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!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Hey pals,

Save the date: OCTOBER 16

Come on over to Sonia's place for the next Listening Lounge.

Please bring any combo of food, drinks and audio to share (also new friends are very welcome). Please limit audio clips to under 6 mins.

When: Tues Oct 16
7:30pm- 10pm
Where:  9th St NE  Washington, DC 20017 (email for details)

Questions? Email for details

street parking available
nearest metro is Brookland CUA
Buses: H8, 80

Need an audio challenge?

Make something under 3 minutes on the them of "inside-out." It's almost Halloween so it could be related to guts, or it could be related to moving into the autumn season when the summer hotness is finally departing and you can move from sitting beside your AC unit, to the outdoors (those of you who have AC). Maybe it can be about your favorite sweatshirt-washing technique. Anyway, see how the spirit moves you.

Looking forward to listening with you.
P.S. Jocelyn says thank you again to everyone who came out to Teague and Ginger's for the last lounge and gave her such a warm send-off. The cake was delicious too.  She'll be back in our orbit with Sound Scene planning before you know it!

Thanks very much to everyone who recently completed the DC Listening Lounge and Sound Scene of the Future questionnaire. More on the results from that soon.

Please join us for the September Listening Lounge.
Come on over to Petworth for the September Listening Lounge

Wed. Sept 12
7:30pm-10pm
@Teague and Ginger's place

Please bring any combination of food, drink, friends and/or audio to share (limit audio clips to 6 minutes or less).

Details:
Quincy Street NW (email for address specifics)
Washington, DC 20011

The apartment building is very close to the Georgia Ave/Petworth Metro station (Georgia  Ave buses, e.g. the 70).  The person at the front desk can let you into the lobby; just tell them where you are headed.

Any questions/challenges, you can text Teague: (email for details)
Looking forward to sharing this evening of listening with you.

-DCLL


P.S. if you would like an audio prompt/challenge for this meeting (something to inspire you to create new sounds): Keep your audio under 3 minutes edited, and include something round in the story/audio/music (an audio loop or some character or tool that could be described as round)

The next lounge will be Wednesday Sept 12. Save the date!

The August Listening Lounge was hosted by Cate and Rene (and Clyde the Terrier). Thank you all for hosting.

Rene provided these highlights.
Announcements:
- Third Coast Conference in Chicago  is October 4th-6th and registration is open. 

-KCRW’s 6th Annual 24-Hour Radio Race will be the weekend August 25th-26. Registration closes Friday.  DCLL member George posted a Facebook message recruiting a team for the Radio race. 

Jocelyn mentioned that she will be moving to Minneapolis this fall, but she is interested in being part of Sound Scene (We hope she will be). On behalf of DCLL Rene thanked Jocelyn for her work facilitating DCLL and Sound Scene. She has supported a culture in which the meetings seem to run themselves. We will miss her participation but wish her well in her new adventure! A meeting will be organized to allow space for DCLL members to talk about how the responsibilities she managed could/should be handled in the future (who will/how to jump in and pick up the listserv, social media, scheduling, facilitating etc). Stay tuned!! That will probably be in early September before she leaves (Sept 23). 
Also she’s having a send-off party Sept 21 and DCLL is invited! Email for details :)

Highlights:
Artwork and posters from prior year Sound Scenes were placed on the coffee table for the taking. It was a feast for the eyes and now many homes and offices are cooler for it!
 There were many new faces at the lounge this month. Welcome!
Jocelyn suggested we kick off with a go-round : “What is the quietest sound that made an impression on you recently?”

Introductions:
Rene pointed out the living-room ceiling fan which makes a low-frequency sound which is almost inaudible but carries through the house. (Clyde hears everything and barks about it).
Melissa recently flew. When she landed, and the pressure finally shifted back in her ears, there was an overwhelming sound only audible to her. 
Jackson recently heard a snake about to shed its skin. It’s a dry scratchy sound, but he felt the snake was happy for the transformation. After speculation by the group as to where he ran into a shedding snake in DC, we learned that it was a pet snake. 
Elias recently had the window open and when he heard rats among the tall grass in his back yard. 
Sonia was walking back from lunch when the wind hit the open bottle she was carrying and made a faint whistling. 
Robbie recently noticed the sound of his mouth opening before he would speak. 
Vika was in a studio and heard far-away voices. After some trial and error, the sound was traced to headphones sitting on the desk. 
JC recalls the thick sound of stirring tuna salad. We learned that his recipe includes olive oil, goat cheese, and relish. 
Deborah heard her own joints creaking. Her dog also heard it. 
Lizzie opened the cupboard and heard what sounded like a tiny motorboat. She discovered a moth in her raisins and humanely released him outdoors.
Cate had a power outage in her office building which set off all the alarms. The next day, there was one faint beep that always seemed like it was coming from the other end of the building no matter where she walked. 
Jocelyn thought she may have heard her fingertips when they rub lightly against each other.  There was discussion about when a vibration becomes a sound and/or an experience. 
HM recently had a very quiet moment in DC, she couldn’t remember the exact time and place, just the feeling. 
Vinny has been deleting P-pops at work and when he last spoke to his mom on the phone he was fixated on the same  sound. He’s worried he’s rewired his brain to notice plosives forever!
Esla’s sound was a chunk of tuna plopping out of the can, into a bowl. She pointed out that she and JC independently thought of tuna salad. Her recipe includes salt and pepper, mayo, and banana peppers. It is eaten straight from the bowl. 
Nikalo’s bicycle makes the sound of like a tiny bell as a screw works its way loose from his handlebars.
Elisa recently enjoyed a sunset by the water and she was impressed by the sounds of birds and cicadas as nature prepared for the night.
Audio Shared: 
HM played a composition by John Luther Adams “Dream of the Canyon Wren”. Discussion included the use of silence, surprise, dissonance, and emulating nature. 
Nikalo played a scene he wrote, composed, narrated and performed flute for. It was inspired by fantasy and science fiction and evoked a city built into a mountain. 
Robbie shared a piece he improvised on two analog synthesizers. 
Rene shared several clips from a work in progress about grief and death coming too soon. The room provided notes to suggest to him some different /new direction. 
Sonia shared a recording she made on a recent trip to Bali. She attended a fire dance known as Kecak. The intricacies of the vocals were stunning. 
Elisa shared an audio mystery. It turned out to be the opening ceremony of this year’s Folk Life festival. An Armenian artistimprovised on a tambourine while blowing over  an Orangina bottle.
By this time, it was after 10:00pm and the meeting was adjourned. Lively discussions followed and much later...eventually the living room was returned to Clyde.
 
Thanks everyone for an enthusiastic night of listening. Looking forward to the next.
-DCLL

What a delight it was to present Sound Scene XI July 7th and 8th at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden for our third year of partnership (this year with help from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Asian Pacific American Center, Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Goethe DC!). The engagement was terrific. There were smiling faces spotted on visitors of all ages as they rode iSheep and listened to audio about engagement and consent. The workshops were wonderfully diverse from audio architectural tours to creating hip-hop remixes of hand clap games, to mini "lounges" where attendees gathered on couches for a more intimate listening experience.  We were floored to have WPFW spend the day broadcasting live from Sound Scene on Saturday and taking time to interview artists and visitors. This year we had our very first second day of Sound Scene and Sunday was a great compliment to Saturday with memorable live performances from international musicians as well as local artists translating text to dance and conveying the stories of our bustling city.

Thank you to everyone (especially our volunteers) who helped make Sound Scene XI a success. 

June Lounge highlights bonus reel:

1) Here's the theme tune to the famous British detective drama 'Morse' (which is the name of the lead character) that was mentioned during the Lounge; it's set in Oxford and the theme music opens with Morse code for 'M.O.R.S.E'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u20sVtCxf_8


2) And Chantel's sweet funky mix
She writes "I will warn you, this playlist induces chillaxing, so please listen responsibly. Enjoy!"

https://open.spotify.com/user/121788184/playlist/5lVO9rlMCVTY9Cx7e6TtKM?si=ZgoYbFmvQLOKo0DiifmiZg

4 things below:
1) Join us for a Sound Scene Planning meeting

Wednesday 6/13 (tomorrow) in "Lamont Park" across from Don Juan’s Restaurant in Mount Pleasant. (17th and Lamont St NW). 7:30pm-9pm
Please RSVP. Questions? text Jocelyn 

2) And save the date! Sound Scene July 7th and 8th at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn! Full list of audio artists (from DC, Spain, Germany, India and more!), live performances and free workshops is here and here!

2b) Please volunteer at Sound Scene! You could lead a mini listening lounge! (No notes required). Please sign up to help out (you can choose a short shift)

3) Highlights from yesterday’s June Listening Lounge (courtesy of Rene):Jocelyn observed that Rene had a notepad and pen. This resulted in the end of Rene’s two year run of shirking note-taking responsibilities. 

Teague suggested the ice-breaker, Favorite Strangely instrumented song. 

Teague led off recalling a song by Mexican Rock Band, “Zurdock”, that made effective use of a Kazoo. 

Rene’s favorite use of a strange instrument is featured by the steampunk robot group “Steam Powered Giraffe”. They use a melodica to pleasing effect in “Clockwork Vaudeville”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eH2i26Uegw

Chantelle Described a piece from an Icelandic Music Festival in which the artist recorded heartbeats of participants and mixed it at the end of the festival. 

Camilla recalled the theme from “Inspector Morse”, in which Morse Code is used in the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u20sVtCxf_8

Abby mentioned that there is now a type of ham radio license that does not require proficiency in Morse Code. 

Daniella recalled a version of Johnny Cash, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that used silverware in the mix. 

Abby recalled a song by Dakhabrakha that utilized a playhouse roof.

Jocelyn recalled a piece David Schulman played for a previous lounge. He
started with field recordings of live roosters and accompanied them on his violin. 

Dave discussed a piece in which someone created music that was designed in tempo and pitch to be enjoyed by various animals. “Monkey Music” was successful. https://www.wired.com/2009/09/monkeymusic/ (On a side note, my dog doesn’t love the Monkey Music) 

David (No relation to Dave above) recalled a concert of Japanese Rock Group “Acid Mothers Temple”. One member of the group seemed to only be gesticulating and smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. He later bought the album and read the liner notes to learn that she was credited as playing “beer and cigarettes”. 

Meg(h)an said something very interesting and Rene forgot to take note of it. 

Lizzie recalled a piece by Breakmaster Cylinder that utilized spinning plates and dropping water. 
 
Abby shared first. She has been working on the “Howling Dome”. One or more participants express grief through vocalization. Roughly inspired by an episode of Invisibilia: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/01/529876861/an-anthropologist-discovers-the-terrible-emotion-locked-in-a-word There is an indigenous word “Leggett” which captures the feeling.

Abby shared audio from a group of co-workers in the Howling Dome. She said she is trying to capture the sound of “Humanity searching for the key of grief”. 

Camilla was reminded of 5Rhythms dance. Chantelle mentioned Ecstatic Dance on the theme of cathartic expression through vocalization and movement. 
 
Jocelyn shared clips recorded from local radio during a recent trip to Alaska. One was a remarkably well produced commercial for a local feed store, and one station ID in which all the many (radio) stations linked were listed by the host. 

Teague was reminded of his one-hour as a fill-in host for a local station in Alaska. When he played a Johnny Cash track he got three phone calls right away. Apparently, everyone loves Johnny Cash. 

David and Abby suggested “Sublime Frequencies” to listen to broadcasts from around the world. Abby also noted that ham radio broadcasts can be heard on Spotify. 

Chantelle shared a song from her rainy-day funk mix. When this is on, you don’t have to leave the house. “Didn’t I” by Darondo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZqQT5904_U

David and Dave discussed the label “Numero” and the groups “Eccentric Soul” and the “Universal Togetherness band” 

Daniella shared a piece she produced which was featured on “The Splendid Table” She reported on seeds being shipped to Puerto Rico as a facet of the recovery. Her piece closes the episode: https://www.splendidtable.org/episode/655

Chantelle shared her experience of waiting for news from her family in the Caribbean during the storm. This led to discussion of how people react in time of disaster. 

Abby had insight into the aesthetic difference between podcasts and broadcast radio. Discussion turned to techniques for tracking. Lizzie and
David pointed to this episode of How Sound: https://transom.org/2018/dont-write-tell/

Camilla has coached journalists to track for audio and video and notes that, “Print journalists really know their beat.” So if you can get them to tell what they know the result are good. 

Rene asked the group for examples of silence used in music or storytelling. 

Abby pointed to her piece from 2012 ShortDocs Challenge: https://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/feature/glass-not-glitter
She also mentioned a piece regarding snail sex. Having come full circle from “Monkey Music” the evening was almost complete. 

Lizzie was reminded of a frog she met during an apocalyptic rain storm at a recent wedding. She had been recording a story booth. But the when the rain hit, the water rose so quickly that some people lost their shoes forever. Lizzie took refuge in a barn with her gear. She was joined by a frog who had been alarmed by the storm. Much like the final scene in Titanic, she was able to save her gear by placing it on an old door. Luckily the only casualties of this disaster were the shoes. And more importantly, she got the tape. The frog said softly, “rrrribt.”


4) Community Audio Events
Soul Tent June 13 and 20th @ BloomBars
a space for shared listening and creating art from our lived experiences of economic hardship and other struggles. In collaboration with the Poor People's Campaign, BloomBars is proud to host a series of art-making workshops on connection, liberation and radical community. Led by actor/activist/organizer Anu Yadav and singer/songwriter/activist/organizer Courtney Dowe.

Wednesday(s) June 13 & 20, 6:30-8:30pm @ BloomBars
Donation $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)
This series is inspired by 1968 Poor People’s Campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King, where thousands of poor people across colorlines protested poverty, forming a "Resurrection City "40-day encampment on the National Mall. The original “Soul Tent,” also called the "Many Races Soul Center," was a site of cultural exchange at Resurrection City to celebrate shared experiences of struggle through arts and cultural expression. This summer marks the 50th Anniversary of the original campaign and the launch of the new Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for a Moral Revival co-chaired by Rev. Liz Theoharis and Rev. William Barber.

Anu Yadav 
Anu Yadav is an actress, playwright and theater-based educator dedicated to art and social justice. She wrote and performed the solo plays Meena's Dream and 'Capers, co-founded the storytelling project Classlines and recently wrote The Princess and the Pauper, a feminist adaptation of the Mark Twain tale produced by Imagination Stage. She is DC Public Library's first Artist-in-Residence as part of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds an M.F.A. in Performance from University of Maryland, College Park. She was recently named a “Person to Watch” in American Theatre Magazine. She is a 2018 DC Artist Fellow and a proud member of Actor's Equity Association, the Dramatist's Guild, Alternate ROOTS, Network of Ensemble Theaters and the new Poor People's Campaign.

Courtney Dowe 
Growing up with a musically gifted mother, Courtney Dowe began writing songs from a very early age. She does not think of her relationship to music as a career as much as a calling. Guided by the philosophy that music should be accessible to as many people as possible and in as many ways as possible she has performed in places as humble as subway stations and as legendary as The Filmore in San Francisco. Her interest in human rights has inspired "protest songs" ranging from the subject of police brutality in the United States to the persecution of Falun Gong by the Communist Regime in China. In recent years, she has felt called to repair her relationship with the Earth and hopes to support as many others as possible to do the same.

Check it out!
Sound Scene: Mapping Memory 
​registration is here, free!

Sound Scene: Mapping Memory is a FREE and INTERACTIVE audio art installation for all ages, presented by the DC Listening Lounge.
Come rest in a dream tent, hold sound in your hands and listen through your fingertips and build your own wind chime. Take a guided audio architectural tour, practice mixing samples into a live DJ set, and transform words from speech, to text, to dance.
Now in it's 11th year, Sound Scene will feature sonic surprises and thought provoking listening opportunities produced by DC-based artists as well as works from artists from Spain, India, Armenia, Germany, New York, Michigan and elsewhere.

Live performances from Layne Garrett, David Schulman, members of the National Symphony Orchestra and dance ensemble, Errant Movement. A full schedule of live performances is available online and on location.

Small group workshops (all first come, first served) will include:
Deep Listening: A guided sonic meditation inspired by Pauline Oliveros.
Perform the Building: An architectural listening walk with international guest artist Sam Auinger.
Sample DJ : A demo and hands-on opportunity to sample and construct your own tunes, with Sonia Herrero.
Your DC Oral History: Enrich the cultural heritage of our city by contributing a story of your own or an interview of a neighbor or friend. Audio links available after the event.
Hand Games Project: Join OnRaé LaTeal from the Hirshhorn ArtLab for an interactive audio workshop where participants remember childhood hand games and remix the sounds and stories into hip-hop songs. Girls and women-identified participants of all ages welcome. 
Mini Listening Lounge: Grab a seat and join members of the DC Listening Lounge audio collective for a faciliated listening session of diverse audio, including: found sound, original music, oral history, video sound and narrative. Feel free to bring a sound to share.

*Curated and produced by the DC Listening Lounge and the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden with support from the Goethe-Institut Washington, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Below are highlights from the May Listening Lounge

AND

4) Call for Volunteers:
We'd love to have your help at Sound Scene: Mapping Memory July 7+8.  Do you want to introduce a small group of visitors to the joys of listening? Love giving directions to people who are lost? Want to  play with small children as they turn chaos into art? Interested in recording oral histories?
Please check out this short form.


Thanks to Lynn for hosting the listening lounge in May and thanks to Faith for making notes!
DC Listening Lounge, May 17, 2018: Highlights!
Icebreaker question: Jukebox from Hell: Your Favorite Bad Song

• Rene: Been at LL a couple of years, song is Candy Girl by The Archies – it’s kind of ridiculous.
  
• David: Just moved to DC, met Jocelyn at Panoply. Song is Funky Town by Lips Inc. Fond memories of listening at the roller rink. “Genuinely horrible,” says David.
  
• Anne: Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. “A great song!”
  
• Ken: “That’s an easy one! Hotel California by The Eagles.” Listened to it while lying in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery.
  
• Nathan: Been coming in and out for the past two years. DO--The Last in Line He urges us to all watch the music video for this
  
• Bond: Been going to DCLL meetings for two and a half to three years. Song is Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. Works for Serious XM, and they have a Billy Joel channel that plays 30 straight days of Billy Joel. It’s “Still super catchy...I’ll defend Billy Joel.”
  
• Brandon: Lucas Nelson song with Lady Gaga--Find Yourself. Heard it in concert and realized it’s actually pretty bad.
  
• Lynn: “I am such a music ignoramus” – Muskrat Love by Captain & Tenille. Just started coming to DCLL; WERA producer
  
• Bishop: Just moved here from Colorado, been once before. I’ll Make Love to You -- Boys to Men
  

Sounds to Share:

Bishop: The podcast 20,000 Hertz has tracked the rhythm of voices in a podcast.
Brain picks up on the rhythm of our speech. A guy on Youtube David Dockery drums to the syllables of the characters in movies.

[Listened to a clip of that] You can hear the rhythm of their speech!

Rene compares to Phonics Monkey from South Park.

Lynn listened to a pocket podcast from Third Coast and someone was doing something on generative sound – did project in Australia working with road noise, then matching it to chords and creating music generated by the traffic. When he took the traffic noise out it was amazing music, and then when you add it back in you can still hear the song.

Diana Deutsch does research into music hidden in dialogue. Take any line of dialogue and if you repeat it enough you’ll start hearing rhythm/music in it.

Ken notes that sometimes he hears a British rhythm in American speakers

Song Road in CA – rumble strips make road sing like jingle bells when you ride across it

Lynn: Piece from her show, “Choose to Be Curious” Summer has its own soundscape. Sounds from Adirondacks—even caught sound of mosquito! You realize when you pay attention that every place has it sounds.

Bernie Kraus – records soundscapes, thinking that animals communicate with sound and if humans encroach on that, it’ll interfere. Documents those soundscapes dimming, dying out.

Others share sound memories: sounds of ship’s bell equated with summer; alarm clock that said “Charge!” – and then hearing it at a baseball game

Brandon: Recording from his work, when they had of a lecture for Shakespeare’s birthday on his virtues. Between parts of lecture, two spoken performances of Shakespeare and one song based on a Shakespeare sonnet

Lynn notes that she started hearing percussion in it!

Bond: Scott Hutchins, lead singer of band “Frightened Rabbit” recently went missing and then was found dead, so we listened to his song “An Otherwise Disappointing Life” in tribute. “He really wore his heart on his sleeve,” says Bond.

Nathan: Played song called “Flora” by Japanese artist named Hiroshi Yoshimura (?), an artist and musician who did “environmental music” that was meant to complement and fill the space wherever it was played. First album in 1982.

Talked about how it has a synthetic kind of quality that sounds like old video games and makes it sound dated, like music in David Lynch movies. Discussion of old forms of music...will we talk in future about how CDs sounded the best?

Ken: From north of England, his accent sounds different than some of his family members—disappearing accents and cultures. His is a working class Northern accent. Working classes often make humor of things, Ken notes—plays recording from a comedian (name?) “Pork Pies at the Crem” (short for crematorium)

Notes that this way of speaking is actually closer to Old English

Lynn notes she lived as a child outside of Boston when she was learning to read, so she’d read with a hard Boston accent—but not for speaking!

Disappearance of accents ties back to disappearance of natural soundscapes

Beatles had this Northern English accent! Ann noted Hard Days Night holds up well.

Rene: recorded song from Tyco drum group at Tacoma Park PorchFest

Faith: played clip of interview with her mother, about her (mother’s) mother

Other/Announcements:

• Yanny/Laurel – what’s the science behind what we hear? New York Times has app
  
• SoundScene is coming July 7-8 at Hirschorn; volunteers needed. There will be “mini lounges” and guided listening.
  
• Rene will have a segment he shared at an earlier DCLL (interview with his mom on prompt “tell me about your first best friend”) aired on Choose to be Curious May 30, 10am WERA 96.7FM (streaming at wera.fm)
  
• Ann recommends the David Bowie Is exhibit in NYC
  
• NEXT MEETING – June 11th
  

3 notes:

1) First of all- the submissions for Sound Scene are GREAT! Thank you to everyone who put forward a proposal (or two). We are looking forward to making decisions in the coming week/s. (Sound Scene is an annual interactive audio art installation, curated and produced by DCLL. Last year over 10,000 smart, curious and attractive people attended.)


2) Want to weigh in on Sound Scene decisions??
 RSVP (here) to attend the Sound Scene Planning Meeting. 

It will be tomorrow Saturday April 7th at 3pm-5pm. Please RSVP


3) The next listening session aka "listening lounge" will be 

April 18th at AC's place. 


7:30pm-10pm

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


 About a 10 minute walk north from the Georgia Ave/Petworth stop on the Yellow/Green lines. 
Email for more information.

Looking forward to listening with you soon,

DCLL

3.13.18 Listening Lounge Notes! (courtesy of Lizzie)

In attendance: Tony, Rene, Lizzie, Bond, Ann

At Bond's suggestion, we began by sharing extreme weather stories related to the high winds we've had lately. 

Rene: As an insurance appraiser, he's dealt with three cars hit by falling trees.
Bond: On his way to visit him, his mother had to take a five-hour detour into DC because a bridge closed in MD due to tractor trailers blown over by the wind. 
Tony: He got last Friday off work! 
Ann: On his way to visit her from Boston, Ann's brother's flight had to make two attempts to land due to the high winds. Luckily, he was not on the "barf flight" that landed at Dulles. 
Lizzie: Not directly related, but last week contractors discovered a buried well in her backyard. We don't know how deep it is, or when it was built, but it's creepy as hell and anything could crawl out  of it:

Sounds we shared: 

Rene shared some SoundScene footage from last year, which he intends to make into promotional material for this year's event. We heard Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Rain" performed on a violin made from a baseball bat, and suggested structuring the piece around the violin music itself -- letting commentators lead us into the scene through description before telling us what we're hearing and end with the stellar line "if you haven't been here, shame on you." 

Bond shared a song from Dessa's new album, Chime, called "Fire Drills" and it rocked. "You can't be too broke to break." Check it out! 

Tony, who will be giving a workshop at the NSS (Natural Sound Society) on birdsong recording, shared a binaural recording he made from a canoe. Above him a colony of frigate birds nested together in mangrove bushes, and we could hear the young birds calling to their parents for food. 

We also talked about binaural recordings for VR, and the microphones now being made in the shape of a human head, including some with pig skin for the "skin" and human-shaped ears (which have a significant effect on the recordings). We wondered if they could make a microphone with cat-shaped ears and head that would allow us to hear what cats hear...?

Ann shared a compilation of short but fully immersive recordings from her trip to China, which included street sounds, singing, and the bells the men ring to advertise ear cleanings. YES, EAR CLEANINGS. They use a "tiny bamboo scoop," a series of brushes, and a long fine wire which they insert into your ear and then touch to a tuning fork to let your whole head ring with an otherworldly vibration. 

We wondered whether some of these street sounds (geo-linked recordings) could make a good contribution to this year's Sound Scene, "Mapping Memory." Tony added that we now know our ears are so finely tuned to our surroundings, however unconsciously, that even as adults we could identify our childhood bedroom from a bunch of recordings of empty rooms. 

Rene shared audio from a podcast called "Tweet of the Day," featuring a different bird call and short accompanying explanation each day. 

The conversation turned to the darker themes (virtual kidnapping and forest fires) so Bond pulled us back to the light with a song ("Everybody's Coming to My House") from David Byrne's new album, American Utopia. 

We all ate copious amounts of peanut m&ms. A good time was had by all! 
Looking forward to next month!

Three reminders:

1. The next DCLL meeting Tuesday March 13th at Lizzie's house!
When: Tues March 13

7:30pm-10pm

Where: Lizzie's Place
Arlington, VA 22202
Nearest metro: Crystal City or Pentagon City (blue/yellow)
She says:

"I'll make popcorn! And will probably have lots of peanut m&ms left over from my birthday so come help eat those."
Please also bring audio to share (limit clips to under 6 mins duration). Food, drinks and friends are very welcome too!


2. Reminder, if you'd like to submit an idea for a Sound Scene aka project/installation/proposal/workshop please do so here

By March 24th.


3. Separately, we'll have a planning meeting for Sound Scene (general planning for outreach, workshops, diversification of proposals etc) on Sat March 17th from 1-3pm. *You do not need to attend the planning meeting to submit a proposal!


*have a lovely week!