Project 2: Exquisite Corpse Soundtrack

Final track: https://on.soundcloud.com/k6vhZg4LJsA2tX6h7

Artist Statement:

For this final composition I wanted to create a number of different sections, or “movements” as well as disorientate the viewer by playing sounds that contrasted each other. In the first “movement” I pair a soundtrack of onions being cut with chatter from someone’s workplace. Next I layer a bunch of different sounds together including a water bottle (although it kind of sounds like a bong), bells ringing, and again the workplace chatter but put through a sound filter to create dissonance. Next, I tried to do something different and create a sort of short rhythmic section of the piece. I recreated a Bossa Nova groove with the audio from a street crossing walk button as the metronome, a low-pitched cut from the onion chopping clip as the bass drum, and a gas stove lighting as the snare. Finally I layered some harry potter movie audio over that, and created one last “movement” with soft keyboard typing, water noises, and a zipper.

While making this track I learned a lot about how Adobe Audition worked as I had never used it before. While I wanted to create a track that confused and disoriented the view, my final track ended up being a bit more mellow than I originally planned. While there are some sections that are a little more intense, much of the track is more calm, soothing, random white noise. I was trying to communicate these different feelings of calm, some anxiety/unease, and even surrealness at the point of the Harry Potter audio. I thought everything with my track was relatively successful, although if I were to do it again I would hope to be able to make a shorter track and really focus in on every little detail/second to create something more interesting.