Make Way For Weirdos: Getting That Much-Desired Elbow Room on the Metro
I may have found out how not to feel like a squished fish in a tin can during morning and afternoon commutes. Recently I was recording sounds of the Metro with a small handheld digital recorder and noticed that everyone gave me quite a bit of room, although not without slightly freaked-out gazes.
Look – it’s small and I can hide it in my hand. Does it really look that dangerous?
The next time I wanted to record in the train I brought the same little recorder and attached a neck strap so it would look like any other MP3 player someone had dangling around their neck. Still people were freaked out a little. Maybe next time I will actually plug in headphones as well and fool people into thinking the little device really is what it looks like.
I think the more important question is, why do you want to record the sounds of the Metro?
What’s it matter why I want to? Would that freak people out less? It was for a podcast I was putting together and technically still am, since I never finished it.
The Metro has some great sounds!
I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but I think that someone recording the crowd around them would be on par with the guy having an animated one-sided argument with himself. On the other hand, that things looks small enough that I wouldn’t even notice it, but if I did you’d get a dirty look, I reckon.
Carl,
Maybe its you, not the recorder.
I could imagine the more paranoid among us thinking that was a radon sampling device or something. Reassure them by saying you’re sampling for over-use of cologne and perfume and they shouldn’t need to worry about themselves….. or SHOULD they?