SENSE OF PLACE: SOUND RECORDING

Our first recording was at the construction site in the city centre. We recorded about 3 minutes on the location. We used the zoom to record the sounds. We had few problems in adjusting the volume level of the zoom because the sounds of the construction would change from low to high in an instance. This change in sound made it a bit difficult to get a variety of sounds but we did managed to get some sounds.

Our second recording was the café and the cathedral. We first went to record in the café and we got some great sounds of people talking, walking and using the coffee machine. And we also managed to get a good sound of a creaky door, which some students were coming out off and going inside the cafeteria.

We then went to the cathedral hoping to get some good quality quiet sounds but unfortunately they were closed because of an ongoing construction which was taking place near the area and was making a big noise. They told us to come back next week or go to ST Mary’s church. We went to ST Mary’s church and we also had problems in there as there was another small construction going on inside. We decided to do this recording at another time. We came back there again a week later and there were still some constructions taking place. This problem with our location made us realise that we need a backup plan just in case some locations are not what we expect.  

Our third recording was of the café again and west street. But this time instead of recording people, we were recording the lady walking in high heels in the café. My project partner Danayet took the role of the lady in high heels. We came in the evening when it was nice and quiet and got a nice sound from the surface of the floor which had a nice echo to it.

We then went into West Street but did not manage to get all the sounds we hoped for. We got some sounds of the traffic, a few people chatting and some restaurants. We were hoping to get a lot of people laughing, going to clubs and queuing up at clubs. We realised that we needed to come at a late time and on a Friday or Saturday when a lot of people go out clubbing.

Our fourth recording was at the park. In our minds we wanted to create a sense of peace and quiet but because of the windy weather condition we got a lot of a whooshing sound. Though we did manage to get some good sounds of the ducks, fountain and a few people. We also recorded the lady walking in high heels and there was a small bridge which gave us a great sound as compared to surface of the paths in the park. We tried getting some sounds of the leaves being blown by the wind but it sounded more like it was raining because of the poor weather condition.

In overall, all the recordings were good except for the church which was a problem because of the constructions taking place.