Memory Soundscape
Concept
At first, I want to use the sound I have recorded to create a scene of a weekend morning. But I found it is hard for me to use simple sounds to express happiness. So I decided to describe my dream. In the dream, I heard that someone’s footsteps, knocking at the door, opening the door, and coming closer and closer. I use the sound of knocking at the table to show the footsteps. In order to show the feeling of the dream, I try to it sound like it’s coming from a distance and make it even more ethereal. Then, I can just hear my heartbeat and faint noise. I use the combination of the slapping of a pillow, the slapping of a biscuit tin, and the tapping of glass to slow my heartbeat. My heartbeat went from small to loud to show my inner anxiety. The faint noise is from my hairdryer. And then I was awakened by the sound of opening the door and I am sure I am awake but I still lied on the bed. I hear the noise of dust cleaner and my mum come to pull back my covers and at last, she walked out of the room and closed the door. I chose to turn the scene from dream to reality with a clear door-opening sound. I chose not to use special effects to make them sound more realistic.
Process
I did all my recording work in my dorm room because I didn’t envision outdoor content. I chose to record the sound of opening and closing doors, the sound of banging on different things, the sound of rubbing different things, some human voices without meaning, and water sounds of varying lengths. I think these sounds are very common in daily life and they will be fit for my project.
When I first started recording, I found that I couldn’t hear the recorder with my headphones. I thought it was because the equipment was broken. But later, I found that I made a mistake with the earphone jack. When the grey plug of the double jack earphone plugs into the sound recorder, it works. I use the shotgun condenser so that I can focus on the sound in my surroundings.
When I was editing the project. I found it is really hard for me to create something with sounds without meaning. I also found it hard to switch scenes with sound. So I decided to create the real scene at first and then change to my dream and half-awake state. I chose to use a strong tapping sound for the transition. After the recitation, I know it doesn’t work and the two parts become separate. The sense of the dream is not so obvious.
So I switched the sequence of dreams and reality as suggested. Using vocal repetition to show the feeling of being half awake and half asleep. In the dream part, I chose mastering to show the ethereal feeling and increased repetition of heartbeats to make this part less jarring.
Conclusion
I will try to figure out why my recording always comes out of one of the two headphones even though I haven’t changed anything. That is also one of the problems that the professor has figured out on presentation day. The project that I resubmit sounds all right in my earphones and computer speakers now. But I am not sure that it works on sounders.
On presentation day, I received feedback from two professors and my classmates. They told me that maybe my project has two parts and they seem to be separate from each other. Changing the order may be better. And the heartbeat part is a little bit like music, it sounds nice. So I change the order of my project and use repetition of similar recordings to represent the feeling of being half awake and half asleep. I keep the heartbeat part of the precious project.
Image of Audition
the image of the first draft
the image of the project now