Crossing the Road of Mundane and Beautiful

by Steven Rowe and Marshal Davis

When we got together to talk about the process assignment we both wanted to represent a simple and overlooked process that all humans have in common. We hoped by highlighting the seemingly mundane; that our sound would transcend from its overlooked state to something that has so many levels and depth and beauty.

            Our initial choice was to record the sound of brushing teeth. It was exciting as we recorded; when amplified you could hear the unanimous movement of the each and every fiber, working towards your dental cleanliness. Then on September 26^th, at 12:53 pm our worlds were rocked when we discovered that ‘getting ready for the day’ processes were not a valid option. So we had to scrap the recording and start at the beginning.

            We talked about a few options, but few really hit the ticket on the ‘seemingly mundane’ yet beautiful vibe we were going for. The day of the assignment grew closer. Discouraged, we began the long walk to Wymount, where we had previously stored the recording equipment. As we trudged along the sidewalk we glanced forward and saw a light… literally, we saw a stoplight up ahead and it hit us. We could record the sound of crossing the street. It was seemingly mundane, it is something that we all have in common, and it is definitely an ignored process.

            As we set out to record the process we ran into a few obstacles, the wind was blowing so hard that the microphone was overpowered. After playing with the gain and putting a ‘dead cat’ on the microphone we managed to capture some crisp sounds of traffic passing through, the sound of pressing the crossing button, the beep that announced our turn to cross. We had to record the footsteps at a more remote location, because the faint sound of Stevens footsteps were overpowered sounds of traffic and screaming passersby.

            This project became significant for me as we started to edit the sound and listened to the play back various times. I remembered the simple joys of childhood, racing my siblings down the sidewalk, each of us with the hope of being the one to hold the honor of pushing the button that magically illuminated the mysterious walking man on the opposite side of the street.

            I learned two things during this process, the first being that when you are in a creative stump, whether it is writing, playing music, filming or recording sound just move forward and the idea will likely come to you. Second, sound has can be very powerful, perhaps more than image. It allows us to paint the image ourselves, based off of the reflections of our own being.