Memory Soundscape
Concept
I would like to use sound to record and memorize the time when I was in high school, taking the exam. I aim to convey to my audience the feelings of anxiety. That’s a feeling that we nowadays usually have, and taking the exam is the shared memory of nearly everyone, so I want to use the sound to immerse into the memory.
Process
I basically record two kinds of sounds: environmental sound and the sounds when taking an exam. I went to the school nearby to record the sound of the school alarm and also the nearby housing estate to record the sound of birds, children playing, and wind blowing to make it sound that what students hear through the window when the window is open.
Besides, I record some classic sounds that can arouse shared experience and memory, for example, the sound of paper turning, the sound of pen pressing, the sound of pen knocking on the table, the sound of the invigilator walking back and forth in the classroom, the sound of sighing when not able to make a question, and the sound of heartbeats because of nervousness. Those sounds can help me rebuild a sense of an exam.
Using Panning can make my soundscape sound more three-dimensional, and make people feel like they are in a classroom exam, so the audience can feel the tension I want to convey. At the same time, it can also make it more varied and more artistic.
For the rhythm of the soundscape, I had trouble making the sounds sound not so messy. When I make two of the soundtrack sounds in the same rhythm, they may not be so harmonious as I want them to be. So I could only try more times, putting them in different locations on the soundtrack to make the sounds intersect with each other and sound like a whole at the same time. Thus, experimenting and trying are very important in this part of the editing.
Conclusion
On the critique day, I realize that it is important to adjust the volume into a status that normally suits every audio equipment.
Besides, since this is a soundscape describing the memory, it should not be sound like a real record of the event. So if I have more time, I would make more sound effects on it to make it more abstract and at the same time arouse the shared memory of the audience.
Image of Audition
