Soundscapes

Let's start with defining what a soundscape is. It means an array of sounds that makes you feel like you're in the place where those sounds are playing - for instance inside of a story.

This week's class focused on sounds and how to make sounds for our third remediation of our story. This meant, for example, that we would find a stock sound of a toaster dinging if there was one in our story. My story is a bit dialogue heavy so I'm not exactly sure how to go about it - I'm thinking I will need some swings creaking in a deserted playground (spooky), police sirens and... I'm not sure what else, but I'll think of it!

I noticed that the program we're going to use is Audacity, which reminds me of my primary school days. We used that program for some of our projects, though I don't remember exactly what we did with it.

Now let's talk about the impact of sounds. Music is one of the most important factors in films and television shows. A horror movie has spooky and foreboding music while a comedy will have brighter and more upbeat music. Scary music can add to the tension that we usually feel when watching horror, while funny music can make something that would normally be scary into something lighthearted. For example a parody of a horror movie but with someone doing a silly run from a silly villain, with ridiculous music playing.

Think about the soundtrack to your favourite movie - what mood does it evoke?

What about sounds from real life? What sound makes you the happiest? For me it's when I hear my dog's claws clicking on the tiles - it means my dog is around!

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The hardest part will be trying to make it sounds organic. Often artificial things seem... well, artificial. The soundscape will need to be immersive as if the listener were actually inside the story! It will be a challenge, but a fun one!