Recording the Highline
Recording June 22 2011
The Highline is an elevated park, extending, at the time of this recording, from 13th Street to around 30th Street on the west side of Manhattan. I had chosen the Highline for recording because of the multi-dimensional sonic perspective it provides, with sound coming at you from below, from front and back, and above. My plan was to use the sounds in a composition called 'Elevated City', set to premiere as part of a World Listening Day event at New York University, July 18th.
We (my friend and I) arrived at the Gansevoort entrance to the Highline slightly after 7am on June 22nd as the gates were opening. Most of the the city still seemed to be asleep, and wonderful, yellow sunlight accompanied us as we set up our microphones. For that first recording, the sound of insects, birds, and rustling leaves was nearly louder than the city’s hum.
On the job
Looking down at Gansevoort Street
We did the next recording at the Gansevoort Woodland, just a few blocks uptown. As the name suggests, we chose this location because it has a significant amount of greenery, and apart from a few joggers and pedestrians, the soundscape was very similar to the first location.
Near the Standard Hotel
At the third location, under the Standard Hotel at West 13th Street, we started to have more traffic noise, pedestrian movement, and construction noise, all of which dominated the soundscape through our recordings at the Diller-Von Furstenberg Sundeck and at the glass deck near 10th Avenue Square, one of the most iconic parts of the Highline in that its steps lead down to a large pane of glass displaying 10th Avenue. The Chelsea Grasslands, between West 18th & West 19th Streets, were dominated by a parking garage, a factory, and busy streets with truck traffic.
Looking down from the Highline
We once again heard the sounds of birds and people at the height of West 21st Street, shielded by the buildings, in the quietest little nook that we found. But the eighth and last location, at West 30th Street and 10th Avenue, was dominated by city sounds of car lots, industrial spaces, and the West Side Highway. The most interesting sounds of this last location emanated from an audio installation by Julianne Swartz called 'Digital Empathy', playing in the elevators and at the water fountain adjacent to the elevator doors. And these sounds, made up of robotic spoken words and little bell melodies, could be heard above the city's roar.
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