I was working on constructing a song the other day and I began to imagine and remember riding the underground subway systems (I was thinking of New York, Washington DC, Boston).
As I built the song out of loops, I wanted to purposely create a sonic landscape of the experience of the subway transportation systems in my memory and imagination.
I tried to capture:
- The rhythm of the train lines themselves
- The walk down the escalator into the underground
- The sounds of buskers, playing music
- The mingling of the voices
- The act of keeping on eye on other people
- The echoing and pounding footsteps of the crowd on the move
- The slow fade of the subway as you depart and leave the station behind you
This approach — capturing a sense of place through a piece of music — is intriguing because I found myself really approaching each sound, each loop, each beat, with a highly focused ear. Did it help me capture the essence of riding the rails? If not, I didn’t use it.
You can be the judge of whether my attempt was successful or not …
Peace (going underground),
Kevin