Our class sound-map provides a generalized visual along with our sound recordings to give the listeners context to the sounds. Our visual provides key context about the environment in relation to the soundscape, such as whether there are walkways where people could be passing by or streets where cars could be driving, however the google earth visual fails in certain aspects. The images seem to have been taken over the summer or during a time where a lot of construction and renovation was occurring, as we see construction by new dorm and moving vans outside the library. These visuals provide context that is not represented in our recordings. In Westerkamp’s soundwalk, she uses a voiceover to describe her environment in the exact moment she is doing the recording, giving context that you would likely not know from just the recording, such as how she is standing on some rocks near the shoreline with barnacles on them. She describes not only the visual aspect of the environment, but also the sounds we hear. She says ““The tiny clicking sounds you hear are the meeting of the water and the barnacles.” Her description also guides the listener around the soundscape. The noise of the city that is present in the beginning of the recording was something that I initially didn’t even recognize and just thought of it as background noise until Westerkamp mentioned it by saying “The city is roaring around these tiny sounds.” She then proceeds to use technology to take away the noise of the city which forces and emphasis on the explicit sounds of nature.
