See me in my works
Cantonese Life
Memory Soundscape
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Concept
The initial inspiration comes from the local news: the Guangzhou government plans to remove an old building with significant historical meaning for the subway construction. This old building carries my childhood memory, so I’m so shocked when I know that I can’t see it anymore in the future, seeming to signify the disappearance of childhood. In this case, the whole soundscape conveys the theme of loss: the traditional lifestyle has been lost as society develops.
Based on my memory, I divide my soundscape into two parts: the first part represents the old days with the traditional lifestyle, while the second part indicates the urbanization. I think there should be a clear contrast in sound (tone, frequency, and volume) to show a great contrast. The contrast can be an embodiment of my feeling of shock when I notice a building that is important to me will be removed.
For the first part, I pick up sounds that convey traditional Cantonese style, including Cantonese storytelling through radio, Cantonese play, the sound of cooking and drinking tea (Guangzhou is famous for its dim sum), and people’s talking in a tea house as the background. For the second part, I use typical construction noise such as bomb, beat, strike, and machine. The soundscape ends with white noise, indicating that when old buildings are removed, our memory becomes a blank – people get no place for reminiscence.
Process 1: sound collection
I use two types of equipment for sound recording: the first one is the audio recording software named oCam installed on my laptop, and the second one is Tascam borrowed from the school’s equipment room.
The audio recording software is used for recording Cantonese storytelling on the online radio station. With the help of the Internet, people could hear radio from everywhere even though they are out of the range of the radio. Therefore, I go to a Cantonese online radio station and use the audio recording software to record a part of the story. Noticeably, since the storyteller has been dead for many years, his voice and storytelling are in the public domain that can be accessed by everyone. There’s no copyright issue for me to use his sound in my project. Moreover, I use the software to record the sound of Cantonese opera produced by the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera team. This is also an open resource with no copyright issue.
The other sounds are recorded by Tascam. Some sounds are collected indoors. For example, the sound of cooking, preparing food materials, filling the bottle with water, and the sound of bowls and chopsticks. These sounds can be made easily with objects at home, so I record these sounds at home. I record the background sound of conversation in Dian Du De (点都德) located in the Central Link Tower (世纪汇广场). Dian Du De is a Cantonese tea house brand, so I record the background sound at this shop to recreate the atmosphere of drinking tea in Guangzhou. For the noise of construction, I record it at a roadwork site near my house. I wait for workers there to operate machines, so I can record the noise.
The main challenge is how to precisely record the sound I want. Since I cannot borrow a shotgun, it is a challenge for me to record my targeted sound. I deal with this problem by using the following strategy: first, for the sound that can be recorded indoors, I ensure I record at a quiet time, such as midnight. Or I request my roommates to keep silent, which can create a relatively quiet environment for me to record sound precisely. Second, I will move Tascam closer to the object. Third, I use the noise deduction method when I do the sound editing, which can reduce the level of noise.
Process 2: sound editing
First, I should determine which track the sound should be placed. Putting sound in different tracks can create an effect of a remix. So, I try to arrange them into different tracks and check the effect. Also, putting sound on different tracks means that I can adjust all sounds in the track at the same time, which saves a lot of effort. Therefore, I need to determine which track should be placed.
Second, I do a rough edit by using the noise reduction function. Noises are inevitable for sounds I record outdoors; by using the noise reduction, I could emphasize the sound I want and avoid distraction led by the noise.
Third, add transition by utilizing fade-in and fade-out. When I drag two sounds close to the other, the screen will show a yellow curve, which indicates fade-in and fade-out. This function allows additional sound to add in fluently, or existing sound disappears smoothly. It won’t make audiences feel distracted or inconsistent.
The fourth, adjust the volume and stereo. Volume and stereo provide a more vivid sound effect. One example of my adjustment can be seen in the following picture – the blue line represents volume level while the yellow line represents stereo. By changing volume and stereo, I add varies to my soundscape.
To view a larger version, please click the picture.
The fifth, add effects. The effect can be added to a specific sound or the whole track; for me, I add effects to sound individual. I often use the effect Convolution Reverb, because it adds a special effect to the sound (such as sound in a classroom or an empty place) with a lot of default values.
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For me, the most challenging thing is to choose which effect to use, since Audition provides me with too many options. My solution is to go over the tutorial videos recorded by IMA Shanghai first since these videos introduce a lot of effects’ functions. After that, I googled the name of the effect I still don’t understand to learn what effect it creates. Finally, I try them on Audition one by one to gain a deeper understanding of using them.
Conclusion
If I have time, I will improve the project in the following two ways: first, I’ll try more effects to make my soundscape more vivid. Since Audition has too many choices, and I just gain a superficial understanding of using those effects, so most of the time I just randomly choose a default setting in effect and make a slight change. If I gain a deeper understanding of using Audition and understand how to change those default values, I think I could make much more various effects to improve my soundscape. Second, I will make improve the transition. For example, the transition from Cantonese storytelling to cooking is not that fluent, so I think I could improve this part when I master more skills.
On the presentation day, I receive feedback about my second part. The judge’s opinion is that, currently in my second part, the noise clear sounds in the first part rapidly. He thinks I can make sounds from part one and part two swaying for some time, like a battle, then those noises win, indicating the final result – urbanization. I think this is an interesting idea that I should experiment with it if I have more time. In my imagination, this is a very good idea that can make my soundscape more meaningful.