Above the Bike Path

On my second drift, I came to a ledge overlooking the bike trail that runs to the west of the river. I set my microphones slightly apart on top of the ledge to try and record people passing below. Unfortunately not many people were passing by but there was a cricket close to the microphones that I didn't see originally. There were no cars around that I could see while I was recording but they are still there in the background of the recording. However, those sounds of the big car fade while the tiny little cricket keeps on chirping the whole time. It shows how sometimes we should listen to the small things in this world even though its hard to ignore the big ones. Here is what I recorded.

Interaction

Near the Milwaukee water tower, there is a fountain with a nice benches and a fence around it. Since the fountain was already drained I decided to place one of my microphones on parts of a bench and the other on the railing. Then I experimented with hitting different parts of the bench and the railing. Each microphone picked up different tones created by the ringing metal. There are still car rumblings in the background but the ringing is there consistently.

Sounds of the Neighborhood

I came across a very interesting neighborhood as I was walking up Fredrick Ave where everything seemed to be happening at once. There were sirens in the distance, people walking and talking, someone out for a run, a game of catch going on in the street, and people coming home from work. I recorded just holding the microphones a couple feet apart. Here is what I recorded.

Home Improvment

As I was walking up Summit Ave. I heard the sounds of some do-it-yourself, home construction coming out from behind some of the houses. I couldn't see what they were working on but it sounds like a pretty big project behind one of theses houses. There's a saw that is going in the beginning and hammering that continues throughout. I didn't notice well I was recording that there were so many birds around as well.

Humming Buildings

Before I was even off of the UWM campus, I recorded this sound of one of the buildings exhaust fans. I was very surprised at how much noise buildings actually make once you start to listen properly. I held the microphones about arms length apart and experimented with getting different amounts of sound on the separate channels by moving the mics different distances away from the exhaust fans.

Drift Map and Strategy

I started my drift on the UWM campus. I first cut through part of the campus and then started my drift strategy on Downer Ave. between Newport and Hartford. My drift strategy was to take the first left then the first right followed by the second left and second right. I keep repeating this pattern and it took me to some interesting places. Here is a link to the Google Map that shows both parts of my drift, the blue line is the first part. You can see that I decided to start heading back after I got to Park Pl. and continued using my drift strategy until I got close to where I started.

I did this first drift in the morning on Saturday October, 4th. I felt I got some good sounds but wanted to go out again to see if I could find some more. So the next day, Sunday, I went out again. I started near Lake Michigan and worked my way Northwest, without any real drift strategy this time. The red line on the map shows were I went for this second part of my drift.