crannies within a star shape area of my neighborhood. Starting point will be in my backyard (directly in the middle of star shape) and I will begin north and cover each point's area 1 by 1 in clockwise manor.

I'm excited! This should be really fun and interesting. I hope to find and capture some unique sounds!

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Drift Area Map

Drift Area Map for both my "Drift 1" and "Drift 2" Film 116 Class Adventures!

Drift 1 = Yellow Star Area - Click here to see my Drift 1 Blog

Drift 2 = Blue Hexagon Area - Click here to see my Drift 2 Blog

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