Blog: Listening to Soundscape Narratives

[benmiller314]

After completing the reading and listening portions of the homework after lesson 03, come here and record a few thoughts. What do you notice, i.e. what stands out while reading or listening? What does that suggest, or what does it make you wonder?

As always in blog posts, responding to each other is optional but encouraged: you can use the @ symbol to mention someone by name, and they'll receive a notification.

[racheljfu]

Listening to the soundscape narratives, I found it interesting how much information about the environment could be conveyed even without any dialogue, therefore creating a sense of place and insight into the characters' lives. For example, the "day-in-the-life" narratives featured similar sounds in common -- heavy traffic, alarm clocks, text messages, brushing teeth, the radio -- all of which not only are easily relatable to listeners but also shape their expectations of the piece to fit the tropes of the genre. I certainly expected them to follow these tropes, but even without much dialogue (especially with Day In-Day Out which had none at all), those expectations were subverted through the means of musical soundtrack, police sirens, and looping of certain sounds to create a sense of repetition or urgency.

[fatemaquaid987]

The soundscape narratives were very interesting to listen to. The audios not only conveyed an underlying story but also created an atmosphere, a different space around me. The minor details embedded in each of the audio tracks were spectacular. It almost felt like watching a movie with my eyes closed. It was interesting to note how even without any dialogue or conversation, the sounds were enough to narrate the entire story. The person is not in front of you, nor talking but you can still picture pretty easily what he/she is doing. Especially, in the "Day in-Day out" track, the sounds of brushing teeth, cooking food, pouring coffee, etc. could be so easily recognized. The juxtaposition of these sounds created a scenario which could be well understood. Just by listening to these sounds, I could picture the entire scene in front of me. Also interesting was how the sounds changed over the course of time. The continuity of events and motion could be well understood throughout the track.

[ajs1102]

Listening to the soundscapes was interesting because they used varying methods of conveying change, each equally effective in changing how I was viewing the current scenario without explicitly saying anything. For example, I loved how in the "Coffee Shop Conversations" track, the background chatter faded into a surreal music as the speaker daydreamed about space. An equally effective example of change in the soundscape was in the "Day in: Day Out" track, which used easily recognizable sounds to move the scenario from one location or activity to another, sometimes almost seamlessly. I think these are good examples of how differently soundscapes can be put together, while each one being completely valid and an interesting listening experience.

[emaur]

After listening to the soundscape narratives, I really enjoyed how they were all able to paint a picture of the multiple different settings they’re in -- solely with sounds. Each narrative pieced together mundane sounds that we may not pay any attention to on a day-to-day basis to tell a unique story and, at the same time, elicit certain feelings within the audience. “Coffee Shop Conversations” particularly stood out to me. The piece seamlessly juxtaposed consistency with randomness to create a logical story amid the chaotic atmosphere and disconnected conversations. The repetition of ordering a drink, pouring coffee, and jazz music, combined with the disconnected string of zany questions and comments throughout the piece perfectly captures a coffee shop atmosphere -- while leaving me wondering what weird comments I might hear on my next coffee run.

[fathimashabnam]

I really enjoyed listening to the different soundscape narratives. Each had its merits and aspects that I loved paying attention to- examples include the running and labored breathing in the Breaking Bad audio and the quietness and choice of music at the beginning of the Battlestar Galactica audio. The two that I would like to focus on for this blog are my reactions to Coffee Shop Conversations and Day In: Day Out. For the "Coffee Shop Conversations", the dialogue took me by surprise. For some reason, with the task outline that was mentioned, I expected the projects to mainly consist of background sounds whereas this audio clip seemed to have somewhat of a focus on the dialogue between customers and baristas. It was pleasantly surprising and rather intriguing to listen to the different types of conversations. I also liked the ways the speech sounds was played with (becoming softer/louder, cancelling background music for a moment, echo). I think it was a very well thought out and produced compilation. One missed opportunity (in my humble opinion based on my experience at coffee shops) was to include the barista getting the name of the order wrong. For the Day In:Day Out soundscape, it was fast paced, especially compared to the first clip. One specific sound that I loved was the radio/news person read the unemployment statistic. This, in combination with the redundancy and quick pace of the short sound clips, really painted a bleak picture- one of an individual who is living a rather mundane, repetitive and unexciting life. That ending though... definitely unexpected. With both these examples, it prompted me to think about what I would have added and what I have missed before when I have been in those situations.

[emmaknaub]

The really cool thing about the sound narratives is how, with each one, you could close your eyes and really feel as though you were in the scene that the artist created-- solely with sound. Sound, as shown in the sound narratives, can not only create space and time, but can also evoke strong feelings. For instance, in the example "Day In: Day Out," the artist not only laid out a scene that most people are able relate to, but she also created feeling solely through sound. With each sound, I was able to visualize the exact action that was taking place, and as they looped through, I could feel the monotony and dread that came with each action. She then changed it up and broke the monotony in a way that I was not expecting. The artist made clear and conscious choices with the sounds and layering that not only made for an audibly pleasing piece, but also a piece that tells a story in a way that makes the listener think about more than just the effects of sound.

It's crazy to me that so much can be done with sounds. I never really thought about how much sound really shapes my day-to-day life (or my perception of it) before I had to think about it. I'm really excited to be able to create and layer sounds that will tell a story and evoke emotions from the listener.

[cjc162]

After listening to the narratives, I noticed that background noises and sound effects are very important when creating a setting for audio. For example, in "Coffee Shop Conversations", without the background noises, the audio is a conversation and nothing more. However, when adding a cash register sound, background chatter, coffee machine effect, and background music, the scene has more of a setting to it. The register noise informs the listener that a transaction is taking place. The background chatter illustrates that the conversation is in a public place. The background music gives the sense that the setting is more relaxed and laid back. The various sound effects and background noises in the different pieces allows me to clearly paint a picture in my head and create an image to go along with the audio, rather than just processing the audio only.

[jlatiniii]

I was really impressed after listening to these sound narratives. I have no experience in hearing or making this kind of a narrative so now I'm really excited to get started on my own project. I felt like I was in the situation even though it was just sounds, which makes me realize how much of an impact sound has on your imagination. I also noticed that certain sounds stood out to me and triggered other senses or certain emotions. For example, in "Coffee Shop Conversations" I felt like I could almost smell the coffee being made, and in "Soundscape - Day In: Day Out" the Cathedral elevator noise made me feel stressed (reminding me of rushing to classes). The entire experience of listening to each sound narrative was similar to watching a movie because I was curious to hear what would happen next and was surprised by the twists that happened in the end. I definitely will aim to get these kind of feelings and emotions out of listeners when it comes to my own project.

[kevinikea]

The soundscapes are really interesting to listen to. They all convey a sense of place and establish that within the first few seconds of the audio starting. Overall, I found them kind of sad and depressing. Most of them felt like they had some kind of dark and twisted fantasy to them, which is something that I don't want to create when I make my soundscape. The way that the soundscapes just gave off a bad energy (not calling them poorly made, more or less trying to say they aren't that positive) was almost off putting in a way that is kind of ticky-tacky. It is quite impressive that they conveyed the feelings of the soundscape in such a short amount of time and quite efficiently. I want to be able to convey that sense of feeling quickly in mine as these do here. I found all of the choices of how to piece sounds together interesting as it is a puzzle coming together. I want to find my pieces of the puzzle which in turn will create a different kind of vibe for my soundscape altogether.

[ram716]

It's amazing how each student soundscape is able to vividly paint a scene for the listener. Each title also perfectly compliments and captures the scene of the soundscape. The title "Coffee Shop Conversations" implies many things: the sound & smell of coffee, the busy front register & barista, the chill background music, and surrounding & personal chatter. The creator delivered on each point, producing a soundscape that was familiar and comfortable but at the same time sporadic and fun. It was like sitting at the table with the characters.

In "Soundscape - Day In: Day Out", I expected a generic lifestyle scene. I had no other expectations beyond that. The creator did a great job of capturing generic repetitiveness. There's no unique sounds in the soundscape, everything is generic and repetitive. Even the car crash, the only non-daily event, uses audio that screams typical car crash and hospital scene. Also, unlike the other 3 soundscapes, the character in this scene doesn't have a voice, which seems like a choice made in order to complete the commonality of the character and to draw the listener into the life of the character first-hand rather than visualizing the scene in a third-person perspective.

"Hello" as a title suggests either familiarity or new connections while also possibly implying a mysterious and uncertain soundscape. The creator of this soundscape was able to bring to life both familiarity and mystery in her soundscape. Familiar and friendly greetings of hello to the pet & co-workers juxtaposed the unnerving & mysterious calls of the unknown number. This soundscape, unlike the previous two, intends for the listener to follow and connect with the character as the drama builds and finale unfolds.

"Soundscape - Expedition to Planets Unknown" relays an adventurous, daring, and exciting story. The sound of communication equipment, the classic countdown to lift off, and the back-and-forth between command and astronaut are all fitting audio for the soundscape. This soundscape was much more dialogue-driven than the other three. This isn't really surprising considering there's not much sound in space, let alone familiar sound. The dialogue of the unfamiliar environment was a very useful bridge that connected the familiar sounds of human voices, technical equipment, and atmospheric music to create this soundscape. In comparison, the Battlestar Galactica sound file is much harder to piece together. There are a minimal amount of sounds and each sound is critical in an attempt to construct what's going on. A soundscape is created by plucking the Galactica intro audio, but it's incomplete without its visuals and exposition, while "Expedition to Planets Unknown" builds a full scene with audio alone.

These were great examples that made me consider tone and perspective of the scene, the necessity (or lack thereof) of dialogue, the ability of audio to convey more than just a single sense, and the ability of the title to preview and capture the scene.

[Ruhi35]

I did not know what a soundscape was and had never listened to one before, but this was such an interesting experience. They really create a mood, even if there's no visual stimulation, and I found myself being able to easily imagine myself in the space the sounds were from. This kind of reminds me of how even though we can kind of take music and sounds in movies for granted, the truth is that without the background music and sounds in movies they would be so bare and their ability to transport you to a different world would be diminished. It also made me think of how much we rely on our sense of sound to gather our bearings. For example, I worked in a coffee shop for a while, and so the coffee shop soundscape was immediately familiar because of the chatter and the music in the background before the voices even started ordering coffee. When the visual stimulation and all of my other senses (other than sound) were stripped away as well, it helped me to see how much of creating an atmosphere is dependent on sound as well.

[epesetsky]

As my first experience with a soundscape, I found it fascinating the way these sounds captured a visual scene for me in order to take in the whole experience. The creators developed a plan for the listener that would keep them wanting more, wondering: What is going to happen next? This aspect is quite important for me because as a visual learner, I find it difficult to concentrate and keep interested in solely stimulation by sound. I think the idea of a soundscape is quite interesting because I want to place it somewhere between music (sounds/noises) and a podcast of some kind (with the voices and storytelling). These soundscapes tell a story within only a few minutes, compacting some kind of message to the listener into a short span, helping keep them interested rather than dragging it on. The picture each listener paints in their head alongside the sounds they hear might differ, making the process individual and interesting to each.

[wsc9]

I'm honestly surprised with how much contextual information i was able to gather from simply listening to the audio files. All of the background noises helped draw me into the greater narrative that was going on. Interestingly, in the conversation in the coffee shop, the background noise also helped me to be more focused and attentive on the conversation, because it was placing it within a real world scenario instead of just in empty space. I was also impressed at how well I was able to visualize what was happening in scenarios such as Day in Day Out, and Hello, where the persons entire day was played out by sound. i found that the more background noise in the file, the easier it was for me to follow, and immerse myself in the narrative. I believe that immersion is key in these short audio files, because the 4 minute length really limits the amount of time available to actually tell the story. Also, the more background noise present, the easier it was for me to create a mental picture of what was happening in the space, especially when there wasn't an overlying voice over narrative to accompany the soundscape.

[jadenash21]

After listening to the files assigned for today, I am most shocked by how my emotions changed while listening to each clip. For example, listening to the first clip, I felt like I watching a suspense or action movie. I could picture someone recklessly driving a car, crashing, and other subsequent action building. Even though I was not literally watching this scene occur, my nerves changed just based on what I was hearing. Listening to these clips brings up the importance of creating an effective soundcape. One does not need visuals to understand the place, setting, and emotion of the scene if a person captures every element of the scene in the soundscape. Along with properly capturing the sounds of each scene, the listener can also use contextual clues to understand the soundscape. Although creating a soundscape seems simple, it is interesting how detailed the scape needs to be. When I create my soundscape, I will make sure I choose a setting that is soothing.I would love to feature an outdoors location where I can focus on nature and relaxing sounds.

[serkeight]

In each of the audio files it was interesting to see how the layering of audio played into the overall atmosphere that was created. Music and white noise are aspects of our auditory experience that we don't notice, but allow for there to be depth in the space we inhabit. I thought each of the audio files captured depth well and it was amazing to witness how a few simple sound bytes could so clearly mold an image of a 3D space in your mind's eye. Additionally the different use of sounds contributed to my mood shift. In "Expedition to Planets Unknown", the lack of music helped convey the emptiness of space, but when there was a light background score I could contemplate the vastness of it. These tools in tandem created a more realistic listening experience.

[nicolebulsak]

After listening to the soundscape narratives, I found them insanely interesting. As a writer, listening to the soundscapes was like visually writing. When writing you have to be able to tell a story without fully saying every visual that is happening. You have to be able to create a scene within a scene and sometimes that means not using words. That's what I found interesting about the soundscape narratives. I felt as if I was living in the moment of the narrative. The day in and day out one made me feel like I was 5 years into my future, with my job, trying to get through the day to day activities. The lack of visuals was covered by the physical sounds of what those visuals make.