Outside, the city grew louder: the rattle of buses, a dog beginning its morning complaints. She recorded it through the phone, a single take, and layered it as an ambient bed. The app’s mixer showed bands and faders like a city map. She panned the buses left and right until they became a procession traveling through the stereo field. Little flourishes — a percussive tap from a spoon, the squeal of a crosswalk signal — found their places where they could tell some micro-story of the place.