Recording audio is not a strong suit of mine, as I’ve recently learned how to record better audio through this course. But what I’m certain of is how much I want to learn more about audio recording and mixing, which nudged me to invest a little bit in the equipment I’ll be using, where I’ve recently bought my first-ever microphone and in-ear monitor (IEM) [which I’ll be talking about on the Logistics part of this page]. As I was saying, I had so much fun with my microphone, where I’ve tried various things like speaking and listening to the audio produced, then recording myself talking and singing. This gave me an idea of “what-if” self-projects to do, which is mostly about composing an original song or producing audio stories. As I was torn what to do between the two, I want to identify what I want to do and its purpose. What is audio for me?

Audio is something that we encounter every day — from the ring of our phone alarms, the sizzling of a freshly cooked breakfast, and the sound of nature that welcomes a new day ahead of us. Decoding audio enables us to understand discussions and conversations we have with others or even feel certain emotions depending on the sounds we hear (soft/loud, calming/irritating, etc.) or the music we listen to. Audio has that kind of power to make us feel certain emotions or even help us understand what is happening around us. Which is why I’ve got this thought: what if we capture moments in life using audio? And what is a better way to capture real life than telling a story, but in this case, creating an audio story!

Since I’m planning to write an original story for this project, it would give me some leeway to adjust the audio that will be used for the project (if needed). The stories that I’m currently drafting are about sleep paralysis, stories about the dangers of the night, or the feeling of sleeplessness/insomnia that causes paranoia. These are some topics that I’m currently considering writing about, but also keeping in mind the audio that I might be using for the project. 

For the audio that I will be recording, I'll be the one who will voice the narrations and dialogue made by the main character of the story. For the other characters, I'll try to minimize the number of characters and their dialogues so that it will be easier to ask my siblings for help on recording their voices for the project.  Currently, I'm still debating over the background music as I want it to set an eerie mood if I proceed with a horror/thriller type of audio story.  I'm planning to use some apps like My Piano Phone (digital piano), Real Guitar (digital guitar), and Remixlive (digital soundboard), as my keyboard broke recently, while the other digital instruments can help me produce background music that suits the audio story. As for the ambient sounds, I'm currently searching online for tutorials on how to recreate horror sound effects at home (like this video, but I'll be finding some feasible materials that can recreate the sounds I need). But some ambient sounds like water splashing/flowing/dropping, footsteps, knocking on the door, and other furniture creaking are feasible to do!

I’ve been recording my works (whether audio or video) in our shared room with my sister, where I tried to reorganize the placement of my study table and make some furniture placement adjustments for better audio recording results. My desk used to have the parallel walls behind it, which is not good as it may contribute to more echo bouncing off its hard surface. As such, I tried to rotate my desk away from the wall and then cover the window behind me with a blackout curtain (that is a thick cloth) to help absorb sounds, as it's a fibrous material that can reduce some echoes and reflections compared to hard surfaces like walls. I’ve also added some stuffed toys around my workstation, which may help a little in absorbing sound waves (but not as effectively as acoustic panels, of course). I’ve also added some hanging clothes behind where my laptop and microphone stands to reduce hard surfaces bouncing off the sounds when recording.

Recently, I’ve been contemplating whether my equipment is enough to enjoy the MMS 172 experience. And the answer is, NO. I used to record my audio using a non-branded earphone that I bought somewhere for 250php, and you can imagine how much it conditioned me over the years to think that this earphone is enough for my audio recording on my projects. But after starting this course, I realized how much the quality of an audio recording can be improved by having a proper setup and tools, which nudged me to reward myself with a microphone and IEM by using some of my savings! I didn’t choose to buy a high-end one as I’m still unsure whether if I will need it in the future, which is why I opted to get budget-friendly and still get the work done equipment for this course. 

I’m really thrilled but also anxious about how this project will turn out since it’s a new territory for me, and I’m not quite an expert when it comes to dealing with audio. But still, I’m aiming to create a decent to good quality audio story despite possible challenges in recording, such as recreating ambient sounds, preventing unnecessary sounds to be capture while recording, narrating and talking to the microphone, and other things to record that can help capture the certain mood and tone that I want the audio story to have. I’m still practicing using the Audacity software as well as how I talk to the microphone to express certain emotions since it’s important with audio stories, as it can help the audience be immersed and understand what the characters in the story are currently experiencing or feeling. At the end of this project, I’m looking forward to learn more about how I can translate my stories into something more than just text, but also understand how audio can be used to tell stories in ways we can’t imagine!