1 MODELING VIRTUAL SOUNDSCAPES: RECREATING THE 1950S WEST OAKLAND 7 TH STREET WITHIN A MULTI-USER VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT Gokce Kinayoglu University of California, Berkeley, Department of Architecture, Berkeley, CA 94720-1820, USA - gokce@berkeley.edu KEY WORDS: Soundscape, Game Audio, Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE), Cultural Heritage Reconstruction, West Oakland ABSTRACT: This paper presents and discusses the technical, theoretical, creative challenges of virtually recreating and presenting the soundscape of a cultural heritage environment that no longer exists. The case study that is described is the virtual reconstruction of West Oakland California’s 7th Street during the 1950’s, at the time when it was a vivid cultural node famous with the music scene of its bars and clubs as well as its busy shops, hotels, restaurants and streetcars. We designed a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) with the aim of recreating the entire street, complete with its buildings, sounds and music, in a computer game format that unfolds as a hyper- textual story. It is assumed that a multi-modal representation of the environment as exemplified by our model will exponentially enhance the feeling of immersion, contribute to the sense of historic authenticity and ultimately increase the cultural and educational value of the project. The paper introduces the theoretical background of soundscape research, which is based on an extensive scholarship exemplified by the works of Schafer, Truax, Blesser and others. It explicates the methodology that has been followed, comprising specific algorithms and techniques built on top of an OpenAL-based 3D game audio framework. The process of generating the lifelike three-dimensional, interactive soundscape of the street is presented in detail, followed by a discussion of the applicability of the approach for other projects in the area of virtual cultural heritage representation. 1. INTRODUCTION Existing attempts of virtual reconstruction of cultural heritage sites focus predominantly and exclusively on the visual, three- dimensional modeling of their physical environments. However, real places are often identified and remembered with their sounds (not to mention smells, tastes and other sensations) as well as their images. A reverberant Venetian square feels very different from a noisy street market in Istanbul. Hearing the call for prayer in Cairo, or the chimes of Big Ben in London, are indispensable bits that contribute greatly to the characteristic experience of these cities. Sound is an integral component that can change the perceptual character of any environment. Even subtle daily variations in the soundscape may drastically alter the experience of the same physical space. Being the most spatial of all the senses, sound also bears the power of increasing the feeling of immersion within a space, be it real or virtual. Examples of previous research have demonstrated that the use of three-dimensional, localized sound in virtual simulations results in measurable increase in the sense of presence that is generated. (Bormann, 2005; Hendrix 1996) Even though research on the effects of immersive audio have mostly been carried out with specialized hardware, technological requirements for generating real-time 3D positional audio are now widely accessible to regular consumers. All popular gaming consoles ship with standard surround sound capabilities, and a great percentage of desktop PCs support feature sound hardware with equivalent specifications for surround sound support. This presents a great opportunity for cultural heritage reconstruction, as well as other cultural and educational uses of virtual environments. Yet is also a challenge: How would one reconstruct, and represent the sounds of a historic environment? Where exactly does one begin? This paper introduces the theoretical background of soundscape research and discusses the methodology applied in recreating the soundscape of a cultural heritage site, a street in West Oakland, California. This street used to be particularly famous for its music and entertainment venues that contributed to its lively ambiance. 2. RECONSTRUCTING 7 th STREET During the 1940s and 1950s, 7th Street in West Oakland was a bustling commercial district, anchored by dozens of jazz and blues clubs. The street was known as a West Coast rival of the Harlem music scene. It hosted a large population of African Americans from the South who used to work in the naval shipyards during the war, and stationed at the military bases along the Bay. The jazz and blues sounds from the musical establishments filled the 7th Street. Most of the legendary blues and jazz singers and musicians, as well as soul and rhythm and blues artists, performed at the clubs, including Jimmie McCracklin, Sugar Pie DeSanto and Ivory Joe Hunter. In fact, many famous musicians launched their careers by performing at 7th Street clubs. They defined a distinct Oakland blues sound and signed their first records with local music promoters like Bob Geddins and his Big Town recording studio and production company. There were also numerous other business establishments within the eight-block stretch of 7th Street, all of which made the street one of Oakland’s major commercial and social centers at the time. The street was home to colorful characters such as “The Reverend” who, along with his wife, preached from street