Project 1 - Sonic Portrait
due 4/9

Make a sonic portrait of some aspect of your audio environment. You must use only sounds which you record yourself. You may not use sounds downloaded from the net, or from CDs or video. Radio and TV can be used if they are recorded via microphone as part of your environment. The final project should be no more than 3-4 minutes in length, and an mp3 file should be handed in to your studio section leader via the drop-
box on the H&SS server for this course. It is due before the start of your studio section on April 9. You should also hand in a 2 page written description of your work, in MS Word or PDF formats, or hard copy.

Here are some guidelines and things to consider:

1) Before you begin, take some time to listen to your environment. Keep a journal. What do you hear? How do different aural environments make you feel? How many different things do you hear at once? Are some more important or more present in your consciousness than others?

2) Continue listening, but now record as well. Don’t just record once. Record several sessions over several days. Record while walking, while sitting still, while talking with friends, while eating.

3) Listen to what you’ve recorded. Listen often, and take notes Does it sound familiar? Is the recording different from the experience? Do different sounds make you feel differently? Can you describe the differences? Can you describe the feelings?

4) Look through your notes: is there something which you’ve recorded which is particularly interesting or exciting or nasty or beautiful which you could use for your piece? Listen to that part, and think about other parts which might be related. Try to focus on what might make a good 3-4 minute sonic portrait.

5) Don’t forget to play! Once the materials are in Live LE you can try out different sounds, loops and combinations of sounds. This is a sonic exploration, not just an intellectual exercise.

6) Use the listening and reading assignments as guides, along with you own experiments with the sounds you’ve collected. The assignments for weeks 1-3 should give you some ideas about ways to assemble your portrait. Try out different ideas. What works best with your material? Make a score which reflects your ideas for how the materials can work together over time.

7) Give yourself at least one week once you’ve put all the sounds into Live LE to re-arrange and play with the sounds. First drafts are rarely as exciting as work which you’ve been able to live with and work on for a while.