6/25/2022
It was sad and strangely eventful as I pack and gather my things out of the room. Being in Dorm rooms for four years, with some sounds that tend to be muffled because of my walls being covered in wall decor. There was less echo present, but when I stayed in House 2 room 15. Being reminded how the empty room always symbolized the beginning and end of my time in the room. I enjoyed working with Young Sound Seekers. I learned a lot from working with visually impaired students from how they work, the variety of abilities, etc. I would take everything that I learn and input it into my current career in the education field.
June 23, 2022
The day has been relaxing, and it’s upsetting to know that it’s the second to last day of camp. This morning, we got a chance to hear some suggestions from two members of DSV, who are visually impaired, and told their experience and information about online accessibility. There were also two park rangers from National Canaveral State Park. After the quick round table, the campers could ask the rangers their interview questions while Ranger Michelle was in room 102. I heard the most bizarre news: during the 60s, there was an escape Jaguarundi from a circus, and to this day, it lives in the State Park. I was astonished for the past two years of going to that park. That wasn’t a story that came up at all, mainly the Wild Hogs. It was interesting to hear how from the difference in sound, the ranger knew that this wasn’t a native in the area like the well-known Florida Bobcat. I love the moment of learning about these tales and how sound can help identify a different species that are out of place. It’s fascinating when I think about it.
YSS Counselor, Kelly Love
June 21, 2022 (2pm – 5 PM)
It was an exciting first-time experience venturing and recording sound at HonToon State Island Park. Started off by going on a short boat trip with a local park ranger to the state park learning that the purpose of the park is on an island that helps to minimize human interference with nature. During the 5K walk, I was able to record the surrounding sound that can be found in HonToon State Park along with finding out the benefits of control prescribe fires, and how the animals and plants benefit from them. There were a lot of Biophony, Geophony and a few anthrophony sounds recorded, with exception of the motor boats, trains, and airplanes, which weren’t constant. Due to the lack of anthrophony, I was able to pick up some bird calls from a Woodpecker and Yellowthroat. There were some other faint sounds of other birds. It was quite an interesting turnout while also gaining more experience working on a Zoom-H4N recorder to be able to teach and help out the campers when they are field-recording tomorrow. I’m excited to start editing my own recordings and input the sound of nature into my final project for Dr. Boland’s class, which is a fantasy world poetry podcast.
It’s another fun first-time experience trip, but this time to Florida Blue Springs State Park. Many great opportunities to capture sound and guide campers to many great spots to catch something new and lively. I roamed the area a little and got to see great moments in nature. My favorite find was seeing a small gator in a natural habitat, not behind a cage. It’s a sight to see, and it’s really awesome to see and hear animals in a habitat where they are free to roam and grow naturally. I love exploring the Thursby house as it is kind of fascinating that some sounds you hear in the house can show and express how vacant it is, its age, or how the objects in it can affect the sounds in a historical house versus a modern-day house. I really enjoy exploring different parks and structures and experiencing some new sounds. I was excited to find some Manatees, which didn’t happen, but experienced different sounds on the hydrophones when talking to Dr.Wolek about how it felt that the people splashing in the water sounded like they were right next to the microphones, but they were on the other side of the stream or further upstream. I start to wonder if sound travels that fast and loud then I start to think about the animals. How do they use and produce the information around them in an effective manner? If some of the sounds sound as if they are super close when in reality they’re farther?
June 21, 2022 (8:30 AM)
At 8:30 AM, The Young Sound Seeker’s campers learned to work on MacTosh computers in Davis Hall. Starting the day learning how to make it accessible to their level of accessibility, from Zoom, Voice-Over, Inverting the colors, and adjusting the size of the cursor. It wasn’t only a learning experience for them, but for me to be able to take the information and help anyone that needed help in the next part of the lesson in the Audio Lab. The campers were able to get started on the basics of working with the audio program Reaper. One of many programs made accessible for the visually impaired. They were now starting to work on the basics of audio mixing. It was an excellent review of how to do the basics on a different platform outside BandLab. It helped campers work with audio mixing basics, from adding tracks, slicing, and deleting audio. Three out of five campers in my area needed some assistance before they fully understood the process. I enjoyed experiencing the lesson, as it was a big help to broaden my understanding of audio along with clarifying some information that I learned in my current summer Introduction Digital Audio class with Dr. Boland. Now, I have a clear idea about Reaper and is interested to put some of my works on Reaper and see if it’s easier to work on BandLab or Reaper.
Putting your skills to work.