Birds and Crickets

"Birds and Crickets" was recorded on 62nd and Lapham St in West Allis, WI.

Listen Here!

In this recording birds can be heard chasing each other through a large tree from branch to branch. Crickets can be heard in the background, as though they are surrounding the scene. As the recording fades in a muscle car that was stopped at a stop sign takes off from the crosswalk and goes up the block. Shortly after that, a buzz saw from several blocks away can be heard. A man was working on his deck.

This recording was one of the few non-traveling recordings I did. The microphones were laid stationary attached to different branches inside the tree. The remained there for several minutes and this brief clip is the best sound I could get, as well as the only chunk of time when no human voice can be heard.

Dirty Corner Bar

"Dirty Corner Bar" was recorder on 62nd and Mitchell in West Allis, WI. It is the sounds you might hear as you travel from the alleyway behind a bar to the front door.

LISTEN HERE!


I walked from the back alleyway of the bar, where a large bouncy castle was inflated. Several children (at least four but not more than six) were playing on it making a great deal of noises. The palpitating hum of the machine blowing air into the boundy castle can be heard faintly. I navigated away from them and along the side of the bar. My steps through the dried up early fall leaves can be heard then. As I walk to the front entrance for the bar music can be heard blaring. This is the point when I entered the bar and the sound recording fades then because the bar was just too darn loud to catch any good interior sounds.

We Love Bobby

"We Love Bobby" was recorded at the Farmer's Market Grounds in West Allis, WI. It is a traveling sound from one end of the market to the next.

Many things can be heard in the background including dried corn stalked being passed around, people talking about which pumpkin to buy, woman laughing, a child crying (more like screeching) and the squeaking of a cars breaks as it rounds the corner and drives off. The most blatant sound is that of a woman singing to her baby "We Love Bobby" as she claps.


LISTEN HERE!


The most exciting part of the Farmer's Market in West Allis is the sweet apple cider, but when I went there I found none. So, alas, I only heard things about buying and selling pumpkins or dried out corn stalks. In the ^picture above^ you can see a vendor cleaning up their supply of pumpkins for the day. This is close to the spot where I recorded "We Love Bobby". The actual spot is underneath the covering. That is how the voices seem to pick up and echo a little bit.

Exaggerated Walking

"Exaggerated Walking" was recorded just off of Greenfield Ave. on 70th street in West Allis, WI inside of a cement stair case.

LISTEN HERE!

The echo on the cement, almost entirely enclosed staircase was to delightful to pass up. At the top of it was a parking lot, and at the bottom was a walkway that led to businesses and office buildings. As the sound recorder, I stepped slowly and heavily down the stair case, much to the delight of several passers by. In the background a light rumble from the foundry several blocks away can be heard. As I reviewed my sounds, I discovered that this low rumble can be heard throughout all of downtown West Allis since it is at the base of a hill.

Pick Up Starting

"Pick Up Starting" was recorded on 68th Street and National Avenue in West Allis, WI.


LISTEN HERE!

^---My notes.---^


In this recording you can clearly the sounds of a dying pick up truck engine attempting to start after a man has slammed the door shut. There is a lot of chatter in the background which came from a rummage sale on the opposite side of the street. A small girl can be heard briefly talking to her baby sister who simply makes verbal diarrhea in response. I believe the sounds at the end (which sound like thuds) are the sounds of someone loading a car up with picture frames they had just bought at the rummage sale.


At first, I was simply going to record the rummage sale, but then the pick up sounded so nice that I chose to use that sound instead. As the pick up drives off its breaks kind of screech a bit, then its rumble fades away. The sound of the rummage sale chatter takes over and eventually fades as well.

My Drift Stategy

Hello All, once again!


In attempting to devise a drift strategy I had a difficult time figuring out what the best way to explore a city would be. I wanted to find sounds of varying natures and non-natures, so I couldn't guarantee that. I began to think about the word 'drift.' It is a vary diverse word meaning anything from a patch of flowers, to a mine shaft, to a slow and gradual flow inside a river or stream. None of that seemed to apply to me, since I wanted all of them to apply to me. Then, I found the definition of drift I was searching for:


DRIFT - a deviation from a true reproduction, representation, or reading.


Eureka! I created the source for which I was to deviate from. My Drift Map, posted in my most previous blog, is the source I invented. I created it by selecting 7 locations within the downtown West Allis, WI area and the industrial yard section of the city. I connected them in the most logical and circular way. It was a serious and well-laid representation of a walking route within my city (and the closest thing to a circle I could do legally). According to Google Maps it would take 48 minutes total to complete the circle. I was out and about for nearly six hours.


My strategy was simply to follow the map, and when I arrive at a point on that map where i heard numerous interesting sounds, I was to look at my feet and nothing else, then attempt to use my ears as a guide. Doing this I felt I could become more aware of my audible surroundings, and further explore my own realm of sound.


I began my drift walk at 3 pm on Saturday September 27, 2008. Beginning at my parent's home and walking the path I laid out, while detouring fairly often, I managed to occupy my drift until 8:30 pm. I gathered many sounds and I have yet to decide exactly which sounds I will use for this presentation, but some I know for sure.

My Drift Map

View Larger Map




^^^Above is an interactive Google Map. Drag the hand icon over the image to move the map in any direction you please. For a larger image, please click the link above.^^^

For my first drift walk, I walked the streets of my hometown West Allis, WI. I had planned on walking the streets of downtown Milwaukee, WI but a family issue required that I go home for the weekend of my scheduled drift walk. Above is the map of my walk. Starting at my parents home, I walked much of the city's downtown and industrial neighborhoods capturing sounds that I found unique whether created by a human force or by a natural force. In my travels I passed bars, schools, bakeries, construction, basketball games, a skate park, parking structures, loading docks, a factory, and many other interesting things.

In my next post I will explain the strategy I used upon my drift walk, and also give some pictures of my sound set-up. Stay - tuned!

- Robert Francis Curtis