PA5011 Cw2- Audio Vision - Sound in media
My music production focused on providing an example of Sonic branding, Podcast Audio, Advert music, Programme Music and three separate pieces of Empathetic compositions. Sound and music have been used in my projects by identifying a range of specific characteristics that become the blueprint of each project.
My empathetic music had a generic ambivalent 30-second movie clip as a base, that stayed the same throughout all of the projects. However, the genre of the pieces were recognisably different to, evoke the listener into feeling Sad, Happy or threatened. The characterises that defined the happy track were major chord features and an overall pop/ energetic upbeat vibe. This was also the general tone and feel of my podcast music. The major strings were key elements that ascended and lead the listener to the next part which would be the dialogue to come. It was important for me to build-up the listeners experience up to gauge their interest. Emphasis is placed upon the excess of signals beyond their audibility or perceptibility as we will consider signals to be synonymous with affects (M. Tompson et al 2013 p28) Another track that utilised a heavy string section in contrast to the cheery vibe, was the sad track which had minor chords as appose to major. This recognisably slowed the beat down and transformed it into a ballad . When it comes to the threatening track some of the elements were similar to the sad track such as the minor notes and prolonged string section however, the dynamics of each track changed dramatically with the atmospheric music that provoked fear, anticipation, tension and suspense. The Violin created a high-end sound to make your hairs stand on end whereas the cello was more on the lower end providing a more physical vibrational sound that you can feel throughout your body.
Creating sound FX plugins to resembled real-life sounds, like an object falling into a large space. The vibratory quality of sound can be experienced as palpable and audible and also visible. We can feel, hear and see a subwoofer vibrate, and see its affects on other bodies or matter. (S. Trower 2012 p2) I utilised these features in my sting. I aimed to make the listener feel as though the sound was drawing closer to them. I used an atom smasher plugin fx to enable an explosion of sound that draws the audience’s attention to the visual logo name. As well as the sting that added sound FX that add emphasis to the visuals shown.
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Similarly, the advert represented an ambiguous seductive feel that the electronic drum beat orchestrated. My last project was my programming music. Within this composition I wanted the listener to imagine a story unfolding in their mind. within the piece there were two people at war with each other one was love and the other was hate. Love was trying to sway hate, although hate keeps resisting in the end love eventually wins hate over by showing them the beautiful colours of the rainbow which is represented by the harp. To physically hear this happening I panned the music from left to right to show both sides of the Argument and made it a surround sound in the end.
Growing up having dural heritage was a struggle, I never really knew my identity. My Father was Black-British and denied his Caribbean roots and my Mother was White-British. To me I was just Bow-Bells-Born Cockney. I could not get that balance right. This was the case until Corinne Bailey Rae emerged. I felt as if her first single “Put your records on” spoke directly to me. The lyric “Got to love that Afro Hairdo” made me feel seen, I was always told that my hair looked scruffy and outlandish, but straightened hair was more presentable and acceptable for the people I had around me. “if you have curly, afro, textured hair…You're not trying to make yourself bigger, this is just the room you take up." (Song Facts, 2006) I soon felt as if these characteristics defined me as opposed to dividing me. I was now turning into a young-women and I stopped observing music and started to make and sing my own. I would often sing along to Alicia Keys. She had a richer mezzo-soprano voice.
My vocal range expanded when I emulated her songs, Key’s made me a better singer, the more I developed my voice the more I used her songs as covers. As much as I started to fall in love with R&B music and the singers that resembled me physically and complimented me vocally. I started to develop my musical taste further by listening to many different genres of music depending on my mood at the time. Rock soothed me in some of my hardest times, it gave me strength and helped me find meaning, purpose and comfort. I realised I can sing my problems away and use this medium as a direct outlet of my own. “When people say you are soulful…you have to have experienced things…to be able to pull that from deep inside” (Staying True, 2020 5.10-5.26). I stopped my silent screams of frustration and embedded them into my tone, my vibrato is my natural sustain peddle and the grit and grain you hear and feel is my physical pain freeing itself from my aura.
My practical production process has made me step out of my comfort zone and develop a deeper understanding of how sound and music can be manipulated by added effects and dominant audio features. I enjoyed diving deep into the history of sound and black history culture. It helped me to understand myself more and identify with the origins of my soulful sound. Earlier generations of black writers who allowed the confluence of racism, rationality, and systematic terror, accept that the modern world represents a break with the past(P.Gilroy1993 p222). I was generally happy with the outcome of my projects although, there was room for improvement. My main criticism of myself would be to work on the fluidity of my execution of some of the music I presented. Being a singer producing music without vocals was a challenge. I had to practice twice as hard to play the instruments myself and simplify things due to my lack of technical ability. I had to go back to the basic foundations of music. My work has demonstrated the real science behind music in simple and complex forms. In conclusion, I have come to believe that Music is timeless the impact it can have can be life-changing. The affect that music creates, Is simply sublime.
Bibliography
Inside Alicia Keys' Bahamas studio with Swae Lee and J. Cole 2021
Pink Staying True- Full documentary | All I know 2020
Sense of vibration- a history of the pleasure and pain of sound by Shelley Trower
Song Facts |Corinne Bailey Rae 2006
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/corinne-bailey-rae/put-your-records-on
Sound, Music, Affect -Marie Tompson and Ian Biddle 2013
The Black Atlantic - Paul Gilroy1993
The stories behind Alicia Keys' Hits| Noteworthy 2017
