Designing the sound for the Entwined Exhibition

My approach to designing the soundtrack for the Entwined exhibition is

easy for me to explain.

• I started by taking in the scope, locations and themes of the exhibition as identified by the class.

• I identified emotions, feelings, themes and motifs I could accentuate or evoke.

• I searched for, synthesized, recorded, and implemented sounds that reinforced those identified themes.

• I prioritized the audience experience.

• And I continuously reviewed and iterated on my design.

However explaining how I know how to take those steps or where I learned

this process is more difficult for me.

I have been passionate about sound and music for my entire life, and I

tend to listen keenly. Perhaps the most relevant experience to the development

of my sound design process occurred in secondary school. I signed up for a week-

long course on soundscape design, led by a wonderful woman whose name I have

completely forgotten. At the time I was just getting into producing music using

computer software, and saw the course as an opportunity to pick up some new

skills in recording and implementing sounds.

The concept of a soundscape is the audio embodiment of a physical space or

location, using recorded audio clips layered and arranged in such a way to evoke

the sensation of being there. Often these soundscapes are exaggerated versions

of reality, but the focus is on the audience experience and evoking a location.

During the course we were sent out into the field with our tape recorders

to collect sound samples for our arranged soundscape, and then would return to

the computer lab to work in the audio workstation software.

I learned many things about natural sound design, the design process, and

the goals and philosophy of soundscape design from that course, even if I made a

dance track instead of the soundscape I was supposed to.

Another area of my life from which I draw influence is my penchant for

physical and mechanical problem solving. I am a tinkerer and am always looking

for creative, cheap, and effective ways I can improve my environment and the

various items within it. I love to create and modify, and through my experience

doing such, have learned to be thoroughly self-critical with my craft and to

always iterate and refine.

And as far as inspirations from prolific sound designers, I struggle to

point to any in particular, as anything I’ve listened to has impacted my ear and

influenced what I consider to be “good design”. Those who I can identify I only

can because of their transparency with their process, or their enthusiasm for

the philosophy of sound design. Designers like Marshall McGee, composers like

Marty O'Donnell and Michael Giancchino have taught me various mental tools when

it comes to approaching a question of design, intention, and process. Musicians

like Micky Hart, Simon Green, William Bevan, Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin

are inspirations who incorporate natural sounds and world culture motifs into

their music.

These tools of philosophy are far more influential on the quality

of the result than any of the specific methods, tools, or techniques that I will

now detail.

I began working on the building blocks of the soundtrack in the early

conceptual stages of the exhibition, drawing from themes as they appeared and

implementing them early on so they could be improved, adjusted, or ruled out.

My early goal for enabling the iterative design process, was the creation

of a “Vertical Slice”, a concept I stole from the modern video game design

pipeline playbook. The vertical slice is a short-form prototype that

incorporates as many systems, themes, and assets into a cohesive piece and in as

polished a state as possible, which can then be evaluated critically, modified,

and then reassessed as a representation of the final product.

The method allows for honest and critical analysis of each component of the

product as if it were a final version, and allows for informed decisions about

the value of each piece's implementation and contribution towards achieving the

desired outcome. It was through this method that I would engage in the process

of review, critique, adjust and change, and re-review that would allow me to

refine my result so that it more effectively engaged the goals for my ideal

audience experience.

My early journal entries also reflect on a key aspect of my approach, and

one that I try to implement in any project that is larger than just myself, but

especially in a project like this:

“I’m very excited for the class exhibition, ticks all the ethnographic

boxes for me, and should be rewarding to navigate. I’ also excited by the

prospect of creating a soundtrack for the exhibition, and I want to make

sure I do it as inclusively and respectfully as possible. The soundtrack

should only exist in service of the exhibition, it is most definitely not

an opportunity for me to insert myself or show off. Which is something I

should continue to remind myself of frequently.

I also need to remember that this course isn’t “Exhibition Sound Design”

and that I need to fully engage with the other aspects of the course and

not just the auditory.” (25/7/23)

After early research and discussions identified the pacific as major

locale in the exhibition, I began researching the sounds of the region; the

music, sounds of life and wildlife, and searching for potential sources for

field recordings that I could use.

I decided early in my ideation that I would like to have the sound

of distant waves form the base level atmospheric ambience on top of which I

would construct the rest of the track. However because the exhibition would

potentially also feature figures from non-island areas, I wanted to generalize

the sound a bit, and increase it’s potential to reinforce any themes that may

emerge.

To that end, I recorded my own sound using multiple layers of virtual

synthesizers producing white noise and filtered at different rates to create a

sound that (to my ears) sits between distant waves and gusts of wind blowing

leafy trees.

For my first iteration I combined this ambient track with some samples of

garamut slit-drums which I adjusted to sound very distant, as well as field

recordings of Papua New Guinea wildlife. It was my intention at this point in

the development to not include any musical elements what-so-ever except for

those that would be heard in the environment.

I did all my testing in the Ira Raymond room, so that I could hear the

tracks as they sound through those speakers in that room. And after two tests

with small changes in-between it became apparent that a unifying musical element

was going to be crucial in promoting a comforting environment for the audience. My

notes from the second test after that realization:

“Wave/wind: Manipulate/shape a bit more for more ambiguity, consider

lowering the distant boomy crashes.

Distant drums: maybe during 1 or 2 of the interludes and only a short

time, the speakers didn’t like the peaks.

Fire Crackle: Find a different sample with less peaks, good to alternate

with the waves/wind

Wildlife: use track1 more, track2 less, track3 least

Composition thoughts: Sparse, Major voiced, Uplifting, Stacked fifths

Explore stretching the Cook Island choir track or other vocal

samples to inform chordal movement. If not, (C3 → C4 → F3) using stacked

fifths into sus2’s. Focus on the basic progression, want a calm mood,

avoid incessancy, use textures.” (8/8/23)

At this point I had already found the recording of the Rarotongan Choir

singing in a style that is unique to the choirs on the Cook Islands. After

reaching out to the owners of the recording and receiving their permission to

use their content in the exhibition, I began manipulating the audio to create

the base layer for the musical side of the soundtrack.

I started by using a program which simultaneously stretches and blends audio in a

way that preserves the original pitch and timbre of the audio, while extending it in

time.

This process created a slow ethereal choral layer which I manipulated

further to place it within a space, and accentuate chordal movements I found

compelling. On top of this choral layer I only added one other musical element,

which consists of multiple layers.

Loosely following the chordal movement as defined by the choir, the bass-

line consists of three synthesizers which contribute different qualities to the

final sound, as well as a recording of a very woody sounding double bass, which

grounds the sound to reality through familiarity.

I did also attempt to incorporate some sounds produced with a violin bow

and my electric guitar, attempting to hit on the “string” theme, but was not

impressed with the addition and decided to scrap the idea.

After a few more rounds of review and iteration, I was very pleased with

the state of my vertical slice. However I wanted to bring more string elements

into the soundtrack, and increase the overall impression of tactility. So I

borrowed some string and twine from Kelly, and set-up my closet recording booth

to record the sounds of string, as well as some other sound effects that would

add physicality to the sound.

After adding those in and continually mixing an adjusting, I am confident

that I’ve arrived with an effective result for my vertical slice, which will

allow me to easily extend and score these elements into the video.

This project is really quite personally significant for me. It gave me a

direction and purpose to utilize a skill set that I have developed over the

course of my life, but rarely apply and produce anything. It gave me a reason to

return to an audio workstation that I haven’t used in ten years, and a goal

that, while still collaborative in nature, allowed me to take the lead in a

domain in which I feel some degree of confidence and competence, and put those

to the test.

During the early stages of the project I took the time to become

reacquainted with the audio workstation I use. As exercises, I produced three

other tracks which, while not fully realized, all demonstrate to me an amount of

personal growth independent of my skills with the software. I made more informed

and conscious decisions, and was able to more readily and accurately approach my

vision.