Monthly
Statement:
April 2006
This month I decided to change the project. Instead of recording
randomly sounds, I wanted to capture the complete listening
experience of being in a subway train for the whole route:
start to finish, in both directions. The train I chose is
the L train.
I went from the L stop closest to my place all the way to
Canarsie, recording little bits on my way. It's an above-ground
station that has a railyard (see picture), where there were
a few trains just like the L and a cute red train labeled
S for Special (I'm sorry the picture doesn't capture it well;
light was bad for me). From there I started my recording journey:
41m 08s from Canarsie (the sound of keys you can hear is the conductor opening his compartment)
to 14 St and 8th Avenue,
and 42m 10s back to Canarsie.
The ride back to Canarsie is longer
because on the next-to-last stop, East 105 St, the train just
sits there until the next L departing from Canarsie starts
its trip and only then it heads towards its last stop. It
sat on East 105 St for three whole minutes!
Unfortunately, except between the Lorimer and Union Square
stations, the trains weren't very crowded, so I didn't get
much material from people's conversations.
Next month I'm going to try something similar, but at the
same time completely different from anything I've done in
the past months.
Process:
I'm accumulating sounds from public transportation systems
in New York City (6 months) and Lima-Peru (6 months) with
a minidisc digital recorder.
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