NatuPreserve Collaborative Sound Composition by Laura, Taylir, Yasmeen, & Zoe

Part 1 - Late Summer - Laura Cunningham

I handled the first section of our group’s composition which was meant to represent the sounds and feelings of late summer. I used primarily recordings captured at the beginning of the school semester, when students are most active in the nature preserve and the preserve as a whole if most lively. I included recordings of many different birds and insects to make the listener’s environment seem as alive as possible and to show the diversity of the preserve. I was also able to make use of recordings I initially deemed unusable by including clips of students conversing to show the presence of humans in the preserve during warmer months. The impact of human presence in the nature preserve is significant and I thought it would be important to include that in my section of the composition. To connect with our chosen motif of water, I began our composition with a contact microphone recording of light, warm rain that I got in early September, which is pictured below. My goal here was to start out our composition on a lighter note, conveying a comfortable and nourishing rain to contrast with the harsher water sounds later in the piece.

Part 2 - Taylir Doig 

In the group composition I used three of my own recordings. Two of the recordings were taken on the Vernal Pool Trail and the other recording was taken on the Pond Trail. During my recording sessions I found that the spot I enjoyed recording the most was in the Vernal Pool Trail and particularly along the stream that followed alongside it. One of my favorite recordings called “Different Water Velocities” was taken on September 28th with a hydrophone. By mistake I recorded different water velocities because I couldn’t find the input button on the Tascam and the peak light was going off. I finally found that button and used the more powerful portion of the track. The other recording on the Vernal Pool trail was around 6 pm with the Binaurals and I actually went off the trail quite a lot. I had to follow a dry stream to find my way back. I remember that the mosquitos were very annoying and I saw lots of deer poop. I remember being alone with the Binaurals was very peaceful. I wanted to use these recordings to create a sense that everything was underwater. I used a part where I was stepping on a branch and I panned the sound so it would seem like someone is walking around you. 

My other recording was called “Really Good Bird Sounds” and was recorded on October 5th with the shotgun microphone. There was a lot of beautiful fall foliage outside. I wanted to create a sound recording of the whole pond trail. This recording was taken on the bridge. I wanted to place the active birds in this piece to show how active the preserve is in the fall. I loved the sound of the first bird because it reminded me of summer mornings at my grandma’s house and the introduction to one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump.

Part 3 - Yasmeen Gilani 

For our composition my group wanted to ensure that sounds from each season were incorporated into our segments to allow for our recording to portray the passage of time from summer, to fall, and finally to winter inside the Nature Preserve. As my group discussed, one element of sound that accurately indicates the changes in seasons are human-made ones. In the first few weeks of the semester Binghamton students gathered inside the nature preserve at all hours of the day, especially in the evening once their classes were over. Our composition makes note of this by incorporating the chatter of any passersby in the summer. This lively sound was only found in the beginning weeks because as the semester progressed students were less likely to spend their leisure time inside the Nature Preserve. Their absence was likely in correspondence with the decline in temperature matched by the rise in classwork. 

Another human sound we incorporated into our composition was footsteps, these sounds are not as lively as it is now no longer a group of friends, these footsteps are only made by one person, this is a solitary sound. In my portion of the composition I began with footsteps on fallen leaves to portray being outside in the fall. I then ended my portion of the composition with footsteps in snow. These footsteps signify the transition into our last season, winter. The same gust of wind that we used in the beginning of our composition is the one that begins the onset of a frigid, intense, and tenacious winter.

Since it is not possible to select a photo which signifies every season in a single frame. I selected one of my favorite photos which I took in September. This is a photo of an ambient summer evening, one where you would hear the chatter of students and footsteps of many. I believe that when most Binghamton students think of being outside in the Nature Preserve they would describe an evening similar to the one depicted in the photo below. 

Part 4 - Zoe Rose 

I had the last portion of the project, so I wanted my composition to represent the transition into early winter. All of the sounds I used were from the period between October 28th and November 17th, but I admit they were a little out of order within the piece. The first sound I used was from November 9th, and was a binaural recording from a spot at the edge of the woods by Lake Lieberman. By that point in time, the vast majority of the deciduous trees barely had any leaves left. However, one tall tree, possibly a birch, still had crisp yellow leaves that were blowing in the wind and sometimes floating down. I transitioned the sound of the leaves falling to a chorus of different birds recorded by different people, including geese and blue jays, to represent some of the last remaining birds of the season being stirred by a gust of wind. 

When I made the first version of the composition, I used a lot of wind sounds in the middle to project the feeling of being caught outside in the cold harsh wind of late fall and winter. However, people listening to the recording thought the sounds could be from a more anthropogenic source like Vestal Parkway, so I tried to embrace that in the second version. I added another layer of deeper whooshing wind and roadway sounds to make it almost seem like the wind and roadway drown out the more natural bird sounds for a time. I also tried to add a leaf blower sound, which connects to the idea of fall turning into winter, but unfortunately I don’t think it comes through as much as I intended and just gets caught in the rest of the swell. I wanted the end to contrast with the harsh wind, so I used someone’s recording from walking through the woods while it was snowing. It might not be entirely clear just by listening that the ending droplet sounds are from snow, but I still felt that it conveyed the more peaceful aspects of winter.