1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)
One of the things that really bothered me while doing my sound walk was the fact that I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. It seemed that everywhere I went I found sounds of vehicles and wind. In order to record a track that everyone wasn't going to have, it took a lot of thought and preparation. Before I would decide to record something, I always asked myself if there would be enough interest in the noisemaker for a full 45-seconds. The sounds I ended up recording were ones that had different noises throughout and not just one thing recurring over and over again. I think that making the sound clip entertaining is what matters most, as long as it sounds natural.
Another thing that really had me stressed was that being out in public we didn't really have the ability to control all the sounds that were being made. For many of my recordings I found myself getting frustrated when I'd have an amazing recording coming on and another noise would begin that was overbearing of the one I really wanted, such as people talking or a car noisily driving by. It was sometimes difficult to zero in on a certain sound when so many things are happening at once.
2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.
I felt peaceful at many times while doing my sound walk. Walking around during this time of year is always peaceful by itself, but stopping and closing your eyes and listening to all of the sounds around you gives a whole new perspective. I found a tree whose leaves were falling rapidly during the walk and went to lay underneath it. Even though the recording didn't turn out like I'd hoped, it was such a calming experience and made me appreciate nature more.
For another recording, I walked through a supermarket, up and down the aisles recording the cashiers ringing up items while having conversations with customers. A beautiful song by a female artist can be heard playing over the intercom. I felt so at ease during this recording. It felt like I was listening to a movie playing. I pretended I was looking at the candy by the checkouts and the cashiers didn't even stop to look at me and wonder what I was doing. It was as if I wasn't even there. Everything sounded too natural.
3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)
I was surprised by many of the recordings I had done. I hadn't expected them to be as crisp and clear and have the ability to capture so many sounds, even those that were far away. Especially since we had constructed the microphones ourselves. I thought the recordings would have a lot of feedback and wind/static. It's amazing how much those tiny microphones can accomplish.
While editing my recordings I had come across many various thoughts. After listening to each one over and over again I began to hear them differently. The recording I had done of the pay phone (which I had thought nothing of when I recorded it) began sounding creepy. I kept picturing it as some mysterious person in the middle of the night trying to make a phone call with no money or recollection of how to use a phone. The recordings of the laundry room and the dog barking began sounding lonely to me. You can't hear anything else but the dog and it sounds like he is looking for someone to play with. I picture the laundry room being empty with one person doing their laundry, bored.
An unexpected situation I got was all of the people staring at me on the streets. I probably should have figured it would happen, but I never really thought about it beforehand. I have this odd-looking contraption with tons of cords pointing to ball-shaped microphones at random things. As I looked around I noticed all of the people eye-balling me, wondering what I was doing. It kind of made me uneasy and distracted me from my sound recording.
4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.
I guess my favorite thing about Drift 1 was that it gave me an excuse to walk around without purpose. Whenever I go somewhere I take the shortest distance. I talk to people while walking and ignore all of the sights and sounds going on around me. I don't appreciate nature as much as I should. I really enjoyed walking alone during the sound walk and surrounding myself in everything that was going it. It's my favorite time of year and it was an incredible experience to be feel secluded for once and study sounds.
