Start: March 25
Due: April 11 (Rough Cut Due April 8)
Time on Task: In & Out of Class (4 Hours)
Course Points: 5000
As we’re engaged in making Podcasts, or audio stories that add to the sonic environments, we choose to spotlight, we are producing several kinds of soundscapes. Our final one is an OUTDOOR SOUNDSCAPE.
Ryan Weibush and Michael Musick provide a nice framing or description of the soundscape:
A soundscape is the time-based relationship of sonic events that a person experiences from a particular location... Likewise, a soundscape is the sonic features (or events) of an area, their forms, and how these events integrate together… Like a landscape, a soundscape is a subjective phenomenon, experienced from a singular vantage point (note: this does not need be a fixed point). The relationship of events or features is dictated in part by the vantage point and the relationship (in space or time) to this singular point.
Soundscape art recognizes that there can be significance in capturing, creating, or reproducing the sounds of specific locations…. A soundscape is any location where you are. It is made up of the sonic events you are subjected to and choose to listen to. Therefore, a soundscape can be a natural setting, such as a location in the middle of a forest somewhere in the mountains. A soundscape can also be the sonic events of your bedroom, a racetrack, the middle of a city, inside the lobby of a corporate building, up in a hot air balloon, or underwater… They are defined by someone giving them the energy and attention to listen to events in space against time.
Be intentional and selective in choosing a location for your soundscape. This intentionality applies to the space, the time, and the approaches to capturing the sounds. That intentionality will help you tell a sonic story of a place. CAPTURE YOUR OWN SOUND for the soundscape. You may choose to add other sounds, of course.
Some sonic art offers simply the curated acoustic soundscape experience (no narration, no music, etc.). Other art provides a larger context, offers narration, overlays interviews, and more. In our projects, we’ll have an Intro, and Outro, the Soundscape itself, and relevant, appropriate Narration. Your creativity comes in your selection of a soundscape and in your narration – the story you choose to tell about the spaces in which you captured the sound(s).
Michael Musick has a really nice example of an outdoor soundscape on the University of Montana campus.
https://michaelmusick.bandcamp.com/track/the-oval-at-noon-soundscape-no-1-sonic-art-example
The “walking tour” is an approach to Soundscapes that often involve the outdoors – city, country, etc. You might elect to approach the project as a walking tour, or perhaps a montage of sounds from a particular outdoor space.
Kim Goldsmith’s “Sonic Byte” from Wingham Brush Boardwalk is an extended example with a good bit of narration, context, and even social/political commentary. Here’s the link:
Here’s a nice “video” with a rich soundscape and VOX POP interview. We can close our eyes and listen to the sound of NYC.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=d-JMtVLUSEg%3Ffeature%3Doembed
The Task (in a nutshell)
Choose an OUTDOOR space! It can be on campus or off. Capture elements of the Soundscape. Remember to be intentional in selecting which sonic elements to capture. You can move around, or perhaps the space itself has enough movement for dynamism. Make an Outdoor Soundscape that captures elements of the texture of the environment. Use a digital audio recorder or the voice memo recording app on your cell phone to capture that soundscape, script your narration, the intro and outro. (Get a Digital Audio Recorder from Cripps. You CAN borrow one, take it off campus for recording, and return it.) If appropriate for your project, select music from Free Music Archive. Bring it all together in a rough cut you’re ready to share with the class.
The Task (unpacked)
- Using your phone, Record a 6-15 minute Soundscape from the place you’ve chosen for your Soundscape 3 (Outdoors) project (Homework)
- Download the “Basic-5-tracks-template.band” in Podcast Resource Files & Open (Shared Google Folder) (Homework)
- Draft your Narration Script for the Podcast – See Rubric below (Homework)
- Draft an Intro and Outro Script for your Podcast – See Rubric below (Homework)
- Practice your Intro, Outro, and Narration!! (Homework)
- Record your Narration, Intro, and Outro (Listen to it with headphones before calling it “good” or “good enough”) (Homework)
- Import the sound file into the relevant tracks in GarageBand (Homework)
- If desired, select appropriate music or sounds for the Podcast using Free Music Archive; drop file(s) into GarageBand Project as separate Track(s) (Homework)
- Mix your audio (consistent levels, fade in/out of tracks, and use sounds for the effect you want), making sure to adjust levels (Homework)
- Save the project “Yourlastname-Soundscape3” (Homework)
- Export the Rough Mix as “Yourlastname-Soundscape3-roughmix” (MP3 or WAV) (Homework)
- Upload Script, GarageBand Project, and Rough Mix export to your Shared Google Folder
- IN-CLASS, we will listen to and workshop the Rough Mixes before taking up a final edit.
Rubric & Points (Specifications)
The Scoring Sheet for Soundscape 3 (Outdoors) Podcast
- Podcast fits time constraints (2:15-3:35 minutes) – 500 Points
- 5 Files are Uploaded to Google Drive folder (Band project file; MP3/WAV Rough Mix Podcast; Script with Delivery Notes – photo, probably; Final Mix Band project file; MP3/WAV Final Mix) – 500 Points
- GarageBand Project makes use of 3 or more tracks (Narration; Intro/Outro; Soundscape) – 500 Points
- Soundscape Captures Authentic Walking Environment that is Focus of the Story – 750 Points
- Narration Content Meets Specifications (Audio Tells a Story that adds to the Soundscape); Optional music is Creative Commons-licensed and edited with care and attention – 1000 Points
- Intro Meets Specifications (5-15 Seconds; Welcomes Listeners, IDs Host, IDs Context, Purpose, and/or Content) – 250 Points
- Outro Meets Specifications (5-15 Seconds; Credits Sources, including optional Music; Thanks Listeners) – 250 Points
- Editing Meets Basic Specifications (Levels are Consistent; Fades between Tracks/Clips;; Pops/Hisses/Sonic Junk Edited Out at Clip Ends; ) – 500 Points
- 300-word ePortfolio Blog Post explains the prompt in your words, describes your idea for the Response, and includes the CMM225 Category – 500 Points
- Episode on Transistor embedded in above ePortfolio Blog Post, along with a Screenshot of the GarageBand edit screen – 250 Points
NOTE: We can be flexible about the HOST ID and Context/Purpose in the sense that it may formally appear in the intro OR elsewhere (as the beginning of the soundscape or in the Outro)