Date: Monday, September 23, 2013 @ 9:00am

Location: Meena Cleaners- (Dry Cleaners) @ Britannia and Creditview, Mississauga 

      As I sit at the tall front counter of a busy dry cleaner at the heart of Mississauga’s city center, I am surrounded by an array of different technological sounds. From where I’m sitting, I experience two separate sound zones. The first being from the sounds created in the front of the store. They are crisp but quiet and are mostly generated from customer transactions and the outdoor traffic. The second being the combinations of repetitive sounds behind me, coming from an assortment of repetitive actions from the physical labor of cleaning the clothes and the machines associated.  They are much deeper, and louder than the sounds in the front.

      Sitting on a tall stool, I first notice the different volumes of the traffic outdoors, depending on their distance from the store. The cars on the main road have a faded zooming sound, while the cars in the plaza are moving a lot slower. The sounds of engines idling are profoundly louder, almost continuous, due to their slow movement.

      As the first customer opens the door, the sound signal of an automated loud, high-pitched bell alerts the workers. Followed by a brief verbal greeting, the customer plomps their dirty clothes onto the marble counter. The repetitive clicks of the keyboard and mouse type the customer’s phone number to locate their file, followed by the quiet but crisp sound of the printing machine printing and cutting the clothes’ tags and receipt with the customer’s reference number printed on it to distinguish what is theirs. With the quick, crinkling tear of the receipt, it is handed over to the customer, where it crinkles even louder as it hits his palm. The clerk asks, “Would that be cash or credit?” in a friendly, soft and inviting tone. The customer replies with “Cash” in a deep but equally friendly voice and hands over a crisp, new plastic bill. A few soft clicks on the keyboard triggered the delicate musical ring of the cash register to open. The clerk fondles with the change in the plastic tray, making a loud jingling sound and passes over the change. The same jingling sound is repeated again when the change is passed to the customers’ hand, and once more, the high pitched jingling of the change fades to a less prominent sound as it hits the bottom of the customers’ front pocket.

      The clerk and the customer exchange “Thank you’s” and the same loud, sharp bell ring is made as the customer exits the store through the front door. The clerk then begins to attach the small tickets to the clothes using a stapler. The stapler’s double clicks are very high pitched and loud. This repetitive motion is repeated for each item of clothing, followed by a swift “swoosh” made by the clothes being dropped in a large nylon laundry bag.

      The next customer who came in was picking up their freshly laundered clothing. With one quick switch, the loud, continuous buzzing of the conveyor belt filled the store. Just as suddenly as it started, the belt came to a halt with the switch being pushed in the opposite direction and the big store suddenly seemed very quiet despite the very loud sounds being made at the back.

      The sounds that are created from the above series of events are repeated with every customer that comes in.

      The second zone at the dry cleaners is where all the cleaning takes place. It is a very long room, filled with complex machines, making a variety of sounds. The most prominent sound I hear is the loud, high-pitched release of steam from the press machines. It is a repetitive sound made when the worker releases the squeaky, medal foot pedal. It is used to eliminate of all the wrinkles in the clothes. I would select this sound as the soundmark of this environment. All of the other sounds could be found in many other places but the sound of the release of steam made from the press machines is unique to dry cleaners alone.

      Three very loud, deep sounding fans are blowing continuous air on each of the press machines to reduce the amount of heat being released.  Also, found at the back of the store are two of the largest washing machines I have ever seen. They make a continuous deep wish-washing sound throughout the length of their cycles. I would say that the sound they make is the keynote of the dry cleaners because it associates freshly laundered clothing with the washing machine itself.