The ability to hear has always been one of my favorite senses - because it is so unappreciated and quite frankly, taken for granted, I have gravitated towards it. I grew up in a musical family. My dad and brother were gifted instrumentalists, so naturally I was molded into a musician as well. Playing a musical instrument brings certain things to life that you would not notice otherwise, and that is the power of sound. My ear has been trained to hear the quietest ring or the deepest hum. I can tell when something is out of tune or off balance. A very useful skill, it can also be annoying. But regardless, having a good ear did help me during the soundscape project.
My group did not have a structured plan regarding what we were going to record.We did it as we went, and I feel that was still effective - it made the recording process more natural, and we were able to pick up sounds we would not have thought to pick up otherwise. My group recorded a few ambient sounds from popular locations on campus (Randall library, outside Kenan, parking lots, etc.) and acquired lots of human sounds from listening in on conversations, but my favorite sounds to gather were the sound effects. This was the first time I was able to experiment with foley. Another interest of mine, I have always found foley impressive. Andre mentioned in films that had scenes of birds flapping their wings, often times leather gloves were used to create the sound effect - how cool is that! My group brought quite a few extraneous items, such as trash bags, soda bottles, a toothbrush on a laptop case, to obtain some unique noises. It amazes me how realistic certain effects can sounds, even though they are fabricated.
All in all, I had a pleasant sound recording experience. I had done something similar in my 201 class when we made another soundscape, so this was familiar territory for me. That being said, no recording experience is the same, and I enjoyed furthering my knowledge with the equipment and sound itself.
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