Ways of Hearing, Episode 1 & 2

Krukowski describes real time as “lived time” and digital time as “machine time.” You can manipulate machine time in ways you cannot manipulate real time, like by speeding it up or slowing it down. Krukowski points out that when media went digital, it changed our way of sharing time together. Previously, everyone would have to tune into the radio at the same time to hear a new song or listen to the baseball game, but now we are able to listen and view at our leisure. This makes us all a little less unified in the way we share experiences. 

Moss mentions the rules now set in Astor Place, and the security guards there to enforce them. The space gives the illusion of being public, for everyone to share. In reality, it is only for certain kinds of people who are acting in a certain manner to share. The privatization dictates how the “public” space gets used.

The further you are from a sound, the harder it is to hear it. Thompson talks about concert halls as a refuge from outdoor sound. They filter out the sounds you don’t want to hear and amplify the sounds you do want to hear. She says that earbuds are an “auditorium without walls,” enabling the listener to hear the sound without noise pollution.

I was supposed to go to a concert in Radio City Music Hall in May, which got postponed due to the pandemic. I’ve been to many venues, but this podcast made me truly excited to visit Radio City. When you go to a concert, you want to be able to hear what is happening on stage just as much as you want to be able to see it. Thompson describes the venue as almost a chamber to reflect the sound of the stage back down to the audience, to try and filter out any other sound there may be. I hadn’t realized how much work goes into perfecting the sound in a venue before listening to this.

DB#5

Ways of Hearing, Episode 1 & 2

Episode 1

  1. What is Krukowski’s main point about how we experience time in the “real” world versus are experiences with “digital” time? Why are these differences significant?

-Krukoswski main point, he stated real time is what we experience at that moment And like he stated Real time is lived time and digital is not a lived time were they work like spread sheet, and he stated that digital time can make many people experience at a time, like the audio we were listening to.

  1. What does Krukowski mean when he says that listening has a lot to do with how we navigate space?

– Krukowski stated navigate space basically is sound like daily sounds, can be the loud music people are playing in their car, anything that have an sound that create a great outcome.

Episode 2

  1. In the interview at the beginning of the episode, Jeremiah Moss argues that developers in Astor Place are “privatizing public space in a very stealth way.” What does he mean by this? What does Moss say about the distinction between public and private space, and why is it important?

– He stated how NYC is very crowed and they’re very slow, Knowing that everyone is avoiding each other, they tend to use headphone to block each other verbal sound, and he stated how Japan people tent to sleep on the train so they won’t have eye contacts. Its really important because it shows how people are use to their daily life and they tent to have their own private space, for example on the train everyone is on the phone to avoid everything around them.

  1. What is the significance of Emily Thompson’s idea that the development of concert halls arose from desires to “control interior spaces”? How is this desire, according to Krukowski, related to earbuds and headphones?

-They wanted to control the interior space with different music, knowing that many performers took place their, the people who are there they don’t know what music is going to be played. According to the Audio i I think earbud and earphones is a simple of space and sound which an individual tent to use to control there sound and space because they’re in their own little bubble.

  1. In your own opinion, what are the key ideas from this episode about the relationship between sound and space? What strikes you as interesting about the ways that sound influences our experience of space

– According to this episode the relationship between the sound and space and be really interactive together because people need space but they want to listen to there own sound, trying to avoid everything around them.

Ways of hearing Discussion Question #5

Episode 1 :

D1 : According to Krukowski the time  in “real” World is difficult to back up because once it is happened that is it So he compared it with how the record on tape saying there is no undo and if you had time and money  , you could  try again but we could not back  what is done is done weather it is better or worse . With  digital time everything is previsional , we reshape , rebuild , redone .

D2 :By saying listening has a lot to do with how we navigate space , Krukowski want to let us know  how we are rely on sounds that we hear and has that memory from  where we heard them .

Episode 2

D3 : Saying developers in Astor Place are “privatising  public space in a very stealth way”, Jeremiah Moss means place are cautionary preserved because it is heritage that we have that . The city is moving so fast and it  seems out of control because of wealths willing to take over of all. It is like reducing people how they are going to use the space.

D4 : The development of concert halls arose from desire to “control interior space ” is a kind of controlling the sounds . It is a way of controlling the sound in the street . It is a key way of excluding the noise around people .According to Krukowski, earbuds and headphones will reduce the noise and at the same the wearer hear what h want to hear .

D5 : according to me , the keys ideas from this episode about the relationship between sound and space   are : isolation , control ,admiring .

Blog #4

Songs are always friendly to our moods. If we feel sad we are looking for a song, and at the beginning of the love stories we listen to the songs, or until we feel bored we play songs to improve the mood. One of the songs closest to my heart is fly me to the moon by singer Frank Sinatra, this song never fails to change my mood. Although remastered the song in 2009, the live version in 1965 is the best for me. Frank’s pure voice with live music is another experience. When someone asks me about a good song, I always recommend those songs at the top of the list. This song is considered a jazz classic and music in general. On the other hand, songs are part of the culture. And the development of music is linked to the development taking place in the world. The musical instruments differed from the old until it reached what it is now. Therefore, music is part of the human personality and evidence of time.

Frank Sinatra – Fly Me To The Moon (Live At The Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, MO/1965)

Frank Sinatra performing “Fly Me To The Moon,” recorded live in 1965 at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, MO.

Blog Post #4

As a sonic example, I picked the video, where just based on the visual part, we can not ostensibly see anything really special. But if we turn on the sound of the video, we can hear the clapping of people, which pay the tribute to all the essential workers, especially medical workers in New York City during the Corona-virus pandemic. I think that even the small, personal gadget like is headsets and listening to some music could manipulate all perception of walking down the street and steal from us such a surreal moment when all the people were connected by the current situation and were captured in the presence. Probably each of us, who heard that clapping, realized that we are all here for each other and we felt the connection with strangers, which is so rare nowadays. It was a scary time, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, when nobody knew what is going to happen next. But at that time, we were all together showing and sharing compassion, humbleness, and appreciation to those, who were risking their own life every single day. This is probably an extreme example of the possible manipulation of the moment by the different sounds coming into our ears. But maybe it is a good example to better realize, how differently we can see the world by spacing out from the presence by using modern technology in general.

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Discussion #5

EPISODE 1 – TIME

 

  1. Krukowski’s main point about how we experience time in the real world versus in the digital time is that the experiences in the analog world are real, are happening in the moment and you can’t pause it, delete it or try again. We benefit from these conveniences of digital time like communicating with your friends no matter where they are but it comes with a sacrifice, we trade real reactions and face to face talks to texting and latency. Krukowski argues that we give up the opportunity to experience time together in the same instant and therefore we lose the opportunity of sharing our individual timing to one another
  2. When Krukowsi says that listening has a lot to do with how we navigate space he means that we can have an idea of where we are just by listening to the sounds, each place has sounds characteristics to it for example in a church you will hear bells and a minister giving his sermon. We should be more aware of the sounds that surround us and train our ears to detect where we are without sight.

EPISODE 2 – SPACE

  1.  Jeremiah Moss argues that developers in Astor Place are privatizing public space in a very stealth way. When he says that the city is suffering a hyper gentrification he means that some streets and neighborhoods are being changed slowly, being stealth privatized, he puts the example of Astor Place it’s still a public place but you can see security guards walking around and not skating signs, Moss defines a public place as a place where people can do whatever they want to like make protests or somewhere where people can express themselves without having to follow rules set by private companies. He argues that when you are walking looking at a screen you are creating a private bubble for moving through public space, so you can not realize the encroaching of public spaces, people are not paying attention to the changes in their surroundings.
  2. In the 1920’s when the cities were starting to modernize, noisy engines, vehicles everywhere, trains and subways running through the cities made it difficult for people who were not used to it. Emily Thompson’s argues that the efforts to control sound in the streets lead to another set of changes to control interior spaces as are concert halls with noise-insulating walls and architecture to reduce reverberation so the people can fully enjoy the concerts without interferences from outside. According to Krukowsi we are using interior sound to create a refugee as in the 1920’s and our digital devices have extended that interior space into the street that mean that with headphones we can listen to whatever we want in any space.
  3. Sometimes we are not aware of the changing environment, because we are immersed in our devices like phones and earphones, we look at the screen almost all the time and have our earphones all the time avoiding exterior sounds to interference. Hearing helps us to navigate space, certain sounds gives a place characteristics that makes it unique, often in the big cities sounds like sirens, traffic is annoying so people prefer to be listening to music. With electronic devices we create a private bubble for ourselves not letting sounds and public spaces interfere with your thoughts, this leads to not realizing the changes and the elements in a public space.

sorry for posting this late but the first half of the week is busy for me

 

 

 

Blog post #5

I heard first time the song “Desi Thoughts” by A.R. Rahman, when I was watching “A Million Dollar Arm” movie. There are no words, it is instrumental, and it touched my heart. When I listen to the sound of violins and guitar and other instruments, my mind connects with those sounds, capturing all my thoughts.  

Based on Krukowski podcast, this music was played in that analog time, when the composer A.R. Rahman and Prasanna group from Berkley College of music were paying a tribute in that real moment, it cannot be redone or changed. Each musician is living in that moment and is feeling those notes and sound which, they are producing on their instruments. 

Through this music the composer is making a balance between Indian well and Western sensibilities. First the composer watched the movie, and later he reflected on song ideas. This music has some meditative moments and has the profundity which we are looking for.  

A. R. Rahman Meets Berklee – Desi Thoughts ft. Prasanna (6 of 16)

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sonic example

 

digital technology changes our lives especially the hearing part of it. living in New York City is not a good choice for quite people because this city doesn’t sleep and too much noise, these people are trying everything to cut as much of the noise as they can but it’s hard to do that in New York City, there are people who use soundproof windows and walls in their apartments to minimize the noise but the minute they leave their apartments the noise comes back right away.

The technology era changed a lot and scientists create new ways for people to minimize the outside noise in the streets, the headphones invention take the people to a different world and get them so far from the noise in the street and in anywhere. when you put them on you travel to a different galaxy it takes you to another space. Headphones and earbuds are the way for New Yorkers to avoid ear contact with each other. it’s not a strange thing when you ride the subways train to see 90% or more having headphones or earbuds. for instance, Beat’s headphone is a famous brand that cuts the outside noise totally and that means when you have them on you won’t be able to hear anything that happens around you and that’s why people like to have them as a part of their lives.

Sonic Examples : The Benefits of Digital Music

I started making my own music back in 2000. I used a program called Fruity Loops. I created original hip hop beats that my friends and I would make raps to. Fruity Loops had a correction method that would take any note recorded and “fix” it by placing the note on the closest ⅛ of a beat. It completely removed the elasticity of the live music or analog music. The program allowed me to take samples of other music and let me stretch it or shrink it to a very precise rhythm. Krukowski feels that something may be lost to the imperfections of digital music, but I think in some musical forms, digital music creates a pleasing symmetry. It allows an amateur musician to create unique sound combinations that can be extremely enjoyable musical compositions. 

The introduction of Musical Instrument Digital Instrument or midi has allowed us to play and create an infinite number of instruments and sounds that can be put together to make new and interesting musical arrangements. These rhythmic songs are great for dancing and I think that is one of the major reasons that digital music has become the standard. While I agree there are times when the elasticity of time in music can add a certain charm, I also see the very distinct benefit to the creation of digital music. I think both analog and digital music both deserve their due place in the world of music.

Discussion Questions #5

Ways of Hearing, Episode 1 & 2

Question #1:
The significant difference between experiencing the real world versus the digital time is related to space and time. If we are experiencing the real world, we are in the present moment, part of what is happening around us. In NYC, for instance, we can hear walking people, somebody talking, cars passing by, beeping of cars, barking dogs, etc. We can experience the moment and its atmosphere, the energy of the short while, including sharing the ambiance with people around us, feeling, and sensing similar sentiments. On the other hand, the digital time is practically locking us into our bubbles. We are distanced from the sound and the real energy of the environment. Thanks to the digital gadgets we can manipulate the atmosphere, and drown the real sound with some other, which is better fitting our imagination about the possible sounds of the current environment. Thanks to the digital world, we can adjust the atmosphere to feel better at the moment, but at the same time, losing the authenticity of the sharing of space and time with others.

Question #2:
I think that Krukowski wanted to say that listening to what is going on around us is very important. We can sense the energy of the space base on the sounds as well. We are not listening to our environment, and we are losing real connection with space. For example, if we walk down the streets with headsets on, we won’t hear the beeping car or shouting person, or possibly even something positive, what could attract our attention.

Question #3:
They were talking about public space today and back in the ’70s. And about the difference between how New Yorkers could use all the public space today and how it was back in time. In the ’70s, public space was for everybody and free expression of oneself. People were, for example, skateboarding on the street and a little further along the way, there was a street band. People could use public space as they pleased. That’s how New York and its public spaces were and how they were used. Today, if anybody will try to do something like that, they will be probably noticed by a security guy from some of the stores around and will be asked to go away, like, for instance, at the Astor Place. Today, we can use only specific places for specific activities and we are told where we can do certain things. The freedom of expression is, in a way, almost gone.

Question #4:
Concert halls were developed and designed for the sound distance from the street/city sounds to be able to hear the music or actors. It was isolation for better sound. Thanks to these halls, we created space, where we can enjoy the not interrupted music. But the earplugs are creating our own space in our heads. It is a different dimension. Earplugs are providing the space free of the noises, but also free of other people and are robbing us of the shared experience with all the other possible sounds added to the memories.

Question #6:
I think the key ideas were related to the fact, that by creating a personal bubble around ourselves by listening to some of the music in our earplugs, we have different sensing of the specific space or happening around us. The picture of our surroundings could be manipulated by the music, that we are listening to in our earplugs. If I imagine watching the streets of NYC while listening to some death metal music, it will create a different memory about the city then if I would listen, for example, Frank Sinatra or just the city sounds itself. But what is important the most is that we are more stalled from the natural environment and our instincts by this, and it is having a bigger impact on us. We don’t know how to socialize as we used to. We share fewer experiences, we don’t talk to strangers, hence we are losing a chance to get some nice memories and interactions. In the end, our experience of life is unnecessarily impoverished.