Interview - Rough Cut

Here is my rough cut of my interview; this is not finished, however the main concept of it is completed. Now I will need to finish it up and perfect it before submission. I want to balance the audio levels out to make it flow more and appear more natural. Another thing I want to do is make the introduction less sudden and more welcoming. 

Editing Interview #2

As I have now recorded my main interview, I started to add this in to my Audition file to create a rough cut of my interview. I edited each file separately in order to cut out the unnecessary bits of speech and this included 'erms' and likes', as well as pauses. 

So far, editing has been quite successful and I am happy with my recordings; the background ambient sound works will with my tracks as it makes it al blend into one so that the listener is unable to notice that they have been recorded on separate files. 

I have changed the level of sound in all my files to make them all the same and sound natural next to each other. I decided to re-record my conclusion to the interview as it did not fit and I wanted it to sound more friendly, just like the rest of the interview. 

Recording Interview #2

Today I recorded my main interview and this was of my friend Ellen who is a member of the LGBTQ community. The image bellow displays the questions that I asked her, as well as how I want to lay the interview out. I recorded  three main questions, however then decided it would be a good idea to get some more information so then added the question "What do you enjoy most about the LGBTQ scene in Brighton?".

Recording was very successful as Ellen gave some insightful answers that I wanted to hear and I believe that this is because I directed the questions the best way to achieve good answers. I also let ellen read over the questions before she answered them on recording so that she didn't feel under pressure to come up with an answer on the spot. Furthermore, today I recorded a four minute background sound outside my accommodation in order to create a sound bed for my interview. 

Editing Interview #1

After recording the questions mentioned on my previous blog post, I started to edit these together on Adobe Audition. I placed them in the order that they will be in the interview and cut them down to the correct lengths. I also edited two of the introducing sounds together so that they run smoothly as they will be played next to each other.   

I recorded a short ambient sound of the room that I will be interviewing Ellen in to use as a sound bed. However, when I next record I will record a much longer running sound in order to be placed in the background so that there is no silence. 

Recording Interview #1

Today I started to record my interview and started with recording myself introducing the topic, as well as the main questions. I started off the introduction by saying "Today I am joined by Ellen, an English student at the University of Sussex, who is here to talk about the LGBTQ+ community within Brighton". I then went onto record the first question: "First of all, before you lived in Brighton, you lived in a much more conservative area. Do you think theres a difference between the LGBTQ+ communities there and here?"

I also recorded the other questions that I Ellen, the interviewee will be answering. Next, I will be asking Ellen the questions in order to get her opinion and then I will edit these together. 

Interview Planning - Questions

I have booked out a microphone and audio recorder to record my interview later on in the week. I have started to plan the questions I am going to ask and these are displayed bellow. These questions are not 100% final yet, as I am figuring out how to word certain questions in order to get the best answer from my interviewee.

Samson Young + Susan Philipsz

The next two inspirational sound artists I am looking at are more contemporary; Samson Young + Susan Philipsz. 

Samson Young

Samson Young is a sound and installation artist, born in Hong Kong in 1979. His sounds have a very contemporary feel to them and he is mostly well known for his recreation of sounds in army and war videos. It became quiet controversial whether war sounds appear very fake, so he was proving how you can recreate them to be realistic. 

To recreate the sounds of a battlefield, he used a fan as a background sound. There was also a large base drum used for gunshot sounds, tin foil, and an electric razor. With the way he creates sounds, it is similar to how a foley studio would work. I find the way he is creating war sounds is very interesting, as they sound so realistic; it also helps the listener understand the sounds more deeply. This is as he taking things out of context and using them to sound like something else. 

Susan Philipsz

Susan Philipz is a Scottish sound artist who is known for created sound installations using recordings of her own voice. She currently lives and works in Berlin and was the first person to win a Turner Prize on a sound piece. This was for her piece 'LowLands', where she played speakers of her own voice singing under bridges. This must have created a very eerie effect for pedestrians walking by as echoes were created. When this piece was displayed in the Tate Gallery there was no visual art and this made the piece very controversial. 

Philipsz states that she is less interested in creating music, but more in what sounds in general are capable of and they affect they can crete for listeners. In terms of the impact she had on sound art, she deconstructs the sounds to create meaning and this is a new way to do it. I like the fact that she uses her own voice to create her pieces, even though she has said that she doesn't like singing, it is only for affect. 

Interview Planning

I am now starting to think about ideas for my 3 minute interview that I will be recording for this module. I started to look into local news stories in Brighton to find something to interview a friend about, however I was unable to find something that I find genuinely interesting. I kept coming back to the idea of looking into the LGBTQ+ community in Brighton as it is a big part of both my life, and others around me. Brighton is well-known to be very accepting of all members of this community and very openly gay. 

I want to be able to interview someone who is part of this community in order to get their own personal experience of the community in Brighton and how they feel living here. I also believe that someone who is both part of the LGBT+ community and Brighton's community will have a lot of interesting things to say about, as they would have previously thought about it. 

On the other hand, it may be interesting to also interview someone who lives in Brighton but who is not part of the LGBT community in order to get a different persons opinion. When I record my interview I will be using the Marantz audio recorder along with the Sennheiser dynamic handheld microphone. 

Soundscape Planning

Now I have looked at a range of sound artists and designers I am starting to plan my own soundscape in order to start recording it later on in the week. My main idea is to look at the diversities of places around the city of Brighton. I plan to record sounds in different areas and then create a contrast between the busy town and pier, with the peacefulness on the beach and seafront. 

I'm going to edit the busy city sounds together in a fast pace in order to emphasise the crowds and loud noises of the urban environment. This will be particularly effective on the pier, with the sounds of the rides and people on these. I will then contrast this with the sound of the waves and wind on the beach, away from the people in the town. 

If I go ahead with this idea I am going to record the sounds using a K6 microphone with a Marantz audio recorder. I may also book out a hydrophone in order to record sounds in the sea as these will sound slightly distorted and muffled, creating juxtaposition with the clear, loud sounds on the pier. 

Hugo Zuccarelli + Delia Derbyshire

Here is a presentation on Hugo Zuccarelli and Delia Derybshire; I focused on Derbyshire whilst creating and presenting this. 

Hugo zuccarelli + delia derbyshire from amygillespie12345