When I first listened to the sounds, I thought that the more abstract and simple sounds of just footsteps or the elevator’s suction noise less descriptive than that of the coffee cart outside building 8. However, when I thought about it some more, my way of thinking was reversed.

The majority of the sounds we captured had a ‘documentary’ feel to them as I found that rather than evoking a sense of space, they merely caught the sound of an action. For instance when we recorded the sound of the baristas making coffee outside – we could hear the sound of the coffee machine working away, the taps and clinks of the machinery, as well as the background music and some chatter. Even though there were quite a few layers of sound present, since the focal sound was the coffee machine it felt more documentary of an action rather than descriptive of a place. On the other hand, when the focal sound was shorter or even not apparent, I felt the sound evoked space in a more interesting way. Outside The Hub, there was a sound of an announcement for the ticket number which indicated the area, but then afterwards there was light chatter, footsteps, shuffling, and the sounds of these could be heard echoing and bouncing off surfaces.

It’s like comparing an extreme close up to a long shot. In the extreme close up, the focus in on that one subject. Although the background may still be visible or you can guess what kind of environment it is situated in by the lighting, sound effects, or composition of the frame, your attention will be focussed on the subject in frame. In contrast, when you have a long shot your attention will be dispersed over the frame, and you’re able to see the context. I guess place is evoked in both situations, just differently.

Actually, I changed my mind. I think the sounds were all descriptive but just in different ways. Now that I think about it, it’s probably not probable for a sound to be undescriptive. It’s like asking for a word that is not communicative; inevitably a word will communicate something. Even a single letter, a single stroke.