Soundmark – The Sounds of Shoeless Joes

By Manisha Ahmed

Shoeless Joes – bar section

283 Kingston E  Ajax, ON L1Z 1W5 

September 23, 2013

2:30pm – 3pm

Sounds heard over a period of half an hour:

1. The sound most prevalent throughout my time period at Shoeless Joes, was the murmur of people talking. It was a continuous sound that lasted the whole time I was there. It was a lower pitch with a medium volume and although this sound acted as background noise, occasionally certain words and sentences stood out. There were also random moments where I heard the cackling of people laughing which was a high pitch, high volume sound. It was repetitive and each time lasted about 3-5 seconds, eventually fading back into the murmur. Both these sounds are manmade.

2. The blaring of music from the speakers caught my attention right away. It was a technological sound of higher volume and it was clear enough to be able to recognize the music and lyrics even in a room full of chattering people. It was unique to its location because in coffee shops or grocery stores the music is so low that you often forget it’s even there and tune it out, but here it was loud and relevant to its bar setting.

3.  The clinking of glasses was a repetitive sound heard often throughout my entire time there. It would last about 2 seconds each time as the bartender was cleaning up the area or placing the glasses into the steamer. The sound is high pitch and medium volume. It is a technological sound, but at the same time unique to its location. The sound is clear enough to be able to tell that two glasses are hitting one another as opposed to a glass coming in contact with something else.

4. At times when people would get up to go outside for a smoke, to the bathroom, or just leave the bar, I would hear the scratching sound of the bar stool against the floor. This was a repetitive sound that was at medium volume and low pitch. It is also a technological sound. The duration of the sound varied depending on how far the chair was being moved but generally was short-lived.

5. As the bartender served her customers drinks, there was a constant repetitive sound of the clattering of ice which was being scooped into the cup from a pile. This technological sound was of low volume and low pitch. It was very short each time, and in a way was able to show how quick the bartender was at her job.

6. Immediately after scooping up ice, the bartender would pour the drink and serve it to the customer. The tapping of the glass hitting the bar table was a low volume low pitch and was a technological sound. There were times, however, that the bartender would push the glass closer to the customer which would make a low pitch trumpeting sound. This sound would also occur often every time the customers would place their glass down after drinking.

7. If the customer ordered a bottled beer instead of a pint (in a glass), a repetitive sound that was unique as well was the snapping sound of opening a beer cap with a bottle opener as well as the gasping release of air from the bottle once opened. Both these sounds are technological. The snapping sound is of medium volume, lower pitch and the gasping sound is low volume low pitch. Both these work within a millisecond of each other and last for about a second each time.

8. A sound that had a much longer duration and was also repetitive was the whooshing sound of water from the steamer. Every now and then the bartender would scoop up a dirty glass from around the bar table and place it in the steamer. It would start to make a high pitched, low volume whooshing sound that would last for about 5-10 seconds each time and then would eventually fade. This is a technological sound.

9. The rattling sound of the change in the cash drawer would occur every time the drawer would open or close. This occurred frequently and repetitively in different moments, whether the customer ordered a single drink and paid the bartender right away, or the customer wanted to pay their whole bill just before leaving the bar. The sound of the change was most often high pitched and medium volume and was a technological sound.

10. Once customers decide to pay the bartender provides them with their receipt which creates a crinkling sound in the hands of the bartender as well as once it has been transferred to the customer. The sound is technological at a low volume and pitch. It is repetitive and occurred every time someone had to pay their bill. The same sound occurred once the customers paid and received their mint. It was almost hard to distinguish between the crinkling of the receipt paper and the crinkling of the mint wrapper. The only slight difference was the timber of the two and the receipt paper was a little bit more flimsy.

11. Once bills have been paid and people are getting ready to leave, the jingling of keys was prevalent in the bar as well. It was a high volume, high pitch technological sound. The keys were not only smacking into each other, but also hitting the counter. It was a repetitive sound that would fade in its duration as the customer would walk out of the bar. The quality of the sound would differ based on how many keys one had on their key ring but for the most part it was always loud and distinct.

I chose to do my soundscape assignment in the bar section of Shoeless Joes because as a regular customer there, I wanted to approach it differently and open up my ears to sounds I’ve never recognized before. In the period of a half an hour, from 2:30 – 3pm on September 23/13, I was able to hear sounds that probably occur continuously and repetitively throughout the day.

Immediately entering the bar, the first thing that caught my attention was the murmuring of people talking. I would consider this to be the keynote of this bar because it is a continuous sound that stays constantly at a lower volume and lower pitch making it easy to often tune it out and pay no attention to it. It ties into Schafer’s idea of “ear cleaning”. The fact that this sound is always occurring, it’s rare that one will consciously acknowledge it or pay attention to it.

Something that surprised me was how loud the music was inside the bar. Unlike other places like family restaurants, or coffee shops, the music is loud and clear enough as if though you had turned it on sitting in your own car. It was clear enough for me to recognize the songs. In most other places I’ve been, I struggled to try and hear what song was playing and often could only hear it when directly under a speaker. The blaring sound of their music is perfect and unique to a bar setting where people are going there to enjoy themselves and have a good time as opposed to just getting a cup of coffee.

Every one of the sounds I heard at Shoeless Joes is meaningful to their location. They provide an understanding of where you are and a story of what is happening without even having to look. I was able to tell the speed of the bartender based on how quickly the ice was being scooped and the glasses were being placed in front of the customers.

The most meaningful sound that describes Shoeless Joes and any bar in general, would be the sound of beer glass or bottles clinking, sliding, and tapping. Any of the sounds listed above that included a glass or bottle making a sound would be the sound mark of Shoeless Joes from my experience. It is the main sound that defines the location and it is also repetitive. It sets itself apart from other places of gathering because it amplifies the main objective of a bar: to drink.

In completing this assignment, I have come to the conclusion that majority of the sounds made in that bar were technological, with the exception of people talking/laughing. It is more obvious to me now that there is so many different sounds occurring around us all the time and just because we don’t acknowledge it does not mean we are not hearing it. Schafer says “while we have eyelids, we do not have ear lids” so even though you can close your eyes and choose not to see something, you cannot close your ears.