Project Link: http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~tlb394/audio/index.html
Preface and context
This project was a lot of fun to complete! I really, really enjoyed working on the audio. My background is in dancing so audio really is important to me in creating meaning. Every single beat, rhythm and melody can convey so many feelings and emotions depending on the interpretation and I really wanted to use this aspect in this task.
After class, we came up with the idea to compose a piece that provided insight onto the dorm life on NYU Shanghai. However, I didn’t want the idea to form a cliche that involved the collection of random sounds and depositing them onto a webpage. Instead,I came up with a slightly different angle and asked my group members if they thought we could incorporate it to elevate the meaning within our piece.
Project Description
Essentially the project revolves around the connection of two old friends, in this instance played by myself and Jamie. I am a student at NYU Shanghai in Shanghai, China whilst Jamie is a student in Beijing, China.
The piece begins with an audio recording of the two of us talking and reminiscing on when we used to watch the stars together when we were in the same place.
In order to record this piece of audio, I used my phone to record it and then also used my phone to take a recording of the recording of Jamie’s voice on her phone in order to create a distance sound effect. I also tried to do this on Audacity but felt that the sound distortion sounded a little too perfect, when the intention for this was to show that in reality not all phone call connections are seamless.
After this conversation, Jamie really wants to experience the NYU Shanghai dorm experience, however she lives in Beijing. This is when we use the next page to immerse Jamie in this experience by being able to experience what typical day of dorm life is like at NYU Shanghai.
The next page leads to a floor plan with five doors, a washing machine/dryer, kitchen, common space and a cat. The objects are positioned on the floors trying to resemble a dormitory floor plan. Jamie was really talented in doing the majority of the coding to get the website exactly where it needed to be. Jamie actually originally used the Vincent Van Gough (Starry Starry Night) background as a joke but as soon as I saw it before recitation on Thursday, I knew that we could actually incorporate it into our meaning. The backgrounds relevance is that irrespective of the fact the two protagonists (friends) are in different cities, they still look at the same sky. This provides them a sense of connection that no matter the city, they are united by the stars in the sky.
The cat in the middle of the piece plays the song “Vincent” which is an audio rendition of Starry Starry Night. I used iMovie to change the volume of the song to keep it playing at 3% so it didn’t interfere with the audio sounds but could keep a constant sound in the background.
I came up with the audio sounds and each group member collected a couple each and I did all the audio editing.
Behind the first door is the Eleme phone call that Demi collected.
Behind the second door is the phone call back home that I asked one of my friends to record.
Behind the third door is the sound that Demi collected of the entrance barriers to the dorms
Behind the fourth door is a conversation between Demi and myself that happens quite a lot at the dorms, where people want to sleep yet are continually interrupted by questions
Behind the fifth door is a panicked me who forgot to do their Chinese homework and rings my roommate.
I wrote a small dialogue for the conversation:
等一下我会给我的室友打电话。室友！室友！我忘了做我的中文功课！你可以帮我吗？我得问你三个问题。第一个问题是，在中国你觉得男女平等的吗？第二个问题是你觉得身体健康非常重要吗？第三个问题是你最喜欢什么运动？
The translation equates to: Hold on a second, I will call my roommate. Roommate, Roommate, I forgot to do my Chinese homework, can you help me? I need to ask you three questions. The first is whether you think that in China men and women are equal. The second is if you think the health of your body is important and the third is which sport do you like the most.
I thought it would be nice to incorporate both English and Chinese into the piece to show the international diversity of NYU Shanghai.
I edited all the audio sounds either in Audacity or iMovie. I found these two applications the easiest to use and convert them into MP3 or WAV formats so I was able to code them onto the website that Jamie had established. Audio was recorded on the 8th floor piano rooms when no one was using them so we could achieve optimal sound. For the sounds where they needed to be more muffled, they were recorded onsite (kitchen, common room, washer/dryer, entrance barrier) as we wanted them to sound as realistic as possible.
How the Project Works
The project follows an index page and then an audio page that is linked via the use of a onclick-button. Essentially each image is connected to a piece of audio and you can click the image the play and click the same image the pause it. The only image the will continuously play is the cat because it forms the background music that provides continuity to the motif of the “Starry Starry Night”.
We decided against having each door link to a new HTML Page as we wanted to focus on the interconnectedness of the dorms and that everything is in close proximity to each other. The piece is almost voyeuristic in the sense that it really does provide an insight into the dorm life of NYU Shanghai without clear introduction or establishment of context. That is why the audio is so important in conveying what the context of the sound is.
Post-Mortem
I really do think the project met the goals of the group. I know at least personally I was really really proud. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Jamie and Demi to create this assignment. I have a new found appreciation for audio and especially audio editing considering I spent so long just listening to the same sounds over and over again.
The project met the brief of being centered around audio and I think we collectively added some deeper meaning than just a random collection of sounds being deposited onto a HTML page. The story is central to communications lab and audio is one form in which we are able to experience contexts and situations that we may not be personally involved in. Its a way to stay connected and included and I think this project is a powerful representation of just how much of an impact audio has in our lives.