Ideas and Concepts BAFI103 - 1st October

Thursday 1st October 2015

Course Module - BAFI103                          Ideas and Concepts                       Lecture - Dan P

Sound Work Effects

I decided to book out some recording equipment from the ERC as I wanted to use my time to explore different sounds around Plymouth, which of course is the location that we will be shooting our Super 8 film. Throughout the day I ventured alone recording a range of sounds around our City centre including places like the Barbican, The Hoe, Parks, Seafront, Cafes, Drakes Circus - shopping mall and various modes of transport. 

I explored different techniques on recording the sound using a Zoom H4N mic with a pair of Sony headphones, I wanted to create my own sound clips for future work and to start creating a library that I will build up over time, some of which I hope to use in this Super 8 City project. Along the way I attempted to capture some interesting noise i.e. water rushing, birds, construction work, vehicles, public speaking, and a lot of WIND! I also explored the possibilities of creating my own sounds whilst location scouting, some of them worked i.e. using my feet to rustle the leaves, walking along the beach, kicking pebbles, heavy breathing and many others.

I tried to play around with the volume of the clips, I started to record the subject at a low volume and then during the recording, I slowly upped the volume to give the effect that I was traveling closer/further and it sounded like I was moving the placement of the microphone, pushing it towards the sound, was effective for the sounds of the water rushing under my feet.

However, I think that if I had used an additional mic for the ZooM H4N recorder, something like a directional microphone, this would have been great for the sounds of vehicles, water, walking, chatting etc. Despite my initial ideas, I was pleased with a few of the sounds that I managed to achieve and I have started to play them back, thinking about what I could improve on for future recording and I have filed the correctly, re-naming the ones that I would like to use for this specific project.