sit, listen, record
Stand (or sit) still and listen with your eyes closed or blindfolded.
To do this effectively, find a safe location, bring a recording device (your smartphone works fine) and just sit or stand. Start recording, close your eyes and listen. This may take some time to adjust, but after a few minutes, what do you hear? Are sounds audible that a few minutes ago you were taking for granted (or just didn’t hear)? Keep listening. Do you hear anything else? Now you can start to think about how loud the sounds are that you are hearing. Where are the objects producing the sounds located in relation to you (panning position)?
Listening on an airplane (find unique locations to practice).
The next step is to start orally documenting your observations by speaking your thoughts into the recording device. For instance, if you are seated in a park, you may hear the leaves of a tree rustling right above you and slightly to the right, you may hear children playing (voices, movement sounds) in the foreground, you may hear cars on a highway in the distant background panning from left to right behind you. You may hear the distant rumbles of thunder from an impending storm. Where are the thunder sounds coming from, and are successive thunder sounds moving closer or further from you? Think about how loud these sounds are in relation to each other and how they progressively change over time. We all know that a car engine is louder than the rustling of leaves, but it is all a matter of position/distance. How do these sounds mix and sound to you at that specific moment? Mention these specifics when documenting your listening experience. The more detail you document and hear, the better, though the specifics of what you say is less important than the physical process of critically listening with the intent of documenting the nuances of the soundscape.
To do this effectively, find a safe location, bring a recording device (your smartphone works fine) and just sit or stand. Start recording, close your eyes and listen. This may take some time to adjust, but after a few minutes, what do you hear? Are sounds audible that a few minutes ago you were taking for granted (or just didn’t hear)? Keep listening. Do you hear anything else? Now you can start to think about how loud the sounds are that you are hearing. Where are the objects producing the sounds located in relation to you (panning position)?
Listening on an airplane (find unique locations to practice).
The next step is to start orally documenting your observations by speaking your thoughts into the recording device. For instance, if you are seated in a park, you may hear the leaves of a tree rustling right above you and slightly to the right, you may hear children playing (voices, movement sounds) in the foreground, you may hear cars on a highway in the distant background panning from left to right behind you. You may hear the distant rumbles of thunder from an impending storm. Where are the thunder sounds coming from, and are successive thunder sounds moving closer or further from you? Think about how loud these sounds are in relation to each other and how they progressively change over time. We all know that a car engine is louder than the rustling of leaves, but it is all a matter of position/distance. How do these sounds mix and sound to you at that specific moment? Mention these specifics when documenting your listening experience. The more detail you document and hear, the better, though the specifics of what you say is less important than the physical process of critically listening with the intent of documenting the nuances of the soundscape.