Something from Nothing

When I started this project, I had a difficult time thinking of an idea that best fit the project assignment. There weren’t any limitations, just instruction to take images, text, or other sounds we had and apply different effects to make a unique composition. Not having specific directives is hard for me. I like having some form of direction or an idea from which I can expand. Nevertheless, this was an opportunity to go beyond my comfort zone. My original idea was all about travel. Travel is one of my favorite things to do and with all the places I have visited, I thought it would be a good idea to use the images from some of my trips and apply them to my project. To narrow down the idea even more, I selected three pictures from favorite trips (Boston, Philadelphia, and France). I started by importing each image into Audio Paint and then resizing each in Photoshop. I developed three representations from each image ranging from full size to close-up. I then put all of the new images into Audio Paint (which takes the image and translates it into sound). All together, I had 27 sounds to work with. When I started to play with them by adding and subtracting different editing methods, it just wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it to. So, I thought of capturing detailed sounds like a light switch, water dripping from the faucet, and a fork tapping a glass plate. I started to experiment with the new sounds and liked what I was hearing so I decided to change my idea from “travel” to developing “something from nothing.” My goal with this composition is for people to try to figure out the source of the sounds they are hearing, and then when they learn what the original sounds were, to be intrigued with the edited results.

Screen Shot One


Screen Shot Two

List of sounds you will hear

1. Drum stick hitting heat vent

2. The light switch turning on and off

3. Drum stick hitting a bicycle wheel

4. Water dripping from the faucet

5. A fork brushing across a metal plate holder

6. A fork tapping a glass plate

7. Basketball going through the net

8. Basketball hitting the bedroom door

The sounds that I captured where all done in my apartment on the same day at night. Every sound was recorded with the Zoom H2.

To hear the recording go to:

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/xythoswfs/webview/fileManager.action?entryName=/ved/Public/Film%20420%20soundscapes/fourth%20project%20final%20project&stk=F4834C42C7C032C&msgStatus=The%20document%2C%20final%20project%20film%20420.mp3%2C%20was%20successfully%20uploaded%20to%20folder%20fourth%20project%20final%20project.

Progress Report For My Final Project

To be honest with you, I have no idea what to do, how to do it, and why I’m doing this project but I’ll do my best to fill in those blanks. The ideas that you gave us of previous students included examples of projects that used pictures or text messages from friends. The idea that I may go with is using images from vacations I’ve been on in the past such as Boston, Philadelphia, London, Paris, Rome, Florida, and Colorado. One of my favorite hobbies is travel so I have a lot of material to choose from. Capturing the sounds that “photosounder” produces from the images I may use will be very interesting. Of course not having a firm idea of what I really want to do may result in a change in my subject matter. I might even gather all brand new sounds, familiar sounds that people can identify with right away. For example, it might be interesting to obtain sounds of cars starting, a cat meowing, the crunching of the leaves underfoot, a bird chirping, or church bells ringing. I’m interested in using “photosounder”, “slicer”, or Audacity to provide the effects I want. The final subject matter I use will determine which application I’ll use. I don’t know if I’m supposed to make a 5-8min soundscape that listeners can immediately recognize or if a more abstract approach is expected. Once I have a better understanding of the assignment, I will finalize my idea and from there, everything will fall into place.

The Sounds of the City

The hustle and bustle of the big city, cars zooming past, conversations between people, the blustery wind, and the random ambient sounds that people filter out when they are walking down the city streets. This is the experience I want my listeners to have when they review my soundscape. The sound piece starts as the train leaves the station. You are able to hear people’s voices, the rhythmic sound of the train on the tracks and the conductor. Soon after, you are off the train and enter Chicago’s busy Union Station where you hear chaotic and echoing sounds as you progress from the train platform to the revolving doors. Before entering the city, you are given a preview of what you may hear before you get through the doors. Finally, you cross the threshold into the city environment. You end the experience by returning to Union Station and re-boarding the train.

When you hear the overall project, you will note that there are some imperfections such as pops and cracks. There was nothing I could do to remove these sounds during the editing process and they may be related to limitations of my recording device. The sound of the conductor’s announcements on the return trip was very different from that of the inbound trip. Instead of using the overhead public address systems for his announcements, he used a hand-held microphone which resulted in a tinny, garbled sound. I used the ZOOM H2 which has a built-in mic and I set the controls to capture medium sounds so I could get a good balance of both high and low (I hope I succeeded). I recorded these sounds on Oct 2, 2010, between 8:00 am-7:00 pm. The weather was cool, very windy and we experienced scattered showers.

Image of Audacity:

To hear the MP3:

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/xythoswfs/webview/fileManager.action?entryName=/ved/Public/Film%20420%20soundscapes&stk=86DAD4F4D8ABEFE&msgStatus=The%20document%2C%20film%20420%20project%203%20chicago.mp3%2C%20was%20successfully%20uploaded%20to%20folder%20Film%20420%20soundscapes.

(film 420 project 3 chicago)

Soundscape Proposal

The idea that I am trying to portray for my soundscape is the city. I made a short film about the city using Chicago as the backdrop and the sound track for the film wasn’t so strong so hopefully by doing this project I could improve my city sounds.

When people listen to my soundscape I want them to fill like they are taking a trip to a city. I will start with sounds of me getting into the car driving to the train station. At the station I will capture sounds of the train arriving, doors opening, people getting on the train, just typical sound you will hear at a train station. From the train station I would continue the soundscape to the union station to the city it self. That’s when I what the audience to really feel like they are walking from the station into the city having sounds of car horns, buses, and traffic. I would end the recording with a quick sounds of the station again and with the car door closing. By doing so I would hope the experience would make you feel you just came back.

My Six Different Sounds

1) Stationary 1

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 10:20 in the morning. Its rained about a half an hour before I got there, Sun, 19

c. Limited wind

d. I would like make the waves and just the over all recording clearer.

2) Stationary 2

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 8:30 at night, Sat, 18

c. Very mild

d. There’s some crackling that I would like to take away.

3) Audio Close Up

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 3:45, Sat, 18

c. Windy

d. There’s a humming sound from the mic that I want to get rid of.

4) Mobile Capture

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 4:15, Sat, 18

c. Windy

d. Lower the volume of the wind so you are able to hear the stones better and not make the audio peek.

5) Moving Water

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 8:15 at night, Sat, 18

c. Limited wind

d. I want to get rid of the random clicking and also smooth out the whole recording.

6) Wind

a. Rode mic & Sony NH-700

b. North Point, Racine at 4:32, Sat, 18

c. Windy

d. I would like to taking away the humming and cracking from the mic and also increase the volume of the whole soundtrack.

Link to all my recordings

https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/xythoswfs/webview/fileManager.action?entryName=/ved/film%20420%20audio%20recording&stk=ACB0F2A8541AB5D&msgStatus=&errormsg=

Sound Walk Response

I went to Wind Point for my sound walk response. Wind Point is a beautiful lighthouse located in Racine. I decided to go at night around 7:30 to see if I could get unique sounds that the night produces. Unfortunately, there was an unexpected group meeting in the lighthouse that night so I didn’t really get the usual peace and quiet that generally defines the locale. I started from the base of the lighthouse, working my way around it, trying desperately to hear anything besides the people taking. I moved to a small wooden area located about a hundred feet from the lighthouse. That’s where I acquired the sounds of the frogs and crickets. I decided to move closer to the shore where I was right next to the heavy waters. My final detonation is the bench where I did exercise fours. The lighthouse location is remote enough that it is frequented by a variety of animals. In the past, I’ve heard the yipping of coyotes and the crackle of leaves under the feet of animals moving through the brush at night. For this exercise, the only animal sounds I heard were insects and frogs. This may have been because of the “people” noise inside the lighthouse, the two children playing outside the building, the extra lighting coming from the windows of the meeting room and the multitude of cars that had poured into the parking lot. Overall, the experience didn’t live up to what I had hoped for.

The most evident sound I did hear came from the lake shore. I sat on a bench about 40 feet away from the water, so I was pretty much surrounded by sounds. When a couple walked past me, I first heard the scuff of their shoes on the concrete path from my right ear and as they descended from the walk to the gravel, I heard the more muffled sound of their shoes against the stone. The combination of their footsteps and their conversation resulted in a blend of low and high pitch sounds. Beside the sporadic sounds of a car locking or a door slamming, the rest of the sounds were continuous. The only rhythmic sounds came from the bugs, the frogs and the waves washing up on the sandy shore.

List

1. Little kids yelling and playing football with their dad

2. The beeping sound of a remote car lock

3. Thud of a closing car door

4. The crash of the waves against the rock jetty

5. The intermittent deep rush of the wind

6. Croaking of the frogs

7. Chirping of the crickets

8. Water splashing in the fountain

9. Distant traffic hum from the adjacent road

10. Whoosh of a passing jet plane

11. Crackling of the flag in the wind

12. Starting of a car engine

13. Rustle of leaves in the trees

14. The varying inflection of voices from a passing couple

15. Shoes of the passing couple hitting the concrete and then dragging on the gravel

16. The soothing rush of the waves hitting the shore line

Map