this afternoon I discovered a magic garden down the other end of the property. I'd driven past this but never seen the walking paths. the paths criss-cross through the back streets. they seem quite busy - I came across a few people whilst exploring. it's been raining for the past few days but had stopped about an hour earlier. the birds seemed overly happy - chirping and singing to the sky above. they seemed fresh and clean, like the cool fresh air after the rain. I recorded the soundwalk - this is one block back from the road, so I was surprised at how little traffic noise could be heard, except for the occasional car driving past.

11/07/2010

sound walk audio file page : http://www.archive.org/details/AfterTheRain-CitySoundscapes1
(skip the first 11sec or so - I forgot to trim the silence from the start of recording)
23:40 mm:ss audio recording (mp3)
mp3 file (54.2Mb)

video file page: http://blip.tv/file/3865916

there was a question on the Acoustic Ecology mail list about permanent outdoor sound installations. some of these were mentioned by people on the list :

:::
Derek Holzer mentioned Max Neuhaus & his talk at the Tuned City seminar :

"check the sound installation work of Max Neuhaus, particularly his Times Square piece:"
http://www.max-neuhaus.info/soundworks/

"... His work is quite subtle and very strong conceptually. One piece in particular I remember him presenting at Tuned City in Berlin http://www.tunedcity.de was a piece for a public park, where the speakers were hidden under the ground and the sound emerged from what appeared to be drainage grills. Actually, the sound didn't seem to emerge from ANYWHERE, which was the beauty of it. Max said he spent quite a bit of time developing the (weather and vandal-proof) sound systems for these kinds of installations." -- Derek Holzer

:::

writing postcards by the pool in KL - listening to the Cuban musicians playing the guitar & drums whilst the sun sets and the city bustles below.

July? 2008

Click To Play

a collection of audio recordings, field recordings and sound walks I've done over the years. most of these are on minidiscs or files not uploaded yet, so this is a work in progress as it's probably about time I sorted them out and uploaded some. not sure if they're of interest to anyone else, but they help recall memories for me.

right click to download the audio mp3 file

a sound walk through the old city of jerusalem

today I went to the western wall and left a note in the wall with my friend Angus' (RIP) name (this is what the Jewish people do - it's their holiest place being the last remnant of the Temple which was destroyed a couple of times) and then went to the Church of Holy Sepulchre (built over the spot where Jesus died so a holy spot for Christians) and lit some candles for him. and I went to Dome of Rock, one of the holiest places for Islam but because it's friday only Moslems are allowed in so I took a photo at the door. (this is the closest I've been able to get to Dome of the Rock - it's always closed when I go). I recorded video whilst walking but the camera was by my leg so most of it is of my legs walking on the stones, so I've extracted the audio. I felt so bad that I couldn't get home to Brisbane in time for his funeral. I've been thinking about him non-stop so I wanted to remember him and leave something for him in Jerusalem. if there is a God and he is close to this spot then I wanted to make sure he was looking out for Angus. I thought of other people close to me who'd passed away too, and lit candles for them too in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on my next visit. this walk was for Angus.

I always get a bit lost in the Old City. the market lanes and labyrinth starts looking the same and I often can't see above to get a sense of direction. so I tend to always go to the Wall first, then work my way in from there. today was the first time I found the quickest route to the Dome of the Rock - which is quite obvious in hindsight but I've always missed it and walked past. not knowing how to read Arabic has been part of the reason on other visits. the Christian quarter area is less marked too. some of the streets have recognisable names but I seem to miss the signs to the Church. today I was determined though and I had less offers from market stall owners to visit their shops. I went in the afternoon when most would be closing up soon. I was thinking of my friend the whole way, sometimes getting a bit teary.

the sound was recorded on a Nokia N95 8Gb phone - it was recorded along with video and I extracted the audio only later. I've left my mini-disc, microcassete recorder and microphone back home in Australia now so I carry less gadgets. I wondered how much disk space would be used up but it was less than 2Gb and I still have plenty left.

here's a flickr slideshow of the photos from the walk :
photos only

15/02/2008

walk to the Soundscapes music / lighting show at the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem, 25/07/2007

gps data - sound walk @ Other Film Festival

http://otherfilm.org

24 March 2006

Brisbane, Australia

more photos @ http://flickr.com/photos/aliak_com/tags/otherfilmfestival/