Ambisonic Sound Designs (Spatial AUDIO
This project help exemplify and develop my sound design skills, responding to three texts—Neuromancer, Soul in Isolation, and Dreams - and translating them into soundscapes. These works provided a rich foundation for exploring various sound design techniques, such as manipulating mechanical sounds, environmental effects, and organic noises for future projects in need of magic or sci-fi sound effects.
All tracks available from 3rd Order Ambisonics (3OA), 1st Order Ambisonics (1OA), 5.1 Surround Sound (5.1), and Binaural (BIN) - recommended on most listening systems.
Neuromancer
Ambisonic Sound Designs
This sound design was based off of the first line in William F. Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984):
'The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.’
Initially, I created a port soundscape where I manipulated and distorted sounds alongside electromagnetic pickup recordings to twist the somewhat organic port environment into a digital, glitchy plane of existence.
Soul In Isolation
Ambisonic Sound Designs
This sound design was created in response to the lyrics from, Soul In Isolation (1984) from the band, The Chameleons:
‘I’m alive in here, I scream!
But you still can’t hear,
I’m alive in here, I’m alive,
Turn on the light. Turn on the light.
Oh when you think of it, when you think of it, We’re all souls in isolation.’
Taking inspiration from cryogenic tanks, I wanted to create a claustrophobic experience for the listener, using an impulse response from a metal flask to place the soundscape and listener inside the chamber.
Dreams
Ambisonic Sound Designs
This sound design was inspired by the poem, Dreams from Langston Hughes.
‘Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.’
The approach I took lead me to creating two sections - the first a dreamlike state, highlighting the broken-winged bird. This fades into a desolate and eeire soundscape, where the listener experiences the dreamless.