Bounte » Chicago audio map

Simply one minute of Lake Michigan waves

Dean Dunakin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:21 +0000

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W. Lawrence, 1930

Dean Dunakin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:47:40 +0000

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Sitting on the corner in front of Sears. Plains, trains, and automobiles! You can hear the el, the O’Hare flightpath, some cars of course, a walker, and you can just hear a fly land on the microphone at about 58sec (or -0:12 if it’s counting down).

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N. Leavitt, 3400

Dean Dunakin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:29:18 +0000

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I’ve decided to take a different approach with the Chicago audio map. While I like the ideal of recording whole streets, all those recordings began sounding the same, with cars at the beginning and end of blocks, various other doppler effects, the whup-whup of walking for 3-4 minutes. So I’m sitting down and recording one still minute or so of the audio at places in which I find myself. I think it well lead to some more interesting distinctions between the recordings.

I’m kicking off this “still” set with a street festival in Roscoe Village.

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N. Hoyne, 1100 to 1000

Dean Dunakin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:55:24 +0000

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N. Clark, 5200 to 5500

Dean Dunakin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:38:20 +0000

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W. 2020 alley, 900-800 N

Dean Dunakin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:16:09 +0000

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Something a little different: the alley next to Damen, and some sounds of winter. I wasn’t sure how to notate a Chicago alley, so I’m calling it the west 2020 alley. Features gate opening and closing, walking on and crunching ice/snow, kicking around other litter in the alley, some guy vacuuming his Mustang or something, an airplane overhead, some men at work near the end, and a big CTA bus at the very end. And of course the ubiquitous whup-whup of walking, cars in the distance, and wind noise.

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W. Bryn Mawr, 1400

Dean Dunakin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:57:17 +0000

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walking noise, cars, muffled conversation, big-ass truck near the end

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W. Chicago, 1800-1900

Dean Dunakin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:00:25 +0000

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N. Wood, 900-800

Dean Dunakin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:00:11 +0000

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Sometimes I think these street recordings are all just of cars whizzing by, but the more I listen to them, the more I hear the subtleties. Like this one going from Augusta to Chicago Ave, the car noise subsides dramatically at the beginning, then picks up at the end as I approach Chicago Ave. And there’s this machine drone in the background that I don’t remember hearing.

Really these are what you hear walking down the street in Chicago. We just tend to tune some noises out after a while, and those noises sound especially odd while sitting in an office chair.

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W. Augusta, 1800

Dean Dunakin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:11:40 +0000

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cars, wind noise, footsteps, brake squeaking, dog nails clicking, car doors closing, leaves rustling

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