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© 2017 jason plumb / noisybox / infiltration lab.
2020-07-26T23:00:00.000Z
Jason Plumb
jason@noisybox.net
urn:uuid:75392340-704d-463f-9dc0-98b78c24a4bc
World Listening Day 2020-07-18 in Portland, OR
https://noisybox.net/blog/2020/07/world_listening_day
2020-07-26T23:00:00.000Z
<p>This year, <a href="https://www.worldlisteningproject.org/">World Listening Day</a> was on
Saturday, July 18th, 2020. The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and civil unrest
(caused by social injustice) have dramatically altered the world.
I thought it would be interesting to try and recreate the
<a href="https://archive.org/details/soundwalk_2019-06-25_1145am_portland_or">soundwalk I did last year</a> in hopes of making a recording that could demonstrate a sonic contrast.</p>
<p>In order to be more faithful to the previous recording, I took the liberty of
doing the soundwalk on Friday, one day before the actual official World Listening
Day. I met up with my colleague Wes downtown at noon, and we wore masks and stayed
outdoors and socially distant. There were a few surprises along the way.</p>
<p><a href='https://noisybox.net/blog/images/20200717_world_listening_day_pdx.jpg'><img alt='20200717_world_listening_day_pdx_1024' src='https://noisybox.net/blog/images/20200717_world_listening_day_pdx_1024.jpg'/></a></p>
<p>First, the wind was considerably stronger than prior years. I decided to try the
windscreens that came with <a href="https://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=110&item=SP-TFB-2-13099P">my in-ear binaural microphones</a>, but I wasn't sure
how they might be impacting the recording volume (plus, it was just really quiet downtown).
Once we were walking for a few minutes, the wind really wasn't that bad and I'm
not entirely sure how necessary the windscreens were (although they probably helped).
The recording did end up being quite quiet, so I applied a constant 15dB amplification,
which I think sounds pretty good but maybe calls up the background hiss/noise
floor a bit more than I'd have preferred.</p>
<p>Second, the route I chose last year winds along the Willamette river via a
stretch of private greenway (shared use path). Sadly, this year the path was
closed due to construction in parts and covid-19 concerns. We ended up with
more sidewalk time than I had hoped, which probably makes
contrasting with the prior year more difficult. The upside, however, is
that we got to find and explore some interesting new spaces, like a parking lot
under the Broadway bridge. Ultimately, this detour caused us to be out recording
longer, and we captured closer to an hour (compared to 50 minutes last year)</p>
<p>During our walk, I found it harder than usual to concentrate on my intentional
listening. The sights and sounds of the city seemed more alien than
they normally would, and so my mind was easily distracted and my focus drifted.
While this is normal for me (and probably for most) during soundwalks, I found
the sense of distraction elevated from previous times (especially visual
distraction). Every new bit of graffiti seen brought me back to thinking about
our current crises. I tried a new technique of purposefully "softening my gaze",
and I think it helped fair amount. Before today, I genuinely didn't know that
this was an actual thing, let alone that it's leveraged in Buddhism,
anxiety therapy, and yoga
(<a href="https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/the-eye-of-the-beholder">drishti</a>...which
I have unknowingly used both in eagle pose and while track-standing on a bicycle).</p>
<p>This is a binaural recording, so good stereo headphones work best.
Click <a href="https://archive.org/details/soundwalk-2020-07-17-1200pm-portland-or">here to visit the archive.org page</a> for this recording or
just listen to it here:</p>
<audio controls>
<source src="https://archive.org/download/soundwalk-2020-07-17-1200pm-portland-or/Soundwalk_2020-07-17_1200pm_Portland_OR.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"/>
bummer no audio for layout
</audio>
<p>See you next year for WLD.</p>
World Listening Day 2019-07-18 in Portland, OR
https://noisybox.net/blog/2019/07/world_listening_day
2019-07-18T20:00:00.000Z
<p>Background: <a href="https://archive.org/details/WorldListeningDay2014PortlandOR">5 years ago</a> I decided to guide a soundwalk for World Listening Day.</p>
<p>5 years later, <a href="https://archive.org/details/WorldListeningDay2019PortlandOR">I decided to do it again</a>.</p>
<p>My employer is awesome. We are encouraged as part of our happy employment and ongoing
professional development to engage in "thrive time" -- essentially expansive work
that may not be directly related to daily business deliverables, but work that makes
us better, stronger, healthier, and happier. I offered this sound walk.</p>
<p><a href="https://archive.org/download/WorldListeningDay2019PortlandOR/soundwalk_2019-07-18_12pm_portland_or.mp3">Here is the recording I made</a>
on <a href="https://www.worldlisteningproject.org/">World Listening Day</a> in 2019 in Portland, OR. It's a binaural recording, so listening on headphones with little/no background sound
works best.</p>
<p>Click the link above or listen to it here:</p>
<audio controls>
<source src="https://archive.org/download/WorldListeningDay2019PortlandOR/soundwalk_2019-07-18_12pm_portland_or.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"/>
bummer no audio for layout
</audio>
<p>See you next year for WLD.</p>