Reaction to Audio Logs

This American Life - Notes on Camp 1998

Honestly, I had a tough time analyzing this piece because I couldn't connect with it. The recording consists of interviews and sound excerpts from various camps. There is also a narrator who tells us about specific camp activities as well as his experience with the camps. A lot of it is very personal because we get to listen to children discuss their life in camp and their life outside of camp, most of which prefer the the former. I can relate to many of the emotions the kids experience while they are in a place of comfort and fun much like the camps, and the wish for it to never end. But I can't say I have ever experienced the excitement of camp nor do I wish I had. I may just be labeled as one of the people who don't quite understand camp life which is also addressed in the clip. I should mention that I did enjoy the raw quality of the sound clip and the tune of the harmonica between excerpts.

Janet Cardiff - Her Long Black Hair 2004

The first thing i want to say is how amazing the sound quality is, and how you need to listen with headphones to fully experience the surrounding adds a whole other layer to the art. It's an excellent attribute next to the sound itself containing urban and nature noises. A voice calmly but mysteriously guides the listener through Central Park and its perimeter. The narrator and sound effects provide an amazing visual reference for the listener. You become wrapped in the environment much like when reading a story. At certain points, the narrator will command you to take out a photograph associated with the work and depicting the scene in which the listener is currently stationed at. It is a nice addition despite the recording and the photograph being many years apart from the listener's current time. But that is the point, you are suppose to experience different time frames of emotions in relation to nature, other people, and your own physicality.

Janet Cardiff - Dreams: Telephone Series 2008-10

There is no audio recording for this piece. I can imagine the telephone series being either unsettling or relaxing depending on the dream and the mood in which the artist communicates with us over the phone.

Robert Ashley - She Was a Visitor 1967

When I first hear "She was a visitor" I expect another sentence afterwords describing the subject. However, that didn't happen. Instead the artist calmly repeats the sentence exactly the same over and over again until the piece comes to an end. We only receive some sort of progression through the ambient and ominous background noises which seems to describe the subject further for us without words. At times the sound effects clash with the voice as if fighting for power. But nonetheless the overall mood is eerie and suggests the subject is some type of paranormal entity.

John Cage - Excerpt from Silence 1969

The first thing I noticed when listening to this clip is the breaths the artist takes before each phrase or sentence. There is no background noise or music with the piece so you are forced to focus on the content and relation of the sentences, and the way in which the artist presents them verbally. The excerpt no doubt has to do with energy and greed associated with the United States in the 60s or 70s but the artist creates visual images and metaphors to describe it.

Orson Welles - War of the Worlds 1938

Although I have heard of War of the Worlds before, I had no idea what it was about. So the whole broadcast was confusing to me at first. The introduction by Morgan Freeman followed by Orson Welles is mysterious and horrifying in its content. The new version by Freeman contains background music that further strengthens the gravity of the situation, an impending invasion by extra-terrestrial life. Because this is a radio broadcast of the 1930s, we are presented with traditional brass and orchestral music of that time period. It's a great privilege to hear the broadcast in it's raw yet rare quality. I could imagine a wife listening to the radio at home or a man at work listening to the broadcast. You suddenly become placed in the 30s. However, it is tough to analyze this as an art piece because it was not intended as such. But nonetheless the power of radio, especially during that time, is effective. The reports and interviews regarding the martian invasion are discomforting and convincing and could possibly create chaos for listeners who did not catch the broadcast's introduction.