On week 28th we had our final crates session with students and lecturers from BA Immersive. We met for the last time as a group in class and presented our project. Since the last cries, nothing has changed regarding our VR scenario, Doris and Miranda collected minor details so everything can be on the spot and we, sound art students, designed the last needed sounds to finish up the project, which in my case was “follow me” command for floating starfish and flower glowing SFX. I am very happy with our final product and the teacher’s feedback. We have been told that our group worked the most out of all 5 groups and our project is the most detailed. The only aspects that were brought to our attention were too peaceful space crashing at the end of the first scene and the need to add a crashing glass sound for the cage when mystical creatures are kept in scene three. In order to make space crashing a more intense and scary experience for the player, we are going to add more explosion sounds. Whereas for scene three, one of the sound art students has to design this particular sound effect. After both these details are corrected, I think we are completely ready for submission.
In this post I want to focus on my contribution to our collaboration project with students from BA Immersive. Therefore I will explain which sounds I have made and how I achieved them.
walking on grass SFX, I have recorded it in garden in my home in Poland using H4N recorder
buttons clicking SFX with Dean, Vlad and Rose, we have recorded them in foley studio at LCC using shotgun mic
footsteps SFX with Dean, Vlad and Rose, we have recorded them in foley studio at LCC using shotgun mic
spaceship ambience, I have designed it using synths plug ins available in Logic software and manipulated them in Cecilia( audio signal processing environment)
opening/ closing spaceship compartment door, I have designed it using Moog Grandmother analog synthesizer and mastered it/ manipulated in Logic software
mystical sound inside tunnel, I have designed it using synths plug ins available in Logic software and manipulated them in Cecilia( audio signal processing environment)
floating starfish SFX, I have designed it using synths available in the synth studio at LCC and manipulated them in Cecilia( audio signal processing environment)
voice-guideline “follow me”, I have recorded my voice using recorder available on iPhone and manipulated it using Logic software
flower glowing SFX, I have designed it using synths available in the synth studio at LCC and manipulated them in Cecilia( audio signal processing environment)
Scene 3 is going to start after player discovers hidden tunnel forks and goes inside. First of all, player will be able to hear ambience that is going to follow us through entire time inside the tunnel. At the beginning we were planning to create 3 routes that player can take: safe zone, dangerous zone and dead end. Right now we abolished this idea and focused on finding way to mystical creatures. Regarding sound, we are planning to add some texture sounds here like sound of touching wall or water dropping from the ceiling, which is inspiration from the movie “Stalker”(1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky. Aim of scene 3 and therefore last step of the player to complete, is finding mystical creatures and setting them free. This will allow player to comeback to spaceship and restart it so we can leave the unknown planet. Tunnel forks are quite complicated and can be confusing for the player to reach mystical creatures, therefore we are planning on recording voice clues, which will guide player like creatures asking for help.
So far I knew Rory and Ecka only as UAL technicians and perceived them as someone above us, ordinary students. Therefore it was incredible opportunity to get to know them from artistic point t of view, get a grasp of their creative works and story behind, which was very deep.
As much as I loved Rory’s works, I must admit that Ecka’s story took my whole attention and would like to primarily focus on Ecka in this post. First of all, I loved that no matter what she is doing, she is keeping classical approach to it. It is not unusual as Ecka is coming from classical music background, which is cello. We could listen to Ecka’s first vinyl album and honestly I loves how it was a mixture of cello playing and random recordings, which gave this hint of distinction from classical music. However even Ecka’s cello performance on her album was very much original and cannot be disclosed in borders of simple classical note. Another piece that we could see and hear was Ecka’s egg flutes, which sound, even though limited, is very soothing and beautiful. And last but not least, part that stayed in my mind for the longest was Ecka’s journey with fragrances, candles and sound perfumes. I think name “sound perfume” itself is very original and I perosnally never came across it or heard anyone else doing it. It is fascinating and very much inspiring how Ecka found a way to combine her pandemic job, making candles and fragrances, with her primary occupation. She proved to me that there are many ways to work with sound in a lot of direct areas and no matter what happens to us in life we can always find a way to connect to what we love doing. When working for “Aequill” Ecka realized 3 sound perfumes: “SOUND 1”, “SOUND 2” and “SOUND 3”.
“SOUND 1” is a Green Tea perfume and here is what Ecka wrote about it:
Spring rain sounds softly Inside the steam is rising A sip of green tea
Listening to spring rain fall softly on a window pane, hazey green tea brings serenity and comfort.
This scent envelopes the wearer like a gentle spring rain. Fresh juniper floating above a soft heart of honeysuckle and cardamom, anchored to earthy grasslands of vetiver.
“SOUND 2” is mimosa fragrance, which is combination of floral scents with subtle smell of mimosa and here is what Ecka wrote:
Bright summer’s morning Flowers exploding in song Three birds flying high
Above our heads in the mimosa tree, birds sing songs of summertime. With our feet on the ground we laugh and gossip joyously, dazzled by glimmers of the morning sun.
A bright and uplifting fragrance bursting with sicilian citrus and mimosa, dappled by cool shadows of white flowers and amber.
“SOUND 3”, which is my personal favorite, is mix of citrus scent and wood tones and here is what Ecka wrote:
Silently watching Seducing from a distance A mountain, the moon
The strong silent type hides in plain sight. Choosing not to speak they are eavesdroppers leaving scent trails distant and magnetic.
A fragrance of polarity encompassing soft citrus, rose wood, and an exuberant oozing of myrrh and precious woods. Clean yet seductive
This week we were joined with students from BA Immersive to showcase, in our groups, progress of our projects. At the moment we are working on scene 3, which is happening inside the tunnel. We got couple advices from tutors regarding improving our project such as adding heaviness to player’s experience related to human emotions progress. For instance when we crash and land on the unknown planet, player could be hearing ringing in their hears or quickened heartbeat, so we are planning on recording this sounds and adding them to scene 2. Another point that was made, was possibility that player won’t follow “guide starfish” or will lose it. To prevent that “guide starfish” will have multiple stops and will move on only after player touches it and in case player won’t follow our designed plan there will be “voice guide” telling player what should be done like “follow me” coming from the “guide starfish”. Last aspect that we need to correct is sound of footsteps on the planet. As we planned at first that planet will be rocky and quite idle so the footsteps that we have recorded are sound of walking on rocks. As our project progressed Doris and Miranda decided to make unknown planet more lively and inhabited with load of mystical plants and grass growing everywhere. Therefore we have to record sound of walking on the grass and create sounds for mystical plants.
