Assignment 2 - Soundscape
Equipment:
Initially, I borrowed a SONY portable microphone from the Music Department for this assignment. The portable microphone is a recorder that captures stereo audio from the environment. Unfortunately, the recordings were capturing the sound of strong wind, and the tracks were therefore abandoned.
To re-record for this assignment, I downloaded a unique sound recording app called the "Recorder", which is an app that allows stereo recording on the iPhone microphone. The app also provides multiple file formats for the recorded tracks, such as "wav." or "m4a.". Users could also choose to record the stereo sound from the front or bottom side of the phone, making the app favourable for different users as one might have a different preference in holding their phones. I recorded all ten tracks in m4a format, stereo (front) mic, at an appreciative sampling rate of 44100Hz.
(Here is a little surprising function in this app that I have finally decided to use: understanding this recording app only says "stereo audio" for the recorded tracks, which means that the sound being heard might differ a little from each side of the headset/earphones, creating a sense of "immersion" to the brain, but this does not give multidimensional listening experience to the listeners. That being said, listeners can "upgrade" their listening experience simply by hearing the tracks with AirPods Pro/Pro2. With AirPods Pro on, not only can the listeners hear the stereo sound environment from the tracks, but they may also be able to experience spatial audio listening if they are wearing AirPods Pro/Pro2 (Spatial Audio function). Spatial Audio refers to the professionally processed sound which makes the sound from the audio coming from their "real" location from reality space - if you turn around your head, the audio will auto-correct the "location" of the sound relative to your head position. Also, instead of exporting the tracks through two channels like stereo audio, the sound would come in all directions, simulating the effect of binaural audio.
The logo of the app / The setting page of the app / The recording page of the app
Recording area: Location: Sai Kung (and Sharp Island)
Sai Kung is a popular place to visit during the weekends, but rather than going on a Saturday/Sunday, I chose to visit Sai Kung on an ordinary weekday (Thursday) as I was curious to check out the other side of this place when fewer visitors are there, hoping to find some often neglected/ rarely heard sounds in the environment. I arrived at Sai Kung at around 11am and had a quick trip to a nearby small island called Sharp Island (or Kiu Tsui Island). Going back to Sai Kung Town by 2:30pm, I took some time to walk around the neighbourhood and returned home in the late afternoon.
Map showing the places I travelled
1. Sai Kung Bus Terminus - 11am
It was an atypical morning where there were only a few pedestrians by the bus stops. The whole recording only managed to capture the sound of 2 vehicles passing by, proving the unhurried status of the traffic on a weekday.
2. Sai Kung SPCA Adoption Centre - 11:10am
(Before playing this track, mind the volume as there will be some loud dog barking sounds!)
I particularly visited the SPCA adoption centre because I used to work at SPCA as a volunteer. There were a total of 4 dogs in the centre that day. Some interesting sounds to point out, 1) As I moved toward a puppy mongrel, she got very excited and kept scratching the kennel panel (starting from 00:29'), 2) Although the windows were opened to keep nice ventilation in the centre, the A/C was still switched on and was pretty loud, 3) there was a constantly ongoing construction sound in the background.
3. Man Yee Playground - 11:25am
This was the time when some primary school students were off from school, some interesting sounds in this track are: 1) There was a man spitting onto the ground! (00:27'-00:31'), 2) I also accidentally recorded two kids arguing while walking their way back home (00:34' - 00:50'), 3) Despite many sounds coming from the birds, I would like to specifically point out the sound from 01:06-01:19, as this type of birds tweet was very loud and quite unique at the same time.
4. Sai Kung Public Pier - 11:40 am
There were quite a few groups of people awaiting the ferry at the Sai Kung Public Pier. Here are some unique things to listen to, 1) A unique sound of someone switching on the boat engine at 2:20'- 2:25', 2) From 2:50', the boat was driven away from the pier, 3) often neglected at the background was the chirping of sparrows, they are very commonly seen in Hong Kong but the majority of the people do not pay attention to their chirping.
(It took about 20 minutes to reach Sharp Island from Sai Kung Public Pier)
5. Sharp Island Pier - 12:00nn
After arriving at the pier at Sharp Island, I recorded the soundscape again to compare and contrast it with the sound I heard at Sai Kung Public Pier. Some noticeable differences are 1) The people at the Sharp Island Pier talked louder, this might be because they felt more relaxed doing so as most of them were residents living there, and they were fishing while chitchatting with each other at the pier, 2) As there were no other boats or buildings surrounding the island nor the pier, the wind was harsher on the seawater at the Sharp Island Pier when compared to the pier at Sai Kung, you can hear the sea water splashing quite loud from 1:30'.
6. Sharp Island Beach (Kiu Tsui Beach) - 12:30pm
Shortly, I arrived at Kiu Tsui Beach. Notably, there was less chirping sound from the birds when compared to the audio recorded at Sai Kung Town. One might think that this phenomenon is strange because a less urbanized island is supposed to be able to retain a natural habitat for the birds, but why are there more birds living in the city? I suspect that 1) Some human activities are creating burdens to the environment (evoking problems like water and air pollution), causing ecology destruction, and therefore, fewer bird sounds were captured in this track than expected, 2) As there is a depletion in the ecosystem, the birds (especially sparrows) have found their new food source - leftover foods/wasted foods from human, they are therefore more commonly seen and heard in the Sai Kung Town rather than here at Sharp Island. This is an interesting finding from the track and I believe that it evokes my contemplation about some serious environmental problems happening in the world.
7. Sharp Island Hiking route - 1pm
This recording captures the soundscape at the "entrance point" of the Sharp Island hiking route. Surrounded by trees and bushes, it was surprising that there were so very few interesting sounds coming from animals in the wild.
(Back to Sai Kung Town)
8. Sai Kung Town Tin Hau Temple Complex - 2:30pm
Some people believe that the Tin Hau (The Goddess from the sky) blesses the people living on the ground (Earth). I entered the Tin Hau Temple and was able to record a rare audio tape of a man drawing a fortune stick. The man was holding a wooden container which holds the fortune sticks, he then shook the container and the first and only stick that dropped out was considered the divination stick, which is considered a sign or a message the Goddess gives to him and the message shall guide him to the solution of his problems. The excerpt when he asked for the sign can be heard from 1:50' - 2:00'.
9. The back lane at the back of the Tin Hau Temple (marked in blue-colour tag:22.38)
3pm
While Main Street is clean and tidy, the people in the back lane were busy doing cleaning dirty plates and getting rid of the rubbish produced. In this recording, you can hear someone cleaning the plates, someone pushing the trolly around to collect garbage, and someone picking up some leftovers with a plastic bag.
10. Sai Kung Seafood Street - 3:20pm
Walking back to the "Main street" - Sai Kung Seafood Street, we can once again hear the sparrows and the sound of the boat engines. There were also people selling seafood, they were yelling from their boats to their potential customers standing above them in the street. Near the end of the recording (1:55' onwards), there were Chinese restaurants on the left side of the street where the people were enjoying their late afternoon meal there. The clashing sound of cutlery can be heard.
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