DC LISTENING LOUNGE - Highlights

Summer 2021

8/2/2021

The DC Listening Lounge in partnership with the Smithsonian Hirshhorn was beyond thrilled to be able to safely present Sound Scene 2021 both online AND in-person in Washington DC.

It was a delight to interact with audiences of all ages as they explored giant cicadas, uncorked messages in bottles, leaned in to hear the stories and sounds from our talented contributors and embodied (aka danced), constructed and deconstructed sound.

We were honored to host a world premier of multi-sensory work, provide ASL for all programs and to bring international talents together in conversations around the theme of "emergence."

Thank you to all our artists, audience members, volunteers and our truly terrific team of curators and facilitators. We are looking forward to 2022 already!

April Highlights

5/9/2021

Here are some highlights from our April Listening Lounge

(Thanks to Tanya for taking notes)

We kicked off the night with introductions and each of us shared a sound we had heard recently that we might associate with a color or shape.

Tanya, a composer and musician heard and was ever-calmed by the sounds of falling rain. Tanya associates the sounds with being enclosed and secure, sheltered and cozy more than with a specific color.

Jocelyn, a podcast producer and media consultant heard recently the wind scurrying across the siding of the house and connected it with light pink more as an exploration of the ways that colors and descriptive language can evoke different impressions in sound (something she's been playing with in her writing and storytelling recently).

Sharon, a trained audio engineer, introduced us to a song that came to mind recently that was refreshing to her with its new sonic feel. Shanon felt that it expressed a little lavender or maybe more of a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes (possibly influenced by the video).

Kesley- sound artist and teacher and heard wind chimes and associated that with the color blue (sort of calming and a little more fluid).

Henry- mixed media artist, amateur luthier, and multi-instrumentalist /composer, heard a chirping bird on a walk and two colors were on his mind that day: white blossoms and vibrant greens. The sounds were on a walk in Arlington VA.

Audio shared:
SHARON shared audio and video work by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQn_JMuASM
“In honor of Women's History month, “Minnie Lives”, produced and written by V.C.R, is an ode to women everywhere. Birthed from the growing pains of a physically and emotionally abusive relationship, this offering is a gift, a journey through the mind of a healing violinist. Named after her heroine Minnie Riperton, its storybook cinematic quality is sure to transport the listener into her own world of fantasy soul. Perfectly paired, the poet and ingenious rapper Pink Siifu ends the song with a foreshadowing of what’s to come. This is the just appetizer of her upcoming EP releasing this summer. Enjoy, and meals like this are best savored slowly.”
- Henry heard it to be trip-hoppy-ethereal (even as he pushed back against the genre language that he associates with record labels). Liked thinking of it as a tribute and a play on words.
- Tanya was delighted by the unexpectedness of the genre and enjoyed the surprises that came along with it. Tanya noted that it had really effective visuals to pull in the audience focus and tune in.
- Henry heard some backward tracking which added “a little bit of spice.”

HENRY shared an original multimedia piece (with appreciation for poetry month)

Sharon noticed the hawk imagery and lured Henry out to reveal that he is also a hobbyist photographer
Tanya commented on this era of independent content creation and the various mediums that can be so expressive in this time. She found the work to be both intensely personal along with universal
appreciating the homemade footage we can capture in this time of isolation, loss, meaning and the small universes we are all existing within.
Jocelyn appreciated the line “your smile so far away” and the silence that followed especially in contrast to the visual illustrations that came before and after- that moment was a vivid sonic illustration of space. (Henry replied that he appreciated that noting that many of the musical masters he respects, from Debussy to Miles Davis, value and make use of space)
Kelsey, mentioned that the work had her thinking about her students and what they are exploring and bringing together too. She referenced James Benning films and the camera pointing to the sky (for 2hours). (Henry: like Andy Warhol's Empire State Building)
Conversation about Echkart Toll to wake up to this presence.

JOCELYN mixed up her previous run of water-themed recordings and instead tried playing out some spring sounds from another plane of listening – an active (water) bird fly-over.

Sharon was surprised by how many different birds showed up
Kelsey commented that the melodic birds were vary jarring with the sporadic honking of geese, and she enjoyed the interplay of elegance in bird song and then not with the geese.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: SOUND SCENE IS COMING JUNE 26+27. LIVE in DC AND Globally ONLINE. STAY TUNED FOR MORE INFO.

KELSEY shared shared a Boschian Hellscape
She had been invited to do a remix of two stems from an artist. She manipulate the stems and layered in her own field recordings. She also created the visuals using footage from a motorcycle road trip with her Dad. Henry noted that the theme of the evening had turned out to be "memory".

TANYA/TANTRONIQ shared the opening six minutes of music from the Inside of Time. Applying techniques she normally only uses on her own field recordings, she used a small swatch from a public domain industrial film soundtrack.

We chatted a bit about career paths in music and audio, how to foster collaboration with other artists, and how non-linear all these paths tend to turn out to be.
SHARON shared Imogen Heap's The Creative Passport which allows artists to put their work out there in a findable format for collaboration and hiring.
An interesting idea!

TANYA later found the link to a webinar on "Careers in Audio" she had seen a week or two before. It has a nice array of panelists who shared a lot of info about their careers. Definitely worth checking out.

Looking forward to listening with you in May!

March highlights

5/9/2021

Everyone introduced themselves and each of us replied to this sonic prompt: “What loud disruptive sound did you experience recently?”

Will-
His baby Phoebe…

Denée-
Whaling cars

Ann-
A helicopter over the city

Ben-
Live BINGO game broadcast on the radio station Voice of Bonne Bay, Newfoundland (link shared from DCLL alumnus Shea Shackelford).

Lizzie-
A black-crowned night heron

Jessica –
A neighbor doing some clamoring and banging around the house

Neal –
A Dr. Demento song, Tommy’s Egyptian Simba (listen at your own risk)

Joc –
Coyotes howling

Barry –
Had a nightmare in which he heard breathing in the house. Noted that auditory dreams are scarier since they don’t allow immediate verification, upon waking, that they don’t exist, unlike visual components.

WE LISTENED TOGETHER:
Denée- shared audio from an a capella song she created and performed for Black History Month 2021, as part of the Kuumba Showcase sponsored by Baltimore’s Creative Alliance. The piece was called Black Butterfly and generated a lot of enthusiastic questions about her process.

Barry – was moved by the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, so shared an original and very personal composition described as “haunting” and having “dread,” and “with eyes closed, visions with echoes of familiar sounds such as chains on a swing set.”

Joc – mentioned her ear seemed to try to find rhythms where none really existed...and she shared a recording of ice melting and falling from a rooftop to the ground interested to find out if other people seemed to hear rhythms in it too (then geeked out about how complex the equation would need to be to predict the timing and rhythms of ice melt by mapping ice shapes and roof angles!).

Ben – played an interview with a friend who rescued a vulture, then kidnapped it back from a rehab facility, since they wouldn’t let her help care for it. He left listeners unsatisfied by stopping the tape as the phone rings at her house; the game warden a' callin…

Matthew – shared an audio/video composition of sounds made entirely by bicycle components. It was meticulously edited (using Ableton) and resulted in a stunning experience. DCLL listeners/viewers described it as “joyful” and “amazing.”

Henry – wrapped up the evening with a presentation of an original composition EN-CE-Qui, CONCERNE VOUS which involved a prepared guitar and moody overlays. It was an immersive tonal experience.

Announcements – Lizzy mentioned that the Smithsonian Podcast that she produces and hosts, Sidedoor, has a position for a producer – please apply!

And we said goodnight.

January Listening Lounge

2/19/2021

January Lounge Highlights:

Jocelyn welcomed attendees. She suggested a prompt of “what do you do with, or enjoy, in audio?” And/or “what food sound comes to mind?”

Barry – Gaithersburg, MD
Environments created with sound. The slurping sound of ramen noodles exemplified by the 1985 film Tampopo.

Ben, Annapolis, MD
Fly-on-the-wall sound exemplified by the New York Times online live-stream of the inauguration where a hot mic captured the sound of the prez and vice prez couples’ footsteps descending the hallway stairs in the Capitol.

Christopher
The talking sound of a frozen lake in PA. The silence between sounds, including pauses in music. The crunch while eating corn-on-the-cob.

Jocelyn, Petoskey MI
Breaking the sugar crust on a crème brulee.

Missy, Mt Rainier, MD
Theater sound design & Foley. The sound of chicken frying as compared to rain falling.

Macy, Chiang Mai, Thailand
The sound of a spoon traveling up and down inside a tall glass of Vietnamese iced coffee.

Rene, Takoma Park, MD
The iconic Pop-Rocks candy sound.

Genise, Fairfax, VA
Creates World Reggae Party and hears her boyfriend eat crab legs.

WE LISTENED TOGETHER:

Barry – shared a 4-minute piece of the sound dead & live trees touching. He used a geophone which captures sound <100 Hz. The creaking sound is influenced by wind movements and evokes the feeling of “frictional bark.” Barry shared the anatomy of a geophone. Rene said that he had heard that you can actually hear the sap running through some trees and that the DC cherry blossom trees might be good subjects to geophonically explore.

Ben – played a 6-minute piece documenting an annual urban holiday hike visiting Christmas trees on the DC Mall. He used a binaural headset which gave a deeply spatial, surrounding experience. Highlights included participants playing Oh Tannenbaum (in F minor) on toy synthesizers and a hiker/musician playing Bach (Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring) on the ukulele in the sonically-appealing open dome of the Embassy of Canada (which contained an awesome tree).

Jocelyn – shared a recording taken at a Northern Michigan 8-mile long frozen lake at 17 degrees Fahrenheit. A sound was produced that was described as “Wonder Woman’s whip.” Worried that her Sony PCM recorder wasn’t cold-tolerant, she stuck the recorder “butt-end out” in her mitten, next to a teabag hand warmer. The faint sound of a bird pecking, then peeping, was also heard. She shared a photo of her sound-loving partner also recording icey-lake sounds earlier that day.

Henry – presented a collaborative sound project originating with King Crimson’s drummer Pat Mastelotto in which Pat provided an electronic drum file for other artists to overlay tracks. Henry multi-tasked with adding a vocal track (singing a traditional folk song), playing a Tetrax wood/oscillator organ, and a baroque E-flat clarinet. The work was described by one listener as “amazingly beautiful” and “emotional” and another observed “the sustains between phrases were especially appealing since they weren’t in the predictable key signature.” This led to a spirited discussion about profound quotes attributed, rightly or wrongly, to Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock such as “What you see here is the stew without the sauce” and “if you play a wrong note, play it again.”

Rene – was coaxed to close out this Listening Lounge with piece he recorded during a historical tour of a Parmesan factory in Italy. Parmesan is beat with wooden mallets in a process termed “sounding the cheese.” The sounds reveal the level of doneness. The charming tour guide could be heard interpreting the sonorous cheese sounds by saying “its perfect” or “its not perfect.”

And our evening concluded.

***Afternote: The day after LL Macy wrote a FB post expressing an appreciation of our meeting and shared that it inspired her to explore the use of sound in her work on environmental justice projects in the Mekong region. She and her colleague are considering using the sound of forests as a grounding experience for environmental activists being trained to learn skills to help protect their communities against megadevelopment projects. Thank you Macy!

Nov. Listening Lounge and Oct. Highlights!

11/16/2020

Thinking of joining us for our November Listening Lounge on Nov 18th, 7:30pm ET?

Check out how fun listening (and talking about sound) with others can be...here are our October highlights.

Hope to listen with you soon,

**Register for November's Listening Lounge to receive the information about how to join us.

October Lounge Highlights (courtesy of Ben):
Jocelyn welcomed attendees stylishly sporting a wool blanket – a reminder that she was zooming from a great deal north of DCLL’s geographic birthplace. Unseasonable DC temps in the hi 70s made the contrast even greater. The night’s prompt was "what was your first live music performance experience?”

Henry – Falls Church, VA
Beverly Sills in Massenet’s Manon in 1970 at the NY City Opera. He still can feel the joy of being enveloped by a cloud of fog that was part of the production.

Greg Kelly – Charlottesville, VA
The comedian Gallagher in St. Louis. Knowing that he might be challenged on the musicality of watermelon-smashing, he quickly followed up with the band Yes. Henry asking and getting confirmation that it was, indeed, the configuration having band member Jon Anderson.

Ben – Annapolis, MD
Was gonna start by saying Elton John, Merriweather Post Pavilion in the 70s (his dad did a drop-off and pickup), but remembered even further back, while in Germany, his parents taking him to see Van Cliburn who was all the international buzz after winning the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow during the cold war.

Tanya - Walkersville, MD
Seeing her violin teacher play at the Kennedy Center; an experience which possibly helped inspire her interest in composition.

Jenifer - Washington, DC
Liberace in Western Mass, which was part of the celebration of her mom’s marriage. The iconic chandelier was not really as memorable as the six amazing costume changes.

Jocelyn - Minneapolis, MN
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra at an outdoor venue. She also remembers going to the Billy Joel River of Dreams stadium concert with her mom and was struck how she became part of a giant sing along – perhaps sparking her present-day passion for interactive audio experiences.

Barry – Gaithersburg, MD
Led Zeppelin in the Chicago Black Hawks Stadium. Possibly as notable as the performance itself was the overt drug use.

[We later welcomed Ana Maria (Alexandria) and Ishy Viray’s avatar]

Further pleasant conversation revealed Jocelyn as an oboist – immediately prompting Henry to inquire weather she had ever tried a shawm – to which she replied with a smile – “you mean one of these?” as she held one up. Things got amusingly lost in the reeds when further discussion centered on double, quad, and triple-reed configurations.

WE LISTENED TOGETHER:

Henry – set up his sound offering by describing it as an “electro-acoustic dark ambient” piece that he produced and is shared on Bandcamp. Listeners were treated to an atmospheric conversation between a reedy instrument sound and a low, oscillating drone, thematically conveying “love/myth/environment” with an overriding idea of “space.” We later learned that a “Shnth’ was used; an instrument somewhat akin to a kalimba in stature but with amazingly creative possibilities. Henry also shared that he is working on a composition using a Ciat-Lomdarde Tetrax organ, another touch-sensitive electro-wooden instrument.

Tanya picked up on the “space” feeling and explored the presence/absence of narrative; stating that she didn’t think it had an identifiable narrative, which made it even more appealing. Furthermore, another listener felt that there was a distinct cinematic quality to it. Further discussion on contemporary electronic/experimental/free jazz composers including the Toshinori Kondo Quintet and the Peter Brotzmann Quartet and performers were discussed and links to works shared.

Barry - whipped out his geophone; a device originally used by geologists for exploratory geologisty kind of things but now showing endless possibilities in the sound art world. He used his geophone to record the performance of a cable attached to a pole that anchored traffic lights over a road. Joc observed that she “felt the sound” instead of “sensing the pitch” and others experienced the piece at a “microsonic level.” For Barry’s next project he’s going to tackle an enticing set of pylons holding wires that cross the Potomac over the C&O Canal. He already has heard the audible hum of those wires, so no telling what a geophone will reveal when added to the mix.

Ben – shared the first audio piece he made called “Olga” which arose from attending his first DCLL meeting roughly 15 years ago. A prompt was assigned to “ask someone about their first best friend.” With little technical knowledge on recording (with a minidisc) and editing (with Garage Band), he got lucky capturing the charms of his mom which led to an unexpectedly sad story involving the Holocaust. Ben attributes DCLL for showing him the joys of sound and for helping him realize that profound discoveries can come to light by simply taking the time to ask someone something about themselves.

Some thoughtful discussion followed with Jocelyn observing that there’s “time” and then there’s “audio time” and Henry, referencing William Maxwell’s writing, noted how “the past and present can be remembered simultaneously” and how “stuff just comes up.” Henry also observed how Proust captured it so well (on page 44 of his edition) of Remembrance of Things Past of how “biting into the (madeleine) triggered memories.” Really nice sharing-of-thoughts to round-off an evening of listening.

CONCLUDING WORDS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND SHOUT-OUTS:

It's never to early to plan, especially when it comes to putting on a summer weekend of interactive sound & fun; Sound Scene, so Jocelyn put out the call for volunteers to be on the planning committee.

Jocelyn is also seeking input on on-line collaborative performance software that minimizes latency and was wondering if anyone has used Jacktrip software? Barry also mentioned that there’s other software out there; for example Audiomovers. Any input appreciated.

Henry recommended, highly, the movie “A Night in the Garden” a short doc that consists of footage of a “pro-American” rally that took place on 20 February 1939 in Madison Square Garden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1MNGFHR58

There was another shout-out for the 2020 docu-drama “The Social Dilemma” which is about an insider whistleblower in the tech industry.

And we said good night.

Sept Lounge Highlights

10/12/2020

Next Listening Lounge: Oct 21, 7:30pm ET (ZOOM)

September Lounge Highlights:
Neal welcomed Loungers that trickled in from near and far. The night’s ice-breaker was "what memorable sound did you hear today?”

Neal, from AR & DC
the negative sound (aka - quiet) of not hearing the normal drone of the AC.

Jennifer, DC
the discomforting sound of an overhead helicopter with "silver missiles," eliciting a somewhat of a “Pavlovian” conditioned fear response.

Tanya - Walkersville, MD
a neighbor, normally quiet, but picking today for his annual ritual of cutting loose with a super-loud motorcycle. He does this sometimes too with a super-loud camper truck.

Denée - Columbia, MD
the pleasant sound of voices in the street having a variety of languages, consistent with Columbia’s nurturing of diversity. Also the meditative voice of hearing Ibram X. Kendi reading from his book “How to be an Antiracist.”

Matthew - Denver, CO
actually let us hear what he heard, the sonorous “POP” of uncapping a medicine bottle.

Jocelyn – Petoskey, MI
the building up of wind that was so intense that it was surprisingly discovered to actually be hail.

Ana Maria - Alexandria, VA
the potentially embarrassing, rhythmic creek of the floor boards as she did her exercises, conjuring up the 1991 French Film Delicatessen ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVL5_I4CvTc )

Jay - Ashville, NC
As an ethnomusicology/experimental audio professor at Georgetown, he had lined up Atlanta-based hip hop producer Renegade El Ray for a zoom lecture but had concern how it would come off – turned out it was amazing. Jocelyn expressed what most were thinking “hmm, what’s Georgetown’s policy on auditing courses?”

Barry – Gaithersburg, MD
Living in a townhome he had the pleasure of hearing his neighbor refinish their floor, but from the sound of it, very badly. Erratic drilling tempos and timbres being dead give-aways.

Ben – Annapolis, MD
Venturing outdoors he witnessed the grunts and slaps of a football hitting the hands of mask-less teens evoking feelings of both envy and anxiety.

[We later welcomed: Nina (DC), Ian (Pittsburgh- sound: Kanye’s metronomic sonic pallet), Ann (DC- sound: baby sounds), Brandon]

WE LISTENED TOGETHER:

Neal – shared Sound Collage #8, where pandemic lock-downed participants agree to add 30 sec of creative audio to a forwarded file, exquisite corpse style. As a “contrarian,” Neal’s contribution soothed out the preceding 8ish contributions. Guidance to participants included “you should surrender to it…make it exciting…don’t be precious.”

Jocelyn – was moved to contemplation of our times by the sound of a creature of the night; a cricket. The cricket sounds reminded her of Steve Reich’s 1968 piece “Come Out” where the tape moves out of phase much like the crickets. In “Come Out” the voice of a man beaten by police is heard to say that the only way he could get hospitalized was to open up one of his bruises – flowing blood being the entry criterion. Although the crickets were peaceful, the reminder was disconcerting. It ultimately left her with determination to “stay on causes that I care about,” and not just relax into the peacefulness she was privileged to enjoy.

https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9886-blood-and-echoes-the-story-of-come-out-steve-reichs-civil-rights-era-masterpiece/

Jennifer – took last month’s prompt – “ask someone about their first, best friend” – and ran with it. Erik Johnson, a UPS driver became her subject and shared that his first best friend was actually “a mob of us” wandering around the Rock Creek/old Walter Reed property with nicknames including “Catfish”…”Smokey”…”Peanut”…”Fat Steve.” His nickname? He and his brothers were the collective “Johnson Boys.” The rain on the in-truck interview added a nice ambiance to Jennifer’s remarkable first interview sound piece.

Barry – shared a field recording that didn’t require him to trek into the wilderness as he saw a “storm a comin” so stuck his LOM Uzi PRO omnis on his window sill. This turned out to be an immersive, mysteriously air-traffic-sound-free, and perfectly timed to catch the entire storm symphony concluding with a rain-drenched finale. Some side discussion included Barry saying he had to perform an “audio biopsy” on tape since he “kept hearing voices.” Why? – “some sound software algorithms favor the vocal range.”
https://store.lom.audio/collections/microphones-accessories

Brandon – got a cabin in the Shenandoah which offered a great opportunity to use his Wildtronics Pro Mini Parabolic Stereo Microphone hooked up to his Zoom H4N. The crystal clear, peaceful track revealed multiple bird species identified as: a red-bellied woodpecker, multiple blue jays, Carolina wren, and downy woodpecker (thanks to Neal - DCLL’s resident bird expert).
https://www.wildtronics.com/stparabolic.html#.X38vjZNKjFo

Ben – shared a clip from a January trip to Vieques Island where he and a friend went to the Human Society to check on a dog that they had previously rescued. The walk through the kennel, stepping around dog bowls and tools, inspired an impromptu salsa dance lesson given by one of the staff.

Tanya – as a sound artist and composer was coaxed to share one of her compositions “Terrestrial Sounds for the not Terrestrial.” When asked a little on her process, she cagily described it as “I hunt and farm” but clarified everything by revealing it was “hard-disk based.”

CONCLUDING WORDS, ANNOUNCEMENTS, AND SHOUT-OUTS:

Denée announced information on the Comeback Champion Summit which promotes positive work habits and enhanced productivity.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/comeback-champion-summit-tickets-118911039119?aff=erelexpmlt

Ana Maria announced she is conceptualizing an Environmental Art Project involving plastic pollution and was seeking input on how to add a sound component. QR codes and sonic delivery hardware were suggested.

Ben announced that the Transom podcast “How Sound” is really good and helpful for sound enthusiasts and creators.

https://transom.org/topics/howsound/

And we adjourned.

August 2020, The Listening Lounge returned!

10/12/2020

After a lot of re-imagining to curate, revise and celebrate Sound Scene in the start of 2020 and a great interactive festival (online) in June... we finally returned to our beloved monthly listening sessions. It was so wonderful to bring thoughtful ears together again- this time from the full DCLL diaspora thanks to the online format! Highlights below.

The night kicked off with a go-round of folks introducing themselves, where they were connecting from, and sharing one sound they enjoyed/noticed or found memorable over the past week.
Neal, based between: Arkansas and Takoma MD
interesting sound- skunks snuffling around

Nina- DC based, summer insects' sounds

Matthew- Denver, Colorado, last Friday a lone cicada

Genise- Fairfax, VA. Her 2 yr old nephew's joyful squeal

Jocelyn, Minneapolis, MN, Refreshed by her own shouting boldly into the remote wilderness

Shea, Montreal, Quebec, over the last couple of months- forgetting his headphones were on from working all day and then taking them off and that sound of reuniting with the sounds of the local micro-environment.

Jennifer Bethesda MD, was recently painting a mural and heard the summery sounds of young children playing and a nonsensical singsongy 10 min adventure

Ben, Annapolis MD has recently obsessed on little things like the quest for making clear ice cubes (through directional freezing) and has delighted in the sound of that perfect cube dropping into a leaded double old fashioned glass.

Henry, Arlington VA. Their regular haunt is a bench off near the Westover public library, where cars go up Washington Street and recently traffic and regular morning sounds were busted into by a helicopter overhead and that sound of the morning fading back up and dissipating the rest was memorable this week.

Mina, Toronto, Toronto sounds are unpleasant says Mina but biting into this Rye cracker <holds up> is a sensational delight-- the biting in and chewing of it!

Barry, Maryland. Relished the opportunity to overhear the rare sound of one tree becoming 2! Barry heard trees split during the recent storm, and it seemed to take almost 40 seconds for that split to happen... the sound of rending wood was unearthly almost.

Erin, in their mother's attic in Niagara Falls Canada, normally Philly based, Recently thought they heard rain and heard almost “sparks” but it was millions of bugs, not rain, but brown flies with longer wings hitting the windows and roof.

Ted, DC area. Recently thinking fondly on the sound from X-Files, that chirpy tinkling sounds that came up as alien noises, and recently moving groceries, putting rubber bands on eggs- realized it would/could sample very similarly!

Brandon, DC (plus the company of a Zoom backdrop of active goats). The sounds of dusk, katydids, and car breaks

Virginia, NYC. Feels ears sharpening during the pandemic... heard in a park in the distance drumming and clapping and bike bells, and discovered a march was coming through, in honor of John Lewis, with speeches all moving across the bridge. Immediately after riding her bike home, started pouring and sheltered under the metal roof. She was appreciating the quick combo of human, constructed and natural world in NYC.

Sam, Raleigh NC heard mewing and rustling in the leaves, two deer walked right up!

Ian, Boston based but joining currently from Pittsburg. Night in the Woods video game, story game with no dialogue, is all sound track driven and Ian was appreciating how it established everything from eerie to serene with a humming transforming into distortion, making it grow with your experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6f9llfs0w

AND WE LISTENED TOGETHER:
Jennifer shared audio from WVA, biking / paddling near the Green Briar River trail. About an 80 mile journey -barred owls and chickens in the early morning hours

Henry- balalaika and electric alto and chalumeau https://youtu.be/mAPxRd6k4e0

Barry- A forest winds stereo mix https://soundcloud.com/hovercraft-dc/forest-winds

Break for Announcements:
Erin: airmedia.org/jobs , great webinars almost 2 per week. You can email for more info: erin@airmedia.org, or visit airmedia.org/jobs to sign up for free webinar trainings or virtual hangouts. They have a new 'opportunities board,' an archive of Freelancer Tools, brand new AIR community forums for connecting with other members and the Talent Directory for finding - or showcasing - your talent.

Genise: Fairfax Public Access is open again! My first broadcast is Thursday (Aug 20) at 7 PM, World Reggae Party!! Goddess Genise DJ'ing

Denee:
An event/ music performance (voice and instrumental) at the Joseph Isaacs Music Matters Showcase Zoomcase email jcisaacs@gmail.com for more info about future events! folk, rock, blues, jazz, etc. 3 set of musicians take turns in the Zoom

Barry:
Playing in a streaming electronic music show with the theme of water this Sat Aug 22 at Noon ET. Artists from us and Europe https://www.twitch.tv/lines_community

Ben:
Suggested listening: David Weinberg, podcast called Welcome to LA, relaying the story of being in a Tesla.

BACK TO AUDIO
Nina: In her first podcast production foray she's learning to love making all the mistakes and learning as you go. The first mistake: 3 hr taping for a 1 hr episode. Second lesson, self awareness of talking in paragraphs and learning to shorten/break it up.
- Looking for feedback to have this chopped up and if in talky podcasts listeners want more going on behind the sounds of the voices.
Podcast about queer readings of apocalyptic video game
Queers at the End of the World

Jocelyn and Matthew shared a clip from Lemonada's newly released pod series: The Untold Story: Policing

Neal – digging spectrograms from Cornel Ornithology Lab and being able to combine ears and sight to identify sounds of birds and identify them,
Has been using Audio Moth w/ 3 AA batteries will record for 35 hrs. in a waterproof case to record dawn chorus and evening bugs/bats
https://www.openacousticdevices.info
A discussion followed about how silence shapes the music around it, with references to Claude Debussy and Miles Davis – music is what happens between the notes

Henry:
Olivier Messiaen https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olivier-Messiaen- would notate the bird songs, and wrote a quartet for the end of time

shout outs to the sounds of :
stylus on a twig
- radio expeditions sonic discoveries
millipedes mating in Shenandoah

Brandon- shared poetry of Folger Shakespeare Theater
https://soundcloud.com/folgershakespearelibrary/sets/not-just-another-day-off-2019
it is not light that is needed but fire, we need the earthquake, the conscience of the nation roused. Words of the founders and testimonies of the movement.

The next DC Listening Lounge (again via Zoom) will be <drum roll>
Wed. Sept 30th, 7:30pm ET.

SEPT AUDIO CHALLENGE: Press record: ask someone about their first best friend (could be a telemarketer, campaign worker or other socially distanced stranger!) and bring that audio (clips or edited to be under 6 mins) to the September Listening Lounge!

October Highlights!

10/30/2019

Hey audio pals,

- For everyone going to Third Coast- have a safe trip! For everyone not going to Third Coast- have a great weekend too!

- Planning an audio-specific costume for Halloween this year? See one in the streets? Tag it #soundscenedc

- We are looking for a friendly host for the November Listening Lounge- it could be you! No prior experience needed.

- Highlights from our October lounge below (and some fun announcements if you read to the end)!Thanks to Lizzie for hosting the October Listening Lounge. It was so fun! She can tell you about it. You should try it! (oh, by the way yes, we are looking for November and December hosts- it could be you! Click the CONTACT tab on this website if you'd like to host).

Oct Lounge Highlights for real this time...
We started the night off with stories of lost tape or lost data or things we thought we lost but didn't but then sort of did...
Rene shared the story of managing 24 hours of tape and thinking he lost a lot of it but realizing that he didn't but then realizing later that he actually did lose some small bit of something (his sanity?)

Lizzie shared the tale of a lost passport which was really missing (not lost) and then she realized that the prompt might have been audio-specific so she shared a story of deciding to interview someone about a relationship ending, at a time when things were still raw, and that she felt like it was quite painful and then when both she and the subject made it through the whole thing she realized she had not been recording (#standbymode).

Joey talked about the epic crashes of Audacity just when he was about to be done with a podcast episode. He also mentioned that he worked on a pod targeted at people selling their wedding and engagement rings after divorce (who knew!?). The podcast is called: “Divorce and Other Things You Can Handle.”

And Jocelyn made a guest appearance! (in DC for a quick visit/work trip) but she can't remember what she talked about as she writes up these notes! So that's meta...

Sonic highlights from the night:
Rene shared audio from a skate park short doc-in-progress including the producer “dropping in” - did he keep “rolling?” (yes that was an audio pun/joke...and also a question we asked him.)

Joey shared audio from his KCRW Radio Race submission- the story was motivated by a family trying to say thank you to a person who helped save a life and ultimately connected estranged siblings.

This lead to a conversation about audio mapping and then later over the course of the evening a few delightful expressions were brought out such as, “Which alligator is closest to the boat?” and “...with faces newer than their hands.” (yes, I know what you're thinking: you should definitely attend the Listening Lounge in November)

Lizzie shared audio recorded from a pink bolder beach in France. It featured “small and clackety” sounds from a grotto-esque cave near the water and rocks- also...there were bees.

Jocelyn shared a recording made surreptitiously in a small tea shop where a classy tea aficionado spoke with the abrupt tone of (a former New Yorker) someone who can't be bothered with people asking to smell the teas.

That lead to a conversation at the Listening Lounge about how and when to ask for permission to record (before, during, after, all three?) and tales of correcting those choices when they are made in the wrong order.
Then we all had a robust brainstorming session about all the things a creative audio collective can offer up at a silent auction and if an audio group can even create a silent auction without sacrificing a sense of group identity (a la “if a tree falls in the forest...”). It was really fun to brainstorm and we're thinking of organizing some events ahead of Sound Scene 2020 (June 27-28th, 2020) to raise money (like an auction) build hype (like a mini sound scene), raise money (like a fancy party we invite rich people to attend) and to get more organizations and individuals involved (a strategic mingle?)! Click the CONTACT tab on this site to get in on the planning!

Also, we're going to announce the Sound Scene theme in November and publish a CALL FOR WORK!

So get your sonic thinking caps on and start considering what kind of interactive audio art work you might want to produce, perform or teach in a small group workshop! Stay tuned
--
Special Thanks to Teaism for being a Sound Scene 2019 Supporter!

You can support us too! Email dclisteninglounge@gmail.com to learn more.

September Highlights!

10/30/2019

Hey Listening Loungers,

We had a great time listening together in September. We're looking forward (listening forward?) to October's gathering.

You should host!

It doesn't take more than a living room to host.

Please contact us via our website contact form if you're interested in hosting this month's Listening Lounge or next month's!

Here are some highlights from the September Listening Lounge!
Thanks to Zach for hosting and Rene for taking notes to share.

9/19 DCLL Zach’s House
As we mingled before the introductions, we discussed Sound Scene. Rene mentioned that he didn’t like the idea of DIY wind-chimes when he first heard about it—he thinks wind-chimes sound lonely—but after working with them at the table it is one of his favorite aspects of Sound Scene.
Ice breaker: A lonely sound.
Rene: Wind-chimes. About three years at DCLL
Roger: A barking dog. Second DCLL
Zach: When his family’s African Gray Parrot is alone it will start making garbled sounds that are like a person talking. Also, the parrot loves wind-chimes.
Amy: A snowplow on a quiet snow day. Five years at DCLL.
Liz: The silence after a slamming door. Whether someone leaves in anger, or everyone leaves in excitement and the door slams. First DCLL.
Listening:
Rene is preparing to spend four days field recording. Instead of sharing a recorded piece he asked the group for input on the story idea. He will be recording his uncle and friends as they skateboard to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital. He is concerned that there is no inherent tension to the story. The group had several good suggestions.
Sports stories often follow a simple chronological arc: lead-up, event, reflection.
Pre-interview participants. Stay general.
There may be a shift in the tone as the participants get tired
Get someone describing what someone else is doing.
If you can figure out the ending, you can build a structure from it. Among other things, an ending should be surprising, inevitable, and the resolution of tension.
Liz shared three minutes of an interview about exhuming then disposing of a decaying elephant. Memorable quote, “It started out great!”.
Zach Shared a Midi arrangement he created from a clarinet quintet he found on vinyl when he was in school.
Amy shared a mystery clip. It turns out that her new upstairs neighbors have very heavy footsteps.
Discussion turned to other sounds of row-house living. Particularly rats in walls.
Rene played an excerpt from a conversation about a POW camp during WWII. This is the second selection he’s shared from a conversation with fellow DCLL member Bohdan.

July Highlights and next Lounge

8/15/2019

Many thanks to Aditi for hosting the July Listening Lounge!
Highlights below!

Save the date for the NEXT Listening Lounge.
Thursday September 12, 2019
Details coming soon.

July Lounge Highlights (thanks to Aditi for taking notes!)Icebreaker Q - What is a sound that you associate with comfort? OR Pick a wildcard question from the basket
Aditi - Sound of rain
Troy - Cat purring
Stef - Boiling Kettle
Becca - Bird Noises in the morning
Minahil - Crickets at night
Roger - Lines clattering against masts - sailboats at dawn
Barry - (WILDCARD QUESTION) ‘How did you get here” - took the metro and walked
Zack - WILDCARD Q - What’s something you’ve done recently that was risky? In December, he sailed down a skycraper in Bolivia face first ?!
Deb - When Deb’s son’s breathing changes to sleep breathing
Bond - Laughter
Mina - Fountain in front of her apartment building
Tyler - WILDCARD Q - What would you eliminate from your daily life? Period between waking up and feeling awake
Joey - podcasts
Julia - Waves crashing
Chris - Sizzling food on a stove
Rene - Bell on a bouy noise
Ilana - Crunch of footsteps on gravel
Parth - Popcorn in a microwave
Naina - the ocean at night, when the waves are crashing
Lizzie - missed icebreaker =(
Roman - missed icebreaker =(

Intro to listening lounge - Rene - listening lounge is long running, community audio collective,
THE ONLY RULE IS KEEP IT UNDER 6 MINUTES

Rene - Went to radio boot camp in Brooklyn - the prompt was to talk about alter egos - Rene finished making this piece in a weekend!

Audio: Alter ego of being a metal fan - Convo w/ Jeff and Mindy at Metal Bar. Jeff has a diff professional persona, Mindy has more space. Nick “I’m a cubicle man at work” - is a diff persona at work - ‘all my coworkers are women in their 40’s” Tim the metal head vs Mr. Nassau the public school teacher.

We talked about
- Alter egos in metal
- Did Rene change his voice - he wants to make sure he sounds natural, -Tips for not sounding robotic.
Bond - It’s important to consider who the audience is when factoring in what your narration voice and tone is like - who are you trying to connect with?

2. Bond - Works with Sirius XM in their music programming department, he usually shares a piece of music that feels relevant to him or important to him. Bond is being relocated to LA for his job - and is thinking a lot about his relationships and time in DC. AUDIO: Youtube channel gamegrumps - two guys playing video games and chatting with each other. They have a show at the Warner Theatre that is coming up - and their final show is coming up (bond is attending).
Dan and Aaron from the show are from east coast (Bond is from east coast too!) and they live in LA now. These dudes are having a good time, as east coast transplants - and they signify to Bond that there is a lot to be excited for in his move to the west coast.

3. Minahil - discussed idea for “Listening Chorus”

4. Tyler - talked about and shared oral history - tends towards less produced, raw audio.
Trip to NY with dad - dad lived in NY until he was 6 or 8, then moved to Florida where Tyler was born. Tyler's cousins would go to NY with their grandparents.
AUDIO - recording of Tyler and his dad walking through his dad’s old NY neighborhood, and finding his dad’s old home and school.

5. Zach
AUDIO: original musical composition.

6. Roger -
AUDIO: recording of rainstorm,
recording of sound of the metro rail.

FUTURE PLANS: Brainstorming about how to jam with PRX's new DC Pod Garage! Planning meeting coming soon. Reply to DCListeningLounge@gmail.com to get involved!

July 25 Lounge coming up!

7/24/2019

Reminder- tomorrow!
Are you ready for some community listening?

Please join in for the July Listening Lounge- a cozy living room, listening gathering at Aditi's place!

Please bring food, drinks, friends and audio to share (limit audio clips of any style to under 6 minutes).

Details:
Thursday July 25th, 7:30pm

Address - (email for details) it's a house, ringing the doorbell is fine!
Questions? Aditi's Phone -(email for details)
Public Transit Tips: Columbia Heights Metro is closest

Buses: 42/43 + S1/S2 (16th st) exit near Park Road

**Please note there is a dog that lives there- so if you're allergic, plan accordingly. If you are a fan, get ready for the good stuff!

What a Sound Scene!

7/6/2019

Happy summer everyone.
Sound Scene was a tremendous success! Thank you to everyone who volunteered, exhibited interactive audio art, performed live, led a workshop and told a friend! One week ago, nearly 14,000 people attended Sound Scene 2019: Amplify! What a privilege it was to help raise the volume on stories less often heard and help audiences explore and delight in audio art of all varieties.

A giant thank you to our sponsors and of course the incredibly generous and wonderful support of Amy Bower and the staff and contractors of the Smithsonian Hirshhorn.

And it’s not just the numbers that shine- it’s the engagement — the smiles, laughter, pointing, playing, exploring and listening. It was a tremendously gratifying weekend. Thanks to all of DCLL for bringing so much sonic creativity into the spotlight and celebrating DC as a magnetic center for it all.

If you, or anyone you know, might be interested in helping to sponsor Sound Scene in the future (or any of our other interactive events, sonic workshops, audio fields trips or operations) please contact us here.

—-
And now onward:
Looking forward to gathering for our (smaller, cozy) monthly living room-based listening sessions. Would you like to host a “listening lounge” in July and/or August? Please contact us here.
All you need is a living room or patio. Can’t wait!

June 13 Lounge

6/8/2019

Join us June 13th for the next "Listening Lounge!"

Thursday June 13
7:30pm
Please bring any combination of food and drinks and friends to share. Also, if you'd like to share some audio that you've made, or found or heard, please do! Think: radio, podcasting, found sound, music, ambiance, oral history, sound design, field recording, family stories, testimonials, games etc...(Please limit audio clips to under 6 minutes)

Email DCListeningLounge at gmail for details.

June 04th, 2019

6/4/2019

May Listening Lounge Highlights!

We gathered at Rene and Kate’s place in Mt. Ranier, MD.

Introductions
The prompt was (1) a particularly good or memorable sound from a vacation or trip, and (2) a personal audio goal.

Rene
1) A steam train on a recent trip to Savannah, which had lots of great sounds including its whistle and a loud turntable, which blew out the levels on the recording he made.
2) Rene's audio goal is for Clyde (their dog) to bark a bit less.

Sarah
1) From a trip to the Smoky Mountains, the sound of an active mill—water turning the wheel, the millstones grinding.
2) Sarah is working on a mixtape, and wants to learn a bit more about audio so she can try some new techniques.

Teague
1) A piano rehearsal heard behind a big wooden door in an atmospheric Oxford quad.
2) It has been a while since Teague has made an edited audio piece, and he would like to make one soon.

Bond
1) Hearing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” while walking through a London Christmas display, and thinking about how cultural associations with songs differ even though the song remains the same.
2) Bond’s goal, in his job working in satellite radio, is to help people discover music that is meaningful to them and preserve older music in people’s lives.

Ann
1) The whispering corners at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. They allow two people speaking softly to hear each other across a room, and she was surprised they worked as well as they did.
2) Ann’s goal is to take on a personal audio project, outside the podcast production she does at work.

Kate
1) Hearing waves lap at the side of a boat at the dock on the Mississippi, when she was growing up in Iowa.
2) Kate’s audio goal is that Rene and Clyde (again, their dog) achieve their respective audio goals.

Listening
Bond played a song by the band AJR called “Don’t Throw Out My Legos,” about the emotional challenges of moving on to different life stages, which is particularly meaningful to him at the moment because he is considering whether to accept an offer to move to LA for work. We talked about some unique aspects of the track’s production, including its contrast between straightforward singing in the verses and complex layered production in the chorus.

Teague played a few clips of ambient street noise from Istanbul. We talked about the ability of sound to evoke the feeling of a place, and how the iPhone provides pretty reasonable recording quality.

Ann, in response to the Istanbul sounds, played audio (from a news clip) of a recent spontaneous protest in Istanbul. The protest, in which people leaned out their windows across the city banging on pans or other objects, was in response to the President Erdogan’s nullification of municipal elections. We discussed how the sound was somewhat otherworldly, and we would not have necessarily been able to discern was was making it without having been told.

Sarah shared a track she recently made, “Pokey Hokey.” While she has been making music for a while, this was the first one that she mixed entirely by herself. She said she is trying to work sounds into her tracks, in the style of of trap music, and we discussed the ones she had included in this song.

Rene shared a first edit of an oral history interview he did with fellow DCLL member Bohdan, and asked for feedback. We discussed ways to make parts of the narrative fit together, and agreed that even the first cut gave a really compelling story. We also discussed the pros and cons of adding narration.

April Lounge and March Highlights!

4/2/2019

The April Listening Lounge is coming up: April 8th @ Austin's place. Click the contact tab to request details.

Here are highlights from the March Listening Lounge.

Courtesy of Ellen (host and note-taker)

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
Events that are coming up that we discussed:
Jocelyn was back in town speaking at the Hirshhorn:
March 26, 4-5pm: “The Art of Audio: A How-To Guide for Listening” Thanks to everyone who attended (or encouraged a friend to attend)!
https://www.facebook.com/events/2365467720365835/

Errant Movement, one of the local groups that performed at 2018 Sound Scene, has a full-length show coming up at the Anacostia Arts Center.
April 6: Performances at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2665719576788231/

The night started with an Ice breaker: Favorite podcast that you are listening to right now

Rene had two podcasts that he mentioned:
1. Out of the Box with Paul Shugrue: Profiles of music artists and specific albums/songs
https://mediaplayer.whro.org/program/outofthebox

2. The Wolf Den: a podcast about the business of podcasts
https://www.earwolf.com/show/wolf-den/

Mina mentioned one called Cantata Profana, which features a vocal and instrumental chamber ensemble.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cp-podcast/id1215331662?mt=2

Ellen has been listening to a podcast called Nutrition Facts that is hosted by a doctor who is a character; each episode delves into a particular aspect of the latest research on nutritional science.
https://nutritionfacts.org/audio/

Ben has been listening to Heavyweight, a podcast about the moments in life when everything changed
https://www.gimletmedia.com/heavyweight

Bond shared his love for a comedy podcast called Your Favorite Band Sucks, in which two hosts take on any and every beloved and revered band and explain why they aren’t that special.
https://www.yfbspod.com/

Audio that we listened to:

Bond shared a clip from an episode of “Your Favorite Band Sucks” that took on the Beatles.
The podcast provoked a discussion about the charisma between the two hosts; the dynamic of two people who really get along and can keep the conversation engaging and light. They also had a contrarian take on all music, taking on every sacred cow; we discussed how contrarianism in podcasts can be a hook for some listeners and a turn off for others.

Rene shared the final version of a piece called “Boogie Shoes” that he co-produced with a friend he met at a CDS workshop. Rene did the editing while his friend had collected the audio from people living in Ashboro. Rene had shared an earlier draft of this piece at a previous DCLL meeting. It featured an interview with a mother whose son had died from a drug overdose. We discussed the challenges of editing audio that you didn’t record and how that influences the shaping of the story. We also discussed whether or not the story needed additional narration beyond the interview tape. And we discussed the use of silence throughout the piece and how Rene used music in a specific moment towards the end of the piece.

Mina shared a Kate Bush song that is called “Get Out of My House.” It prompted a discussion about the production and recording in locations other than music studios and how the rawness or scenic qualities of recorded sound in real locations can add to the sonic quality of a recording.

Ben shared some audio that he recorded based on the prompt from February’s DCLL meeting which was: “Pay tribute to your favorite musician or band.” It was a recording that he made on his iPhone at a house concert in New Orleans, featuring singer Aurora Nealand and pianist Tom McDermott who performed an arrangement of a Hank Williams song. We talked about the history of NOLA piano players, many of whom are dead though some are carrying on the tradition.

RECORDING CHALLENGE/PROMPT for April: Anything that happens in your day before you get to work — record your morning routine, your commute, anything before you are starting your job.

Looking forward to listening with you soon,

DCLL

Feb Highlights

3/14/2019

DCLL Highlights Courtesy of Austin
2/7/2019

Present: Bishop, Bond, Ben, Austin, Elias, and Dev

Bond set the tone by playing the new Vampire Weekend “Harmony Hall”

Kicking things off around 805pm

Dev played an Emily Rio song

ICE BREAKER - Favorite cooking show?

Bond – Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown

Bishop – Great British Baking Show

Ben – Splendid Table on public radio

Elias – Nigela Lawson

Dev – Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Austin – Ugly Delicious

Bond – Went to new york and met up with cousin bruce - top 40s / 60s radio, huge icon in the radio world. Like 84 years old now, still goin strong. Gave a tribute to the day the music died, felt like it was in real time. All of his shows are recorded, so Bond made this sequence with some extracted some clips.

Bishop – Lived in NY for ~10 years. So much sound and energy all the time; walking in the street, gonna get hit by it. This is a sound none of us can hear that has been modulated to be within our range. Featured in NYT magazine that did a series with GE where they found sounds in interesting places. (Turned out to be the sound of rats communicating)

Ben – Using voice memo to capture sound. “Note 106” and “107” struck him; he played one and was interested in the interplay between the two. 2nd clip was in Lafayette Louisiana in a chapel in a village that they had built; 1st sound was a windshield wiper on a rainy day that he pulled over to record, at its perfect tone

Elias – Early sampling keyboard that had a loon sample – the emulator 2. 808 state by pacific state is the track he is playing to feature the loon sample. First sample no warble, second sample confirmed the song DEFINITELY has loon warbles. Sueno latino was another track that featured the loon sample.

Austin – Shared a track “Fool for the Flame” by Viking Moses and upcoming Big Miz track (out soon). Thanked everyone for coming to his apartment, and hopes that Viking Moses (aka Brendon) will join DCLL in the future.

Dev – “Creepy kid sound edits” overlaid with royalty free samples. Neighbor’s kid Clara has the most evil laugh, featured in this sound byte. Prevented a woman at the exhibit from using the bathroom with all the hanging zombie babies. Using Hindenberg + kid sounds

DCLL Recommends:
--Transam.org is a great resource for all cool stuff for people that are interest in audio, even if it’s not production or a profession. Equipment, recording, etc advice.

--Thirdcoast is an annual conference in Chicago where indie producers go to attend workshops over the course of a weekend. Overloaded with opportunities to attend workshops and give awards to best doc from previous year, in different categories.Great opportunity for people to get a lot of advice – open to all levels.

--Pop-up magazine stage show – Ben has 2 free tickets and the show is sold out.

--Bond spoke to Sirius XM HR department and they do allow tours of outside companies / groups. Totally open for us to take a field trip to check out the facilities; need to let them know ahead of time and give them a list of names so we can set a date. Bond suggests further into the spring or early summer. Looking to start a list of names for interested people so we can submit. AWESOME!

Audio assignments – put a hat, put ideas in it, and for next month’s meeting do x y or z. Forces us to engage with nature and collect something on our own. Ben suggested this and Austin passed around his hat with bits of paper so everyone could leave with a prompt to think / act on

January Lounge Highlights

1/17/2019

January Highlights
(Notes courtesy of George- thank you!)
Thanks to Susanne for hosting.
Attendees: Amy, Bodhan, Bond, Elias, George, Kristen, Michaela, Niko, Sonia, Susanne
Rabbits: Joanne and Julian

Prompt: Favorite Sound of Winter

Amy—the crackling sound of a fireplace, even from a television yule log. Note: Tuesday nights are not good for DCLL meetings for her.

Elias—the sound of ice cracking during the wintertime.

Michaela—recalled being able to hear the sound of snow falling on itself like a quiet pad when she lived near a horse meadow.

Bond—the sound of trains rolling as they take you home for the holidays.

George—the sound of skis or snowboards hitting the snow and scratching against ice during winter ski season.

Bohdan—first memory of being in a refugee camp of the loudspeakers during Winter.

Niko—the HVAC system in his place is old. The heat when it turns on starts off quiet and then explodes into a loud noise after the furnace clicks on.

Kristen—recalls working in a coffeeshop when there was a huge snowstorm, and remembers the lively sound of people settling into the shop getting warm and taking shelter.

Sonia—the sounds of icicles shivering…the sound clanking against aluminum.

Susanne—loves the sound of snow crunching in boots, which can be replicated by flour in plastic bags on a foley stage. She also mentioned that we have a very different winter experience in North America than people in the Southern Hemisphere.

Bond played a parody of Foster The People called “Comprehensible” b by Hot Chocolate Party

Elias played Kaitlin Prest of the CBC’s piece “The Heart”

Kristen played a recording of Micil Quinn telling a story at a festival in Ireland about a man who lost his eye in Mulligan Chapel entitled "Tights."

Michaela played the sound of a Bull Elk bugling at Yellowstone park from a NPS website sound library.

Niko suggested checking out the work of Jennifer Jarret an archivist who does field recording and Acoustic Atlas.

Amy played audio from a Nat Geo article called "Mice argue about infidelity." The pitch is ultrasonic and outside of normal human hearing.

Sonia played the sounds of a radiator recorded at a hotel in LA.

George would also like to state for the record that he (no joke) heard Brian Eno’s Music for Airports 1 playing at the local Subway sandwich shop where he stopped that evening before the lounge. As one of the first “ambient” recordings labeled as part of that genre, it seemed a rather esoteric choice for the franchise.

Jan 10, 15 and 17th!

1/10/2019

1) Reminder: TONIGHT!

Hey all,

The next Listening Lounge will be: TONIGHT!

Thursday, January 10, from 7:30pm-10pm.
Please bring any combo of food, drink, friends and audio to share (limit audio clips to 6 mins or shorter)

Where: Suzanne's place (fill out contact form here for details).

from Susanne:

"A warning to those who are allergic to pet hair or hay: I share my apartment with two pet rabbits (they are all ears!)."

---
2) ALSO you still have a few more days to put forward a proposal for Sound Scene!
Would you love to lead a small group workshop related to audio or listening or sound generation?

Want to perform a live set that uses sound in unexpected and gorgeous ways?

Do you know someone else who should?
Do you have a terrific idea for an audio experience (headphone listening, sonic installation, acoustic scavenger hunt, audio walking tour, music game, sound and story documentary? Something else?)? Please use this form and tell us about your idea! More info at www.dclisteninglounge.org

Proposals are due January 15th.

---
3) ALSO the first Sound Scene planning meeting will be on

Thurs Jan 17th 8pm-9:30pm EST
This is a meeting for people interested in helping curate, shape and plan Sound Scene (not for art proposals).
Location Will be emailed on Monday. Please RSVP here.

Jan 10th Lounge, Rabbits and More!

1/3/2019

Hey all,

The next Listening Lounge will be:

Thursday, January 10, from 7:30pm-10pm.
Please bring any combo of food, drink, friends and audio to share (limit audio clips to 6 mins or shorter)

Where: Suzanne's place

[EMAIL FOR DETAILS}, Washington, DC 20010,
Closest Metro stop: Columbia Heights (an 8 minute walk to the apartment)

from Susanne:

"A warning to those who are allergic to pet hair or hay: I share my apartment with two pet rabbits (they are all ears!)."

---
ALSO the first Sound Scene planning meeting will be on

Thurs Jan 17th 8pm-9:30pm EST
This is a meeting for people interested in helping curate, shape and plan Sound Scene (not for art proposals).
Location TBD. Please RSVP here.

Nov Highlights and more...

12/5/2018

Happy busy holiday season.

We're skipping the Dec Listening Lounge so that you can have more time to actually lounge, and record and listen to the world around you AND brainstorm Sound Scene ideas!

Highlights from November are below. Many many thanks to Lynn for hosting.

ALSO ALSO ALSO ALSO ALSO as mentioned:
This is a great time to brainstorm about YOUR contribution to Sound Scene. No, not $$ (breathe deep)! Your creative contribution.

- Do you have an idea for how to bring sound alive?

- A way to touch, see, change or impact sound as you listen?

Get the ideas churning and look out for the Request for Proposals coming your way very soon. Remember think: interactive audio, live performances, small group workshops and more!

November Highlights

Introductions/Prompt: Thanksgiving plans with a nod to the sounds we associate with them

Teague: looking forward to the quiet pause and clink of silverware and glasses just as the shared meal begins
Rene: aunt is moving and offering him her extensive record collection; he’s looking forward to listening to a lot of music he may or may not want to keep
Beau: will be with a family with two adopted daughters, looking forward to sharing photographs and music, testing his new phone
Mina: will be visiting friends in Gainesville; there will be horses and she’s looking forward to hearing what a horse sounds like
David: visiting parents outside Atlanta where it is very quiet and he can see the stars. Looking forward to hearing his father sing.
Lynn: will have a houseful and is looking forward to collecting more oral history
Sharon: no plans, but now she’s looking forward to paying attention to the sounds she encounters!
Henry: looking forward to church, a light meal, and time with his two distance learning classes on guitar, technique, maybe do some composing
Bond: joining his first Friendsgiving, looking forward to the sounds of cooking he expects to be generated by his friend/hostess who is an excellent cook
Nico – arrived after intros...

Shared Sounds:

Bond brought “Peeps” by DJs Rawle Night Long and 33mm, released on Jubrub label. Rawle is Bond’s colleague, he DJs and collaborated to create this work, inspired by an EDM Festival. “Peeps” is available online: https://soundcloud.com/rawlenightlong. We thought it would be cool to see the spectrograph of the piece, which included all sorts of sounds.
Sharon shared a piece she collaborated on when the friend of a friend died suddenly, maybe from an overdose. Sharon’s friend is a dancer and performed the piece as a tribute to her friend, combining a joyful Facebook Live recording made days before the woman’s death while she took a walk outside, with music. Sharon’s friend chose Jidenna’s “Bambi”; Sharon ripped audio from FB Live and put it together with the song. We liked the results and reflected on how “real” the recording felt; the wind noise provided an evocative sound thread like water, or blood. Sharon thinks there might be video of the dance performance that she can share.

Beau is experimenting with apps on his new Android phone that allow recording and visualization of the audio. He played a “rough version” recording he made in a stream gully near his home, with sounds of water and crunching leaves – and then shared “Swiss Balconey.wav” https://freesound.org/people/Zozzy/sounds/59723/ as an example of what he’d like to create eventually.

Henry demonstrated his handmade guitar (from a cigar box – part of a long and venerable tradition of homemade instruments, we learned), played an original composition, shared part of a pre-recorded piece that was very different in sound and feel, and played a nontraditional arrangement of a traditional song. He plays open mics and will be performing this weekend with Balalaika Society. http://www.balalaika.org

Nico participated in a Cities and Memory (https://citiesandmemory.com) challenge, using a recording of waves captured in Italy and combining it with various white noise tracks to explore the tension and fine edge between pleasure and pain of certain sounds. He pulled various white noise recordings from MyNoise (https://mynoise.net) This generated a whole discussion about what we do – or do not – like in white noise and what makes sounds restful, soothing, or not.