Sound Assignment!

For the Sound Assignment, our group made an audio walk recording of a cell phone conversation between our fictional protagonist, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Jim. She travels through York University’s underground tunnels late at night using Jim’s directions to avoid getting lost. In this suspenseful thriller, Sarah hears noises which lead her to believe she is being followed. The audio is entirely from Sarah’s perspective, so students are encouraged to hold their cell phones to their right ear to induce an immersive quality. The audio track was designed to make participators in the audio walk feel the same suspense as Sarah. Consider a film being shot entirely through the perspective of the main character.

The mood and atmosphere is created through the use of dramatic voice acting and realistic sound effects, many of which were recorded at the same locations as those featured within the audio. The Audio Walk is meant to be followed by the audience at the same pace as Sarah, to fully relive her experience in the tunnels.

The walk begins on a staircase beneath the Ross Building, and continues through the tunnels, twisting and turning until the students reach the staircase to the Stacie Library.  Some of the techniques used to enhance the story and audio were echoes, phone effects, static, and making use of dual audio channels. The audio walk concludes with the revealing of the stalker’s identity. What may first appear as innocent intentions escalates to an exciting climax whereby the ending is left open-ended.

The recording directly engages with the audience to make them feel like the character Sarah and have them relive that experience. In that sense, it can be a lot more frightening than watching a film in the comfort of your own home – especially if the walk is performed alone and after 11PM as done by Sarah. The target audience is anyone who enjoys suspense/thriller/horror films or stories, but would like to be immersed in the experience.

MP3
Audacity file
Source files
Map

Group members: Alex K, Alex O, Josh W
Voice actors: Sarah C, Alex K, Spencer K

Classroom Ambience

The class begins quiet. It’s early in the morning, so as the professor begins his well-prepared lecture, the students fall silent and submit to his low yet controlled voice, which projects loud and clear through the microphone. The echoes of louder spits of phrases bounce of the walls with a boom. The room is very spacious, so the slightest sound is amplified and multiplied. Whether it’s the occasional adjustment of a chair, the ruffling of papers, clicking of a keyboard, or a dropped pencil, the sound is a bump in the road for the tired students trying to pay attention, or catch up on a night’s lost sleep. As time goes by, the air grows thick with anticipation and restlessness. Soon, attention is quickly drawn to the source of any sound breaking ambient continuity. Students pack their books and laptops well before the end. When it comes, so do the voices of the students. Before long, however, even the sound of muffled discussion dies down; and so, once more; the room is engulfed by silence.

Sound Project Rough Stuff

Some [really] rough recordings completed after a minor setback. Just some general, creepy, industrial-like sounds of a style we hope to recreate in the final audio file. Uncanny ambience, echoed footsteps, and heavy metal doors are an effective means of creating a setting reminiscent of a horror film.

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Sound Assignment Idea!

For the sound assignment, my group came up with the idea of leading the class through a recording (or series of recordings), which depict the thrilling story of a person or pair of people making their way through a series of tunnels (rather, underground tunnels) in their attempt to escape from some pursuing threat. We’re not yet quite sure what the threat will be, but we were considering taking a more comic approach and having a zombie chase our victims. The recording would of course feature classic zombie-horror vocals, a horrified narrator (owner of the “found” recording), and background music, which would help set the mood. Having the ‘tour’ featured underground would allow us to experiment with various audio effects (echoes and fades) and different types of sound sources. We also plan to explore a wide variety of audio editing techniques, and hope that our theme is flexible in that it gives us much freedom in our approach.

The tour will take place in an underground tunnel linking the Ross building to the Chemistry building. It’s a long walk with many twists and turns, so we recommend students stay close to the group to avoid being lost.

Here are some top-notch photos of some of the hallways students will be passing through: