A. Concept
I want to recreate the exam memory in the project. The college entrance exam, for me at the time, for other students around me, and for most Chinese students, had a life-defining significance, it can affect our future.
In my work, I wanted to not only recreate the real sound of the exam room, such as writing, pencil falling onto the ground, and teachers walking around… but also reflect my inner emotions: feeling panic when hearing others turning over paper, overwhelmed as time passes. I want to recreate and convey a tense, oppressive environment through different sounds.
B. Process
(1) In such an important and serious exam, the exam room was filled with awful silence, and the fragmented and slight sound became prominent. So I used a shotgun to record the soft sounds: pens rubbing against the paper, someone scratching his head, a pencil falling on the floor, turning over paper. Additionally, I used Tascam to record the sound of the clock, which set the tone and pace of the exam going; and the sounds of a dryer, flowing water, and washing machine to enhance the sense of tension and anxiety. I also had the sound of heartbeat, but my heartbeat is too slight that couldn’t be collected by the recorder, so I knocked the shotgun to create a “hit” sound, which just like the beating of heart.
(2) When editing, I first reduced the noise of all sounds. But I found that too much noise removing made the sound distort. The difficult part is to balance the noise and the sound I want. So I listened to every sound carefully before removing background noise, and constantly adjusted the degree of noise reducing. Luckily, the result turn to be great, the sounds are clear and there were almost no noise.
Then, I arranged the order of the sounds. At the beginning, the sound should be “quiet”, only few sounds added together so that the audience will feel the sense of silence. In the middle, someone turned over the paper, which caused me more upset. So I used the delay effect to the clock sound to add a nervous and uncomfortable feeling. After teachers walking around (I used reverb to this sound to create a sense of emptiness), everything become more overwhelming and crazier. I adjusted the emotional sounds (dryer, washing machine, flowing water) by FFT, and made it more harmonious. At the end of my project, the sound of putting pen down, breathing indicated I had finished writing, then came with the bell ringing, which expresses a release.
C. Conclusion
My presentation went great, everyone recognized what I want to express. Because my topic was an exam, so some classic elements, such as the sound of writing, clock, ringing bells, is highly recognizable. There were also some pieces that had the same elements as mine.
If I have time, I will think of using other sounds to show that it is an exam, and I will go back to find different sounds that are not familiar to people but can create a kind of exam atmosphere. And I will put more time on creating the tense and oppressive environment.
D.Image of Audition
