Seeley G. Mudd Quadrangle, February 14

Part 1:

soundscape_Mudd-quad-p1-2017-Feb14

Part 2:

soundscape_Mudd-quad-p2-2017-Feb14

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Location: The quad is in located in the middle of four dorm buildings, and is a very active part of campus. It’s surrounded by concrete roads which students walk or skate on to travel between their dorm rooms, classrooms and the dining hall. Both West Dorm and North Dorm have student-operated speakers (facing East and West respectively) that they use to broadcast music to their residents during the day. Since both dorms’ speakers are angled slightly outwards, the quad in between the two dorms gets two separate streams of loud music from both dorms. Since this is the residential end of the campus, you can often hear students walking or skating around, shouting to each other, or having conversations. The flat architecture of the inner dorm can result in echoing of music and voices, sometimes making it hard to locate the sources of sounds.

Recording: The recording was done in the grassy area in the middle of the four inner (U-shaped) dorms using a TASCAM DR-40 Sound Recorder at a height of 3ft with the windscreen.

Description: From the beginning of the clip, you can hear music on the background which is a a distinctive soundmark for this location. The clip starts with somebody screaming/calling to their friend–a signal–and then we can hear scratching noises which are made by people walking by. Halfway through the first recording we hear another speaker go on, resulting in two different streams of music. The cacophony of multiple speakers is once again very characteristic of the soundscape of the quad. At 0:40 we hear some rustling/scratching noises again. Although this sounds like an artifact, I think it is the result of people walking on the sidewalk along the quad, and can be considered a keynote sound. At 1:20 (Part 2, 0:20), you can make out slight talking which is mostly masked by the music. At 1:40 (Part 2, 0:40), you can hear the sound of wheels going across the sidewalk. This 2-part sound is a result of the the front and the back wheels crossing cracks on the quad sidewalk, and is a very prominent keynote within the Mudd soundscape.