Chosen Soundscapes

1) Empty Spaces 
I went for a dark and minimalistic feel when creating this short soundscape. The visualisation I had of this word, was an old, empty creepy house or room.
I used a keyboard and changed the tone to synths, which allowed for deep, rumbling notes, which I felt related to the "Empty Rooms" mysteriousness. I decided on not using many notes, in order to give the listener an idea that there is not much going on. I create echoes with one of the sounds, using Audacity, which i felt highlighted the fact that this space/room was large and deserted.
I finally came around to adding in sound effects, found on the web, to strengthen the soundscape created. The choice of creaking floorboards, squeaking doors and wind whistling was suitable for what I wanted the listener to visualise.
Below are some of the sound effects I addded.






2) Intense
For this word, I initially had an idea of a heart beat gradually getting faster as an experience got more intense and thrilling.
I chose to use the keyboard yet again, however the choice of tone was completely different. Throughout the soundscape I use a variety of pre-set drum sounds. For the heart beating effect I chose to use the bass drum and personally do a double beat getting quicker for ten seconds. I also felt it necessary to add a deeper note from a normal piano tone, in order to give the soundscape a bit more depth. I then sped up this tone when it was repeated each time after.
After this crashing cymbals, shaking maracas and repetitive tapping was then added, all using the pre recorded sounds on the keyboard.

In my opinion I do feel the soundscape can be related to the word "intense", however I do think that it is a bit untuneful and harsh on the listeners ears. In response, I think that it's 'in your face' nature of the sounds are a fair reflection of the word.

3) War Machine
Initial ideas for this word was to create an electronic sound scape, with a range of noises that could be associated with a "machine" of some sort. The ideas of metal grinding, cogs moving and hydraulic sound effects first came to mind. The idea of noises the Transformers made, from the film's, were also a good starting point.

To create most of my sounds I used DIY tools that were found in my garden shed. I recorded the drill and metal spanners clashing together. After creating a few sound effects using these tools, I began to add a long deep note in the background - as this had worked well with the other soundscapes I had created. Using one note, I played around with Audacity and came across the "Paulstretch" effect, which elongated the sound, but kept the volume at a good level.


Finally, some Youtube sound effects were added, as I couldn't record a chainsaw or a gunshot as primary sounds.