The Sounds of Our Campus: An Audio Journey Through the Natural Beauty of College of the Holy Cross

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by Michael Connelly At the break of dawn, before the students of Holy Cross have woken up, the air in the Hoval is filled with the various melodies of birds that live on the campus. In this recording, you will hear sounds from two different types of birds, the Chickadee and the Robin. For this Nature Walk, I recorded what the Hoval sounds like in the morning while everyone is still asleep. Since the Hoval is usually a very busy spot, especially on a nice day, it would be nice for people to experience what it sounded like without anyone present. So, to get these recordings, I started by waking up around 6:30 am to get the experience with no people and just the birds. Then, I walked around to various spots to get recordings of the birds, but for the most part, I just sat on the benches and let the bird sounds come to me. I then put everything into Garage Band and layered the sounds on top of one another so I could get the cool effect of different bird sounds in each ear.

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by Mary Kate Murphy This station is the science building on campus, a place where most students have a class. There are not many people in the building early in the morning, but by the middle of the day, a lot of students are coming and going. The audio recording shows two different times of day, the first recording was taken at 7:50 right before 8 am classes started. There were a few people who walked by, but the majority of the recording is the sound of the highway, some birds in the distance, and the wind. The second recording was taken at 12:45 when classes were getting out. In the recording, you can hear students coming and going along with some construction sounds in the background and also the sound of the door opening and closing. Besides the building being busier later in the day, there is also not as many natural sounds such as animals and the wind. The process of making the recording was simple. I took recordings at both times outside the building by standing near the door. The recording was taken on my phone with a recording app and mic.

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by Eva Fava-Rodrigues For my station I chose to acoustically exemplify the path into campus. When one takes their first steps through the campus gates, they become surrounded by both the anthropophony and biophony of the natural world. They are amongst animals and trees, students walking between buildings, and the sounds of the bustling city of Worcester down the way. The front gates truly showcase all aspects of nature and the different relationships it contains. When thinking about how I would portray the campus’ sonic beauty, I reflected on the different forms of field-recording I could pursue and ultimately decided what better way is there to encapsulate the richness of the natural world than with a musical composition. I have done this once before in my class and really resonated with how the song changed my perspective and allowed me to listen more intently to my surroundings and notice all of the patterns and complexity that makes up the rhythms of nature’s music. I utilized a portable microphone with a wind cover so as to receive the best quality recordings I was able to and recorded sounds during the afternoon, allowing me to have access to more variety of sounds. I recorded squirrels, birds chirping, stones hitting against each other, tree branches scratching tree bark, and wind blowing, as well as car horns, train whistles, people walking, construction sounds, and planes roaring. The multitude of sounds allowed for a vast array of opportunities for the outcome of my composition. Using a backing track I created with percussive instruments and stone and tree sounds, I generated a foundation, upon which I layered beats using car horns and sticks in addition to various transposed interlays of bird and squirrel sounds to formulate a nice mixture of all of the sounds one may experience once they walk through the campus gates.

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by Jake Needham and Jack Toomey For our SoundWalk we wanted to see how anthropophony, biophony, and geophony interact on the Holy Cross campus. We thought doing our SoundWalk at Fitton Field would be a perfect fit because of 290, which is by 290 and causes a lot of sound pollution. We thought it would be exciting to give you a tour of the field through sound and how distinct the anthropophony is. Anthropophony is any sounds created by humans or by human creations this includes traffic, people talking, or sprinklers. The first 18 seconds of the video are right next to the highway near the left field wall. The recording is completely dominated by the anthropophony coming from the cars on the highway, but it was a windy day when we recorded so you could hear a little bit of geophony coming from the wind in the trees. For the next 17 seconds, we were in right field, which is further away from the highways but despite that, you could still hear the anthropophony coming from the cars. We started by the sprinklers on the field and walked closer to the sewer where you can hear the water moving through it. At the end of the recording, we were lucky enough to catch some sound of a bunny in a bush near the football field. The sounds of the bunny in the bush would be classified as biophony because the sounds were created by a living creature.

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by Christian Lasch For my soundwalk, I went to the nature path located right outside of brooks hall. In my recording, you hear cars driving by, sticks falling off of trees, crumpled up leaves, and little rocks moving around. If you listen very carefully, there are birds chirping in the distance. The main reason I chose this spot is because there are a variety of sounds thrown at you. Depending upon the time and day you go will determine the things you hear. When I first decided to go, it was Wednesday, April 19th at 3:00 in the afternoon and then I went Friday, April 20, at 1:00 in the afternoon. After capturing my recordings, I went to garage band to make certain noises louder and others more quiet.

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by Ella Grainger My station is called “Birds of the Chapel”. I have recorded sounds behind the chapel on campus, which is a place with several trees, and places for birds to be. Since the sound is relatively blocked off from sounds of cars, lawn mowers, and sounds of people, the nature sounds are extremely isolated. This allows for the sounds of the birds to come through even more. I recorded the sounds of the birds that I heard as I walked along the chapel, and heard both a House Sparrow and a Song Sparrow. After recording the more general sounds, I centered in on a few specific areas, recording the insides of two different trees. By doing this, I was able to record and isolated sound of just one bird, rather than a combination of several bird sounds. I found this interesting because although when listening to all of the birds in the area, I heard several different birds from every angle, however, when focusing on one specific area, the sound I heard was much more isolated.

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by Alexia Qingxia Yu I recorded the sound when I was walking from Kimball to Stein. I connected the microphone to my laptop and intentionally recorded my steps to create a vibe of walking. After I got out of Kimball, I walked to the right side. There are birds singing in the trees, with a bit of sound of winds and sounds of steps. And then, when I walked to the path behind the building, the wind sound suddenly became larger. Also, there is a truck and pipe which people used to put dirt on the grass. They made a really loud noise. The soundscape changed from biophony to anthropophony and quieter to louder.

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by Bella Gillon My station's name is “The Levels of Sound”. The area that I have chosen for my nature walk is the campus’ cemetery. I walk through the cemetery everyday to get from my dorm (Brooks) to either the Stein building or Kimball. The cemetery is a beautiful place. It is surrounded by trees, flowerbeds, and a greenhouse. It is located on a hill which provides it with multiple levels. Starting from the chapel all the way up to Lower Easy. Level one is right next to the chapel, level two is right a path in between the graves, level three is above the graves and next to the greenhouse, and level four is at the top looking down at the hill. With each level there is a different aspect of sound. This is why I thought having my walk here would be the most interesting. To capture this, I rented a microphone from the music library. With the microphone I walked through each level of the cemetery continuously, starting from the bottom to the top. While walking, I noticed that each level had a vastly different soundscape. The higher up I got on the hill the less nature I heard. When I recorded my nature walk, it was a beautiful day but unfortunately it was pretty windy. Thus, in the recording the microphone picked up a lot of wind. Yet, when listening to the recording it is still possible to hear the differences between each level.

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by Christian Pichay For my sound walk I wanted to explore the contrast of anthropophony and biophony. It is incredible how much the soundscape can change in such a small area. The area I decided to use was a little set of stairs set next to the art building. This little area is accompanied by some trees and the animals inhabit them. There are always a lot of animals passing through, but there are also usually cars driving by. I decided to record three different spots on the staircase: the bottom, the middle, and the very top of the staircase. The bottom of the staircase is closer to the street where cars pass by. After about 30 seconds of recording, I would switch spots. I noticed that the soundscape changes drastically from throughout the staircase. At the bottom of the staircase, cars are much more prevalent. However, towards the middle and at the top, the only sounds noticeable are the birds and the wind rushing through the leaves. The recording demonstrates some of the contrast that I was looking for.

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by Martyna Myslinski For the soundwalk I chose to record in Memorial Plaza. The main sound you can hear is the generators running and some music playing because there were some bands playing on the Hoval when I went to record. More towards the end you can also hear a bit of wind as well as some leaves rustling and people’s footsteps walking by. There wasn’t too many people around when I went so the sound reflects the space when it isn’t busy.

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by Xander Miller My sound walk experience is on the nature trail next to Brooks hall, my dorm. The nature trail is one of the only spots on campus that goes from the school to off campus with no barriers, which many people in the neighborhood utilize to walk their dogs and go on walks with family and friends. The sounds you can hear in the audio recording are that of the natural state of the trail, with the wind blowing the trees and the birds chirping in the background. You can also hear the sounds of people walking through the woods on the rocks and sticks and other debris in the trail. I chose the nature trail because my friends and I love to walk through it to the fields and to Walmart, and we enjoy the natural scenery.

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by Parker Lehner The Luth recreational center and its adjacent parking lot are situated in a bustling, urbanized area surrounded by the constant hum of vehicles. The center is located in the heart of a college campus, in close proximity to a major highway. Despite the presence of biophony and geophony, which refer to the natural sounds made by living organisms and geological processes respectively, the soundscape of this area is dominated by anthropophony - sounds created by human technology, such as the constant drone of traffic and the noise of people going about their daily business. The relentless presence of anthropophony can have a significant impact on the environment and the people who inhabit it. Studies have shown that exposure to high levels of anthropogenic noise can lead to a range of negative health effects, including increased stress levels, disturbed sleep patterns, and even hearing loss. The dominance of anthropophony can also have a negative impact on local wildlife, disrupting their communication and breeding patterns. Therefore, it is important to consider ways in which we can reduce the impact of anthropophony on our environment. One solution might be to implement noise reduction measures, such as the installation of sound barriers or the use of quieter technologies. Another approach could be to design green spaces that promote the growth of natural biophony and geophony, which can help to counteract the dominance of anthropophony. This audio recording was captured on April 20th, 2023 at 5:10 pm using a LAV microphone connected to an iPhone 14 and a standard audio recording app. The recording illustrates the limited biophony in the area, as anthropogenic noises have decreased the natural sounds around us. The weather conditions at the time were clear skies.

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Colin Reynolds The Father K Field is a large outdoor space used primarily for athletic events and recreational activities. The field is surrounded by a mix of natural and man-made elements, creating a unique environment for visitors and athletes alike. At the field there is a dense wooded area that provides a natural backdrop and serves as a home to a variety of wildlife. The trees in this area include a mix of trees such as oak, maple, and pine. This wooded area also includes hiking trails that visitors can explore, providing an opportunity to connect with nature and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.There are also dorms nearby the field but are not close enough to make an impact of noise. To the south of the field, there is a residential neighborhood consisting of more houses. This area is primarily residential and provides a peaceful and quiet backdrop to the field. Regarding the father k field soundscapes, the biophony may include the sounds of birds chirping, insects buzzing, and animals rustling in the nearby wooded areas. The geophony may include the sound of wind rustling through the leaves of the trees and the sound of water flowing in the nearby streams or rivers. The anthropophony may include sounds from nearby roadways or construction sites, as well as human voices and activity on the field itself, such as sports events or gatherings.