Category: Audio

(A Dream)

Spring 2025

Audacity

For this project what originally started as a portrait of my day turned into a portrait of a dream. Dreams can feel chaotic, layered, and confusing before they shift to something calm, slow, and peaceful. I tried to capture both ends of that spectrum. I used reverb, echo, layered the same audio at different volume levels, and reversed a track to create an uncanny feeling akin to a dream.

Sounds used:

“Brewing coffee” by Ccj125. Attribution NonCommercial 4.0. Freesound.org January 26, 2017. https://freesound.org/people/Ccj125/sounds/378078/

“keyboard-typing.wav” by Anton. Attribution 4.0. Freesound.org March 12, 2005. https://freesound.org/people/Anton/sounds/137

“Old Church Bell (no noise)” by igroglaz. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org May 12, 2022. https://freesound.org/people/igroglaz/sounds/633208/

“nnus_lovers_beat_without_the_beat_96bpm.wav” by nnus. Attribution NonCommercial 3.0. Freesound.org August 23, 2011. https://freesound.org/people/nnus/sounds/126864/?

“fweeng” by Fupicat. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org November 5, 2021. https://freesound.org/people/Fupicat/sounds/607209/

“Museum Fountain 2” by ecfike. Creative Commons 0. August 2, 2019. https://freesound.org/people/ecfike/sounds/478351/

“Shimmering Object.wav” by opticalillusions. Creative Commons 0. June 12, 2020. https://freesound.org/people/opticaillusions/sounds/521882/

My own sounds:

The Office

Spring 2025

Edited with Audacity

I used Audacity to edit a 1 minute mp3 of the ambience and sounds of a typical office workspace. I used various sounds like typing, mouse clicking, faxing, printing, doors opening/closing, and even a human voice to create the most realistic atmosphere possible. I used various audio filters, effects, and layering so all the sounds can be interpreted as coming from the same space.

“Keyboard Typing 5 (WhiteFox, Mechanical)” by grcekh. Creative Commons 0. Nov 24, 2020. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/grcekh/sounds/546046/

“00707 fax printing 1” by Robinhood76. Attribution NonCommercial 4.0. Dec 14, 2008. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/64463/

“Mouse Click Sound” by Pixeliota. Creative Commons 0. Mar 11, 2023. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/Pixeliota/sounds/678248/

“fax_machine_ring2” by nnus. Attribution NonCommercial 3.0. Aug 21, 2011. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/nnus/sounds/126541/

“Door opening and closing 3” by JakLocke. Attribution 4.0. Jan 13, 2015. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/JakLocke/sounds/261089/

“Hello” by nekomimi07. Creative Commons 0. Nov 16, 2017. Freesound.org. https://freesound.org/people/nekomimi07/sounds/411023/

Hopefully, I was able to make you feel like you had just walked into a fast food/ restaurant. This is what my day used to sound like: coffee dripping, chairs scratching the floor, a million customers, some top 100 song playing, the door opening, the register, pestering Uber eats delivery men, my coworkers complaining, etc. My time there (fast food) is over now, and although my office job may now not be as lively as before, my new sounds of printing, shredding paper machines, water dispensers and computer clicks are more my speed.

https://freesound.org/people/FOSSarts/sounds/740419

https://freesound.org/people/soaper/sounds/71698

https://freesound.org/people/Breviceps/sounds/457043

https://freesound.org/people/soundman2733/sounds/654930

https://freesound.org/people/Elwi_96/sounds/410457

https://freesound.org/people/kvgarlic/sounds/348268

https://freesound.org/people/SpliceSound/sounds/218343

https://freesound.org/people/cribbler/sounds/369619

https://freesound.org/people/C-V/sounds/534066

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/TV_Girl/Our_First_2_EPs/TV_Girl_-Our_First_2_EPs-_05_Baby_You_Were_There

Other audio voiced by me.

With this post I wanted to not only focus on the personalities of my “customers” but also the vibe of the store. Until I started working in an office I didn’t realize how many sounds I no longer hear in a day. The white noise of constant conversation or footsteps because someone is always walking somewhere. When you could only hear the music in the store, that’s how you knew it was a slow day. Sometimes my office job now drives me a little crazy with how quiet it is. The constant noise can be comforting at times, especially on the days when you don’t want to focus on the bad things. Working customer service, you get about 2 seconds to process anything before the next character (customer) comes around. Fun times.

https://freesound.org/people/soundman2733/sounds/654930

https://freesound.org/people/Breviceps/sounds/457043

https://freesound.org/people/FOSSarts/sounds/740419

https://freesound.org/people/soaper/sounds/71698

Other audio voiced by me.

With this audio I wanted to show how chaotic it is to work in a chain fast food restaurant. I’ve had a couple fast food jobs and it some customers are…. interesting characters. I’ve never seen people be so comfortable with any reaction they see fit in public than when I was working fast food. The customers pay the bills, but not my therapy. Even so, working fast food (customer service) was some of the most fun and funniest work experiences I’ve ever had. Good coworkers can really save your day.

All audio was voiced by me.

My Travel Tips

Spring 2025

Edited with Audacity

I used audacity to edit an episode of my podcast. I used noise gate and levels to adjust the sound of my voice. For the music portion, I applied a fade out for a smoother transition into my voice. I clipped tracks to edit out awkward pauses and pasted new clips together into one.

Sounds used:

“Airplane Mode (Instrumental Version)” by Josh Woodward. CC by 4.0. freemusicarchive.org. July 25, 2014. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/The_Beautiful_Machine/JoshWoodward-AirplaneMode-NoVox/

Portrait of a Place – Napping at the campsite.
Spring 2025
Edited in Audacity

Using audacity to mix a collection of samples together to create a short scene of camping. Layering the sounds of nature with cicadas, frogs, and a crackling fire to set the ambiance. With some feedback I added a few things to bring this from more of an ambiance focused track to an actual scene of events.

I used a few minor effects, mainly sound gate to clean up some of the audio. Fading to ease in some of the sounds and adjusting volume of individual clips. As well as clipping and spacing some of the sounds to space them out along the runtime of the project.

Sources:
“Fire Crackles.WAV” by ID_23 CC0
Freesound.org. March 27th, 2023
https://freesound.org/people/ID_23/sounds/680634/

“Cicada 2.aif” by le_abbaye_Noirlac CC BY 3.0
Freesound.org. September 27th, 2011
https://freesound.org/people/le_abbaye_Noirlac/sounds/129474/

“Frog Croaking.wav” by Benboncan CC BY 4.0
Freesound.org. February 13th, 2009
https://freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/67261/

“Lighting Matches.wave” by GM180259 CC BY 3.0
Freesound.org. November 4th, 2019
https://freesound.org/people/GM180259/sounds/491254/

“snore_okm2_t3.flac” by ermine CC CC BY NC
Freesound.org. December 19th, 2006
https://freesound.org/people/ermine/sounds/27405/

“thunder1.wave” by nednednerb CC0
Freesound.org. July 31st, 2007
https://freesound.org/people/nednednerb/sounds/38244/

“Startled, Tortured, and Terrified (Man)” by ericnorcross01 CC0
Freesound.org. June 13th, 2021
https://freesound.org/people/ericnorcross81/sounds/575674/

“Morning Commute Into The City”

Spring 2025

Edited with Audacity

I am depicting a morning commute into the city from queens as it resonates with what my ideal commute sounds and would look like on a normal basis. I combined 7 different audio sounds. I used the Tempo , fade in and fade out effects to differentiate and transition between sounds. I also used the envelope tool to layer mix a few audio sounds. The most challenging part was thinking of the best sequence to compose the sounds in order. So I arranged the sounds in order by the closest means of transportation near where I live.

Sound Used:

“running hard surface.wav” by bevangoldswain. Sampling+. Freesound.org. June 4, 2008. https://freesound.org/people/bevangoldswain/sounds/54779/?

“tunnel traffic ambience 190610_0020.ogg” by klankbeeld. Attribution 4.0. Freesound.org June 11, 2019. https://freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/474404/?

“NYCbus.wav” by allanh15. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org. August 31, 2016. https://freesound.org/people/allanh15/sounds/353176/

“Astoria NYC – Elevated train passes above, water droplets” by flood-mix. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org December 12, 2017. https://freesound.org/people/flood-mix/sounds/413387/

“horns blare.wav” by allanh15. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org. September 1, 2016. https://freesound.org/people/allanh15/sounds/353180/

“Getting out of car.wav” by kingsrow. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org. March 22, 2013. https://freesound.org/people/kingsrow/sounds/181568/

“Getting into car and starting it” by mhtaylor67. Creative Commons 0. Freesound.org. August 5, 2011. https://freesound.org/people/mhtaylor67/sounds/126042/