Duke Gardens
I made these recordings in the Sarah P. Duke gardens the first day of Blue Devil Days (Duke’s campus preview for accepted prospective students), and as a result the gardens were quite crowded. Many parents asked me what I was doing (both during and after I finished the recordings) or looked at me with surprise. While unexpected, it reminded me that University culture promotes the unusual to be simply a part of everyday life. In total, four of my recordings are included. They represent a decent collection of the garden's human-constructed water sources. While obviously astetics play a larger role in the fountains, they also help reduce the noise of the garden visitors, which can be evidenced by the edited recordings presented below.
Small Waterfall
Time: 13:40
Date: 9 Apr 2015
Location: Duke Gardens
While this waterfall may appear natural, its actually humanmade. Near the koi pond, this waterfall was the first Duke Gardens recording of this collection.
Outside water recording: A specific note of interest in the recording is the lawnmower near the end of the recording. Moving away from the water (after the recording), the sound of the mower became more obvious even if the amplitude (and my distance from it) hadn't changed.
Inside water: The small trickle of a stream can be heard and a noise that sounds similar to a whisper or wind. There is also a rumbling noise, perhaps from the bubbling of the waterfall. The knocking, it can be noted, is a result of the incredible shallowness of the water.
Together:
In this edit, I normalized both tracks then amplified the underwater track x1.0 and amplified the above water track by x-9.0. Together, the sound of the water seems more complete with both bubbling and the running of the waterfall.
Small Fountain
Time: 13:56
Date: 9 Apr 2015
Location: Duke Gardens
This small fountain reminded me of the ones at ATC and Biddle, but was much more intricate.
Outside Water recording: Much human interference was originally present in this recording (again the lawnmower and voices), but also my own (in order to reassure a man that I was recording the water, not doing something sinister). Since I do not know the people, and their voices are clearly distinguishable, this portion of the recording was not included on the site, but was worth noting. In the actual recording here, a small trickle can be heard, but again is overpowered by the lawnmower around it. Birds can be heard chirping in the background along with a few indisinguishable voices.
Inside Water Recording: A small faint, trickle can be heard from the fountain but very little else. Again, no outside noise penetrates. The recording sounds similar to the small waterfall recording at Duke Gardens, but much less powerful and without the knocking or whispers. The recording is amplified 20.5X.
Koi Pond
Time: 13:50
Date: 9 Apr 2015
Location: Duke Gardens
The Koi Pond was one of my favorite places to record because of the reaction of the fish to the hydrophones. They thought it was bait at first, but realized it wasn't once touching it.
Outside the water recording: The lawnmower sound in this recording is the most evident effect, and overpowers the water. Additionally, the crowdedness of the park, complete with conversations and ringing cellphones completely distracted from the sound of the water at all. In fact, besides a small rushing in the background, the water is almost inaudible. In order to bring out the water sound, the recording playing is amplified 20.5 times.
Inside water: What is striking about this recording is the quietness compared to the previous outside water recording. A few blubs from fish can be heard near the begining and ocassionally throughout the middle, but no external sounds are precieved, and since the water was quite still, there is not much sound of it in the recording. This recording is normalized and amplified 1.0X.
Large Garden Fountain
Time: 14:03
Date: 9 Apr 2015
Location: Duke Gardens
The large fountain was the last Garden place I recorded. Several children and their grandparents were around the fountain and many people were passing by while I recorded.
Outside Water recording: The large garden fountain sounded incredibly similar to the small waterfall fountain at Duke Gardens, but with more human conversation and less lawnmower. The trickling heard is moderate and sounds similar to a light rainshower.
Inside Water recording: The water trickle inside the water mirrors the outside water trickle but quieter and gentler. It sounds similar to many of the other Duke Gardens water structures (with the exception of the Koi Pond). This recording is amplified 20.6X.
Edited(Large Garden Fountain and Small Waterfall Overlayed): My original thought about the similarity of the large garden fountain and small waterfall sound's similarity is proved in this edit. I adjusted both recordings to be about the same volume, and the result is that the two sound almost like a single fountain or waterfall.
Overall Thoughts:
Many of the Garden fountains and waters have similar features: Human interference is common in all of the outside recordings, but the underwater recordings lack any evidence of human contact (besides the hydrophones sometimes hitting the edge of the fountain due to the rushing water).