Module 3 - Audio Walk

Supervising and Grading Faculty member: Sarah Stevens-Morling

This art-walk utilizes the common platform of the audio/video tour to create a new space within an existing landscape, mixing fiction and reality in an intimate and poetic rediscovery of space. Drawing inspiration from artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, as well as the sound collective Soundwalk, artists will design an art-walk that transforms a participant’s experience of space.

Start with a map. Draw a path in space. Contemplate the nature of the space you’re navigating: what can be enhanced, transformed, embellished? Contemplate the line between public and private, fact and fiction. Where does your path transition between physical space and psychic space? At what point does your path become a launchpad for narrative? What kind of story will you tell? Find poetic resonance in the world around you.

This art-walk should not exceed 5 minutes in duration. Artists will employ basic skills in audio recording, mixing, and mastering, and/or video editing to create this work. All works should be designed for experience on a mobile device. Presentation of works require performance of the art-walks by participants, individually or collectively; please be prepared with mobile devices and headphones, media-ready on the day of presentation. Each artist should provide specific written instructions that locate the starting point for each art-walk.

When planning your piece:

• What kind of story will you tell? Jot down ideas. Scout settings. This can be indoors or out. Outline your story. You have fewer than five minutes to tell your story, is that limiting, or freeing? Short stories can be just as exhilarating as long, don’t make your recoding the full five minutes just to fill time. Think about theme. Is this historical fiction? Horror?
• Spend time in your chosen space, become an inhabitant of that space. Contemplate the nature of the space you’re navigating: what can be enhanced, transformed, embellished? At what point does your path become a launchpad for narrative?
• Record! record, record, record. Use software on your smartphone, or rent recording equipment from one of the Equipment Loan Offices on campus. Try capturing the same sounds or words several times so you will have more options to work with when you’re back at your workstation. Try different microphone positions to best capture your sounds.
• Embrace the artistry of your narrative. Tread the line between reality and fiction in your recorded words. Where does your path transition between physical space and psychic space?
• What ambient sounds can be added for special effect? Choose judiciously, remember that additional audio should enhance, rather than distract from, the journey.

For your final deliverables:

• Create a map, and include instructions for the start location. Directions such as “Sit on the first bench.” “Start under the elm tree.” help participants find their way.
• Mix and Master your track: Use a multitrack editor to combine and edit your narrative and ambient sounds captured from your site into a single audio file. Export file as an MP3 and upload to your website.
• Put your Map and Instructions on your web page with download button for the MP3. Sample Here.
• Include a brief Artist’s statement about your work.

Grading parameters:

• Narrative: Is your story engaging? Does it make a participant curious to learn more about your character/setting? Does it have a clear beginning, middle, and end of the narrative journey?
• Artistry: Have you broken down the walls of your terrestrial space to create something new through your narrative? Does your participant have a new way of seeing the space?
• Technical: Is your audio clear and serviceable? During file compression have you balanced the quality of your audio with the size of your finished file? Are all supporting files available (map, instructions, artist statement) on your finished webpage? Do the ambient sounds of your finished track (or lack thereof) add to, or subtract from the participant experience? Are they well mixed into your track?