2007:Soundwork

Am I Walking

Jouni Tauriainen

2005/3:57 MIN./CD AUDIO

My sonorous work is called Am I walking. The idea is simple. I took an md-player and a stereo microphone with me to have a walk. For about 45 minutes, I wandered around the city of Tampere and recorded everything. Afterwards, I listened to my trip and was amazed how many unidentifiable and obscure sounds there were. Removing a sound or an ambience from its context is revealing: even sounds that are perceived as routine or even banal have a surprising and an interesting side.

When I listened to the recording, I noticed lots of interesting sounds, almost like drum beats and instruments playing, so I decided to make music with those sounds (cars, people, sliding doors etc.). The main idea was to create scenarios where everyday sounds begin to turn into music. Street beats. I came up with three beats and put them together. So every sound that you hear on Am I walking are from that 45 minute walkabout, from the moment I shut my door to the moment I came back.

I used a minidisc recorder and a stereo microphone to record the whole thing. After that I used Boss br-1180 ten track hard disc recorder and a Boss sp 505 sampler to bring the whole thing together. I tried to keep the sounds quite original and avoided unnecessary effects and processing.

Am I walking is a very interesting description of everyday sounds when they start taking over your brains!