Module 2

Sound Observation 1

I’m sitting at the dining room table writing this sound observation, and I am very aware of the clicking of my fingers on the keyboard. From the other room, I hear my daughter’s television, and after waiting a moment I recognize the theme song to Shameless. Every so often, there is the sound of movement, putting something on her desk or sitting in her chair. The heater drones on in the background, but the occasional thumps and thuds from my upstairs neighbor pepper the hum. He just stepped outside on his balcony because I hear the sliding glass door open and close quickly. The sound in the distance changes tone, and I immediately hear my daughter’s bare footsteps approaching on the tile floor. My cat meows when it sees her, and I hear my cat’s claws faintly brush the tile as it follows my daughter into the kitchen. I hear water trickling, so I look toward the kitchen expecting to see the faucet running, but she has plugged in my cat’s drinking fountain. The upstairs sliding door opens and closes quickly again, followed by quickened footsteps on the other side of my ceiling. My chair squeaks as I adjust my position.The heater has turned off, and now I’m able to perceive the hum of the refrigerator much more.  

Sound Observation 2

The sound of a woman singing along with an acoustic guitar drowns out most other sounds. It’s rather loud. Barely audible are the muffled sounds of people’s conversations at the next table. Every so often, I hear the faint clink of silverware or the sound of two glasses hitting one another as a waitress clears the table. The music and singing stop. A child sitting in a nearby high chair screams, “Waaa,” as he plays with a toy. Chairs scrape the floor and feet scuff on the ground as his family prepares to leave. On the other side of the restaurant, I can now hear people at the bar talking. A waitress behind me sprays liquid from a bottle as she cleans the table. A baby coos and jabbers to her parents a few tables over. A very southern-sounding waiter greets a table. The music now turns back on a sort of jazz/hip hop beat. The spray bottle still sprays intermittently behind me. The rubber-soled shoes of the southern-sounding waiter make a slight squeak sound as he walks quickly past and something sounding like marbles jingle in his apron pocket. The sound of water and ice pour into a glass, then the shuffling feet of the waitress fade away as she walks away. 

Balazs sound reading

This reading reminded me of a project from FST500 in which our group had to turn a film's genre into another using only sound. Using a video sequence from Hulot's Holiday, we added spooky, mysterious sounds, thereby turning this silly, quirky film into a horror flick. In our research, we discovered that asynchronous sound is extremely effective with unnerving someone watching a film. It heightens the senses and puts the viewer on edge while they wait to see or discern on their own the source of the sound. (Dracula,1931 and Frankenstein, 1931, were some of the first films to successfully use this technique.) This film technique obviously still works with audiences today, but our “educated” ears are much more savvy.