Drift Soundmark 5-"The Ice Breaks Away as the Ocean Breathes"

As I approached the shore of Lake Michigan on my drift, just northeast of the North Point Water Tower, I came upon what would normally be just a pile of large rocks around the shore in the summer, but due to the unusually brutal winter we've had this year, the snow and ice compacted on top of the rocks to create a high ledge that protruded out over the partially frozen water. While walking up to the edge of this glacial like natural structure I slipped on an icy rock causing some ice shards to break off and slide to the ground. This accident gave me the idea to take some ice shards and slide them off over the frozen ledge by the shore to either break on the ice below or to splash into the water and, of course, to record the results. After this experiment I kept recording the lake ambiance for awhile and got some pretty interesting results that sound as if the lake itself is breathing.

Recorded Late Evening, 2/18/08

To hear the audio clip of this soundmark click here.

To see the location of this soundmark on the GoogleMap of my drift area click here. Look for the red place-marker.

Drift Soundmark 4-"The Bus Runs"

As I headed east on North Ave I came to a turnaround by the North Point Water Tower in between Lake Dr. and Terrace Ave. On the northern side of the the turnaround a city bus was parked but still running, I assume the driver was just taking a break. While recording, I approached closer and closer to the rear of the bus near the exhaust, but the driver must have been frightened by some strange guy (me) approaching the bus with some weird contraption in his hand (my mic rig) because he took off just as I was getting close. Luckily, it ended up sounding pretty interesting as he pulls away and then slows down at the next intersection.

Recorded Late Evening, 2/18/08

To hear the audio clip of this soundmark click here.

To see the location of this soundmark on the GoogleMap of my drift area click here. Look for the purple place-marker.

Drift Soundmark 3-"The Dock Door Descends"

While continuing my expedition I came across Ma Baench's Ocean Caught Herring factory, on the corner of Locust St. and Humboldt Blvd, at just the right time. As I was walking by there happened to be an employee getting ready to load a truck at the rear dock door. First he slid open the dock door, then pulled on a chain to pull up the dock lift gate, and then let the lift gate slowly click into place. I recorded the audio from the sidewalk at the corner of the building (see diagram to left, click for larger image).

Recorded Evening, 2/18/08

To hear the audio clip of this soundmark click here.

To see the location of this soundmark on the GoogleMap of my drift area click here. Look for the yellow place-marker.

Drift Soundmark 2- "Deconstruction"

At the location where Belleview Place, Downer Ave. and Hackett Ave all intersect, across from the Downer movie theatre, I came across a new parking garage that was under construction. Although the construction site was fenced off, keeping me from exploring the inside, I was able to hold my mic rig over the fence and actually get some echoic audio coming from inside the parking garage. All of a sudden while I was standing there recording, a very unusual but exciting sound started emanating from somewhere within the construction site but I could not tell exactly where it was coming from where I was standing but it must be from some piece of mechanical equipment. Check it out.

Recorder Late Afternoon, 2/18/08

To hear the audio clip of this soundmark click here.

To see the location of this soundmark on the GoogleMap of my drift area click here. Look for the green place-marker.

Drift Soundmark 1-"Shoveling in the Dark"

As I started off on my drift adventure I had only walked a few blocks before I found my first interesting audio experience. Halfway up the block of Meinecke Ave in between Humboldt Blvd and Dousman St. is where I listened on as a resident struggled to scrape up the dense snow and ice that had accumulated on the sidewalk in front of his home. As I was recording I was just a little ways up the sidewalk from him on the same side of the street. (Click on image to left for larger diagram.)

Recorded Late Afternoon, 2/18/08

To hear the audio clip of this soundmark click here.

To see the location of this soundmark on the GoogleMap of my drift area click here. Look for the blue place-marker.

Drift Strategy

There is so much to discover in the city and often times some of the most interesting aspects of it are greatly ignored and overlooked. In an attempt to explore my surroundings (the city of Milwaukee) from a new perspective, as well as in a manner that would facilitate discovery through experimentation, I went on a four hour "drift" around a specific area of the city, recording the different soundscapes I encountered on my adventure. My only plan was to draw a circle on a region of the map that I thought would produce a variety of interesting and illuminating sound experiences and then, armed with a mini disc player, headphones, a home-made microphone (to see a picture of my home-made mic rig click here), and note-taking and diagram drawing materials, to traverse every street within the designated area paying close attention to every new sonic experience along my way.

To see a GoogleMap of my designated drift area click here. The shaded area within the circle represents the general area I was interested in for my drift.