Things Aren't As They Seem

The place I chose was the place that I am at the most while spending my time at OSU. And that is my dorm room. I do 99% of my homework in my room, and pretty much live there when not attending classes. I also have gotten used to many of the sounds of my room, which include the sounds I recorded for my video. Closing my eyes, all I can hear is a fan that is placed on my desk and running all day everyday, my speaker system playing some kind of music, ranging from rap to country, and often, people talking and conversing with each other. These are all sounds that are the dominant sonic landscape of my dorm room. 

The aftereffects of my tinkering with GarageBand have changed most of my recordings dramatically. Two of them are still recognizable of what they were originally, but my fan turned out completely different. Most of the results are the result of completely random testing of sound effects from GarageBand, and choosing the ones I liked the best or took the sounds in the direction I felt I wanted to go. The fan was the first sound I was playing with, and this is why it ended up unrecognizable. I was originally going for its amplification to make it sound like an airplane, since, next to my ear, it is quite loud, and I wanted to exaggerate it. But after adding “thickened drums” and “intense whispering” it sounded like a train yard, which was a surprising, but great result. I think it sounds a lot like some sort of industrial location, which just is cool to me.

After making the fan something it wasn’t, I decided to go with a more familiar approach with my other two sounds, trying to see how much I could change them and keep them recognizable. My second changed sound was my speaker system. I knew right away I wanted to make it seem like the speakers were close to their max volume with someone standing right next to them, like at a concert, maybe with a headache or something. I knew I wanted to make it uncomfortable for the listener to get through. And I think I succeeded – it is painful to listen to. I used the effects “microphone”, “crunchy drums”, and “fade out drums” to achieve my end result. My favorite clip, just because of the overpowering sensory barrage from it.

The last recording change is of my friend and her friend talking to each other about some trivial woman gossip. It was planned and recorded without them knowing, which makes it by far the most entertaining clip of all three. It’s topic is almost perfect when someone thinks of pointless chatter. To make this exaggerated, I wanted to make it sound trippy. I missed my mark though and instead it sounds extraterrestrial, which in hindsight only makes it funnier and to me makes the joke that women are unrelated to men and from another planet. I used the effects “orion vocals”, “filter can”, and “wandering around”. Finishing with the weirdest seemed the best way to end to me.

My pictures go in order from most familiar to weirdest, because concerts and train stations are pretty normal, but end with the alien theme. I decided to use Google images to find the pictures I needed for the video, and added a credit title to the end with a popular beat that ends too soon, begging to be played longer. I liked this project the most so far, just because I could mess around with something I haven’t used much, GarageBand, and could make interesting sounds and video with it.

Final Thoughts On "The Desk"

        I decided for my project to not go too extreme with the look and keep it "realistic", which in itself I think is a way to describe me. I'm usually never too optimistic or pessimistic about things, and like to think of myself as realistic. I think the wood background sets that feeling right away, without even having to look at the objects. Secondly, the objects are arranged like they would be on my desk, the reason for the wood background, and the location I'm at for most of my day at OSU.The objects are also mostly in proportion to their real-life size, again coming back to the "realistic" side of me, which is how I view myself.

       My phone is my guide, as I described in the first post of this project, it helps me stay connected, and learn information, so it is right next to my hand to the left of my computer. Always there, and always ready, like I have to be. The calculator is there because I often use it for math and physics, and shows the Engineer side of me and how I like real, number, answers. Because I must be ready to react to changes (or in this case, go to class) I have my backpack nearby, ready to collect all my stuff and head out. 

      My BuckID is my identity and without it I'd be lost. I overlapped it with my glasses for a cool effect, to show I sometimes wear them, and to show that these to objects are the only things I cannot go any day without. The pen and pencil are crossed because I believe they are interchangeable, and can both be useful, showing I'm able to adapt. My computer shows the most, with it being the same project opened indefinitely, it shows that most of my life is on the computer, and how the computer can be used forever in anything, basically how my life is run by computers and their usage.

    The only object I decided not to describe was my flash drive, because in retrospect, I can't think of a really good reason for it to describe me. I did include it in the picture though, just to keep the realism, so that it's like my real desk. I think the objects chosen describe me better than I can, I just feel like they all contribute to my life, and use them as tools to do everything I need. They all are needed, and all fit in somewhere, and can help others, which I enjoy doing.