Project 2_ Alexa

 

YOUTUBE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lUNNkVhcfk 

(A note: all audio editing, adjusting, layering, etc. was done in garage band, drawing for the visual was made in procreate, and all visual editing and final compiling was done in premiere.)

    For my project, I wanted to make something utilizing music in some way. I was very inspired by a few of my favorite musicians and artists, as well as by some of the class examples shown. As someone who has always wanted to compose something, I thought this project would be the perfect way to explore that and put my music knowledge to use. My goal was to not use any artificially/digitally created sounds, and make every sound that comes from my piece either with an instrument, or with my voice, which was a challenge but fun! I had to get a bit creative and used instruments and my voice unconventionally. For example I used the side of my guitar as a drum for some parts, and used my singing voice to "howl" and make whistle tones to make my idea come to life. 

    When it comes to the piece itself, I wanted to make an representation of what the month of October sounds like to me. I had a very visual picture that came to my mind while recording and editing my piece, so I decided to draw it and include a time lapse for my visual. I thought of a dense forest with lots of looming trees and a bright moon lighting up the ground, blue and grey hues, and small things like mushrooms, fireflies, moss etc. decorating the forest. I do worry is that my visual is too distracting and takes away from the sound just a bit, as it is fast paced and constantly moving while my audio is slower and more steadily paced. I think if I had the skillset, a slower more laid-back animation would have suited my audio better, but I think the overall audio/visual combination still establishes the slow, cool, October mood that I was going for. 

(screenshot from garage band. There were 18 layers in all but I couldn't fit them into one screenshot, but you can see the general idea of my layering, volume adjustments and levels, etc.)