Project: Part #1 - Soundscape
The word "soundscape" was coined by composer R. Murray Schafer to identify sounds that "describe a place, a sonic identity, a sonic memory, but always a sound that is pertinent to a place" (Wagstaff, G. 2000).
Aim/Objective:
You are required to plan, research and produce a two
to five minute ‘audio soundscape’ or ‘acoustic portrait’ of a geographical
place of your choice. This will include a range of self-sourced associated or
abstract sounds that help illustrate the space.
I aim to create a soundscape for a futurisitc city environment or metropolis in which the viewer can identify and connect with. I will have to make use of synthesised sounds as well as making use of natural sources. Ben Burtt said when set out to create a soundscape for a synthetic world when he was creating the sound design for the Star Wars saga. He would use sounds from the real world and alter them as these would be sounds that the spectator would almost familiar with and not finding them an abnormality.
I will use a similar process to but and if I succeed, I shall end up with a extraordinary soundscape of busy central city. The soundscape would be perfect in films such as Brazil (1985), Superman (1978) or Blade Runner (1982). Finding sounds that would fit the criteria I wanted would take a lot of planning and research.
Plan/Research:
In order to create the soundscape of a 'metropolis' from scratch, I need to identify the layers of sounds within the sonic environment which could occur. Therefore, I went to Waterloo in Central London and Brighton town as well and notified any sounds I heard within the soundscape of the city. I did this by doing a sound walk to get a familiarity with the sounds ground sounds of a city and to work out what my figure sound would be for my piece.
Some of the sounds in which I noted down are as follows:
- Cars (engines, honking, door slams)
- Traffic (lights/horns)
- Public transit (tubes, trains, taxis, boats)
- People (conversations, commutes, shouting, swearing, laughter, street performers, announcements)
- Wind (patterns, gusts, gales)
I also searched sound cloud for any possible related soundscapes and I found some inspirational pieces and noted down any significant elements.
"Metropolis is a soundscape that explores existence in the city. Engines hum, signals sound and flicker, pedestrians whirr, light cascades through endless alleys and the relentless ebb and flow of the man-made tide pushes on."
A short journey through a teeming metropolis. Try to piece together the path of our traveller through the conversations, announcements, and other sounds present in this soundscape
These soundscapes sound similar to the soundwalks I did around central London and Brighton town centre, except an apparent use of sound effects were used on some of the layers to distort the piece from reality, giving it an eerie, futuristic film. This made me realise I would need ground sounds from the real world to set the basis of the location of my soundscape as the listeners of the piece would be able to make the connection and have some understanding of where this could be. I can add other sounds to that I could even construct myself and add reverb and echo to them to add and eerie sense of the future and distortion to the piece. Therefore, I had to locate and record various sounds using equipment such as the K6 Microphone, Marantz two way audio recorder and an iRig.
These soundscapes sound similar to the soundwalks I did around central London and Brighton town centre, except an apparent use of sound effects were used on some of the layers to distort the piece from reality, giving it an eerie, futuristic film. This made me realise I would need ground sounds from the real world to set the basis of the location of my soundscape as the listeners of the piece would be able to make the connection and have some understanding of where this could be. I can add other sounds to that I could even construct myself and add reverb and echo to them to add and eerie sense of the future and distortion to the piece. Therefore, I had to locate and record various sounds using equipment such as the K6 Microphone, Marantz two way audio recorder and an iRig.
Self Sourced Sounds:
I have to find, record and edit 20 different sound effects and compile them together in order to create a specific sound scape - a Metropolis. The sounds effects I was able to compile weere:
1. Water Hose
2. Hoover
3. Helicopter
4. Traffic lights
5. Cars on the move
6. Busy shopping center
7. Ventilation systems
8. Iron gate
9. Cash machine
10. Helicopter in the sky
11. Bus
12. Guttering
13. Footsteps
14. Children
15. Train Station
16. Waitrose
17. Cars
18. Horns
19. Alarms/Intercoms
20. Water
Post-Production/Sound Editing:
With the help of Adobe Audition CS6, I was able to compile and layer the sound clips I had collected. However, I couldn't just use the sounds as they had been recorded. I have used effects on individual layers on the soundscape to give it a eerie and futuristic feel. During the editing process, I realised that my soundscape began to sound more like a busy transport station of some sort as the majority of the sounds I had collated where of different modes of transport such as bikes, cars, trains, helicopters and walking. I used various affects on them such as reverb, auto-delay, echo with partial distortion in some areas. By adding these effects it took the piece away from reality, it needed a more natural feel to it. Therefore, I went out to record some ambient sounds such as rain and wind to bring the piece 'back to reality'. After hours of manipulating the layers and effects of the piece, cutting and fading I ended up with a success piece which I believe sounded like a soundscape for a busy central city station. Not quite what I intended but a more than fair attempt.
Click below to hear my soundscape
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