Soundwalk- West 16th 5:30 AM

For this assignment I chose to head to my job a little bit early to take in the interesting environment between nightlife and breakfast. I was worried that solely focusing on sound at this time would be difficult due to either sleepiness or jitteriness via over-caffeination. 40 minutes removed from my coffee at home left me at the perfect level to relax on this chilly Friday morning.

As I thought would be the case, there weren't many sound signals at this time. While walking to my job, there were two separate cars just blasting Drake songs (Hold On We’re Going Home and Worst Behavior). Without a doubt, these drivers wanted to be heard. This was in stark contrast to the rest of what was going on sonically. I took note that I didn't hear one car horn on my walk. Even the cab drivers were on the same It’s too early-leave me alone wavelength. The outliers to this mindset were definitely the drunken group leaving my job waiting for a cab. They were obnoxious for sure, but I found myself cringing only because I felt they might disturb others. I think I was appreciative of hearing an actual conversation at that time, no matter how over the top. Besides, they were just talking about how much they loved each other; I’d have to be cold to really be annoyed by that.

The most obvious ambient noise that I heard on my walk was definitely the whooshing of the cars speeding past.  I felt liberated for the cab drivers, it must feel so good to gun it compared to hours of gridlocked traffic. Another piece of ambient noise I experienced was the hum of the heater in the breakfast food cart. Obviously, all summer this noise wasn't present. To me it signified how cold it soon would be (if not already). The most ominous of ambient noises was definitely the idling/buzz/hum of the ambulance parked outside of my job. There was nobody outside of the ambulance or any sign of why it was there, which only added to the eeriness.

It was definitely interesting to stop and take in only sounds for a period. I think the time and place that I chose made it especially interesting because there is nobody else slowing down to relax or take things in as I was at that time. Everybody grabs every bit of sleep that they can before they rush to work or wherever they are going, so nobody has the extra time to spare.With that said, there was not much activity at this hour which made each sound even more salient. The sparseness also allowed me to truly consider each sound and how it applies to the environment.