Digital Audio I
Note: Listen to the work on this page using headphones or a hi-fi sound system for the best experience.
On the outside my anxiety is silent, but internally it can be loud and drowning. This piece illustrates and captures the sound of my inner monologue when I am trying to get to sleep. It works in tandem with my sculpture “19 feather mattresses to test your sensitivity,” a riff on the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. The audio is muffled, giving the impression of being embedded in between mattresses, so that the sound recording is the “pea,” a representation of my anxiety.
Helen Dolan
I chose to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic as it is the most horrendous event to hit the world since WWII. We all hear the daily numbers of the cases and fatalities around the world and in the United States. I chose to see how lives are affected at a more personal level in the midwestern town of Farmington, MN; similar to many towns in the United States I chose three different sectors to try to get a good representation of the impact.
I visited and interviewed staff members at a Church, a local small business owner, and the Principal and a Teacher of a Middle school. The project is not flashy, nor sexy, however; I hope I’ve done a good job in presenting the hardship and sacrifice of the people interviewed as they, along with us, confront this virus.
John Freeburg
For this project, I was interested in the paranormal as a way to gain insight into how beliefs form. My podcast uses storytelling as the method for accomplishing this goal and contains unusual stories from my friends and family. Fear mixed with lore passed down through generations can be a powerful combo for making people form beliefs without evidence. However, discrediting paranormal stories altogether would also be a loss because humanity is and seems to have always been deeply affected by their perceived experiences with the otherworldly.
Alyssa Osborn
Assignment: Record your stream of consciousness thoughts daily for one week, then edit the voice recordings to illustrate a nonlinear human thought process.
My piece, What Dwells Within, was created with the design of the frightened emoji in mind. The sounds that exist in the soundscape feel so familiar to what we are used to hearing around us, yet something about them feels off. The constant hum in the background of everything, along with odd footsteps around the place further adds to this feeling of unease. The strange, vaguely electronic sounds clash with the visceral, squishing sounds of whatever, or whoever, is lurking about. No one truly knows what lies within this place, and maybe it’s better off that way.
In this project, I sampled found sounds to create an angelic soundscape to represent the angel emoji. I used a lot of reverb and delay to create the ethereal atmosphere. For example, I was able to use a key card beep as a pseudo-singing sound after a lot of editing. I also used pitch and speed changes for the melodic elements of the project. My hope was that the sounds I put together exude peace as well as a bit of an otherworldly vibe.
For this project I wanted to encapsulate how I study and do my homework. I always have to have something in the background, like music or white noise. I knew for this project I could not use real music so I had to use the sounds that surround playing records and listening to music. These sounds were created with amps, vinyl, record sleeves, etc. and I recorded other sounds that surround me when I’m doing my homework, like pages turning and pens/pencils writing. I made the recordings in the same place where I do my homework and listen to music in an effort to capture the tone and mood of that space.
Aidan Stromdahl
I have always been fascinated with the concept of “Best Friends,” and the overall variety of people who are close to you that shape and mold you into the person you become.
For this project, I interviewed four of my new and old best friends. I asked them a variety of questions to hear their opinion on best-friends and how close relationships come and go throughout your life. I knew from the start of this project that I wanted to make it nostalgic and give my audience a little insight into the fantastic relationships I have been apart of. In addition, I recorded one of my best friend’s original guitar pieces to serve as background music.
Overall, I wanted to portray how beautiful friendships are even if they don’t last forever. All of my friends mean so much to me and this project was a reminder of how grateful I am for that. I hope it makes you think of the relationships you have had in your life, and how they have shaped you into the person you have become.
Ali Kimball