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Sound studio

Work to have done:

Plan for the day:

Today is all about working on your individual projects! Mix sounds, apply effects, watch relevant tutorials. I know your lives are busy; take advantage of this dedicated time free from other distractions and obligations to move your piece forward.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that you’re working in a shared space, in a studio. If you have questions, or you want feedback on something, you have your classmates, your instructor, and your TA on-hand. Try not to monopolize anyone’s time, but do be open to the possibility of getting farther together than you could on your own.

A few seeds of ideas I want to plant, having listened through as much as I could:

Consider adding a voiceover.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but as I've puttered around various places by myself in the last week I've noticed that I don't stay silent: I mutter as I putter. Even if it's just short reactions to things I see ("nice!") or read ("really? really."), even if it's not words ("hmm!"), I tend to narrate my day.

All of which is to say, if your soundscape takes your listeners along on a ride inside someone's head, but you haven't yet included any human voices, I'd at least give some thought to whether a word here or there might help. (Note that the voice doesn't have to exist in the same timestream as the events of the narrative: think about some of the retrospective commentary in the NPR reading I had you do, especially the pieces featuring Steve Inskeep and Robert Siegel.)

Consider adding a transcript.

If you're working off of a script, as a number of you seem to be, please do consider turning it into a readable transcript you can place alongside the sound file: it's not only more accessible for the temporarily or permanently hearing-impaired, but it also makes your piece easier to search for (and within).

I forgot to send an email with examples (I blame this illness), but I can fix that now! NPR's This American Life does a great job, and they're relatively straightforward in format, too. Why not check out some of their recommended episodes, including a primer for listeners new to the show that tipped me off to this one on camp. (I was excited by this description: "This one drops you in a place and immerses you there so quickly and happily. Just a deeply cheerful trip into childhood summertime.") Or, for something closer to the length of what you'll be working on – a special episode with 20 acts in 60 minutes?

You access the transcript from the top of each full episode page, but you can jump to specific sections, or "acts," when choosing what to listen to.

Consider how you'll signal it's over.

Endings are tricky. In an essay, I'd say they usually depend on beginnings: completing some thought you'd left open, or answering a question. In stories, there's often an epiphany (new insight) or a denouement, a return to a previous situation but with the characters' perspectives on it now changed. You can try those things with soundscapes, too, but there are added elements: if you have music, you can make sure to "resolve" back into the root chord, or to complete a rhythmic sequence; if you have an ongoing event, you can fade out; if you have a surprise or joke ending, you can signal intentionality by muting the backgrounds to draw attention to the one track that remains.

There are lots of ways to do this. But if you're satisfied with the overall shape, endings are one place where you can put a little extra polish in!

Consider adding a title.

A title can provide a location, a clue, a genre, a commentary; it can make or unmake listener expectations. What will you call your soundscape narrative? Where will you let listeners know that name? (In the README? In a recorded introduction to the sound file itself, either with or without a cold open?)

Okay, now go to!

Homework for next time

  • By 11:59pm on Sunday, complete – at least for now – your soundscape narrative. Your repository (on GitHub or in a Box folder shared to me) should include:
    • Your most up-to-date layered Audacity project file (.aup)
    • The _data folder associated with that Audacity project
    • A series, now, of screenshots showing your Audacity project in progress. (Think about what moments are worth remembering as you go: where did you level up, or realize something, or get stuck?)
    • An updated ASSETS.md (or CREDITS.md) file reflecting what you actually used, including documentation of any outside sources and your permission to use them (e.g. explicit licenses like CC, or fair use)
    • An updated README.md file introducing your soundscape narrative to a new audience. Give your piece a title! Make it something to live beyond this assignment, if you can. :¬)
  • By Tuesday’s class, write a prose reflection that incorporates images from your feedback and screenshots of your Audacity project. As explained in the soundscape prompt, this should include:
    • At least 500 words
    • Your own assessment of how you met the baseline criteria and goals for the unit, as well as any aspirational criteria as appropriate
    • At least one photograph of a notecard with feedback you used (and please say how)
    • At least one or two screenshots of your work in progress (ideally, related to the discussion in the previous two bullets)
  • Post your reflection to the course site’s Issue queue, to make it easier to embed images.
    • If you want to then copy the source code into a file in your repo called reflections.md, I won’t stop you!
    • If you feel strongly that you’d rather keep your reflection private, you can email it to me instead. But my default assumption is that we learn from each other as much as from ourselves, so I hope you can find a way to write publicly about your experience with this project.
  • Want to see a sample reflection? You could do worse than to look at Fatema Quaid’s notes on “A Haunted Halt” or Tyller Barner’s on “Coffee Shop Conversations.” (I would point out, though, that Barner’s is more than three times the minimum length. That’s not necessary, or expected.)