The readings have taught me a lot about the history of sound in media. Because of the internet, easier access to technology, and audiences’ changing expectations for media, the rhetoric role audio plays is changing rapidly. Sound is no longer limited to radio or movies; it can stand independently (like a Podcast) or go along with other clips (like Snapchat), and basically anyone can engineer sound at at any time.
Ben summed up the advantage that sound plays pretty well:
“Sound helps to intensify the emotions and sharpen the memory to remember certain things. Visual media, on the other hand, takes only the effort that the audience gives it. Therefore, there is a bigger possibility that the material will go right over the onlooker’s head.”
Similar to how you can upload photos to Google Maps to show the public what an area looks like, social soundscaping is sharing audio clips to share what a certain location sounds like.
For my audio practice, I created a soundscape of a University of Illinois student’s walk to class. This soundscape couldn’t be an actual walk to class, as the sounds appear too close to each other. For the listener’s sake, I created an abridged walk to class.
A student gets off the bus at Gregory at Library, then walks to Sixth and Gregory near the Business Instructional Facility. They wait for the walk sign to turn on, then cross Sixth street. The stop light has audio indicators to allow people with difficulty to know when they can cross, so the soundscape includes “walk sign is on to cross Sixth Street.” Similarly, the student waits to cross Gregory. To let the audience know there is heavy traffic on campus, I included a car horn and a signal from near Grainger: “Cross street with caution; vehicles may not stop.” Lastly, the audience can hear the door opening and a crowd chattering, indicating the student made it to class in the Business Instructional Facility.
I edited this with Adobe Audition. It has way more features than I know how to use, but it’s included in the bundle of Creative Cloud software I do use heavily. I created multiple audio tracks so I could layer sounds on top of each other and easily control audio volume. To create a sense of aural continuity between clips, I panned each clip in and out, ensuring there was never white noise between clips.
One thing I definitely need to improve on for the final project is audio quality. There was a ton of background noise, especially on the street crossing signals. Background noise is a natural part of life, but it distracts from the main story.