Sound Walk (area body map, sound walk map, log and responses)

Below is my area body map that we did in class on February 3rd. The hissing noise from the furnace was the loudest noise in the room, it is represented by the orange. Other noises I heard was chairs moving, computers humming, trucks beeping, papers ruffling, knocks on the door, and then myself coughing.

Below is the sound walk map. When starting our sound walk we exited mitchell and were facing east. Some sounds that I heard right outside of Mitchell were a girl talking loudly on her cell phone about the massive amounts of homework she had to do, keys jingling, and high heels on the pavement. We continued to walk past Curtin Hall and then stopped in the stairwell that leads down to the parking garage. When standing in the stairwell I noticed that you can tell the difference between someone going up the stairs and someone going down the stairs depending on the pace of the footsteps. Once down in the parking garage we made various amounts of stops in different locations. While down in the parking garage I heard cars starting up, brakes squeaking, and loud music. The next stop that we made was in the Union right outside the Gasthaus. In this position I heard a lot of chatter, dishes clanking, and some kind of machine noise coming from the custodial closet. We then went back into the parking garage and then walked out of it and stopped right by the loading dock. There was a variety of noises hear as well, but I remember specifically the zipper of a backpack and then the noise of shuffling through it all. That was our last stop before heading back to the classroom. On the walk back to the classroom I heard bus noises, and the high heels on the pavement which I actually heard throughout our entire walk because someone in our group was wearing heels, which was interesting to have that constant pattern of sound.

The list of sounds I heard.

Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?

*Yes, most the places that we stopped provided me with plenty of sounds to listen for.

Was it possible to move without making a sound?

*No, not at all. There was always footsteps, pants rubbing together, and noises from other clothing rubbing together.

What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?

*All of the sounds became muffled and a lot quieter. Then when I unplugged my ears I almost felt like I heard everything I heard before but on a larger scale.

What types of sounds did you hear? List them.

*Sirens, traffic, girl talking on phone, brakes squeaking both on cars and buses, doors opening, faint laughing, footsteps down stairs, footsteps upstairs, muffled car noises, heels on cement, feet scuffing, car starting, rattles and groans, snuffling, door shutting, car horn, distant humming from a furnace, paper shuffling, hissing of pipes(which kind of sounded like a continuous school bell ringing), keys jingling, television chatter, custodial noises, quiet to loud humming, high pitched screech, plastic crackle, zipper noise, cars stopping and going, bike gears shifting, and distant girls talking.

Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recongizable source and those sounds you could not place?

*Yes, only because I would look around and try to figure out where the sounds were coming from.

Were you able to differentiate human, mechanical and natural sounds?

*Yes, however I didn't hear many natural sounds, if any.

Were you able to detect subtleties, changes, or variations in the everpresent drone? Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?

*Yes the sounds that were extremely close were much louder than the distant sounds. For example when standing in the parking garage we stopped at a variety of places and I would hear one distant sound in one location but as we got closer the sound grew louder.

Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?

*Yes I created my own sound by walking on different snow/ice, and then I have a habit of clicking my pen way too much.

Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?

*Yes, I've already noticed since that walk I've paid a lot more attention to the sounds around me, especially at my work. I'm a server at a restaurant and when I go into the kitchen I hear a lot more sounds than I ever did before.

How do you think your sound walk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?

*It will help me be more aware of sounds that might become part of my film that I may or may not want. This will benefit me because I will make sure to listen for all the unwanted sound in my films.

Drift 1 map

Above is an image of the camp map overlaying my Drift 1 Map.

Below is my Drift 1 Map.

View Amber Blanchard Drift Map in a larger map

For my drift 1 strategy I used a map of the camp that I'm a counselor at. I walked the in 'average' pattern I had to walk on a day to day basis this past summer. I walked this pattern at the UW-Madison Arboretum. Since the Arboretum is so open it allowed me to walk my path more smoothly, rather than walking through peoples backyards which I would have to do if I was to do this in the city.

Drift 1 Site Hand Drawn Site Maps

Sound recording number 5, airplane.











Sound recording number 4, ice.










Sound recording number 3, owl.










Sound recording number 2, kids.











Sound recording number 1, birds.









I chose do draw out my site maps like this, because I think it gives me a better understand where the sounds were coming from. I also feel that it gives me the sense of motion that each sound had, weather it was loud and abrupt, or if it crescendo as it came by me, for example the airplane got louder as it got closer, so I wanted to visually represent this.

Drift 2 Map

View Drift_2 Map in a larger map


Here is the camp map of Camp Edwards. I'm using this map to map out my walking path that I took in Drift 2 rather than Google maps because I feel that it is easier to read, because the trees on Google map cover up a lot of the buildings. I do realize that I could not use the terrain setting, however I feel that this gets a clearer image of what the camp really was like.

My starting point was where number 1 is located. At number one is very I captured the image inside of the camp bunks, of the empty beds. Moving onto the number 2 spot this is where I captured the images of the empty cafeteria. The number 3 spot is where the colored tether ball was captured, and the basketball court images, along with the sounds of the bouncing balls. Number 4 is where I discovered the hand prints in the art room. Number 5 and walking along that boardwalk is where I was able to capture the crows, and my ambient wind sound. Number 6 was one of the places that I captured some kid sounds, however I had to go and capture more of those sounds at a local school in Whitefish Bay. My ending point was then the lodge.

After working on my Drift 1 I decided that for my Drift 2 strategy I would still like to use the Camp Wayne map to find my way around. However this time I planned on contacting a local Wisconsin camp and overlaying the two camp maps. My drift 2 starting point was wherever the Wisconsin camps bunk '8' is located. This ended up being what Camp Edwards called the Red Cloud Cabin. I still walked my average path but using the Camp Edwards buildings instead. I went to Camp Edwards, which is located in East Troy, Wisconsin.