Thinking About Sound
Wherever you are right now, be still and listen.
What do you hear?
Maybe a light woosh from your computer...
A barely audable high pitch ring or low pitch rumble...
The hum of a fan or refrigerator...
The rush or roar of distant traffic...
Something ticking or clicking, a clock or a radiator perhaps...
Now clap your hands.
Does the sound reflect (slap or bounce) off the walls?
Does it sound sharp or does it have a duller quality?
Does the sound seem to fade or suddenly die?
Like air, sound surrounds us and unless there is some kind of disruption, a loud sound, a unique sound, a sound that communicates something important or of note, we don't tend to pay that much attention to it. More often we are aware of the extremes and the unique. We notice what is pleasant--singing birds--and what is annoying--screeching breaks. We notice when a space echoes, like a museum, and are less aware of how reverberant our offices or bedrooms are. This of course has to do with the fact that we grow accustom to certain sounds and acoustics. (I suspect we would go mad if we didn't.)
When working with sound, however, we need to be more consciously aware, especially when recording. Above you did two things to help gain the kind of awareness you need: you listened closely and got a sense of how reflective (reverberant) your space is. Based on what you learned from this exercise, you can make decisions that will improve the quality of your recording--maybe you need to reduce reflection by padding the walls with blankets and maybe you need to turn off the air conditioner--and whether you want to record in the space at all--maybe the traffic noise is louder than you realized.
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- Welcome Melanie Hubbard