The Illusion Of Everyday

Hidden in plain sight

The art of transformation through Context

Look at the picture above of the vase, nice right? What if I told you that the vase is actually two faces. This artwork symbolises the theme of this page. What if you don’t have access to the equipment necessary to record interesting sounds? This page will explore the use of context within sound applications and its uses for sound designers.

There are many advantages to changing the context from what a sound source creates. Allowing yourself to think of the sound into its individual properties allows you to explore a wider use of context. Take the sounds below. What do you think the original sound source is?

1 = Bacon Cooking

2 = Coconut Shells

3 = Blowing across a bottle

4 = Frog

5 = Bell

You can hear that by thinking of the context, a sound can have multiple applications. This opens the scope of creativity when sourcing sounds. Many famous sounds of our favourite film enemies are created through many mundane objects. Take the Balrog from Lord of the Rings. The sound that the balrog made was created by dragging a cinderblock across a wooden floor. Below I have created a quick demonstration of this myself with only a pitch down being applied alongside a reverb.

The way the sound is presented can also offer huge advantages in relation to creativity. Next is a 3D scene, using Mono sounds to produce a scene. For this close your eyes, and let the sounds take you to the location. By using ambisonic technology, sound diffusion can be achieved through equipment most listeners have.. earphones or headphones.

Advantages of ambisonic audio is the power to place sounds above and below (elevation) as well as the normal azimuth and distance. This allows for a more immersive experience for a listener than over traditional surround sound systems (5.1,7.1 etc..) and other formats such as stereo or mono.

Note: This will only work through headphones or earphones.