Audio Reflection

Hearing this podcast gave me a feeling as if I am walking on Moon myself, together with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The narrative was so involving that it felt like a film unfolding in my mind. But, this wasn’t the victorious Moon landing we’re familiar with it depicted frightening “what could have been” situation that nearly took place. The acting of Matt Evans, Ed Herbstman, and John Ottavino along with the writing and production by Jonathan Mitchell gave an uncanny real feel to everything.

What left a deep impression on me was hearing the speech prepared for Richard Nixon, meant to be used if Apollo 11 mission had resulted in failure. It was unsettling to listen to those words being spoken, with the knowledge that they might have been imprinted in history. This made me reflect upon how perilous space exploration truly is and continues to remain so today. The difference between success and tragedy was very thin.

The thing which made this story feel more impactful was the strength of audio storytelling. In absence of any visuals, I found myself creating the scenes in my own head, and somehow it became even more intense that original one then started off . The sounds from radio transmissions hinting on cracking noise, changes in voice tone, an a quiet space with strange feeling it all drew me much closer than before. The absence of pictures was not a restriction; it was the element that made it so captivating.

This podcast made me remember the uniqueness of storytelling through sound. It doesn’t just narrate a tale it causes you to experience it. You are compelled to interact, visualize and enter the moment at hand. In a narrative such as this, where history might have turned disastrous, that experience continues to linger with you even after the story concludes.

Soundtrack to Krissy’s Life

I think this assignment was a really good exercise for developing my character’s personality. I was inspired by Live it Up With Liv’s version of this assignment and I thought it looked fun so I wanted to give it a try. For this playlist there were a few elements I wanted to apply: country, independent woman, and wanting more. For the country element, you can see that in songs like “Fancy” by Reba, “The Other Side of the Door” by Taylor Swift, and “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”. I think she would like these songs because she works on a farm in a small town so country music is in her roots. The independent woman part can be seen in “Woman” by Kesha and “You’re Just a Boy (and I’m Kind of the Man)” by Maisie Peters. Krissy is a confident woman and that confidence will be important to have on her mission. The last factor of songs that give off the feeling of wanting more can be seen in the song “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast as well as “1985” by Bowling for Soup. I think the sense of yearning for more is a relatable feeling in the Innocent Bystander Archetype. In the beginnning of her story, she feels that she is meant for more but by the end, after all the action, she will be changed for better or for worse. Some songs have overlapping themes. For example, “Girl in a Country Song” by Maddie & Tae and “girl i’ve always been” by Olivia Rodrigo shows both elements of country and independent woman. Additionally, I made Krissy with very similar interests to mine, she is a strong, independent woman, so of course I want to feel represented by her. While reflecting on this assignment, I realized that Krissy has very similar music taste to me. I think in Live it Up With Liv’s assignment, Liv went out of her way to find a healthy mix of music that she regularly listened to and music that fit the vibe of her character. In constrast, this assignment went very fast for me because I would think “Oh! This song I like fits, and this one too!” so I see a lot of myself in this playlist. As I mentioned earlier, this assignment was a great way for me to develop my character’s personality, and in turn I hope anyone who reads this has a better understanding of who Krissy is.

Sound Effect Story

For this assignment I chose to start off kinda basic with the waking up part, but I wanted to capture waking up and going to work. Since I will be graduating soon I thought it would be fitting to make a audio story of the beginning of your day/ heading to work. All in all assignment was fun and good practice. I used FreeSound and found audios that suited what I was looking for, then put them all together using Audacity.

Moon Graffiti

Moon Graffiti by The Truth Podcast did an amazing job with the into sounds creating an immersive audio as if I was there to hear all the sounds from the moon landing. All the audio they used came together amazingly to create a story. This is a great way to use only audio to create a story. The eerie sound effects did a great job of creating an atmosphere of the unknown

Do you see what I hear

We had our first night of collaborative listening on ds106radio tonight with a small but active group. We listened to the tale of Limetown, and heard voices and background music used to great effect. What I find more interesting though are the subtle noises, and just how much they let us visualize the scene, whether it’s day or night, or the size of the room the characters are in, or who’s on the other end of the phone.

We could also ask, What makes this tech noir? There is a mystery, the disappearance of the entire population of a small town, and powerful unknown forces behind it. The main character is an investigative journalist who seems to be getting caught up in a situation beyond her control. Not exactly an innocent bystander, but adjacent to the archetype. Thanks to @PreRandom and @ryee for joining in, and we hope to me more people join Tuesday evening.

Limetown – Who allowed me to listen to this?

Tuning in the ds106 radio for the first time, I was lost at first. I wasn’t sure what I was listening to, nor the type of conversion we were supposed to have on discord. So I brought out a coloring book and listened while coloring.

Mid first episode of Limetown things became interesting. I noticed a lot of comments that the professor was making was on the sound design of the show so I started to listen for those. I thought that the actors voices sounded very clear so I thought it was an AI generated show but after doing a quick google I learned that this podcast is a production of Two-Up which is the same people who created the podcast musical 36 Questions starring Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton, and this news made me even more excited that Limetown is a production with actors and a fully thought out creative team and storyline.

I listened to this podcast with a good friend who is not in this class and we were having the time of our lives listening to this. My friend doesn’t necessarily like horror and thriller genre things and I really only read them but this podcast was so tense that by the end of the second episode we were screaming and tensing our bodys. The production was so well done from the acting to the sound effects and background music. So much of the sound design went into the ambiance of the podcast and set the scene in so many ways. The sound also allowed for the listeners to fully picture what is happening and it was like watching a movie without a screen.

Something else that I pointed out was how well done the script is. The premiss is that we are listening to a reporter, so she is recording things while they happen to her, recounting every detials she encounters which makes sense in the world of the podcast as well as benefiting the listener in picturing the scene. This is something that is prevalent in 36 Questions as well and its something I really like about Two-Up productions.

Overall, this experience had taught me a lot more about storytelling and how powerful audio storytelling is. I have a new appreciation for foley artists in addition to my already existing admiration.

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!

After Dinner

Tell a story using nothing but sound effects. There can be no verbal communication, only sound effects. Use at least five different sounds that you find online. The story can be no longer than 90 seconds. Another example (by a UMW student): http://ds106.us/wp-content/audio/audio_story.mp3

Link to assignment: https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/sound-effects-story/

For this assignment, I used Soundtrap to combine different sounds and create a story. The scene follows a woman as she exits a restaurant, walks to her car, gets in, and drives home.

I really wish this assignment could have been longer than 90 seconds because I wanted to extend the story and include more sound clips, but I kept it within the time limit. I sourced all the audio from Freesound, and it was great to explore the variety of options available.

After selecting the sounds I wanted, I imported them into Soundtrap and applied fade-in and fade-out effects to ensure a smooth and natural flow. Once I was satisfied with the final result, I exported and uploaded the project to Soundtrap.

I hope you enjoy this very short story!

Soundtrack to Veronica’s Life

When I saw this assignment, I immediately knew I wanted to do it. But, I wanted to do something a bit different since I already love making playlists for a specific experience and wanted to challenge myself a bit. So, I decided to make a playlist for my course character, Veronica Malone. I go more in depth about her in my blog post, my Course Character, but basically, she is a detective, and has a hard-shell personality with a strong moral compass. When thinking about what music she would listen to, I knew she would like older pop and rock bands, such as Fleetwood Mac, No Doubt, and the Animals. She would also like classic singers such as Nancy Sinatra and Nina Simone. The genres do range a little, going from rock, alternative, pop, jazz, or blues. She likes the complex emotions that these songs address, as she can relate with the high-intensity field that she works in.