Sound and Story

Prerequisites: All OF THE FOLLOWING: ARTDES 200: Any 200 Level Studio.

Description: There’s no one format for sound and story to work together. The question isn’t, does the sound support the story? The question is, how does the sound support the story, and in what way? Interviews, sound collages, digital ​‘zines, audio installations, performances with audible elements – -the opportunities for combining sound and story are endless. This class will investigate how sound can enhance the things we make and how to better add both crafted recorded narratives and experimental sound to our work. This course outlines the basics of audio gathering and editing, with an emphasis on finding stories well-suited for audio, eliciting strong interview clips, and gathering interesting and natural ambient sound that sets the scene for the listener. Students will produce audio essays, sound poetry, oral histories and more as a starting point for their investigations. Students learn basic tools of digital audio production and output while exploring narrative and experimental works. We will work both analog and digitally, learning to craft, mix and then output our soundscapes in combination with other media. The technical skills learned in this class can be applied to sound design for video, animation, radio and multimedia storytelling as well as sound installations and performance projects.

Frequency: This course is offered occasionally in either the fall or the winter term. Who should take this course: Anyone who wants to use audio effectively as a multimedia tool.