SAVANNA LUMLEY - AUDIO CULTURES ASSESSMENT 2

Location The location of this sound walk gives the listener a glimpse into what it’s like as a UTS student with the focus in Building 1 and 3, Central building and the Music building. The walk can begin from any entrance to either building with the listener starting off with traffic and street sounds. When walking into building 3, The listener is greeted with music from an echo like guitar filling the whole building and small riffs scattered throughout. This ambient sound represents the music students, the creativity and also peace within the building. When crossing over the bridge to the central building, the listener can hear the sounds of rain which is a very common sound to experience during this season and especially recently. If the listener enters building 1 through the main entrance, they will be greeted with the natural sound of some distant chatter and people passing by. Then by walking down to The Underground, there will be sounds of people playing ping pong, chattering and dissonant piano sounds which is placed near where the piano is in The Underground. By walking through the left of the building, the listener will hear sounds ranging from guitar riffs, chords and synths. Then on the right side of the building, the listener will hear sounds of study through the keyboard typing, some chatter and more guitar echoes. When leaving the building, the listener will experience the sound of leaving to go home, by passing by the sound of a bike ringing its bell and finally the sound of a bus arriving and getting onto the bus.

Context The context of this walk was inspired by our teacher who pitched the idea to us in the early days of working on the assessment. He suggested that recording around campus would be an interesting approach as we can add our own spin as to what it was like being a student there which then prompted us to think about our own individual aims as to what goes on in our head when walking through the campus.

The Creative Aims The aim of my sound walk was to give the listener an experience that is realistic yet ambient but the aim is also a small insight into my own head when walking through campus of small little guitar riffs scattered around that I come up with whilst walking from class to class. The natural sounds of the chattering and walking through campus can invite the listener into the shoes of a student and what they hear on a daily basis but also the ambient sounds such as the guitar chords and echoes gives the listener a calming walk and experience.

The Sound Materials When recording our sounds, the group used a vast array of sound materials. The main recording material that we used for the natural sounds was the Zoom Shotgun Microphone that provided us with good quality recordings. The sounds recorded through this mic can include the bike bell, air vents, rain, doors and footsteps. We also pressed record when just walking through and around the campus to create that natural feel that can be heard on the border of building three and walking into building 1. We used a midi to record some synth and piano sounds and we did this by holding the microphone up to the speakers in an edit suit studio which allowed for a distorted and dissonant tone colour. When recording my own guitar sounds, I used an interface which was plugged into my computer in my home studio and used Pro Tools to add some reverb effects to create the echo feel.

The Technical Process The technical process following the recording process was personally a long and confusing journey. With Echoes.xyz being a completely new program to me it took quite a while for me to wrap my head around how things worked. To edit my recorded sounds and ensure they were WAV files, I put them into Pro Tools and converted them through the clip list. With my interface recorded sounds, after adding the reverb plug-ins, I also had to convert them into WAV files to ensure the best quality of sound. I had created many drafts of my walk that I used as practice and also a way to figure out what I wanted to portray to my listener, and eventually, I begun on my final project. This was done by creating sound elements in different shapes which would fill certain areas. These shapes were circles or drawn shapes that covered an entire area, such as the entirety of building three, bus stops and traffic areas. For areas such as The Underground, I tried my hardest to find the most accurate spot to place my sounds which was hard, but I believe I have placed them in the right space. Overall, the technical process was aimed to create the most geographically and realistic soundwalk as possible so that the listener can experience a truly authentic experience of walking through UTS.