Since Halloween is this weekend, I decided to recite Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem “The Raven” for my audio project. I have always been a fan of Poe, and when I was a kid this poem used to creep me out quite a bit. I used five audio tracks; thunder, a quiet rainfall track, a Raven’s caw, my voice audio reciting the poem and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I felt that this created a very creepy atmosphere, and also sounds similar to what Poe himself was experiencing that frightful evening when the raven sat upon the bust above his door. I would like to issue a warning, though, that I am NOT an actor. The most difficult part of this assignment was to try and convey emotion while I was reading the poem (and trying to breathe away from the mic). In that sense I am not quite satisfied with the final outcome, but the sound effects and the music go together quite nicely, and I was very excited to hear that I had created a very compelling background. If I was to do this again I would have probably taken more time to memorize the poem so that I could have put more emphasis in certain places. All in all it was a fun experience!

By Keasey Freed