For the first audio project I have ever worked on, I choose to tell a story about Vikings walking into battle, with a twist at the end. This was a great assignment to start off on because the project could not be more than 90 seconds and consisted of only sound effects.

I used Freesound to find and download all of the sound files that I used for this project and the other two that I have done (even though this was my first project, I’m writing the blog post on it last. IDK). This site is freaking amazing and the sound is actually pretty good quality. This site is a gold mine for sound effects and background noises.

This project took about two hours, not including the hour I spent on Freesound. I used the software program, Audacity. If you have never worked with sound editing before, even the most basic editing program is hard to navigate. I had to play around a bit with the software before I got a decent handle on it.

Overall, not bad for my first attempt at sound editing.

Tell a story using nothing but sound effects. There can be no verbal communication, only sound effects. Use at least five different sounds that you find online. The story can be no longer than 90 seconds. Another example (by a UMW student): http://ds106.us/wp-content/audio/audio_story.mp3

rain

car lock

walking

door opens

walking

sink running

timer going off

tea kettle

cup breaking

I was really feeling the scary vibes this week. My Sound effect story is kind of an extension of my Nightmare Soundtrack from earlier this week.

You’re running through a moving train, jumping from one car to the next to escape the thing coming towards you. Just as it catches you, the train crashes and you’re thrown into the snow, unable to move. But the thing just keeps coming….

This project used fourteen different sounds, all from freesound.org, layered together in Audacity. I used the Amplify effect to balance the volumes of all he different tracks and boosted the bass on a couple clips to help them stand out. This story isn’t as scary as the ambience it was based on, but i was able to create a beginning, middle and end that I think tell an exciting and comprehensible story. I had a really good time painting the setting of this scene, adding in details like the breathing and the train getting louder when the door is pulled open. I really hope everyone else can see the same thing I can when they listen to it, or maybe something even better!

You don’t really know where you are. There are frogs, some industrial humming, some old music, birds chirping, and some running water. You are walking, destination unknown.

The prompt

Protagonist is being chased by bullies when they duck behind a dumpster. The bullies lose track of them and, after searching for a minute, continue running down the alley. Once they are gone, Protagonist leaves the dumpster and starts running the other way.

I recorded these sound effects in my dorm on my computer. The footsteps is me slapping a pair of my shoes on the ground, getting closer or further from the microphone, although I don’t think it made much of a difference. The sounds of the dumpster is me throwing myself against a dresser with the pins for a loft bed in one of the drawers. The breathing and grunts are just me, but since they are not verbal communication, they follow the rules of the assignment. I mixed and timed the pieces in Audacity, and the only editing I did was that I realized I didn’t have a “getting up from behind the dumpster” sound, so I copied the “diving behind a dumpster” sound and made it quieter.

I got the idea for this type of story from Never-Ending Story. It’s a fairly simple, straightforward bit that doesn’t require any words exchanged or any visuals for the audience to understand what’s going on.

So when I first saw this assignment, I had to do a double-take. You want me to do what? After looking at it again, I realized this isn’t that bad.

I started looking at Freesound and realized that I had to sign up to download the file. READ THIS! Open the web developer tools; this can be accomplished by pressing f12 or key combination ctrl shift i. You want to look for a tab that says something like network. Open the developer tools window and reload the page with the audio clip. You will see a bunch of things pop up. Play the audio file from the main website window. You should then see the .mp3 file or whatever file type the audio clip is in the list: Right-click and select open audio file in a new tab. Once you have done this, you need to right-click the audio file and save it. This will allow you to bypass having to sign up for the website.

Back to our regularly scheduled blog.

Once I had all of my files, I went to work in Audacity. This is how I made my file. I clicked on import and selected all my downloaded files. This imports them to the program, and you can then choose mute on the tracks you don’t want and adjust the audio because some of my clips were way too loud. The most important step is to find the “time shift tool.” My computer’s shortcut is f5. This will allow you to click and drag the clips in your desired order. Once complete, you need to export the track. It will warn you that multiple tracks will be condensed into one. Click ok!

You have just made your first audio edit! Now please enjoy this little trip to the farm!

This assignment was extremely exciting to me at first glance. Honestly, I’m glad that it was assigned because I probably would have picked it anyways. When addressing this prompt, the first thing I thought about was setting. Where was this going to take place? Would it be in a diner, at the park, in a quiet room at night? Then, I figured that since this would be my first attempt at something like this, I should keep it pretty basic and have it represent one single person’s interactions, aside from background noise. I started by placing in an office ambience background noise with chatter, phones ringing, and other small noises that fill up space. Then, I found a crisp typing noise to establish an activity for the character to be initially doing. I wanted to display frustration in some way, so I figured the most fitting source of frustration in the office, early in the morning, is spilling your coffee or water. I found a fantastic spill noise, but thought that it could get even more frustrating than that. With the addition of a glass breaking noise, the scene is set for a great deal of anger. But how do we express that? Initially, I’ll admit, I fit in a clip of a woman mumbling, “dammit,” after it happens, but I realized that this assignment is strictly nonverbal. I went back in and removed that sound and tried to think of the perfect thing to replace it. That’s when it came to me: smashing the keyboard! It was quite easy to find a recording of someone smashing their keyboard, so I plugged that straight in and we had our little story. The story of the spill.

So… Imagine it’s the first day of 11th grade. You just got a brand new car for your 16th birthday earlier, and you’re BEGGING your dad to let you drive it to school on the first day. He agrees, but on one condition. “Be VERY careful! And don’t listen to music while you’re driving, it’ll distract you!” Yeah, as if 16-year-old me was gonna listen to that.

Well, here’s my audio reincarnation of that story. Enjoy.