What you'll need:
Recording equipment
Crude playback equipment
Pencil/paper
Analytical foresight
Experiment Overview: This excercise is not based simply on audio phenomenon but on its effect on
unsuspecting human subjects. Is acceptance of particular ambient sounds contextual? Do humans become
so used to hearing certain sounds in specific circumstances that it disturbs them to hear those sounds
in others? This experiment deals mainly with the injection of out-of-context audio into normal social
situations and the observation of what behavior ensues.
1. SELF-INDUCED TRAINING CAMP
Find a basement or something, somewhere that can facilitate you making a lot of
noise. Let no one hear. A basement, a large grove of woods, or a squigittily cooshaw will
do just fine. You'll need your recorder/playback machine. The title of this section is a bit
misleading, as it is more of a a library-building period than training, unless you think of it as
training your tapes to play these sounds, which would be a bit primitive of you. Anyway, the point
of this part is to tape yourself being obnoxious. Yell things into the tape recorder. Get a friend
and get into a shouting match with him or her. Make sure the "record" button is pressed. These should
all be long clips, ten to fifteen minutes at least. Record a water faucet left on for ten minutes (or find
a way to loop it if you want to environmentally conscious, or just record yourself taking a shower maybe).
Also, record yourself crying hysterically. No suggestions here, maybe think of your dead dog, Poofy.
We aren't ones to criticize technical aptitude here, but make sure these recordings you're making sound
clear when you play them back on a small portable tape player. You don't just want a bunch of tape hiss
invading our lives.
Get creative here. Think of the places in which you will playing these tapes back. Riding a subway? Maybe
record the sounds of a wreck happening. Don't tell anyone you got this idea from us, though, there are
legal ramifications for certain extremes of public deception. Record some industrial noise, Eraserhead-style,
and play it in the middle of a green park.
2. PUT IN THE HOURS
This is the fun or dangerous part. Go out in public and play your stuff. It is more desirable to have
your tape player hidden, but whatever. Go for what you think is right. Don't stand in the same place
too long, and try not to make any repeat visits over days. You don't want to become known as "Weird Tape-Playin'
Guy with No Friends" in any neck of the woods. Bring some paper and write down as much about the people
in your vacinity as possible. Of course, spend time before turning the tape player trying to sketch out
their countenances, constitutions, and demeanors as accurately and clearly as possible. Then, turn the
tape on and watch for miniscule changes in behavior. Also, be careful to not get noticed. Maybe a trenchcoat would help,
at least at night in a dark city. You are
Man Observing, a reflective surface into which the public will one day be able to look and learn about
itself. For now, you should be unobtrusive. Be sure to write every small detail that you notice about
the way people are taken by the foreign sounds. Thorough.
3. BRING HOME THE BACON
This experiment is very open to your ideas and executions. Gather your own data and make your own
conclusions from your work. Were you assaulted? What does that tell you about people in general?
