Sound Five: Factories

The final sound that I will be including here was recorded even further into the heart of the industrial zone. In my walking I found a spot that had the sound from two different factories contrasting against each other nicely. I again found a nearby metal sign to place my mics on. I pointed one towards the first factory which was making a constant rhythm with what I could best describe as some kind of scraping. The other mic was pointed towards a different factory that was making an occasional sound that seemed like it might be a release of steam, or something of that sort. The two of these play off each other well since the first factory sets a kind of base with its consistency and the other chimes in once in a while with its own unique sound.



Direct Link.

Sound Four: Salt Mountain

Now completely away from the beach I entered an industrial landscape. One of the companies was involved with salt so they had a huge salt mountain nearby that stood about 2-3 stories high. To contain all this salt they had a large tarp covering the top 2/3 of the mountain. I set my mics up on a nearby metal street sign. The first I pointed directly over at the mountain while the second was places on the top of the sign and tilted over so that it was pointed more towards the top of the mountain. At the beginning of the recording you can hear what almost seems to be music. This is in fact the "song" of the machinery of a nearby factory. Towards the end of the recording is where I captured something pretty neat. The salt mountain had an avalanche of sorts with a large amount of salt falling from the top against the tarp and down to the ground near me.



Direct Link.

Sound Three: Grate System

As I got away from the more "beachy" area I stumbled upon some kind of water processing area. In the middle of the grass was a huge concrete circle that enclosed a system of grates that were squealing away. I wedged one of my mics between the grating and hung the other one down about a foot into the great abyss below. At first it might sound like a pretty steady sound, but if you listen closely, preferably with headphones, there is some really interesting things going on here.



Direct Link.

Sound Two: Snack Stand

A bit further north near the main building of the boat yard was a wooden snack stand. On the front of the stand was a wooden awning with lines of plastic flags hung on the rafters. The wind was quite heavy that night so those little flags were really flapping around. There was also a faint beeping that can be heard that I believe was some kind of security alarm. I set the mics up on one of the rafters about 2 feet apart from each other and pointed mostly down. A bit into my recording a car pulled up. A woman then got out, screamed, and got back in her car. This can be heard at the end of my recording.



Direct Link.

Sound One: Boat Yard

As i made my way up the beach in Bay View I headed towards a docking area for private sail boats. When I got there it was very peaceful with the mix of the sounds from the lake and the sounds of the wind knocking around the metal on the boats causing a chime effect. I buried my first mic in the sand horizontally right on the shore so that it was pointed directly at the lapping tide. The second mic I buried pointed up and out towards the boats so that it would pick up the clanging and the general ambiance.



Direct Link.

Drift Strategy

I just recently moved to the Milwaukee area so in an attempt to get to know my surroundings better I went on a walk and made field recordings as I went with my nifty pair of homemade stereo mics.

The Strategy for my soundwalk was that I would go to Lake Michigan and travel north staying as close to the shore of the lake as I could. I started in Bay View and kept going until I hit where the river and the lake intersect and could not go any further. I left around 8 PM on a Tuesday and got to my endpoint a tad after midnight so all sounds were captured at night.

What I ended up with is I think a rather evocative collection of sounds from the city after dark.

Drift Map

View Larger Map

Here is a map showing the area I explored in my soundwalk.

The blue markers represent sounds that I recorded but did not use. The yellow makers correlate with the sounds found on this page.