My fondest childhood memory was:
Archive for the ‘AudioAssignments’ Category
Fondest Childhood Memory
Monday, July 30th, 2012My donation
Sunday, July 29th, 2012This was the other assignment that I created for the DS106 Assignment Depository. For my assignment you have to be funny. You need to create a comedy bit that has at least three sound effects within it. You should be able to find most of your sound effects at freesound.org.
For the example that I completed I recorded myself telling a joke that I knew about a man asking for a donation to the local pool. I recorded my voice on Audacity and then inserted in my three sound effects that I found on freesound.org into Audacity. It was a pretty simple assignment, and one that should be fun for anyone to do and fund for people to listen to.
Making up for Lost Time
Sunday, July 29th, 2012Ah, yes. I am far far behind in the going-ons of camp. I lost myself in my other camp job, which I openly admit was my fault for poor time management.
Regardless, I finished up today and I’m going to do a literal sprint to the finish. I’m embarrassed at how far behind I am, but I’m not a quitter.
So, first comes my audio work for week 5.
I decided to write a homophone poem.
There I stood in the tide, straight and bold as I peered beyond the waves
to see the buoys that lapped along the edge of the loch.
Ahead in the sea I sensed a lone ark, the seine hanging low, baited for prey.
The bow gazed forward in the night.
Behind me, a bare beach, barren not due to weather, but the hour.
My doused jeans were soaked as the tide rolled against my feet.
Suess-y
Sunday, July 29th, 2012I’ve had a difficult time with the audio assignments this week. I kept getting very frustrated with my tone and volume while talking that I must have read 5 different Suess books 20 times each aloud.
I finally settled on this version of Hop On Pop, by Dr. Suess.
I chose this book for a few reasons… It’s short. It’s hard to say. It’s funny. It’s illogical.
Anyway, I had a nice time with it. It’s a funny story when you actually read it. The words and the rhythm of Dr. Suess is fun and admittedly very tongue-twisting.
I hope you enjoy my audio recording!
Below is also a transcript of what I’m saying… It does get hard to understand because the words are so similar.
UP PUP Pup is up.
CUP PUP Pup in cup.
PUP CUP Cup on pup
MOUSE HOUSE Mouse on house.
HOUSE MOUSE House on mouse.
ALL TALL We all are tall.
ALL SMALL We all are small.
ALL BALL We all play ball.
BALL WALL Up on a wall.
ALL FALL Fall off the wall.
DAY PLAY We play all day.
NIGHT FIGHT We fight all night.
HE ME He is after me.
HIM JIM Jim is after him.
SEE BEE We see a bee.
SEE BEE THREE Now we see three.
THREE TREE Three fish in a tree.
Fish in a tree? How can that be?
RED RED They call me Red.
RED BED I am in bed.
RED NED TED and ED in BED.
PAT PAT They call him Pat.
PAT SAT Pat sat on hat.
PAT CAT Pat sat on cat.
PAT BAT Pat sat on bat.
NO PAT NO Don’t sit on that.
SAD DAD BAD HAD Dad is sad.
Very, very sad.
He had a bad day. What a day Dad had!
THING THING What is that thing?
THING SING That thing can sing!
SONG LONG A long, long song.
Good-by, Thing. You sing too long.
WALK WALK We like to walk.
WALK TALK We like to talk.
HOP POP We like to hop.
We like to hop on top of Pop.
STOP You must not hop on Pop.
Mr. BROWN Mrs. BROWN
Mr. Brown upside down.
Pup up. Brown down.
Pup is down. Where is brown?
WHERE IS BROWN? THERE IS BROWN!
Mr. Brown is out of town.
BACK BLACK Brown came back.
Brown came back with Mr. Black.
SNACK SNACK Eat a snack.
Eat a snack with Brown and Black.
JUMP BUMP He jumped. He bumped.
FAST PAST He went past fast.
WENT TENT SENT He went into the tent.
I sent him out of the tent.
WET GET Two dogs get wet.
HELP YELP They yelp for help.
HILL WILL Will went up hill.
WILL HILL STILL Will is up hill still.
FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER
That one is my other brother.
My brothers read a little bit.
Little words like If and It.
My father can read big words too.
Like CONSTANTINOPLE and TIMBUKTOO.
SAY SAY What does this say?
seehemewe
patpuppop
hethreetreebee
tophopstop
Ask me tomorrow but not today.
ds106 Audio Assignments
Monday, July 16th, 2012I spent a good portion of one day working on ds106 assignments, just sitting at my computer, thinking, planning, searching, recording, rejecting, and trying again. Somehow, just sitting in that way was rough on my back and by dinner I could barely walk. (I’ve had lower back problems in the past, but usually for more justified reasons.)
That evening I created a ds106 radio bumper and focused on pain, not shockingly. I opened with an odd monster sound, just because it seemed like an interesting opening and it showed up when I searched for pain. Then I used a sound that was created to simulate someone falling down the stairs. I think, in context, it sounds more like a door opening. Finally, I ended with some maniacal laughter.
Another audio assignment I attempted was the One-Man Play. This was one of the first to catch my attention and I knew immediately what part of which play I wanted to use: the opening moments of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. It may not be a play many folks know, but it is one I love, especially the opening. Stoppard writes brilliant dialogue. The down side to that is I am no actress so I do not do justice to the words. I did have fun trying to make myself sound like both a 13 year old girl and a 22 year old man.
I didn’t add much beyond my voice. The scene takes place in Thomasina’s home, during a lesson with her tutor. I added a bit of pages turning as the two were working and some pen writing.
I’m still working on the Suess It assignment but Audacity and I are not getting along well at the moment. I’m trying to copy and paste some sounds but when I paste, nothing seems to happen. It thinks it did, because I can ‘undo paste’ but that’s not impressive when the sound isn’t there. I haven’t given up yet but at the moment Audacity is winning.
Sweet Music on DS106 Radio
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
Audio Assignment 36: Create a bumper for DS 106 Radio.
I had such a good time participating in the DS106 class radio productions. I think the satisfaction of making something out of nothing but a thin thought wisping through your mind is amplified ten-fold when it melds with those of others to produce something only possible because these individuals came together at this moment in time for one and only one production. You can never step in that same sound wave twice. Then layer on the appreciation for those productions of others and the opportunity to contribute to the live experience and you’ve got great live, interactive radio.
Inspiration
Here’s a bumper that I created for my piece using a kindly contributed “soundtrack of summers past” by Norm. I rely on Norm’s compelling personality and the sweet music of the legendary Mamas and Papas to create kind of a pause that refreshes.
Process and Reflections
I love working with layers of music and voice and had a good and challenging time playing with the rise and fall of the music and Norm’s voice. Norm’s voice as recorded was giving me fits because it just mellowed out below the music and I could not seem to raise it loud enough — and, well, then, I discovered the sound mixer. Who have thought it would be under “View”? Still learning about fades in and out but this sounds pretty good for someone who has always heard horror stories about Audacity.
Thanks, Norm, for the assist!
Aspirations
I’d like to be able to record my own psa’s for the local radio station to promote fundraising events for my community garden. So, would Audacity work for that, if I got really, really good? Thanks for any advice.
rain rain go away…
Thursday, July 5th, 2012For this mission I had to imitate weather, but only with things that were within hands reach of my computer. At first I thought to create a windy noise using my mouth and moving closer and further away from the laptop mic. It worked well, but I felt it was too dull, so I though I would try to imitate rain. I tried tapping close to the microphone, or on the screen.. but I didn’t really like those sounds. I had a small, ribbed bowl next to me that I was eating chex mix that I decided to test out. I held it up to the mic and tapped and ran across the ribs with my mechanical pencil and got a great sound.
I then went to my soundcloud and instead of uploading a file from a audio program, I just recorded it raw. Soundcloud recorded the sound, and I uploaded it. No editing or anything, and only a few trial runs.
DS106 Radio Bumper
Thursday, July 5th, 2012I really struggled a lot with trying to set my mind on a single idea for a radio bumper. I had tons of different ideas and takes I wanted to approach this assignment with. I came across a relatively new track by Kanye West and Pusha T called “New God Flow”.
I really loved how the piano at the beginning drove in the song, and the beat was built around it. I decided to keep it simple and and use that, and my voice as well. I tinkered a bit w/ the pitch of things, making it a bit lower. And also slowed down the tempo of my voice.
I don’t think this was my most extravagant audio assignment, but I think it is simple and iconic in a sense. If I heard this as a radio bumper, after a few times it would stick like the radio’s logo in my mind…
Using “The Voice”
Thursday, July 5th, 2012For this ‘using the voice’ audio assignment I had to make recording in the style of the famous Don LaFontaine’s voice. After watching the awesome youtube video on him (in the assignment link), I was inspired to do something epic, but personal.
At first I had a prerecording describing me preparing to make a lunch, but due to a huge storm we had lost power (for 5 days!) So I decided to change it to a description of my struggles and epic travels to find electricity and wifi in order to stay on top of my ds106 work, and charge my cell phone. I didn’t edit my voice at all, just tried my best to imitate ‘the voice’… i think it worked decently. I still don’t think I like listening to my own voice though lol…
The Sound Story of One of My Favorite Summer Activities
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012One of my favorite things to do in the summer is sit on my porch, in a rocking chair and watch a thunderstorm. This is a pretty accurate depiction of what that sounds like:
Summer Storm on the Porch by Chanda Sorrell Cowger
Audio Assignments 70—Sound Effects Story (3 stars) presented the challenge to tell a story using only sound effects, no verbal communication. The instructions dictated that I use at least 5 sounds and be no longer than 90 seconds long.
Using Freesound.org, I located sounds I could use including a door opening and closing, windchimes, a rocking chair, thunder and rain tracks, and of course, a bottle opening! Importing them into Audicity, I layered and looped some of the track, assembling them to create an audio image of a peaceful evening spent rocking on the porch with a drink watching and listening to the thunderstorm.
