[UNIT 1] METHODS OF INVESTIGATING -2
Start point –
In response to the feedback from the previous tutorial, I have selected ‘Sounds’ as the focus of my investigative method.
Rather than employing a general method such as voice recording, I started to investigate through Note-taking to deeply understand the site. I sat on the bench in front of the construction and looked through it for 3 hours. From the start of the construction, until the end of the construction of the day.
That is the note that I wrote down.
Note down the place: a bench in front of the York-Way construction.
The time: 09:52 – 12:53 (3hr)
The date: 7 October 2023
The weather: Windy but warm
9:52, I found a quiet spot on a nearby bench while observing the construction site. There are a lot of windy sounds (Sound-1). Construction workers are sitting and talking (Sound-3) together. I think they are waiting for the construction is begin. I can hear the sounds of the machine (Sound-2) constantly. I tried to hear what they were saying but I couldn’t hear the workers’ sounds because of the machine and the wind. A worker is sweeping (Sound-4) the leaves and dirt.
10:31, a worker starts to do sawing (Sound -5) the wood. Two workers are still talking loudly. And one worker is tapping the plastic stick on the wall.
11:04, Workers are hitting the blocks with hammers to break them (Sound – 6). And also they are cutting the asphalt ground by drill (Sound-7).
11:33, a big truck stops next to the construction. I can hear the sounds of the truck engine (Sound-8). Workers are putting plastic fences, which are for preventing human access, aside. When the fences are drawn on the ground, there are loud sounds of plastic dragging (Sound-9). A few workers are kicking (Sound-10) the fences too, to put aside. They are talking to each other loudly (Sound-3).
11:43, the Truck sounds a horn (Sound-11) with getting in the position. A worker moves the position of a sign, which is created by metal. The sign is drawn on the ground (Sound-12) with a sharp sound. Workers are shouting (Sound-3) to talk about the position of the truck. The truck stops and I can hear the sounds of friction from the brake (Sound-13). A worker gets on the truck. In the truck, the soil is piled up. The worker controls the big tong, which is on top of the truck – This big tong exists for scooping up the soil. This big tong is struck by the inside of the truck (Sound-14) and it makes a loud noise. This big tong grabbing soil pours out the soil on a perforated space in the construction. I can hear the sounds of pouring soil (Sound-15). When the tong goes up, it is struck by the truck (Sound-14) again.
11:51, Workers are whistling (Sound-16). And I can hear the sound of pouring soil again.
When soil is poured, the workers jump to that site to spread the soil (Sound-17) through shovels. And the other workers make the soil even through the machine. This machine also has specific noise (Sound-16), like the sound of vibrations.
12:7, The soil is almost out, so the big tong is hitting the inside of the truck (Sound-14) a lot. And then the tong scoops the soil and pours again.
12:24, a worker gets off the truck and gets up to the driver’s seat of the truck. And he closes the door (Sound-18). The truck moves back and gets out of the construction. Workers are talking loudly (Sound-3). Their voice is bright. A few workers put the fences back into place. I can hear the sounds of plastic dragging (Sound-9) again. And the other workers get out of the construction. They go to the van next to the construction and take off their work clothes and helmets in front of the van. When the workers go out of the construction, I can hear a bunch of keys (Sound – 19).
12:43, Every worker gets on the van. There are two vans, the first van is already gone. A few min later, one worker gets out of the second van and looks around the construction. He drags the fence (Sound-9), which is not well-placed, to the right place. And move the sign to the right place (Sound -12).
12:53, the second(last) van is leaving the site.
I found a total of 19 sounds in this construction. In the middle of the note-taking, I recorded the specific sounds and also numbered each sound that I found.
Then, I have undertaken a categorization of these sounds for my documentation process.
In this step, I decided to extract the waveform for each sound. So I categorized the sounds depending on the method of sound-making. (The reason is that I believe the waveforms will be similar depending on the method of sound-making.)
The category of investigation is below :
Friction sound – sounds resulting from the sliding contact of solids.
Knock sound – sounds resulting from knocking solid things.
Resonance – sounds of being full and reverberating.
These sounds are used for orchestration like this :
Friction sound – violins, Cello… string instruments
Knock sound – timpani, marimba… percussion instruments
Resonance – trumpet, flute …
That is the image that I made a vane diagram of the sounds I gathered.
Then, I created waveforms for each of the sounds.
As you saw, waveforms have a similar form by type.
Knock sounds waveform is active compared to the others.
The order is as follows: Knock sounds > Friction sounds > Resonance
I coloured the waveform and re-combined the sounds based on my note-taking.
And made my own musical notation for the construction.
Feedback
– The method of categorizing is interesting
– Using different colours depending on sounds is clear to recognize the sounds.
– Try to Visualize sounds for the next time and found