SoundCloud File:
Description of my Space:
When starting this project, I had no idea what space I wanted to create. An imaginary space? Made of sound? What did that even mean. One morning, I was sitting at my desk finishing up some work and when I finished I walked to the park by my house where the bus stop is. That’s when inspiration struck. My space was going to begin at a desk setting. Theres going to be a lot going on, lots of tapping, clicking, typing, pencil scratching, stressful sighing, etc. The sounds will overlap to Gove the sense of a stressed out environment where a lot of work needs to be done. Eventually, frustration takes over, the laptop slams shut, and the pacing begins. The pacing about the wooden floor further develops the sense of space. The footsteps eventually lead to a door, it opens and shuts and the space changes from the tight, quiet, indoors, to the vast, windy, outside. The footsteps change from walking on wood to running on concrete. The journey soon reaches the nearby park where the sounds of geese can be heard in the distance. The footsteps stop, it is calm. As opposed to the stressful sighs heard in the beginning of the track, this sigh is one of relief. Then the subject walks home, opens the door, the space shifts from outside to inside, they she walks back to her desk, and gets to work. Only the sound of diligent typing is heard, all the stressful fidgeting is gone. She is relaxed and can focus.
Working Process:
My process jumpstarted once I figured out the space I wanted to convey. I immediately opened up a document and typed out the sounds I wanted to include. I broke up the lost into a beginning, middle, and end. Once I got my hands on a sound recorder, I got my headphones and began going down the list and recording all the sounds I needed. Once I got them done, the Audition work began. I listened to all my sounds, weeded out the ones that did what I wanted to use, and put them into the program. I pretty much knew the order I wanted them in, so I put them in and played around with how I wanted them to overlap. I did a section at a time, the beginning “scene” at the desk, the middle heading to, arriving at, and leaving the park, then the end, back at the desk. Once I got one section perfect, I moved onto the next. I made sure to watch the Lynda tutorials and I figured out the program to create exactly the sound I was going for.
Compositional Strategy and Objective:
For this project, I practically came up with he composition as soon as I had the idea for my space, and I carried it out throughout my project. My strategy was to use different sounds and layer them to create different emotions. I wanted the sounds to be so clear that you knew exactly what they were and that you could almost envision the scene. My strategy for that was to be very careful with how I did my recordings. I recorded my inside sounds in a very quiet space where I held the recording device very close to things like pencils, pens, and keyboards that I was using to make the sounds. I wanted my sounds outside to feel different, to be recognizable that they were outside in a vast space. I did this by, obviously recording outside, but I also didn’t put a wind guard over my microphones. I felt that having the wind in the background opened up the space and created a clear difference from the inside to the outside. My objective was to create a journey starting in a stressful environment, that moves out into a calm outdoor environment, then travels back to the original space, but the break resulted in the dissipation of the stress and becomes focused and driven. I also really wanted the listener to really be able to see the journey and understand the movements that were taking place.
Assessment of my work, did it fulfill my expectations? Did it exceed my expectations?
To be completely honest, my work exceeded my expectations. Not because I think what I created was perfect and better than anything else, but simply because I did it and it came out pretty good. This assignment sounded so daunting in the beginning. It required all this equipment and software that I never even thought I’d have to work with. It had this totally abstract concept of creating an imaginary space out of sounds. I was sure I was not going to be able to do it. Then I started working. I planned it out, I recorded it, and I edited it. The final product actually came out exactly as I wanted it to. The sounds were accurate and there was a sense of movement. I was really proud of it, and I actually impressed myself. I never thought I’d be dealing with sounds and sound editing, but I did and I accomplished it. So for the simple fact that I completed this project and did it well, I exceeded my own expectations.
