For my first project in my elective, Soundtopia, which explores sound and all it’s different components, we created a soundscape that told the story of a utopic (positive) or dystopic (negative) memory that we have. The memory I chose was a dystopic one and the story of tearing my ACL. This project was particularly challenging because we had to create all the sounds on our own, either with voice or some type of prop, which meant we had to get pretty creative. I’m proud of this project because it was such a step out of my comfort zone– technology is not my forte and I sometimes really struggle with thinking out of the box, both of which this project made me face head on and conquer. I’m so happy with my final track and think it definitely tells the story of my bone-chilling memory. You can listen to it below.

HM
January 7, 2010
April 2013
93 seconds

The purpose of this project is to create an original track that represents and explains a utopic or dystopic memory through the timbre of notable sounds. To complete this project, there was so much that I learned. I first of all had to learn what timbre was and how different sounds can have different timbres and therefore evoke different emotions. For this project, I focused on one of the most dystopic events I have ever lived through– tearing my ACL. I was in my freshman year of high school and was at gymnastics practice. I had just gotten a new trick I’d been wanting all season, a front flip. As my feet ran heavy on the mat, I jumped up and landed again with my knees hyperextended and locked. The snap in my knee echoed throughout the gym and I knew right away, it couldn’t be good.
The soundtrack I created is created to set the scene for the moments before, during, and after I fell and hurt myself. It begins with the yelling and cheering on of my teammates, a common sound heard in the gym during practice in an attempt to root our peers on when trying new and often terrifying tricks. As the cheering and clapping of my teammates fade out, it focuses on the sound of my feet running on the mat and finally the sound of my jump and knee snapping. I fall to the ground and the soundscape finishes with my heavy breathing and crying– just as it all happened in real life.
Creating this soundscape was definitely a difficult process for me because I am not one who is good with technology. All of the sounds in this piece are created with either my own voice or one of my peers or a prop, which could be anything from breaking a pencil in half or hitting the top of a garbage can. The editing tool I used to create the track is GarageBand, I recorded all the sounds I wanted and edited them and put them in the right order to try and convey the story I was trying to tell, which I hope you find relatively easy to follow!