How to make a sound walk – questions after the workshop

Q&A from the Sounds from the Shoreline workshop chat

Many of these questions were answered by workshops participants – so a big THANK YOU to everyone for helping each other out.

Q: after you locate a sound in a map with echo, how do people bump into the sound? do they have to know before hand that the sound is there?
A: Listeners have to download the Echoes app and seek out the soundwalk – then depending on whether the creator has hidden the geo-located polygons (this is an option you have as a creator) determines whether you can see where the geo-located sounds are or whether you have to search for / stumble upon them.

Q: the name of the recording programme on an iPhone?
A: Voice Memo – I personally open Siri and ask it to open Voice Memo – works every time. To find it amongst the bundled apps is lass easy – look out for a big Red dot!
Voice Recorder- On Android it should be under Tools, most devices come with a built-in one. just swipe down and a search box should appear – type “voice recorder” in there.

Q: Some earphones have microphones in them. It it better to use that or go for the phone mic?
A: To be honest I haven’t tried it with blue toothed ear buds, but others tell me that the quality of the mic in the phone is always better than that on the earphone. Marcin says: The earphone mics are good for recording your own voice. If you’re about to record environment or other people speaking, I’d recommend using the phone mic.

You can get binaural mics – these site either side of your head and look very similar to headphones – they allow you to record sounds as similar to how we hear through our ear. Playback is better for those wearing headphones, listening to it without headphones tends to make it sound dull and it can be distorted. Binuaral is a great additional element to try.

Q: can I ask why you chose Echoes app (Echoes.xyz)?
A: The app is free to use – whoopee! – is virtually bomb-proof – has eager support if anything should go awry

Q: what if apps become redundant?
A: On the Walk Listen Create platform, we are trying to, at the very least list older soundwalks, and are investigating ways in which to revive some. We are working with the British Library Digital curator, Stella Wisdom, so are fairly well-informed of new developments to counter redundancy

Q: Why (in the Audacity editor) are there two lines?
A: Left and right channel (think ears) – not necessarily stereo – your smartphone records in mono, so the editor merely duplicates the track, but many sound recorders record in stereo. You can fool the listener into imagining they are listening in stereo by panning the sound between each ear / channel – fade in one channel as you fade out another.

Q: So you can go quieter and louder depending on the sounds on your walk – eg a busy road, louder.
A: Indeed – within the editor you can select passages of wave forms and make them softer or louder. This is helpful if on the ground there is extensors ambient noise, but there are other times when you might want to make passages softer – if you want characters in a fiction or drama to be whispering for example.

Q: Does Echoes only support m4a?
A: it also supports mp3 – it could support other formats too. m4a is standard with Mac / iPhone and Zoom and is compressed more than mp3 hence usually slightly smaller and consequently faster to up / download.

Q: Is there a simple way to edit out unwanted ambient sounds when making a recording?
A: – yes and no – you can take out ambient sound using some Effects on Audacity. But it is pretty limited. Pros use Logic Pro Tools to create broadcast quality – but they are not cheap and take a bit of time to master

Q: What is the geo location for 30 Days of Walking?
A: Walks submitted to 30 Days of Walking aren’t geo-located

Q: 30 Days of Walking – is it just in London?
A: No anywhere in the world

Q: Do people need the Echoes app to listen to the soundwalk?
A: You can listen to Echoes sound walks on the web – and of course, there are many sound walks that aren’t made using Echoes. WalkListenCreate.org has more than 250 sound walks – some are on Echoes, many are not geo-located.

Q: What if there’s already a sound in the area you’ve created?
A: do you mean that other people have left a digital layer thre? It is fine – as your layer is unique to you. It only becomes a problem if someone hacks you layers – I have seen that happen only once and that was by the Police

Q: how do people listen to the sound? Do they have a choice? do they have to be connected to a specific program?
A: if you record a sound walk as an mp3 and add it to SoundCloud then people can listen to it through their web browser

Q: Is this usually used in the context of an exhibition, project or event? Or are there independent users that would just go around exploring?
A: we want everyone to enjoy creating sound walks
Q: yes. I guess I am asking if there is a natural, unprompted user group
A: Echoes has a creator community as do other apps e.g. VoiceMap – we too have a community amongst the registered users of Walk Listen Create – we hope forums like this will be helpful for sound walk creatives

Q: I have a question: how reliable have you found The Echoes? How precise?
A: Sometimes it is infuriatingly precise! It is pretty good – but like everything else it is reliant on the infrastructure in the area in which you are making your geo-located soundwalk – if a satellite goes down….