In November 2022 a group of researchers from the University of Waterloo undertook a soundwalk in connection with their study of “atmosphere” in gothic literature and media. In addition to the general goal of introducing the theory and practice of soundwalking, their specific goal was to explore the underground network of tunnels that connect many of the campus’s buildings. An artifact of the campus’s heating systems, and once a forbidden zone and the subject of urban myths and clandestine adventures, in more recent decades they have become a more mundane part of the campus, an insider’s tip for how to avoid walking outside during cold winters.
The walk began in a classroom, proceeded out an exterior door past construction and honking geese; and then entered the nearest building that had an access stairway to the tunnel system. After descending and passing through the tunnel, the group returned to ground level through a nearby building. From there they split up and took separate paths back, one of which passed by one more site of machine noise—tree removal along Laurel Creek, on the west side of the campus.
The first track presents a reimagined version of the whole walk, processing the recording in ways that linger over some of its gothic resonances: the way that “uncanny sounds from the outside followed us into the interior spaces;” and the way mechanical sounds overpower natural sounds.
The next few tracks focus on particular phases of the walk. Tracks 2 and 3 form a pair that studies the relation between sound and noise. This pairing presents the tunnel audio, and especially the echoes of footsteps, in two ways: first with a focus on echo and doubling (with the whole piece heard simultaneously forward and in reverse); and then, in Track 3, submerged in additional layers of noise.
Track 4 stops to linger over one particular tunnel sound—the rumble of a heating vent—and juxtaposes it with other moments of audible airflow, such as the depressurization that comes with the opening of a door. In the COVID-19 era, thinking about the air on campus has taken on a newly uncanny dimension.
Track 4 scores a scene of tree removal, with a musical composition for synth and wood chipper. The final track presents the original, untreated recording from one of the soundwalk’s pathways.
Further Reading:
Hildegard Westerkamp, “Soundwalking,” 1971 (revised 2001), www.hildegardwesterkamp.ca/writings/writingsby/?post_id=13&title=soundwalking
David Paquette and Andra McCartney, “Soundwalking and the Bodily Exploration of Places,” Canadian Journal of Communication 37.1 (2012), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314715292_Soundwalking_and_the_Bodily_Exploration_of_Places
The next few tracks focus on particular phases of the walk. Tracks 2 and 3 form a pair that studies the relation between sound and noise. This pairing presents the tunnel audio, and especially the echoes of footsteps, in two ways: first with a focus on echo and doubling (with the whole piece heard simultaneously forward and in reverse); and then, in Track 3, submerged in additional layers of noise. Track 4 stops to linger over one particular tunnel sound—the rumble of a heating vent—and juxtaposes it with other moments of audible airflow, such as the depressurization that comes with the opening of a door. In the COVID-19 era, thinking about the air on campus has taken on a newly uncanny dimension. Track 4 scores a scene of tree removal, with a musical composition for synth and wood chipper. The final track presents the original, untreated recording from one of the soundwalk’s pathways.
Further Reading:
Hildegard Westerkamp, “Soundwalking,” 1971 (revised 2001), www.hildegardwesterkamp.ca/writings/writingsby/?post_id=13&title=soundwalking
David Paquette and Andra McCartney, “Soundwalking and the Bodily Exploration of Places,” Canadian Journal of Communication 37.1 (2012), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314715292_Soundwalking_and_the_Bodily_Exploration_of_Places
Matt Lawes, “Matt’s Excellent Underground Adventure,” Imprint, February 12, 2015. uwimprint.ca/article/matts-excellent-underground-adventure/
Jennifer Harris, “Waterloo Tunnel Tour (Or, how to get coffee without going outside),” Words in Place, englishatwaterloo.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/waterloo-tunnel-tour-or-how-to-get-coffee-without-going-outside/
Image credit: adapted from a photograph of the University of Waterloo underground tunnel, by Victor Vucicevich, licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
The Gothic Listening Project 