Sound assignment bank — A Trip Through Sound

For this assignment, I tried to focus in on some of the most memorable sounds of Easter Island, at least from what I remember. I wanted this track to illustrate the outdoors and being in the open air. This is why I began this audio with the sounds of waves crashing to the shore, which reminded me of my time spent in Pea Beach, where I swam almost every day.

I proceeded to layer the sounds of a bird and the bundle of voices to contribute to feeling outdoors, with the bird representing the beauty and nature of the island, and the market voices representing both the locals and tourists of Easter Island. I did also want to include some sort of sound that would represent the Moai on the island, and this is something I had to brainstorm for, since the Moai don’t actually make any sounds.

I ended up deciding on the soft beating of a bongo drum, which I felt was a sound that suited the stoic faces of the Moai. I edited the various audios with some fading to ensure that my track wouldn’t be overpopulated with the various sounds, allowing some focus on its components one at a time.

And here is the finished product! This was a great exercise for familiarizing myself with Audacity, the software I used to edit and compile this track. I feel more comfortable navigating the program now, and with two more audio assignments to go, I’m sure to grow even more familiar with the process of editing audio.