In tackling this project I first had to organize my time and figure out what sort of narrative I wanted to portray. I originally had planned on starting to record at Sir George Williams campus and working my way back to my apartment, listening intently the whole way. In doing that I found that I would be limiting myself to some fairly conventional noises; metros, busses, escalators. One thing that I quickly learned was that night time in NDG is not a setting of abundant diversity of sounds. The one plentiful source of sound after a certain hour of course, was the sound of traffic. I concluded that the best course of action would be to find a way to use traffic and footsteps, the two sounds which were readily available to me, and create a unique narrative. The third element which played a key roll in the development of my narrative, I discovered while waiting for the bus on the way home; was the sound of people listening to their personal music devices at a high volume. It is a sound which is highly characteristic of travelling by public transit, a sound which excited my creative instinct. I couldn't very well mic up a random person at a bus stop, and why would I, when the same source of sound was stowed conveniently right there in my own pocket? I played with different microphone setups and ipod volumes, first without the mic and then later in the shelter of a bus stand, with the mic, which allowed me a crisper, more isolated sound, which in the end was the one that I preferred.
I generally prefer creating coherent representations of the real world through my creative works. The idea to create a story of someone being jumped and having their ipod stolen came to me in the sort of setting where I almost expected that it could have happened to me at any given time – In my neighbourhood at 1:00 AM. My aim, from conception of the idea through to editing was to try as best as I could to convert aural information into a visual image in the mind of the listener. The sound of the ipod was instrumental in two ways: It would allow a spatial representation to the characters of the narrative, as well as provide a focus point for the action of the story. With that in mind, I then had to find or create the rest of the necessary sounds out of what was available. The footsteps would be easy, just a matter of placing the Edirol and running and walking past it. I looked around some alleyways and back streets for something soft which I could kick to mimic the dull thud of a torso, and when I couldn't find one, ended up having to resort to punching myself to replicate the “thud” noise. The final necessary element in the creation of a convincing image, was the physical pain of the victim, which required a bodily connection of some sort. The wheezing and coughing I felt was an excellent graphic element with which the listener can instantly identify. In recording all of these necessary sounds I opted to use the built-in Edirol mic as it allowed for street ambiance and higher input sensitivity than the plug-in mic.
This piece represents its surroundings not only in the pure sense of a recorded audible environment, but in the dramatic representation of what probably happens on a fairly regular basis in parts of the city like NDG. In that sense I almost think it becomes more representative in that it can communicate on more than just a denotational level. There were aspects of this project that I really enjoyed, and example being the creative necessity to fashion various mechanisms to create correct sounds. The editing process as well is a process which I enjoy, although I would still consider myself a novice with protools, it is something which I would like to improve in the future. I look forward to the next assignment when we will be less constricted with our choice of subject matter.
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