Sound Art Project

 For this assignment, we had to create an audio for a prompt. Everybody was tasked with choosing from a selection of prompts following different moods and/ or genres. Then, we would be tasked with creating audio for this scene idea, utilizing our abilities to create our own sounds with real life objects.

Our group was given a choice of prompts that we could use to inspire our audio. We had chosen the prompt "There's Something Out There", a horror/ suspense prompt. For this prompt, we had to create an eerie audio that follows this general plot idea. We decided to have it sound as if a man were being chased by approaching dogs in a forest while holding a lantern, signifying the darkness of the environment. 

There was four main sound effects that we created; one sound effect per person. However, I took it upon myself to create two sound effects since I had the resources available. I recorded myself stepping and stomping on grass to create the sounds of a man walking in a grassy area. I also change the pacing of my steps throughout this clip in order to make it see as if the man is speeding up. I also recorded a clip of me stepping on various branches and twigs to show that this environment is in a scattered forest, with foliage and nature in the path. My teammate, Sergio, recorded a clip of himself kicking rocks and pebbles to add to this ambience we were going for. Another teammate, Adrianna, was tasked with replicating the sound of a lantern clanking and swaying. She created this noise by recording herself clinking a large can. Though unusual, it was highly effective. Lastly, Nico, our other teammate, recorded his dogs barking so we could incorporate the idea of wolves chasing the man. No digital sounds were used for this audio; every bit of this was recorded by me and my team.

Link to the clips of us making these audio clips:

After recording everything, all we had to do was edit it all together to create one audible story. I consider this the fun part of the project. With this process, I had two goals in mind for the mood of the audio; subtly and nerves. With majority of the audio clips, I tampered with the quality of the audio in order to better achieve an eerie feeling. I made most of the audio have an echo effect, since it helped with the tone of the piece I was going for. I had also pitched down the audio of the dogs so that it sounds more fearsome and strong, rather than it being some small dogs barking. Other than that, it was all a matter of lining it up in a way that tells a story. The audio of the dogs barking shows up towards the end, right as the man starts running faster. I also made sure to incorporate all the other audio effects in ways that would not be an erasure, but would still add to the audio. I also had to layer sounds like the grass running and the dogs in order to show how the footsteps were getting louder and the dogs were getting closer. This resulted in a cohesive piece with its own unique plot that the listener can envision.

Link to the finished product: