Author Archives: The Digital Canvas

Limetown Radio

I tuned into DS106 radio today on Wednesday February 5th and was impressed by all of the different moods presented through background sounds and ambient noise. The limetown episode was intriguing, and the clarity of the voices varied throughout as the background sounds changed. At some points, the ambient music conveyed they were outside while at other times the voices were more clear because they were in a car, and it shows the power of sound affecting location and was really interesting to listen to in a podcast episode.

Keep it Closed!

While creating my sound effect story, I had wanted to use Freesound to find a sound of a door closing to convey the person in my story leaving their place of residence. I initially wanted a simple sound, but found only 4 present, with none being suitable for the story I was trying to tell. I instead went for a sound that including grabbing keys which turned out well, but that thought never left my mind. Why were there no uploaded sounds of a normal door closing, an activity we do countless times every day? For the assignment Sound Effects, I was tasked with uploading a new sound to Freesound, which helped me come full circle back to the sound I initially wanted.

In hindsight I probably could have made this and used it for my story😅 but it worked out for the best regardless.

Moon Graffiti

The first thing I noticed in the recording was the contrast between the voices of the Astronaut and “home base”, as home base had multiple people in the background and was more clear to hear whereas the Astronaut sounded like communication over a walkie talkie. This was an immediate way to distinguish the two ends of communication and establish sides of each party. The crash then depicts a distinction from history creating an alternate timeline, but the sound being so loud conveys the seriousness of the event. The cut to a different voice lets the audience know the change of time and then cuts back to a more static like communication between the Astronauts. They talk about the crash and there’s many different sound effects, most notably the sound of a camera shutter taking a picture.

Overall, the sounds of this podcast created a hypothetical alternation to the Moon Landing that was hyper realistic and an insight to what could’ve been if the original astronauts crashed. The sounds and layering of voices included make it immersive for listeners and allow for a more detailed visualization of time and location of each person.

A 9-5 Story of Sound

Using many different sound effects to create a story really helped me expand my knowledge of how powerful sound can be and its impact on everyone. I chose to follow someone day at work to make a connection between us hearing millions of sounds everyday, and a typical day experienced by many. Creating a piece that may not be all sunshine and rainbows was my way of emphasizing the different uses of sound and how it can convey many different moods and tones, even without any use of words. Please listen to what I made and feel free to leave a comment on how you would rate it!

Weekly Summary-1/31

This week felt super long me. It dragged on for a while and felt never-ending, but that also helped me keep up with all of my work as I really get back into the swing of school after the long break. The 3 daily creates this week were fun, and I also enjoyed doing the 3 visual/design assignments for the week. This week I ended up choosing the Favorite Movie Quote, Destress & Color, and Shadow of A Doubt assignments. The Photoblitz was another really good way to look at my surrounding in a way I wouldn’t normally, and to also think quickly to fit in the 20 minute window (I got back to my computer after 23 minutes but those extra 3 minutes were traveling time). Furthermore, reviewing, commenting on, and voting for pieces I found well put together and cohesive was a great way to reflect on others’ work while also gaining some inspiration for the weeks ahead. Overall, the week felt a bit sluggish, but completing everything and taking time to reflect was very rewarding.

Daily Creates:

Capturing Moments

When looking at the prompts, I immediately noticed a theme of the outdoors, but was really excited about the abstract theme and what I could do with that. It was fun being able to walk around and take all of your surroundings in when you’re looking for something specific. It helped me to see everything and think of nature and where I’m walking in a manner different than I usually would.

So Close Yet So Far

Shadows are very interesting because of how they can change perception of how close or far something is, or even how big an object is. In this case, I saw two poles that were around 20 feet away from each other but their shadows were so close. That really inspired me because it shows the closeness and connection people can have even if they physically aren’t close. All it takes is some light to shine down on you so you don’t forget how close you really are to someone, and to be grateful for that. Because without any light you wouldn’t be able to tell.

Classic Blunders

I chose the movie The Princess Bride because it’s a classic movie that was a comfort movie for my sister. This in turn resulted in me being stuck watching it many times (the younger brother never wins the battle for the TV remote). There was one scene that stuck with me during the times I involuntarily watched the movie and it was the Battle of the Wits scene. I wanted to do this as a connection to my sister because it is because of her that I will watch this movie every once in a while.

A World of Color

After a very long and stressful day I had minimal motivation to do work of any kind. I was tired and groggy but knew I had to relax and get something done, but I didn’t know my assignment would consist of both. I was browsing through design assignments and the Destress & Color assignment caught my eye. It seemed fun and a good fit as it would give me a much needed mental reset. Downloaded the app and boom, there’s all of these choices and I don’t know what to choose. After a bit of browsing I went for lots of landscapes involving nature to fit with the calmness I was aiming to achieve while doing this assignment. It worked swimmingly, as I immediately got into a groove and zoned out until I was done and realized how pretty all of the pieces I had chosen were. I had a lot of fun with this assignment and was glad I could share the theme I had in my mind while selecting what to color.