For this project, I chose to compress the experience of a sole customer at a diner in the late hours of a rainy night. I chose this setting because I like how consistent and versatile it is across locations. Almost everyone in the United States has been to a diner and with that comes the common belief and timeless stereotype of greasy food and jukebox music. I also included the sound of rain to create an atmosphere that would highlight the solitude of being the only customer in the restaurant; this sound is one of the consistent background sounds that bring attention to the location. This emphasis, along with the absence of the sound of the worker(s) in the diner, shows that while the setting is not fully silent, the listener can still feel lonely. The rest of the sound effects in this piece are directly related to the actions that occur. By including the bare necessities, this audio clip suggests that the events happening are not leisurely, nor will the person doing the actions become invested in the setting.
 
To create this sound clip, I used audio I recorded myself, and sounds from freesound.org, roughly a half and half split. 


00:00-02:47 Rain - mine
00:03-00:08 Door - mine
00:06-02:47 Viny crackling - https://freesound.org/people/waveplay_old/sounds/383224/
00:05-02:47 Background song - https://freesound.org/people/Marshallx2/sounds/204822/
00:06-00:16 Walking - https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/318900/
00:14-00:24 Pull back barstool and sitting down - mine
00:26-00:37 Cups clanking - mine
00:39-00:48 Pour coffee - mine
00:49-01:01 Sugar packet and stirring - mine
01:01-01:22 and 01:31-01:52 Intervals of slurping drink - mine
01:54-02:01 Served plate and getting silverware- mine 
02:04-02:32 Cutting and eating food - https://freesound.org/people/bassboybg/sounds/264544/
02:36-02:40 Paying money - bills - https://freesound.org/people/Otakua/sounds/217921/
02:38-02:40 Paying money - quarter- https://freesound.org/people/keweldog/sounds/181759/
02:39-02:43 Paying money - penny-https://freesound.org/people/greenvwbeetle/sounds/423334/

Exercise 1: Diner

An interview with Kye about music and producing.

You can find Kye on SoundCloud as @ephemeralli
https://soundcloud.com/ephemeralli

Kye Interview Full

Kye Interview Cut and Edited

For this narrative, I kept it pretty simple. I used chronological order, with a prelude of why my haircut experiences at other places were so unpleasant. I also used sound effects to help draw the audience into the setting. I was initially debating putting in background music, but ultimately did not find one that suited my needs and wants without sounding like awful elevator music.
 I typed my script before recording, to minimize the amount of editing and potentially ease my nervousness. The latter is debatable. This allowed me to use better diction and to make sure I put the details in the right part of the narration, instead of having to make the reader sort out my references before returning to that part of the story. However, using a script combined with anxiety meant that I talked really fast. It's not shown, but in my script, I actually hit enter after every sentence, hoping to slow myself down. I do not think that it worked very well. As a result, my voice inflection was not as expressive as I had hoped it to be. I did not experience anything incredibly entertaining during the time period for this assignment, so my detached voice may sound even more boring than it could have. It also might just sound worse to me because I am hearing my own voice like other people hear it, instead of from inside my head.
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Borrowed sound effects can be found here:
Sound of scissors cutting https://freesound.org/people/Jagadamba/sounds/257022/
Blow dryer https://freesound.org/people/MrAuralization/sounds/272075/
Brushing off clothes https://freesound.org/people/SocializedArtist45/sounds/266593/
Werewolf howl https://freesound.org/people/Wolfie_Rankin/sounds/195925/
Spraying water https://freesound.org/people/reasanka/sounds/382913/
Giggling https://freesound.org/people/Yudena/sounds/377582/
More scissors https://freesound.org/people/megashroom/sounds/390165/
Clippers https://freesound.org/people/kes%20tech/sounds/117321/

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Had we been able to use events before the prompt date, I would have written about a highly entertaining drag show I went to. Oh well)

Kath