Audio Assignments

Have a Phone Conversation with Yourself

Using Audacity or another audio editing software, record yourself holding down both sides of a conversation. Using the pitch changer and/or other effects, change your voice so it sounds like two different people are talking.

Musicless Music Video

Whenever I watch “the making of” behind the scenes footage of a film or tv show it’s always striking to me how the on-set sound is so different from the final mix presented on screen. It’s not surprising when you realize almost all dialogue is re-recorded, innumerable sound effects are added, and emotional music is mapped to the scene all mixed together creating aural perfection.

So I find these ‘musicless music video’ remixes particularly charming and quiet funny for intentionally creating the opposite mix. The sound mixer is trying to re-create the dry onset sound of the performer in the studio. This Britney Spears rubber outfit squeak-fest is such a spot on re-envisioning of the set for Oops! I did it again. And if it’s truthful, the grips and gaffers must of been laughing their asses off!

Create your own musicless music video for a scene in a video of your choice. Use any variety of sound effects that you personally create or find from sites like freesound.org. And remember add room tone, it will make or break the remix!

Solo Vocal Trio

First, find a song that you feel comfortable singing in your natural register.  Record yourself singing it three separate times, and layer those together using your choice of audio editing software (I chose Audacity for mine, since it’s free).  Do not use any effects for this, so try to pick an acoustic song relying mainly on the vocals.
Sing the whole song straight through each time, and make sure to trim off and align them correctly so that they start at the same time; You’ll have to zoom in considerably.  The point of singing through completely is to eliminate the possibility of just singing the chorus or another repeated verse and editing them together; it will not sound like a trio that way.  You may be alarmed by how different your singing voice sounds on a recording compared to what you believe it to be, but don’t worry about it too much, just get used to it–that’s how it sounds to everyone else when you sing.  

Set one recording as Stereo Left, one as Stereo Right, and one as Mono for best results.

Tips: 
Listen to the song on your headphones while recording so that you stay on track. 
Warm up your vocal cords, otherwise your voice will crack.
Try to keep the mic away from your mouh and nose–the sounds of your breathing may detract from your results.  

Once finished, upload to SoundCloud.

Emotions Through Sound

Try to convey a certain emotion, such as fear, stress, sadness, etc. by combing sound effects. They can be human sounds, such as crying with laughter in the background, to maybe express someone’s fears or being embarrassed, or you can get really artsy and try to convey an emotion by sound effects– like loud noises to show intensity, thunder to show fear, or quick, chirpy noises to show happiness. Edit at least 4 sounds together to show an emotion, upload it to soundcloud and then tag it with the appropriate tags.

Soundboard Conversation

Create a conversation between yourself and your favorite movie character using an online soundboard!  To find soundboard clips, check out http://www.soundboard.com/.  

Line remix

Take a famous line from a movie and remix it. to create an entirely new story from just this one line. Get creative, but make sure to have a good balance between what you add and keep to make sure that the line is still regonizable, but tells the story completly differently. 

Who Called?

Record you self making a phone call as if you were a character off of the wire. The phone call has to be to another character from the wire. You can even make it a three way or four way call. You phone call can even be a voicemail as if someone didn’t pick up. Cutomize it as much as you like! The phone call has to be at least 2 minuties.

Can’t Get It Out Of My Head

Use some auido recording software, I used audacity, to record yourself whistling a song that has gotten stuck in your head before. Then upload it to soundlcoud. But don’t title it with the original song’s title. Let your classmates guess what song you were whistling. Have Fun!!

Sounds of Your Day

Record different sounds throughout your day. It can be as long or as short as you’d like. When you finish, combine them into one long sound of your day! Upload it to SoundCloud

Story TIme Fun Time!

Tell ds106 a fantastic tale! Add sound effects, epic music, and colorful and creative descriptions to bring your story to life. It should roughly be a 2-5 minute story. Make sure you make it nice and entertaining!