Synesthetech

Recording birds in a Lincoln Square apartment window, April 18, 2009 (photo by Alessandra Gillen)

Later this month, Alex and I will be moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I’ll be entering the MFA program in Art & Design at the University of Michigan this fall. Although I’m really excited about what lies ahead there, it means not only leaving a lot of great friends, but also leaving a sonically-rich world-class city for a much smaller college town.

With that in mind, I’ve been trying to document even more of the sounds around me as I make my final rounds throughout Chicago. I’ll be posting them here in batches over the next few weeks. I’ll also be doing a going-away performance on WLUW’s Something Else program on Sunday, May 17, and I’m planning on one of my sets being a mix of untreated field recordings of Chicago which will use many of the recordings here among others I’ve made over the years.

1. Automated voices in Union Station (3:31, 7.1MB mp3)

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   One of my favorite sound spots in all of Chicago. I could listen to the Amtrak track identifiers all day.

2. Event setup, The Great Hall, Union Station (2:20, 4.6MB mp3)

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   While I was waiting to pick up some friends, I recorded an event that was being set up in Union Station’s Great Hall, a wonderfully reverb-heavy space.

3. John Hancock Tower open-air observatory (1:05, 2.4MB mp3)

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   A great place to stand and listen, but difficult to make a recording without the sound of other people on the observation deck!

4. Birds in Lincoln Square apartment window (1:09, 2.7MB mp3)

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   Heading to the Metra on the morning of Alex’s birthday, we stumbled across this ground-floor apartment window with a birdcage and a very talkative bird. I didn’t realize at the time that there are also lots of other birds inside the apartment, which you can hear in this recording.

5. Morning weekday traffic, 143 E. Chicago Ave. (10:47, 22.2MB mp3)

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   Downtown rush-hour on a fairly quiet stretch of Chicago Avenue, a block away from the Museum of Contemporary Art.

6. Michigan Avenue construction (5:11, 10.8MB mp3)

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   Standing in front of the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue, I recorded the work being done at the recently-demolished building across the street. Lots of great traffic sounds, too.

7. Afternoon traffic on Lake Shore Drive (9:28, 18.9MB mp3)

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   Nice stretch of droning traffic sound, recorded while sitting at a bus shelter right on Lake Shore Drive (while not actually waiting for a bus). Nice mix of foot and vehicle traffic.

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