Fairkid Comparison Soundscape Study

A Comparative Soundscape Study of Fairkid 

By: Eva Bednarski and Lauren Brown

      

     We were curious to explore the differences in sound that may be found within a small area. Fairkid was a perfect place to conduct this study due to the fact that Lauren is currently living in Fairkid while Eva dines in the co-op. There is such a different dynamic between the living and dining spaces of Fairkid yet we wanted to see how much this dynamic could be actually interpreted in sonic form.

After our research, we decided that ultimately multiple soundscapes can exist within a small place.

The first set of recordings were taken in Fairkid Cooperative, one of the many dining only co-ops at Oberlin College. Fairkid is a vegetarian, nut-free cooperative, attracting members passionate about food justice. Fairkid is divided into two main sections, the dining area and the kitchen. Half of the recordings were taken during a cooking shift in the kitchen space, on September 21st 2016 between 5:20 and 6:20 pm. The kitchen is fully industrial with larger than life versions of any basic kitchen appliance/utensil that you could think of. With about sixty-five people eating in Fairkid, the kitchen is responsible for producing large quantities of dietary-accommodating food on a daily basis. The recorder was placed on a shelf above a counter and left stagnant for around an hour. The following clips were selected to show the most typical sounds in the kitchen and have the listener get an experience most closely resembling actual co-op life at Oberlin.

The second set of recordings were taken in the dorm area of Fairchild House.  Fairchild is one of the many dormitories on Oberlin’s campus and houses approximately 70 people.  Half of the recordings took place in the hallway of the second floor of the living area.  The second half of the recordings took place in an open-double room, also on the second floor.  

The hallway recordings took place on Thursday, September 22, 2016 from 3pm to 4:35pm  and the recording device was placed on a windowsill at the far east side of the building. The room recordings took place on Friday, September 30, 2016 from 4:30pm to 6pm.

Maps of Fairkid co-op and Living Space:

Fairkid Room

Fairkid Co-op

Fairkid Hallway

Soundscapes are a sonic representation of a time and place. They include sounds from living organisms (biophony), sounds from humans (anthrophony), natural made sounds (geophony). In addition, one can parse out the sounds present in a space into three categories: keynotes, soundmarks, and signals. A keynote is a consistent dominant sound that sets the tonality of the space. A soundmark is a sound distinct and recognizable of a particular place. A sound signal is a dominant sound in the foreground, though not consistent, that bring us to focal attention.

"Liner Notes"

Room #1:

The primary sound heard throughout this clip is the rain as well as a fan humming.  There are several other sounds heard within this recording such as: cars driving by, the sound of someone chewing, and crinkling packaging. You can hear the faint sounds of people talking, most likely from outside the open window.

Room #2:

The rain and fan are also consistent sounds throughout this recording.  Lauren and her roommate were whistling and talking about going for a run.  You can hear cars driving by, although this sound is not heard as often as it was in the first recording.

Room #3:

Consistent with the other recordings, the rain and fan are constantly heard throughout this recording.  Voices are heard as well as multiple cars starting.  A physiological anthrophonic sound --a yawn-- can be heard a little bit less than half-way through as well.

Hallway #1:

In this recording, the sounds of crickets chirping is the keynote sound- it is consistent throughout all three of the hallway recordings.  Cars driving past and doors opening and closing are heard throughout this particular recording.

Hallway #2:

Crickets are heard throughout this recording.  A sneeze is heard pretty early on and music can be heard coming from a room when a door is opened.

Hallway #3:

Crickets are heard throughout. A door is heard opening in the first part of the recording with someone whistling softly while locking their door.

Kitchen 1:

The primary sounds of this recording that persist throughout are the music and a cricket chirping. Within this recording, there are a variety of other anthrophonic sounds including knives hitting the cutting board, the banging of industrial pots and pans, the phone ringing, and voices discussing the answering of the phone.

Kitchen 2:

In this recording the cricket is also chirping throughout the entirety of the recording. Voices are also more frequent in this recording than the previous one. There is a strange rumbling in the background which I can infer would be the hood, responsible for sucking up the smoke produced from cooking, The food processor can also be heard grinding. Pots are also banging at various points in the recording.

Kitchen 3:

The final kitchen recording is also dominated by the sound of the cricket chirping loudly. There are not many other anthrophonic sounds in this recording besides a lengthy conversation about food preparation which illustrates a typical co-op experience.

Discussion 1:

The beginning of this recording is a chorus of clapping from the whole co-op, a tradition every lunch and dinner to celebrate the meal and thank those who cooked. This is followed by the introduction to a discussion on the line policy, or how we all line up to get food when the meal is finished.

Discussion 2:

The start of this recording includes the DLECs (Dining loose end coordinators) asking for general feelings on the proposal that was brought up. This is followed by clapping once more to signal the end of the discussion.

Biophony can be defined as any sound generated by a living organism. All organisms generate a unique sound signature whether it can be heard audibly by humans or not. One popular myth is that the voice of a creature depends on its size, though this is inherently false. For in example, in the recordings taken in the Fairkid kitchen, one of the first sounds heard above the others is the cricket that lives somewhere in the recesses of the kitchen. At first listen to these recordings, I was a bit confused as to what was the dominant sound that I was hearing. Finally I recognized it as the cricket chirping and although this sound can often be heard throughout the co-op, I expected that the music playing, which was the first sound I noticed upon actually entering the kitchen, would be the first identified. This points to a discrepancy between the perception of organic sound as humans compared to the perception of recorded sound.

Geophony is defined as nonbiological ambient sounds such as those associated with the weather. An example of geophony in the recordings is the rain that can be heard in the room recordings. It dominates as a sound and would be considered a keynote. However, interestingly enough, there are absolutely no geophonic sounds in any of the co-op recordings. An explanation for this would be that they were recorded on different days and it was not raining when the co-op was recorded. But it also it begs the question that perhaps a soundscape does not always need to include biophony, anthrophony, and geophony. This again points to the fact that there are multiple soundscapes that exist simultaneously within the same space.

Anthrophony is defined as any sounds coming from or relating to humans.  These sounds can be categorized into four different groups: electromechanical, physiological, controlled, and incidental.  Electromechanical sounds are any sounds produced by mechanical or human made objects such as our means of transportation- such as the car starting or a cell phone buzzing, both of which can be heard in the Fairkid room. Physiological sounds are sounds coming from a human’s body such as coughing or breathing.  Controlled sounds are any sounds that are live or recorded music, or a theatrical performance.  Controlled sounds can be heard in all of the Kitchen recordings because recorded music is being played.  Incidental sounds are made when someone is moving in a space such as the rustling of clothes or the crinkle of packaging.  An incidental sound can be heard when Lauren is eating a rice cake and the plastic packaging can be heard crinkling in Room Recording 1.

After analyzing these sounds and comparing them to each other, we found a discrepancy in parts of the soundscapes that would point to there being multiple different soundscapes within a small environment. For example, even in the co-op, there were two different soundscapes existing simultaneously within the same space. We can infer this because if we compare the keynotes, soundmarks, and signals, they are inherently different. For example, the keynotes in the kitchen include: a cricket chirping, pots banging, knives hitting a cutting board, and a food processor grinding. In the dining area, the keynotes include table conversations and people eating. Even within this small space there are two very distinct soundscapes, and between the co-op and the dorm itself the differences are even bigger.