Experimental Sound

My inspiration is from Dull Gret which is about a woman called Meg leading an army of women to the Mouth of Hell. I did some research online and found out the serious meaning behind it. There is a play about it and I really like a clip from YouTube:





The Monologue of her made me want to do a voice over in my final sound. However, I don't really like the idea of me editing my voice so I changed my mind to do the piece in my perspective, imagining if I am in the world of Dull Gret. I was really tempting to make a full story out of sound but I was reminded that we only have one to two minutes so I made the story short.

At one point I thought of doing the language thing again but it won't suit my theme...

I have two version of story in my mind before I do my recordings:

1. Me as a follower fighting with the others against different monsters then got eaten by the Mouth of Hell.

2. Me as a outsider witnessing the army approaching to the Mouth and got eaten.

It will be perfect if I can do the first one but I think of the second one as a backup in case I can't do the fighting sounds. As for the ending, I want the Mouth of hell to swallow the army because it can be a open ending that the army may die or end up in hell.

Recording

First I did some recording using the Zoom H4n.

From the painting, I can see elements of wind and fire. I recorded the wind in the field behind the University. For the fire, I used the plastic wrappings of a big Easter egg, crushing it in different ways with my hands. Then I wanted some footsteps so I recorded myself walking and running. Later, with my keyboard and the software Garageband I made a background noise for the environment. I made two version. One is scarier and one is more of a feeling of religious. The scarier one end up in the final edit because the religious one sounds less experimental to me although I still want the feeling of it. I am not sure if religious is the right word to describe it but I want to describe the feeling of a will to travel a long way with Meg out of faith. Below is the one that is not used in the final edit.


When I have my tutorial with James the sound tutor I showed him a rough edit and ask some questions. The background sound made by keyboard contains some elements of musical instruments in it so I am not sure about if it is allowed for the experimental sound piece. After listening to it, James said it is fine. Then I asked about booking out the sound booth so that I can do other sounds like monster sounds and fighting sounds. He told me about a new programme called Dehumanizer in the booth so that I can play with it to do the monster voices. Also, he said I can use cutlery to do do the fighting sound by tuning it to a lower pitch.

The day in the sound booth I started with the Pro Tools programme.

 

The sounds are recorded in different variations and left space in between so that it is easier for cut and selection later in the edit. Sorry I didn't take photos of the object used in the booth. 

 Then I recorded with the Dehumanizer:

The "Bones" are me cracking the bones of my wrists to simulate the bones being crushed when the monsters eat them. "Breathing" is me trying to simulate the breathing of my character but it didn't end up in the edit cause it is too much and disturbing. In "Breathing", I also did the screaming that ends up in the final edit. In "Churchbell" I used a random metal in a shape like a coat hanger, and I used a spoon to hit it. "Eating" is simulating the voice of monster eating. "Environment" is me using two bricks to do some sliding and hitting but didn't end up in the final edit cause the background noise I made with keyboard is enough. The "sword fighting"s and "sword swing"s is me doing sounds with two metal bars and some cutlery but didn't end up in the final edit because I couldn't make them sound like the fighting sounds in Audition. So the story line will be version 2.

 Editing

I tried to make the "Churchbell" sounds more like a real church bell with the right amount of selected Hz and more Echo.

 

As for the eating noise I made it lower in pitch in the edit to make it sounds more like a monster.

After some allocation of sounds, and adjusting the volume and pan the final sound is like this:

Reflection

I really enjoyed the project that I am able to use my imagination out of just music. I choose Dull Gret because it is so magical that I feel like I can do anything. I am happy about the Dehumanizer but I am disappointed of myself not been able to figure out how to do the fighting scene. I learnt a lot about recording and Audition and hope I can do more in the future.