Process
We have a lot of sounds to capture! For this lab activity, then, we will be working in groups of three. Together, you will be a Recording Team, and each team will be responsible for the 15 required noises outlined in the task.
How the Recording Teams operate is up to you, but there are some roles to consider:
Recorder: this person on the team is responsible for the actual recording process. In other words, this person will push the big, red button to start and stop the sound capture.
Noise Maker: while some noise might be naturally occurring, you might find that some sounds need to be disturbed — be it closing a locker door or clapping in a stairwell. This person will make the sounds.
Cataloger: This person is responsible for collecting all the sounds and, on a computer, labeling them appropriately. This person will keep track of which sounds have already been recorded, and what sounds are still needed.
There’s been a lot of talk about recording sounds… how exactly are we going to accomplish that? Well, we walk around with high quality microphones in our pockets everyday — our phones! To record a sound, simply use one of the voice/memo recording apps that come standard on your phone (no videos, please). This may not always be possible, but when you can, please isolate your recordings (meaning, try to record in quiet settings!).
More than anything else, don’t be afraid to be creative! Unique, interesting, and unusual sounds are especially welcome!
When all of the sounds are recorded, send the sound files to yourself through email or the cloud. Once they are on a computer, label each of the sounds, and create a corresponding spreadsheet that identifies each sound within each attribute subgroup.
Finally, you will complete the following post-lab questions. While you may consult the members of your Recording Team in order to answer these questions, your answer submission must be in your own words.
Which types of sounds were the easiest to find in our school? Which were the hardest? Why do you think this was the case?
Did you notice any trends in the sound characteristics you recorded? For example, did low frequency sounds usually have a long duration? Did high frequency sounds usually have a close spatial position? Why, or why not, do you think this might be the case?
School can be a noisy environment. Some rooms produce a lot of echoes, while others produce hardly any. Which locations had a lot of reverberations/which didn’t? What were the characteristics of these rooms that may have contributed to this quality?
A characteristic of all sounds is their wave speed — or the velocity of the sound wave. This is based on the frequency of the sound and its corresponding wavelength — the distance of the sound wave. Using a tuning app, find the frequency of 3 of your sounds and calculate their wave speed using the formula [wave speed = wavelength x frequency] and assuming that all sounds have a velocity of 346 m/s.
What are some improvements we can make to this lab activity?
Continue to to the Rubric.