A few more portrait examples

Barbers of Belmont

http://soundportraits.org/on-air/barbers_of_belmont/

Barry

http://www.prx.org/pieces/63286

*You need a PRX membership (free!) to listen-- you have to do this anyway, so no time like the present.

And here is what we listened to today (that wasn't created for this class previously)

Joe Vittaco, Freelance Embalmer

http://soundportraits.org/on-air/freelance_embalmer/

StoryCorps

http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/category/identity/page/2/

Clayton Hall Jr.

Music

I actually never really listened to music until mid high school. I never actually bought albums and tried to keep up with what my favorite artists were doing until then. I would say then that that's when sound started becoming important to me.

I love how music in films can make the scene from being good to being great! For example, I recently saw the Shining, and while it may be creepy and utterly disturbing on it's own, the music that accompanied the film made every single moment tense and suspenseful. I love that! I love how music causes more emotion in me and gets me engaged in whatever it's accompanied with. I love hearing a new song and connecting with it.

Playing currently: Kate Earl- All I Want

REcording Experience

I have had many great experiences with sound, but one of the coolest was when a band I was in got recorded by a parent's friend. He wanted to record us at his house, and when we got there we began to set up our equipment. After we were all set up we helped the man who was recording us set up mics and his equipment, and this was great because it was my first hands on experience with learning the art of recording. He spoke a little about good mic placement and checking that everything is plugged in correctly, and the hands on experience plus him sharing his knowledge on good recording definitely intrigued my interest. After we recorded a few songs onto his computer, he showed us the software he used (I do not remember what it was) and we sort of helped him edit the recordings until we were all satisfied with them. I chose to reflect on this experience because it really made me appreciate recording and from then on, sound and recording has been one of my main interests.

Saturday in the Park

For most of my life music in one form or another has surrounded me. Some of my most fond memories of my childhood involve music and sound. When I think back to weekends of my childhood I instantly remember the way I felt and the sounds I heard while at our local soccer fields. Early in the soccer playing days of my brother and I, we quickly developed a pre-game tradition with our father. Every Saturday as he drove us to our soccer games he would play a mix of music to get us pumped up. We would roll down the windows, open the sunroof and jam to my dad’s favorite tunes. Some of our most played artists included: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Chicago, The Beatles, Santana, The Rolling Stones, Huey Lewis & the News, John Mellencamp, and ZZ Top. As soon as we stepped out of the car at the soccer park an array of sounds hit you. I specifically remember whistles blowing, crowds cheering, dragonflies buzzing, and children laughing. Those Saturdays at Meyer Park with my dad impacted me in such a great way. Thanks mostly to him; I developed a great hunger for music, especially classic rock and other oldies music. I don’t think I can thank him enough for my musical education!

Sea World

Three years ago I took a trip to San Diego. While there my group went to Sea World. We had been there all day and decided to catch the last Shamu show, which was well after the sun had gone down. For some reason we also thought it would be a good idea to sit right in front of the water. Not surprisingly by the end of the show I looked like I had jumped in the tank and done a few laps with the orca. Luckily I had brought a change of clothes and headed to the nearest bathroom to dry off and change. While changing in a bathroom stall another person came into the restroom. This poor fellow was clearly having some massive stomach problems and I heard it all while I was changing clothes. As I looked around at the urine soaked floors, feces stained toilet, and the toilet paper that was clearly all wet, I couldn't help put think that this restroom was probably the worst place to get sick. It took me about ten minutes to change clothes and that guy's digestive tract was wrecking shop on him the entire time. And that's how sound made me pity a man like I had never done before.

Sounds of Summer 2008

I had just finished my junior year of high school and started my first full time job ever, lifeguarding at a neighborhood pool. There were only two guards so we both had to work 6 days a week 8 hours a day. That's a lot of time to sit and listen to different pitches of whiny children screaming their discontent every time one of them is forcibly removed from the pool by their parents. The other guard I worked with was much more seasoned and on day three brought in a radio. He was the boss so he set the station to classic rock, not something I would have picked. Up until this point, my knowledge of classic rock was limited to what I heard on Guitar Hero, so this was basically a whole new listening experience for me. The music was fantastic, not only because it's classic rock, they had given us something to break up the monotony of our day. We were always looking for something to do while there were only one or two in the pool (which happened quite frequently) They had a show from 4-5 called "bumper-to-bumper" where they played a song and the next song they would play had to start with the last letter from the first song's title. That was always interesting. At some point in June, we heard Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" (one I knew from Guitar Hero) and both of us really liked. A couple of weeks passed and we hadn't heard that song again so we decided to call in and request it. Easier said than done. We called dozens of times throughout June, July and finally in August we got through and twenty minutes or so later, there was our song. So for me, that summer was characterized by rock and that radio station. It distracted us from the constant heat of summer and gave us a way to get to know each other better. To this day, rock music is a comforting genre to me, and a frequent companion on my long car trips.

A Transforming Experience

Sound is probably one of the most impactful mediums on earth. It can affect us both physically and emotionally. There's nothing like listening to a performance that just gives you goosebumps. A memorable listening experience for me is one that puts me in the moment and that moment only. My first time seeing the band Motion City Soundtrack was one of those experiences. I got sucked into the music and was able to completely forget about the world around me. I was no longer in an overpacked crowd, I was in my own space where the music painted images in my head and pulsated through my body. The experience made me appreciate sound on another level. It became transformative for me. I now enjoy just closing my eyes and just letting all sink in, whether it'd be music or the ambience outdoors. 

Musical Memories

The best sound experience I ever had was at a Wade Bowen concert at Bono's Bar & Grill in Decatur, TX a few years ago. It was the first time I'd ever heard anything from Wade Bowen and he's a particularly wonderful artist. His songs are wonderful and have a wide variety of instrumentational sounds that seat him with the rest of the Texas country greats but also gives him a bit of an edge over other native artists. I honestly believe that the fact that I was surrounded by my friends, one of which was the sound guy, and sitting in the sound booth able to see over everyone to actually see the outdoor stage is what made it all the more wonderful. I just remember clean, crisp music floating through the air and knowing that at that moment there's no place I'd rather be than at that show with those people. It is by far the best concert experience I've ever had and the best overall sound performance I've ever listened to.

Colorado

As my username suggests, I absolutely love trees. It is even hard for me to talk about it. I don’t know where to begin. They symbolize so much strength, durability, stability, and beauty. All things that I hope for but never seem to find. And yet - trees have all these qualities and more without even batting an eye (that’s kind of a pun...).

WARNING: I try to be funny but my jokes are only funny to me. That’s ok though. It makes life much more enjoyable to laugh at myself and my silly jokes. This is random but I just thought that it would be fair to give everyone a head’s up.

I grew up in Colorado. It was a little town called Castle Rock that is conveniently located 15 minutes south of Denver and 25 minutes north of Colorado Springs. It’s pretty much the perfect place, nestled quietly at the base of the mountains. I was like a girl, forrest version of Mogli. I lived outdoors and I imagined that I was raised by wolves. I was kind of crazy. The point of my story: I became obsessed with the sounds of nature. More than that though, I was in awe of the song of trees. The pines were as smooth and melodic as strings and the aspens were upbeat and so jazzy. I couldn’t get enough of it.

I will never forget moving to San Antonio. I was not very excited to leave my home and wooded creatures. My favorite sound I ever heard and can remember was hiking one day, feeling so sorry for myself, my situation, and felling so lost. I stopped at the top of a hill/boulder thing and (of course) started crying due to my great loss. I was going to miss my home so much and was so afraid. Then, I started to listen. The wind whispered through the valley and I will never forget the song. I have never been in such awe of God’s creature as I was then. I wish I could have captured the sound. It dove so deep within me that I will never forget it.

Awe! I miss the mountains so much! I can’t even talk about it... I will just get too emotional.

New Possibilities

Music and I? We go way back. Our story begins in elementary, when I participated in UIL competitions memorizing classical music and artists. I realize now that it must have taken some musical talent or skill to do what I did then, as it is no easy task to memorize classical music, even at this stage of my life. Still, I thought nothing of it and continued my musical career into middle school, where I learned to play percussion. My motivation was mostly driven by competition with my fellow peers, and eventually, with other percussionists in South Texas. In 7th, 8th, and 9th grade I placed in the top 10 of all percussionists south of San Antonio. Still, I thought little of how this would play a part in my life. In fact, I had never really considered music (or its production) a career option until I attended my first-ever concert. The experience was like no other, and it would have such a great impact on my life. I can go on and on about how amazing the show was, but the bottom line is that it opened my eyes to new possibilities. I became more interested in sound in general, and more specifically, its production. I was fascinated. I knew from that point on that my professional career would involve sound production in one way or another. What that career is? I am not quite sure yet. But I am hoping that this course will guide me in the right direction.