To complete this first assignment for the week, I decided to start with the story before exploring the sounds. I thought about a story that I wanted to convey through sound, and wanted to incorporate something that everyone could relate to. I thought about how I am often running from work to meet friends for dinner and the obstacles I often face along the way. I then built a story spine around that concept.
Once upon a time, Sally worked as a administrative assistant in Washington, DC.
Every Tuesday she met her friends for dinner across town.
But one day Sally realized that she was running late and had to rush to make it on time for dinner.
Because of that, she quickly closed her computer and grabbed her keys to go, but the phone rang one last time.
Because of that, she had to run to catch her train.
Until finally, she made it onto the train and was able to relax on her way to dinner.
And ever since then, she set an alarm to remind herself to start getting packed up on time on Tuesdays.
Once I decided on the story, I began exploring sounds that might fit in this story.
I began my audio story with the sound of a busy office, then overlapped the sound of a gasp as Sally realized the time. I then added in the sound of Sally grabbing her keys to go, but then the phone ringing and her answering. I then included the sound of Sally running down the hall to catch the metro. I layered the sound of a metro station with the sound of a metro announcement (I could only find the old WMATA announcement in audio file). Finally I added in a sigh of relief from Sally as she sat back and listened to some music in her headphones.
I saved the files as I downloaded them to a folder on my computer and was able to drag the files right into Audacity for editing. I renamed the files once they were in Audacity so I could better track them. After that, it was pretty easy to cut and paste the pieces of audio I wanted across the one minute clip. Many of the sound files were longer than I needed for this project, so I simply cut the length I did not need. I added in a face out effect to the longer sounds for a smoother transition. I then exported the project into an MP3 for uploading onto SoundCloud and embedding into this post.
This was my first time using Audacity and I found it relatively easy to pick up. I would like to continue to learn more about the sound effects available through the program and find unique ways to use them to add depth to my tracks.
aprilshowersmayflower 
This was a really well sequenced sound effects story! Specifically in the first half, I was easily able to picture an office setting and place myself in that scene. I thought the sound of the keys was a critical addition in making the transition from the office to the streets and train. The footsteps were added in nicely as well. The only thing I thought that was a bit out of place was the music at the end, I thought maybe the sounds of a microwave or stove top layered on top of a background TV would have fit in. Nice job!
Thanks for the feedback! I probably should have explained this better, but the music at the end was supposed to be representative of Sally putting in her headphones on the metro.
This is an outstanding first audi editing effort, and work work shows you have a grasp on the layering principles. But little makes me happier as a teacher than seeing how you planned out the story first before just grabbing media. This is how it should be done!
I like the attention to detail of making the phone sound decrease in volume, suggesting Sally is running away from her desk. Nice work.
PS- I think you lost the title of the post! It’s blank
Thanks for the note! I added in the title.
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Well done “april”. This was really your first audio editing. Its interesting that you write the story first. I know i’m guity (if that’s the right word) if thinking about the limitation of the tool I use then figuring out the story I can’t tell. I guess this is a perfect example of, if there’s a will there is a way. Tell me, now that you’ve done this, is there anything you would have done differently?
I hadn’t really thought about it, other than perhaps adding in more layers to the story. Dr. Levine had suggested using the effects in audacity which I haven’t experimented with yet, but would like to learn how to use!