Outcome

Intention

My idea for this project is to edit the piano piece, "Divenire" by Ludovico Einaudi, to add depth and movement along with a recording of my own voice (speaking an original poem written by one of my friends). I think this connects to modern sound media because the audio pieces that evoke emotion in the audience seem to be more successful than those that don't. This could potentially be an experiment in the power of speech using modern effects from audio technology.

So far, I am working on manipulating the piano piece itself to fit the tone and transition of the poem I chose. "Divenire" begins with a slow, almost melancholy, melody, yet gradually transforms to a faster, more uplifting tone. My poem also follows this trend in mood. However, I added tones with low and high frequencies to certain portions of this piano piece to physically involve the audience (these frequencies, nearly out of the range of the human ear, are not heard, but rather "felt"). 

As for the spoken poem, I have ideas to change the pitch of the recordings and add effects to somehow give the words more depth. At some parts, the voice will echo, fade, get fuzzy, etc. So far, this is a rough idea and is subject to change as I work on the project.

Context

Side note, the poem I chose was written by a track athlete who was going through a hard time. The ending of the poem was meant to mimic the sounds of a race (heartbeat, breathing, gunshot, crowd cheering). 

I was inspired through exploration of popular songs I could manipulate to create something new. I listened to plenty of piano songs and decided I could find a poem to fit the mood as it shifted. My outcome was further changed when I found a good friend of mine who was willing to let me use his original poem in the sound piece. Other artists probably don't reverse the songs themselves, like I've done in my work. I drew on a lot of famous speeches and videos on the internet. People delivered speeches and poems over the background of a lyric-less score. It added a depth to their words and I wanted to try it for myself. 

Process

My outcome is somewhat what I imagined it would be. I approached this exercise with zero knowledge of how to manipulate sound and how to speak to a metronome in such a way that was appealing. I encountered challenges with my shyness of recording my own voice. Also the fact that I would be editing my own voice and it seems that the recording would always sound "strange" just because I knew it was my own voice. I presented my rough drafts to my dorm mates and my roommate to get feedback on the voice edits. I had an idea of adding high/low frequencies in the audio where I wanted the effect to be greater, however these frequencies did not always play as desired depending on the stereo. I had to either remove these parts completely or lower their individual volumes to accommodate this. I had a very early idea for this project that I would play my ukulele on top of another music score, however this idea was quickly rejected due to my lack of composing skills. 

Product

I created a sort of sound piece that many people have described as similar to a nike commercial. It has the desired effect of a track race and the change of emotion throughout the piece. I created the sounds using silences and the effects offered on audacity. For my vocal recording, I used such effects to create a sort of announcement-over-the-radio style. I also reversed the piano sound track to stray from a complete theft of Ludovico Einaudi's piece.

Critique

I am mostly satisfied with the outcome of my work, given my absolute lack of familiarity with this type of art. However, I do wish I had the ability to time my voice with the piano piece better. Also I would have better blended the reversed portions with the original piece if I had known how to do such a thing. I would have liked to add the sound effect of footsteps on the track (but, being a track athlete myself, I was too picky in this area and chose to omit it entirely). Overall, the outcome is a good match to my intent.

Personal Reflection

I learned the basics of how to work with sound. This being my first experience with it, I want to go deeper into it and discover more tricks and tips to achieve the intended sound. I would definitely use a better recording device for the vocal portion, since I was told how to use a mic after I had already recorded and edited all of it. I also learned that there are so many other ways to convey art, aside from the visual aspect.