Trek Assessment #4

4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from either of your Treks. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.

Probably my most fond experience came during trek 01. I was maybe about an hour and a half into recording my sounds and was a little unsure about everything I gathered at that point. Even more importantly, I was second-guessing myself because I did not fully comprehend the point of this project. Starting out I felt there was no unusual, groundbreaking sounds to be found by simply using a couple of cheaply homemade mics. So after searching relentlessly (to no avail) for some interesting noises, I continued on throughout the endless residential neighborhood of White Fish Bay. As I approached the Lake front, I suddenly heard several birds chirping around this one woman’s house. It was here where I discovered a pretty extravagant-looking garden facing the sidewalk. I stopped and decided to record. As I recorded, the birds sounded quite closer and the sounds continued to develop in a consistent fashion. There was a neighborhood dog barking soundly and a woman with a baby-carriage came rolling bye. Then, there was an SUV that cruised right through all the action. I had never heard these sounds together, simultaneously, and especially to this length or detail. It was great too, because my eyes were not fixed on any particular image. Rather, I was looking straight at the ground in front of me and finally decided to shut my eyes. All of these sounds were unusual and even dimly haunting towards the clashing crescendo that was heard mid-way through. It was at this point in time, that I began to observe and truly understand the goal and benefits from the pursuit of investigative recording.