concept
my memory soundscape’s concept revolved around my memory of waking up in my grandmother’s house in the summer as a kid. this house is located in the countryside, essentially in the middle of nowhere, so there is always a feeling of being completely distanced from the rest of the world. every day i would wake up because of microwave noise as my grandmother would forget to turn it off due to her bad hearing and memory. i would monotonously pass through the rooms, witnessing various sounds that other residents in the house would make, along with weird, somewhat spooky sounds that the wooden house makes, take a shower and return to my grandmother’s room, begin to write her “good morning” and talk to her via pen and paper.
for my soundscape, i decided to create a sequence of these events, recreating my experience, embodying numerous sounds, reflecting this spookiness and, at the same time, repetitiveness of my mornings there. i thought that composing the sounds in the sequence is the best way to convey my idea as that perfectly highlights the idea.
process
most of the sounds that i used, i recorded in my room and outside. most of the sounds are self-explanatory, recorded with the use of objects they are supposed to represent. one sound that i would like to elaborate on is the sound of a cord attached to the blinder. i used it to change it, with some effects, into almost “scary” sounds that could be heard in the background later. moreover, i have added a couple of “echo” effects so along with adjusting the “pan” so that the sounds take place in the composition. speaking of the “pan”, i manipulated it a lot to recreate the space more accurately: footsteps and my actions are usually in the right headphone, whereas the things that i witness are coming from the left side. that effect allowed me to help listeners in experiencing the memory exactly as i experienced it.
when recording the audios i have faced the issue of the noise that could shade the main sound. i had to rerecord many audios because of that or apply the de-noise effect. moreover, when i started experimenting with the effects, i tried utilizing the most “spooky”, “scary” ones to create a proper atmosphere for the sounds, however at some point i realized that i started using too much of those and the soundscape became too saturated (and it was not intended by the idea). so i decided to reduce the amount of effects i had, however it that was noted in the feedback i received as well.
conclusion
overall i am quite satisfied how my project turned up. i believe i managed to depict the memory quite successfully, along with utilizing tools of the program. however, referring to the feedback i received, i should have probably give a bit more thought regarding intensity of my soundscape. indeed, i believe i should have include a bit more gaps/pauses so that the listeners would have some time to “breathe” and not get tired of listening to the sounds. i would definitely change my soundscape in that direction if i could, but aside from that, i am quite satisfied with my work.