Essay 1

Ashton Huntsman

Film 116, Essay 1

In The Rural Landscape, Schafer describes the difference between high fidelity (hi-fi) systems and low fidelity (lo-fi) systems. “A hi-fi system is one possessing a favorable signal-to-noise ratio. The hi-fi soundscape is one in which  discrete sounds can be heard clearly because of the low ambient noise level.” (Schafer, 43) In a hi-fi system, without other sounds to cover them up, one can hear even the slightest of noises. Conversely, a lo-fi soundscape has a high ambient noise level over which, to be heard, sounds must have a much higher volume. Sounds in a lo-fi soundscape overlap much more often and a listener loses perspective, the sounds they hear being necessarily immediate to be heard at all. Cities tend to be more lo-fi than the country, day more than night. In my own experience, I have found that some households are more hi-fi than others. The difference is immediately noticeable upon entering the building or sometimes even before entering.

Schafer writes about some of the sounds he remembers from his youth, especially the sound of the butter churn. He describes the way the the sound of the churn changed slightly over time as the cream thickened. From my own childhood I recall sounds such as the sound of someone climbing the creaky wooden stairs in the house from which I could tell who was climbing the stairs, whether they were going up or down and sometimes how they were feeling. Other sounds I remember were the crackling sounds of the wicker chair in front of our computer, the sound of the gravel under the wheels of the car in the driveway, the high-pitched but extremely quiet sound of the tube tv. All these sounds had a meaning to me, which is probably why I paid such close attention to them. I am sure Schafer had a similar sort of connection to the sounds he lists in the reading. Even if they are just feelings of nostalgia, they must once have had some other meaning to him for him to remember the sounds so clearly. Sounds carry meaning and the more a sound means to us, the more we listen for it.