14 October 2009

Freesound.com

Freesound.com is a worldwide repository of sound effects. Users from around the world are encouraged to record the world around them and then post those sounds for others to use. I've been a participant for over two years now, and have uploaded dozens of sounds. One of the features of the website is that users can leave comments on sounds that they particularly like. For one of my sounds (a stream in upstate New York), I received this lovely comment:

"The river sounds ambient in my mind.
Yet presence like the control on a
studio mixing board, almost overwhelms
the ambient quality. It is like I
am there, great recording.

I'd much rather hear the river in a dentist's
office instead of I've lost that loving feeling."

Isn't it more like a poem than a comment? Lovely!

10 October 2009

Hey Chris & Elysia!

Cousins Chris and Elysia flew into town on Thursday at the end of their vacation/scouting trip to the Pacific Northwest. Sarah and I picked them up at the airport and brought them back to Long Beach, where we ate good food, drank some wine, and played some games.

On Friday, we spent most of the day in Griffith Park, a big desert/park just north of downtown LA. First, we went to the Griffith Observatory, which houses a museum, a planetarium, and a couple of high-powered telescopes:







From there, we hiked up Mt. Hollywood, which is the highest point in the park:





After the park, we tried to get to the Hollywood sign, but it was cleverly hidden behind lots of DO-NOT-ENTER signs. Then, we tried to eat at the tapas place we loved with Dianne was in town, but they were booked up. Instead, we found a little strip of shops to kill time until rush hour was almost over (a used book/music store, a gift shop, and a specialty food shop), drove home, mis-fired on dinner once again, and finally munched on In-N-Out burgers while watching an episode of West Wing.

This morning, we took a walk before breakfast, put Elysia on a plane, and visited a bass shop that Chris found. Now, we're catching up on work before it's time to head to a birthday party tonight!

05 October 2009

Soundwalk and Harvest Moon

On Saturday night, I went down to Soundwalk 2009 with some friends. Soundwalk is an annual event in Long Beach, CA. Every fall, on a Saturday night, four square blocks of downtown Long Beach are taken over by dozens of sound artists, each displaying a piece of sound art. Some pieces are big, some are small. Some are loud, some are quiet. Some are well-thought out, some are awkward. Some are thought-provoking, some are pretentious. Either way, it's an exciting night, full of sound, light, and plenty of new things for your ears to play with. Here are some shots from that night:











On Sunday, I went down to the beach to take photos of the Harvest Moon. When I arrived, there was still sunlight left, so I shot the pelicans that were swooping around overhead first:





The sun finally set over the harbor:



And the moon came up: