For posterity

I got out the digital recorder for an language assessment I have to administer in a few days. Since I'm always, apparently, looking for an excuse to not study, I started to listen to what's still on there.

I took the recorder along with us to Italy a couple years ago. At the time, I was really interested in capturing environmental sounds and music, and I got lots of those...mostly dramatic old church bells and street musicians. I also tried to record surf and rain, which didn't work so well. It mostly sounds like noise.

One of the best recordings is of an accordian player in a long tunnel in Manorola in the Cinque Terre. I started recording at the opening of the tunnel, and you can hear the music get clearer as we walk closer to the musician situated in the middle of the tunnel, and then fade and echo again as we get to the end of the tunnel. Another recording is of an accordian duo in a restaurant, with a large table of Germans sitting behind us shouting and singing along.

What I didn't expect was how much I'd appreciate listening to my own descriptions of where we were and what we were up to at the moment. I kept these descriptions to a minimum as I don't like the sound of my recorded voice. Listening to them now, I wish I would've recorded and described a lot more. The sounds combined with the narration really brings me back to the sights and smells and feelings of the trip. It reminds me that I'd like to do a lot more audiophiling. Note to self.