P4 Audio – The Kid and the Wolf

For my 4^th project, the class graduated to an audio project, that involved work with audio in general, as well as the platform called Audacity that enables people to work with their recording and edit audio.

We had several options to choose from when deciding what exact audio format we would be using, such as creating a digital story, using a fable and incorporating sound effects, or even creating a Radio advertisement.

I decided to go for the fable option. I picked a fable that I enjoyed from Aesop’s Fables, named ‘The Kid and the Wolf’, and read it myself while recording. At first, I had recorded with the built in microphone of my computer but quickly realized the amount of other unwanted sounds that could be heard in the background. Luckily, I was able to borrow a Snowball Microphone from the Media Arts Lab and recorded using that.

At first I found it very difficult to listen to my own voice, it just sounded weird. However, I did get adjusted relatively quickly as I started playing around with different effects available for use on Audacity. I found it very amusing to mess around with the pitch of my voice and therefore I did incorporate those effects in various parts of the recording.

Using freesound.org, I signed up for an account and was able to use various different sound effects that would compliment my story and gives a stronger effect to the story. I played around for hours and hours trying out all sorts of effects that could go in different places.

I enjoyed learning to use the application Audacity, It is a great program, but I felt that despite having spent hours trying out all the effects, I still feel very incompetent using it. I feel like it would take hundreds of hours even thousands in order to fully understand the full functionality of the program.

Nonetheless, a great experience!

My project is a fake radio advertisement for Theater At Home, a fictional service that sends people to your home to watch movies with you to give you an “authentic theater experience.” I used Audacity to record everything and used my preferred DAW, Reaper, to edit all of the clips.

I found some royalty free music online (thank you, Kevin Macleod) and used one small sound clip taken from a livestream by two of my favorite YouTubers/Animators, OneyNG and Psychicpebbles re-enacting a made-up scene from Back to the Future. Everything else was recorded within about an hour, as procrastinating is my forte. The only issues I had during the project was starting it late at night. There’s a bit of yelling in it, which I had to wait until the next day to record so as not to wake up anyone in my house.

Overall the project was fun to do. It’s an idea I’ve sort of had floating around in my head for a while and I’m glad I finally had the outlet and medium with which to execute it. I hope you enjoy listening to this mishmash of stupidity I’ve uploaded to the internet! Prepare to be made slightly uncomfortable by it!

-by Ryan Scott

The Bat and the Weasel (Aesop’s Fable) -P4 Audio

By: Cameron Belgrave

During this project, I learned a lot about editing audio and how hard it actually is compared to how easy it looks.  I found this story online while reading through some of the Aesop’s fables.  i liked it and it seemed like the story would fit the slow, calm, ambient, music I also found while going through some different sounds and instrumentals.  I also used to have a pet weasel so thats also why this story sparked my interest.  I had fun on this project and I’m glad that it was able to upload on sound cloud.

I work as a waitress at the locally-owned restaurant Chicken Bonz and we recently released a radio commercial about calling in your Superbowl orders. I decided (with the owner’s permission) to take a shot at making my own. It turned out decent. There are some things that I really would have liked to re-do, but for my first audio project I think it turned out okay. I changed the pitch of my voice so that 1.) I didn’t have to listen to my own voice on repeat for hours and 2.) it sounds almost like a child’s voice, which works for some reason. This was an interesting project for me and I look forward to learning more audio production throughout the program.

Zahara has no real friends, an estranged family,  she’s a complete and utter outsider, and if that wasn’t enough, she had been hearing voices since she was 6. One day while Zahara was fighting with her inner demon, rightfully named Hel, she bumps into a hacker named Tyler. Tyler pulls her into a group named “Faceless”.  It’s a whirlwind of new friends and excitement, but things start to get out of hand when she realizes that Tyler and “Faceless” are not as kind as they seem. Hit with the reality of what has come to pass; Zahara turns to the one “person” that she tried to forget. Can Zahara right the wrongs she had helped to create before it is too late?

When I first heard of this project, my script came to my mind immediately. My story reminded me a lot of the book trailers I watch, so that’s how I thought of it. I created the story in my head to help bring my characters to life with more meaning and emotion. I would ask questions of my characters such as “Why was she so upset?”, “Who was the voice in her head”, and “How did a girl get in to such a terrible situation in the first place?”. That’s where Zahara came from, and what better to terrorize her than a demon named Hel. After I made the sound clip I thought it needed some back story to it.  I thought the best way to tell my story was to write it like the synopsis on the back of a book, just to fit my weird theme/thoughts.

Made by Brittany

https://soundcloud.com/loren-smith-5/school-project-thingy-story-wordy-soundy

In telling the story, I conveyed the importance, experience and euphoria of this event. This band crafted my childhood and life in a number of ways. At the point in my life when my sister first introduced me to this band’s music, I was an angry, seven year old ward of the state with no definite home and an abusive foster parent. One of many. But that’s another story. Their music was discordant, over distorted and angry, which I felt I could identify with. Then, the lyrics. With songs full of self depreciation, disenchantment with life and the like, I was enthralled. Their music was a non-violent outlet for all the crap that I had stewing inside, which was a nice alternative comparatively to my constant black eyes and split knuckles.

When they came to town, I was in a very different place, physically, emotionally and location-wise. By this point of my life, I had a stable and safe home (which my girlfriend and I own), a happy little son and had come to grips with a number of my demons, so it was a strange look into my past. All that aside, these guys still rock.

Then there’s this guy.

Mark Arm. Front man of Mudhoney, executive member of Sub-Pop Records, in person, just drinking his gin and tonic next to me, no one really noticing. I started chatting him up, holding back the tide of fanboy “squee-ing” as best I could: talking about his favorite shows,  preference on musical gear and recommendations for pursing music, to which he gave me the best advice I’ve ever heard.

“Don’t worry about ‘making it big’ or ‘getting big’ or any of that shit. Just focus on playing music. Do what you love. Play loud and suck. That’s what we did. If people like your stuff, that’s cool. Ask them if they have a house you can throw a concert at. If you get noticed by a record label and they offer you a deal, that’s cool. But don’t forget: you got into music for the music.”

I was taken aback for a second. But such sound advice is to be expected by someone who coined the word “grunge”, rocked the 80’s and 90’s and now has a job with the record label responsible for it all. As he finished his drink, he told me it was time for the show and that I should swing by the green room after the show. I didn’t take him seriously, but after the show, I figured there was no harm in trying. As I rounded the corner, he saw me, pushed the bouncer aside and handed me a beer. Just like that, I was in the green room. I wasn’t a pretty girl in 6 inch heels or any big business rep. Just some kid who grew up on their music and there I was.

Coincidentally, this band was responsible for me finding out what brand of guitar I had. (see “About Me” post)