Inspiration;

Dominik Uulberg is a German DJ/producer of Electronica and Tech House music. He's relevant to this particular project due to the fact he uses recording of nature and integrates them with his music. From the croaking frogs to the chattering of birds, Domink Eulberg always finds enough room for singing animals in his songs. That can be seen clearly if you look at some of his track tittles, such as 'Basstolpel' (Bass Gannet) or H20.;

Dominik Eulberg - Wenn Es Perlen Regnet by maghella

More Pre-Production;

After our tutorial, it was decided that the work needed more direction. As it was, the 1.50 of the work so far sounded more like a messy collection of recordings. It lacked any narrative and didn't serve well as a representation of a space. It was thought that the use of a voice over would add enough of a thread and be used to lead the listener through the journey of a passenger.

The first picture below is a script we wrote that would be recorded as a voice over, this would then be edited to make it sound like the thoughts of the passenger, hence its broken and minimal nature. Below the script in the same picture is the list of crucial recordings we needed the second time we went to the station, many of which we had previously captured, however armed with the riffle mic we planned to record them for a second time, only with the ability to get far more detail.

The second picture is a revised time line, here we've taken into account the voice over and structured it accordingly, its this copy that we will use as a guide when it comes to editing in Sound Track Pro.

Analysis of 'Journey through a train station'

Here are a number of screen grabs during the editing process of the work, I hope they portray well decisions made and techniques used in order to get the results we did.

The screen grab directly below depicts how we used a change in high frequency EQ to suggest entering an enclosed space, the way in which the effect raises and lowers over a period of a few seconds is meant to represent the elevator doors opening and respectively closing. The effect of this is a clear audible progression from space to space. Not just this, but we have used a pan during the period where the doors close, making the sound move from left to right is another hint at what is going on in reality.  

The one below here shows the extensive use of panning we've used in places, here I've wanted to pan the atmosphere sounds to suggest a movement through people.

Sense of space; Planning

Here is a suggested time line for the 'Sense of space' project, while this is by no means a strict plan of how we're to structure the three minuet piece, it was useful as it gave me a real idea of how many potential layers there may end up being. It was also useful to think about what sounds i may hear when going to record and then in what order I should arrange them to best portray a journey through the space. 

From looking at this rather messy time line, i think its clear enough to see that I plan to divide the three minuets into two. The first half being the entry into the atrium and the second being outside on the platform its self. I anticipate that the sounds I'll hear in the two areas of the station will be distinct enough to allow the listener to realise a movement through the space. I plan to add in audible hints to aid this supposed movement such as doors opening and closing, footsteps on different ground surfaces and a different 'atmos' track (amongst other things).    

Sense of space research - Chris Watson

Chris Watson 


After being introduced to Watson in class, I thought it useful to do a bit of my own research on him in hope that his work and knowledge would aid me in my sense of space brief. 


Originally from Sheffield, Chris is best known for his sound recording, specialising in natural history, hes worked up an impressive career including working with the likes of David Attenborough and Bill Oddie. Not only this, but he has also released several albums comprised of field recordings and collaborated with several other artists.

This short documentary follows Chris during a recording session, he begins to explain the process of recording and the reasons behind his love of it. It's inspirational for my work as one of the main points Chris makes is to experiment with were you record the sound from. He explains that by experimenting with this element of recording your able to discover sounds that humans wouldn't otherwise ever hear, in this case, using hydrophones to pick up vibrations of the ocean under the sand, or by getting low to the ground  and exploring the "mini jungle" of scrub land growing on the sand dunes. 


If I apply this approach to my work I too will be gain access to sounds not before heard, by changing the proximity of the microphone to the action completely different sounds will be picked up and a whole new dimension of my chosen space will be opened up to me.

Below are further examples of his work. All inspirational for the reason that they are layered to re-create a chosen space. His work does very well to transport the listener right to the scene he's trying to portray, a feat that I'll be striving for in my work. 


Guanacaste


Wilddawn

A Journey Through a Train Station

As I should have said before posting the 'London sound survey' link, my partner and I have decided to set our three minute 'atmos' track in the Sheffield train station. We plan to create a piece that can be recognised as a journey through the space, starting as you enter through the sliding doors into the main atrium and ending on the platform edge about to board a train, or on board and as the train pulls away. Due to this narrative we anticipate the piece staring out quite bleak and quiet, then as we move further in to the station, more and more layers being added, resulting in the end becoming quite busy and cluttered. We plan to create the narrative thread through the use of foot steps, voice overs or platform announcements, we are hoping these elements will be adequate to suggest a character either rushing for a train or simply moving through the space.    

Below are some picture of the space we will be trying to represent;

The interior of the atrium

The main entrance to the atrium

These pictures alone gives an indication to what the finished piece will sound like, the space in which we aim to represent is large and open, suggesting a lot of echoes and it will be relatively busy at all times, suggesting quite a busy atmosphere. One part of the station that you can't see within these pictures are the two cafe's, being quite dominant in the station we plan to make use of them also.  

On the platform its self you find all that you expect to find, lots of people, tannoys, staff members, pigeons and most obviously, trains. We hope that all these elements will find a space to occur within the three minuet piece. 

Platform edge

Sense of space

While researching for my own recording, i stumbled across the website 'London sound survey'. It has a huge number of sound maps of locations all over London, as well as 'sound actions' of everyday noises, in their words, "Sound action recordings are of sounds designed to have an effect on others, including situations where many people make sounds together for some common goal. Often they're of voices, but they also include sirens, bells, fireworks and more." In the case of this website, the sounds include anything from a street seller flogging in Wembley, to a platform announcer on the Underground. These many sound maps and actions havbe helped inspire my project by showing my whats possible in the way of recording in train stations, or in this case the Underground. It has also given my an idea of what other sounds we're likely to pick up while trying to record specific things, such as foot steps, voices, announcements and the general 'buzz' of any busy space.

(London Sound Survey )