Response for Assignment 1B

For assignment 1b we were grouped with one other person and told to make a "sound scape" with the library of sounds that our class had recorded the previous week. After taking the .aiff files and making them into subclips, renaming them, and sorting them into the correct groups bins (sound effect, ambient, and voice based sounds) we then took the clips and made a two minute sound scape. The sound scape was not a narrative based project, however, they were centered around the specific line that each group picked. Celestial and I picked the line "His definition of a Hustler".

We decided that our sound scape would incorporate the typical sounds that a "hustler" would hear in a day. We started off simple, with a few sounds that worked together to create a smooth beat and tone, while using sounds that mirrored one another. For example, we used a clip of someone eating chips and then mimicked it with a clip of a piece of glass lightly scratching on cement. The sound of the chips crunching was very similar to the glass being scrapped so the combination of the two acted as an audio match. As the sound scape grew, we had multiple sounds that created a chaotic symphony. Sirens, squeaky bicycle breaks, foot steps, and voice based sounds flooded in. A large crash of glass breaking cut through the noises followed by a few beats of silence creating a dramatic situation within our sound scape. Celestial and I repeated short clips of voice based audio multiple times to give it a "skipping" effect as well.

As the sound scape started to wrap up, we incorporated a farewell conversation of two friends on the street along with a few high pitch, and quite annoying, sounds. The squeak from a fan as it spins around and around and the constant buzz of a transformer continue after the conversation finished and then slowly faded out concluding the sound scape.

We manipulated the clips by speeding them up, as well as, slowing them down, reversing them and putting audio effects onto them. Before this project, I did not know much about audio effects and what they do to the clips. We tried to play around with them as much as possible, however, I feel like they were not doing much to distort the clips. It is very possible that we were not applying enough of the effect to hear much of a difference though. Regardless, in the end, we had a sound scape that I am very proud of. In my opinion, it was unique and creative. I am very excited to see what the next group does with it by adding the still photography images!