For 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…

I was really excited about doing this assignment, one can never go wrong chipmunking a song. I wanted to do something different though, not the typical rock or rap song. I’ve been decided to try something more soulful. I chose a song by the up and coming artist Frank Ocean. This song “Thinking about you” has been one of my favorites for months now, just doesn’t want to get old in my head. The chipmunks just got some soul! I used audacity to edit the song, I played around with speed and pitch. Took the pitch higher, and shortened the song from 3 min 12 sec to 2 min 45 sec… not a huge difference, but enough that it sounded right. It was really tough getting it to sound good to me, because in the original song Mr. Ocean hits some pretty high notes as is… but after about 30 minutes playing with it I got it!

Check it out:

Why did I choose such a serious track? Well initially I thought I would take the song and add some humor to it, or at least lighten it up in my eyes. I did the opposite though, listening to the finished product over and over… it still comes off the same. The emotion of the song has rubbed off on the chipmunk(s), rather than the chipmunk(s) rubbing off on the song. I guess the emotion behind it was too strong a presence to be overshadowed by the chipmunks’ high-pitched cuteness. Or maybe it’s just me?

As a required audio assignment for DS106 (AKA: Camp Magic Macguffin) I had to create a story under 90 seconds that contained no verbal communication – just sounds. I started by looking up audio clips and just trying to brainstorm what I wanted to do. If there is one thing I love and can’t wait to do (hopefully soon!) is ride a motorcycle. So I decided to create a little story of someone (idealistically ME) zipping up there leather jacket, walking outside, starting their (MY) bike and going on a ride. As the ride continues city backgrounds are brought into the picture… horns, sirens, a helicopter above, people. I got my sounds from freesound.com an awesome website with a plethora of sounds and edited it all using Audacity. The software was easy to download, and a few questions submitted to Professor Google made using it very easy. I combined different sounds, faded them in and out as I please and finally got a 53 second story. I think for my first try my sounds transitioned and overlapped fairly smoothly (please give me feedback if you listen to it!).

The story fades out… the ride will continue on as the listener chooses. After finishing it, I closed my eyes and heard it. I realized then how personal it was to me. It is a reflection of something I hope to one day do, and my choice of city sounds (as oppose to say a countryside) also is a reflection of me. I was born and raised in the city ( the greatest one in the world by the way: New York), and this story just shows how much comfort and auditorial pleasure I get from the hustle and bustle of city sounds.

Take a listen and join me on my ride…

The following are links to the soundclips I used…

http://www.freesound.org/people/bdhammer/sounds/23083/

http://www.freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/30789/

http://www.freesound.org/people/sagetyrtle/sounds/36734/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Jewels/sounds/39848/

http://www.freesound.org/people/Zoom%20H4/sounds/97167/

http://www.freesound.org/people/jberkuta14/sounds/134900/