Sound Engineering Principles, Lesson 2

"Sound engineering principles" could be a reference to my civil engineering background, but here I'm actually talking about "sound engineering", that is, working with audio recordings.  In Lesson 2 here, check out an example of adding noise to a recording.

Why add extra noise to a recording?

If  you're in a noisy environment and the noise suddenly stops, you notice, usually with a sigh of relief.  If you record a person speaking in a noisy environment, which may be unavoidable, you have to find a way to make the background noise continuous when you edit that recording.  This lesson provides a sample of such a situation.  Click on the gray link below to listen.

Link to Audio Sample

Free History Lesson

The other day my friend and I were taking a day trip around the Columbia Gorge, and by chance, we stumbled across a collection of antique construction and logging equipment.  Yay!  It was sunny and I had my camera along - the perfect opportunity to 'geek out' and take all sorts of equipment photos.  I don't think any of these machines will ever grade another roadway or haul another log, but it was fascinating to find them all.

Sellwood Bridge Construction, Feb. 2012 (Slideshow)

Here are some photos from my first slideshow about the construction going on below the old Sellwood Bridge.  Click on this LINK to see the whole slideshow.  (It will open in youtube on another webpage.)  The slideshow includes photos taken in late January and early February 2012, and it explains some of what's at the site and what's being built.  If you see (or hear) any errors or omissions, please contact me at kiwestphalen@hotmail.com.  A big thank you to Mike Pullen, of the Multnomah County Communications Office, for answering all of my questions on a recent site tour.

View from the Bridge

General contractors Slayden and Sundt have been on-site and construction has been underway for a couple of months now at the Sellwood Bridge. Here's a photo from this morning, Thursday Jan. 26th, taken from the bridge looking down at the barge which sits near the west side of the Willamette River.  The huge crane on the barge was being used to shift a pile of the wooden structures that are used to create walkways among the tall brown pipes standing in the water.  In this photo, a worker guides one of the walkway pieces as the crane lowers it onto a pile of several more pieces.

Sellwood Bridge Before Re-Construction (Slideshow)

These are several photos from my slideshow on the history of the Sellwood Bridge.  Click on this LINK to see the whole slideshow, photographed just before the construction crews arrived in December 2011.  (It will open in youtube on another webpage.)  The slideshow includes narration by Sharon Wood Wortman, Portland's Bridge Lady and author of The Portland Bridge Book.  (Click here for Sharon's website.)

Sound Engineering Principles, Lesson 1

"Sound engineering principles" could be a reference to my civil engineering background, but here I'm actually talking about "sound engineering", that is, working with audio recordings.  In Lesson 1 here, check out an example of audio editing, and what a difference it makes in a recording of an interview.

What is Audio Editing?

Let's face it, a lot of people say a lot of stuff that you're not interested in.  Let me re-phrase that.  If you're taking the time to listen to a recording of someone speaking, you want to hear the most natural-sounding, yet clear and concise version possible, of what they have to say.  So if someone naturally tends to say "um" and "ah" frequently, how do you get a recording of that person's voice to sound clear and concise?  Audio editing, of course.  Load a digital recording into an audio editing program and cut out the parts that you don't want to hear.

Click on the (very light gray) link below to listen to a short example from a life history interview that I recorded.  Prior to editing, you'll hear how the speaker often says "um".  When I edited the recording, I removed a lot of that.  Notice how that makes the segment much easier to listen to.

Link to Audio Editing Example

Out In the Cold

The day I took this photo, it was about 10 degrees outside, in January of 2007, in Westwood, MA.  I had just started a monthly contract with S.P.S. New England, Inc. taking construction documentation photos for a highway interchange project.  I hardly noticed the cold weather that day because I was out doing something I enjoy - taking pictures of machines, dirt, concrete structures, bright orange barrels, etc.  And I actually enjoyed the challenge of trying to find the required number of photos on-site, considering there wasn't a lot to see right at the beginning of the project.