My concept for my memory soundscape is the memory of deciding to stay in Shanghai for the summer while my many of my friends flew back home to see family and friends. The absence of my friends and familiarity made me start thinking about how my life in Florida used to be before I came to  Shanghai for college. My bed at home, my high school friends and everything else was so far away from me. However, I did end up finding the same comfort within my time here in Shanghai. I had made new friends that awakened the sense of familiarity and comfort that I experienced back home in Florida. These feelings I wanted to express reminded me most of a storm. For these reasons I had decided to replicate a storm by using the sounds of my friends and various objects to express “The crescendo of emotion traveling along with the decrescendo of the storm” as I said in my Memory Soundscape post.The echo of laughter in the storm helped emulate the old memories of my life in Florida with the paralleled laughter following the storm. 

I took recordings of pillows and curtains along with some flutterings of paper and plastic. In order to create a storm with essence of laughter and memory I overlapped some recordings of my friends laughing. The process of implementing certain sounds into the 1 minute was complicated to create. The sounds I utilized in my project were at first very random and repetitive, so I had difficulty finding distinct sounds that I could work with in my project.Due to this issue, I decided to take recording again and this time focused more on the slightly insignificant sounds that would help with audio-visualizing the memory I wish to express. 

– The image above shows a single snap shot of my trial-and-error process while creating my project-

My editing process starting out as a trial-and-error journey. Based on what was taught in class, I had an overall idea on how Audition worked and the use of specific elements. However, I went more in depth when presently creating my project. One tool I enjoyed working with was the Notch Filter tool in the Effects section of Audition. I was surprised at how altering the effect was to the  sound, it made the original sound strikingly different.  I did encounter some  difficulties in controlling the volume. However,  I found a solution by cutting down the size of the sound wave. By doing this I did have to compromise the opportunity for the listener to feel the power of the audio.  My takeaway from this editing process was that through thorough investigation everything is a learning process. 

– Snapshot of my process playing around with the Notch Filter Effect- 

To conclude, I am very proud of how my project turned out; however, there are always improvements to be made so there are some things I would have done differently if I had more time to work on my project. 

On presentation day I received feedback that some aspects of my project seemed repetitive. I was advised to decrease some of the paralleling audios in my work so that there could be an added sense of fantasy.  This suggestion helped inform me on further steps I should take to better my story-telling of this emotive scene. Even with these observations, I have also received compliments on my use of Audition effects and spatial creation of sound. The overlapping and use of silence were two of my favorite characteristics I had implemented into my project. 

– Image of my final project on Audition –