Drift Assessment

1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1.

Oftentimes, it seemed as though the noises I heard and enjoyed were not easy to record once I finally got my gear set up. I would end up walking down a busy street, teeming with activity, and would miss all the commotion while I slipped on my headphones and pressed Record. I was never fully prepared to capture random, ambient noises and missed a lot of interesting ones.

Traffic was the most overwhelming noise in all my soundwalks taken in the city. I ended up not using many sounds recorded in Milwaukee because removing the element of traffic was tedious and usually impossible. While it sometimes added a nice background effect, typically it was the key focus and distorted all other sounds.

2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.

Walking through the woods with my dog definitely had a calming effect on me. My headphones seemed to embrace the euphoria and the slight breeze. I stopped near the edge of a small lake and just sat, eyes closed, and truly tried to absorb the quiet before my return to the city.

Lying on top of a bench in Riverside Park and secretly recording kids playing definitely resulted in a strange feeling of peace. Though the kids were screaming and running around after one another, I felt very reserved. I like the presence of people and I think it can add a lot to an otherwise bland recording.

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.

The amount of editing is takes to make nature sound true-to-life is extraordinary. I recorded for ten minutes at a time while walking through the woods and was amazed by how many other, non-natural noises could be heard: airplanes, cars, chainsaws. It was almost kind of depressing in a way.

While I didn’t make too many abrupt decisions, the ones I did make definitely enhanced my recording techniques and made me more at peace at “seeing” with my ears. Instead of the customary 7 to 10 minutes I recorded each item, I decided to record for 12 minutes when I was walking in the woods. In the last two minutes are the most remarkable noises and I was lucky to leave my equipment running. Sometimes, as a sound artist, you have to embrace your feelings and hope it turns out as beautiful as your ears perceive it.

With walking on the East Side, it astounded me how many people became interested by what I was doing and how eager they were to help. People approached me quite frequently to inquire about my equipment or try and create noises for me to record; it’s possible they thought I was recording sound effects for a major motion picture. I mean, what else would make sense?

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 really enjoyed walking around the outside of the art museum and recording. There were three different weddings taking place and I loved the feeling of all these people gathered in such an incredible location. The sun was just setting and it was still warm out as I walked along Lake Michigan. I didn’t use anything I recorded from this experience, but that was okay; it was a more visceral experience.