A Drunk Walk in a Park

Embark on an auditory journey with this captivating and unique exploration of the soundscapes at Georges River and Casula Powerhouse Park. This work weaves together carefully curated recordings that capture the symphony of nature and urban life, offering a vivid representation of these iconic locations known to Liverpool. Through the meticulous layering of these sounds, listeners will be transported underneath the M5 motorway bridge as well as the grassy riverbank, and the cultural hub of the park. This experience centres around the rich soundscapes that define Georges River’s natural beauty and Casula Powerhouse Park’s cultural vibrancy. The Bridge over Georges River becomes a central character, with the low hum and thumps of tires on the metal, resonating through its structure entirely. The vehicles above create a rhythmic pulse that echoes beneath, providing an aural representation of the busy city life here in Liverpool. Standing under the bridge, the deep rumbles of trains passing and the whooshing of cars above mix with the sound of cars driving under the bridge on the recorded location. The bridge creates a cavernous effect, adding depth and resonance to the composition. While moving from the bridge to find and collect a more natural soundscapes of sounds, the best sounding option I had discovered was the tall grass. The tall grass gives off soft rustles with the footsteps, with a bit of crunching sounds when stepping on the long grass. Walking through the tall grass near the riverbank paints an image of tranquillity and exploration, almost like an adventurous theme of this echoes walk. This natural symphony contrasts sharply with the urban sound, offering a brief escape into nature. Moving towards the parking spaces and small road, leading straight to the Powerhouse Museum, I walked near the park and found a location to collect a sound most heard around the area I live in. Music drifting from a parked car offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of visitors at the Casula Powerhouse Park. With the car doors open, the music fills the surroundings, blending with the ambient noises around it, such as birds chirping, trains, and cars driving by. With the doors closed of that same car, the music becomes muffled and isolated, leaving loud bass and thumping noises playing from the car within, emphasising the car's interior as a personal sanctuary. Georges River is known for its very polluted waters, however, it still carries such beauty and presence. As I threw sticks into the river from the riverbank, gentle splashes of sticks hitting the water injected a playful and nostalgic element into the soundscape. Each splash is a reminder of the simple joys of nature. This work strives to achieve several creative aims. It juxtaposes the industrial and natural elements to offer a nuanced representation of the delicate balance between urban development and nature. Through the layering of contrasting audio elements, the composition tells the story of Georges River and Casula Powerhouse Park via a blend of natural melodies and the hum of urban life, providing immersive storytelling. Additionally, the sonic representation invites listeners to reflect on their surroundings, emphasising the importance of environmental conversation amid urban growth. The sound files were selected and processed to create this cohesive and immersive auditory journey. The equipment used were high-fidelity stereo microphones, allowing for capturing high quality recordings and gathering authentic sounds of each location. While layering and mixing, I had used these rich soundscapes that blend bridge noises, train rumbles, and footsteps, along with other sounds to convey the coexistence of nature and the urban industry. EQs played a major role, highlighting the unique tonal characteristics of each sound, and spatial panning positioned them across the stereo field for a 360-degree auditory experience. The rhythmic pulse of vehicles driving over the bridge and steady beat of footsteps on concrete served as an auditory anchor for the composition. This echoes walk offers listeners a chance to transcend the visual and immerse themselves in the layered and diverse soundscape of Georges River and Casula Powerhouse Park. Through the harmonious interplay of natural and industrial elements, this work paints a vivid and holistic picture of these locations. It portrays the intersection of nature, history and contemporary culture, inviting listeners to reflect on the delicate balance between urbanisation and environmental conversations.

a walk back in time of Australian black history this takes you back in time to first settlers

Walking around the creek

This walk shows the walk from the Hurstville train station to Owen Hodge Lawyers (located on the second floor of the building on Ormonde Parade). You first leave the train and then head to the stairs located by the bread store. Front here you cross the street and walk a straight path until the building will be on your right. The creative aspect that I have put into this walk would be that it is a rainy day. This adds more noises to be heard from the pitter patter of the rain on umbrellas passing by, to the splashing of puddles, to the closing and opening of umbrellas. There can also be heard a bus squeaking to a stop on the wet roads. The techniques used to acquire these sounds involved a zoom mic. I walked around to different locations to gather these sounds, some being around campus while others being somewhat near the site. I also used sounds from my peers; including the walking, rain, and ambiance. There are multiple spots where I have the rain fade out nicely to indicate times where there are cover and the rain cannot be heard as sharply as the sidewalks are mainly covered. The echo is supposed to be simple, not too complex or eery; nor dramatic. Walking to work is an every day task which typically doesn't have much good or bad to it more so just a matter of fact. This is what I was aiming for within my piece. While things could happen to make it very eventful, the likely hood of that happening is rather low. I had to wait for a rainy day to collect the bus squeaking sound of the tires over the water. The context of this walk is that this is one I experience everyday. I do not know of many locations in Sydney as I am still relatively new to the area; moving here in January. To pick something that was familiar and I have walked through for a couple months now felt right and solid to me. Everyday I experience a new ambience of noise, from the people around, to the weather. It is a reassuring and comforting walk; since there's things that are different but yet the main walk will always be the same. I wanted to make it feel like it was a comfortable walk, I didn't want to make it sound like it was scary or uncomforting. I used different types of audio, ones being made from humans, ones being made from nature, living and non living. This is a common usage of sound composition. While as my group members supplied a lot of the sounds that come from human creations to really tie together my composition. I did not want to put too many sounds as to drown out any of the others or to make it seem as though there was too much going on.

In my production I attempted to capture as many real and accurate sounds as possible with almost all sounds being recorded at the river. This was to provide an authenticity to the walk that could not be replicated. Of course, there were limitations as parts of the soundscape have faded into history. However, I believe this approached has layered an element of depth otherwise inaccessible. The Cooks River has undergone many transformations in its history, from pristine wetland to polluted canal. Having lived nearby my whole life I have seen rapid changes in my lifetime. From a smelly, derelict, polluted river with a rotting bridge and constantly flooding soccer grounds to a re-vitalised place for young family’s having picnics and, for going on runs, with the smell being somewhat more bearable now. One might even see a row boat in the water on occasion. It has had in a sense been three different places. The Native wetland, The hotbed of industrial activity and most recently, the local park and soccer ground. In a soundscape filled with heavy machinery and factories it may have been hard for the sounds of birdsong to cut through. Even now there is the constant hum of traffic and planes. However, there has always been the sounds of birds. In a sense this is what defines the soundscape of the Cooks River more so than the sounds that inhibit it. To people the picture of a place in their mind may be determined visually, however what shapes the memory equally if not more so is the soundscape of the area. Loud, busy soundscapes provide an impression of vibrancy and life, where as quiet, uncluttered soundscapes provide a sense a peace and tranquillity. As you walk through the experience allow yourself to be transported through space and time. Imagine hearing the soundscape before human interference, pretend you’re a factory worker in the 19th century or even place yourself at a family picnic as people laugh and play.

This 4-minute locative audio project takes the listener on an immersive journey through Earlwood, following a cat named Cudi’s walk home. This chosen idea allows the representation of a generally mysterious phenomenon, a cat’s walk. How often do we know what our cats get up to on their daily walks? Where do they go? What do they do? This project attempts to answer these questions. As the cat is quite a quiet animal, the project focuses more on the atmospheric sounds of the location rather than the sounds of a cat. To enhance the listening experience and allow the idea of walking beside a cat, the narration guides you through the walk, suggesting directions and providing descriptive audio of the things Cudi experiences through his walk. The walk travels through the lovely walk along Cooks River, capturing the atmospheric audio of the location such as the gentle sounds of the river’s water and the sounds of people strolling around. From sitting along the river and recording the natural events and sounds that occurred, I chose the highlights of the recordings and curated an authentic collection of audio capturing the footsteps and conversations of people walking by. After turning off the river you and Cudi will venture onto the streets of suburbian Earlwood. The serenity of the location can be deceiving as you and Cudi will encounter a variety of complications, from a scary dog to crossing the road, things that seem small to us as humans but are colossal to tiny cats. This exaggeration of everyday encounters allows a representation of the world through a cat’s point of view, hence the project focuses on emphasising environmental sounds rather than totally the sounds of Cudi himself. Credits: Narration performed by: Olcay Ozcelik Additional sound effects by: Bea Hernandez

This project takes place at beachside Cronulla, specifically at North Cronulla beach. The idea behind this project was to highlight to the listener the soothing and tranquil properties that the beach offers as well as how it acts as a retreat from everyday mundanity. My idea was to have the listener start in a small one-way street where they would park their car. This leads to the listener opening and closing their car door as the rest of the sounds trickle in, they walk a short distance through an open carpark to a hill where a footpath/bike path leads down to the sand and water. This is where PART A ends and Part B begins. Part B entails sounds of waves in the background with footsteps walking along the footpath. These footsteps have a very crunchy rhythm due to the sand covering the footpath, but it fully immerses the listener in the sounds of the surrounding environment. PART C features a small segment of dialogue “Its peaceful here… One can escape this world…Even for a brief while”. This small amount of dialogue is all that is needed to convey to the listener the tranquil properties that the area offers as well as the original ideas behind this sound walking project. PART D is the final portion of the project and features prominent wave sounds and more footsteps as the listener moves further along the walking trail. A slight incline at the end brings us to Dunningham park where there are large pine and palm trees that are home to many birds both native and non-native. To close out the project the peaceful song of birds calling to each other high up in the pines seemed a fitting end to a tranquil soundwalk. Enjoy…

The #mycooksriver hunt begins the first phase of a generative open-ended project and the making of physical and virtual mementos and memories. Use the echoes as location guides for hunting your treasures. The Echoes tell sonic stories, sometimes through voices, sometimes through sounds asking you to open your ears and reflect on their messages. // This project is proudly brought to you by the Cooks River Changemakers. Many thanks to the Cooks River Alliance for facilitation and support.

An immersive soundscape designed for listening while riding the train between Redfern and Carlton. Make sure that your volume is set so that you can still engage with the world around you while you are on your journey. Listen for shimmering drones, the hissing of trains, and whispers beckoning from outside the tracks... Thanks to the James Eric Bird Collection of Steam Trains of NSW for being a free archive of steam train recordings available under Creative Commons, Gail Priest for being a mentor figure throughout the process of creating this work, and Shopfront to making the development of this work possible through the 2022 ArtsLab season. P.S: As this soundscape uses real-time location data, there may be points along the track (such as long tunnel sections) where location data does not function properly and the journey's audio does not play back. If this happens, you can manually play the echoes by selecting them within the app.