A perpetually unfolding collection of downloadable audio programs, Train Tracks is a combination of interviews with public transportation riders, histories about the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) in San Francisco, and ambient/musical elements. Sewn together to poetically convey the intricacies of sociality in the confined spaces of public transport, these city soundtracks will include intimate conversations about decorous anonymity to public sex. The audio programs, distributed on podcast and CD, will enable riders to hear stories from the people around them, along with other aural tidbits, that are connected to routes within the BART system. There will be audio programs that are specifically timed for a route from one station to another, acting as a soundtrack for that route. Programs will be available on the Train Tracks website arranged by time of day and route, as well as categorized thematically. I will also leave CDs on the trains.

Interviewees will be asked questions about their lives and the associations they have with their routes, their perceptions of social interaction on the train and their observations of the folks around them. Though I will be conducting interviews throughout the project, I will also enlist commuters to become interviewers. Having multiple interviewers will diversify the range of investigations and reactions to interviews. Some participants will interview people they know while others will interview strangers. By collaborating with participant of the project, the tone and structure of the programs will be shaped by those participating.

Train Tracks will consist of both story/interview based programs as well as experimental music and ambient soundtracks that interact with the visual and aural environment. I am working with a musician, Jason Luz, and a sound artist, Daniel Massey, to develop Train Tracks episodes that combine remixed ambient sounds of the train. The goals of these programs are not to replace the natural sound of the train but to interact with it. In addition to these tracks, there will be experimental audio programs mixing ambient sound and music to score the visual field outside the trains’ windows.

The Train Tracks website is central to the project and is where participants can find a description of the project, a link to the Train Tracks podcast, a blog for the participants and listeners, and a visualization of participants’ routes. A new audio program will be distributed once a week. I am in the early stages of this project. Currently, I am constructing the website, interviewing BART riders, and processing recorded ambient sound from the train.

For more information, you can download: Train Tracks: the Aural Traces of Commuter Space