R2

I found David New’s observations on sound and the recording of sound to be not only insightful but incredibly fascinating. The way he describes sound is unlike anything I have ever heard before. He views sound almost as a living being and is a constantly moving force. He made an observation about time before sound recording that explains how sound was “committing suicide” because all that humans had was memory instead of an actual copy of the sound. Yet, he explains that even recording sound can never fully capture how it really sounded in the real world. Jim Cummings’ article, “Opening Our Ears to Acoustic Ecology” continues to talk about the living fabric of soundscapes that constantly exist around us. I had never heard of acoustic ecology before but its study is unbelievably interesting as it unveils the dependence that every creature has on the universal, everlasting soundscape of the world. This article has inspired me to do some soundwalking of my own and truly take in the natural collection sounds that inhabit the world around me. I’m very pleased to have been introduced to soundscape art and have been researching this on multiple websites. Justin Boyd’s Sound and Time was my favorite of the assigned reading due to Boyd’s unique relationship with sound and his own personal perspective. His passion for recording sound, adjusting frequencies, and playing with different environments is very cool to watch. He shows an art that I was unaware existed on this level and the depth of what he is doing is very inspiring. R. Murray Schafer’s complaint that we have become too unobservant of the natural sounds around us is a dead on observation. I know I am guilty of this as I ignore these sounds on a regular basis. The comparison of sound complaints from the past to today is also very intelligent and very singular to the modern world. The idea of cities being sonic sewers is definitely a big part of the problem and has definitely desensitized us to an overpopulation of sounds. The designing of a healthy soundscape was one of my favorite parts of all the readings because of the amount of intelligence that goes into designing something so beautiful. After reading all of the assigned readings, I have definitely been given a more insightful view on the auditory world around me and will devote much more time to experience it.