20 Years of (Taking) Soundwalks

I like to leave the house with my recording equipment and not a single idea as to where I will be going. I let my ears decide where they will take me. I have been doing this for a good 20 years straight.

I have amassed a gigantic database of sounds from this and neighboring regions. I like to think of it as an important part of my personal archives, a sort of Soundmap-in-the-Making.

I am perpetually reinventing myself in this regard. Recently I added GPS coordinates to the mix, and now I have added the power of the Stopwatch. The stopwatch gives me direct feedback on how long things are taking. I can even use it to calculate the general speed of trains. I can use it to tell the distance birds or other sonic phenomena are from me. It is equivalent to the ruler and compass to a geometer.

What will psychogeography, dérive, and soundwalking, soundmapping bring me next? I can never know in advance, and that's the whole beauty of it. Besides, my soundwalking practise is slowly developing into a full-blown Soundscape Ecology, since after 20 years one gets to know Soundscapes really well.

I hope to contribute something to active noise control in the world. I think that I know how to improve our soundscapes to make them more "ecologically friendly". One needs to do a lot of modelling, and that's what I've done over these last few decades. I have sought to understand the greater ecological soundscape in this region, have made my own makeshift noise maps. I am ready to go live with part of my research. Please stay tuned.


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