a sure sign of things to come...

Work for my final project patch is underway. This patch is going to be an interactive / sonic subway map. It's going to be an installation work using recordings and images from outside / near every station (in this case for the F train, given its diverse locales). While the sounds of the subway are interesting and provide a sort of common ground for most New Yorkers, I'm more interested in the way we view the map as a series of destinations, so I'm doing wo minute field recording outdoors (above-ground) at every stop on the line. So far the results have been pretty fascinating; I've documented an expansive Jewish cemetary that sits steps from the train, sounds of a recyling center, a desolate Coney Island in winter, the bustling chic of Park Slope and Carrol Gardens, and more. Tomorrow I'll be editing down the sounds for use in the MAX patch.

It would be great, as Jonathan mentioned, to have a live setup for this, but that's looking at, at the very least, dozens, and at most hundreds of transmitters and mics. Money I don't have right now, but it'd be great to try and look at a grant for it.

As for this project, in MAX, once the map is clicked on, it will be activated with the sound of the stop nearest where the mouse has been clicked. Once another stop is clicked on, the sound will crossfade through to the clicked-on stop. The program is going to be set up in such a way as to be able to move easily between (sonic) locations. So now it's just a case of trying to get all this to work. I'm excited to be getting started on this.