After watching Force Majeure and analysing the film sound, I started to look for different ways in which I could find sounds that would create tension, suspense and atmosphere. I started to find, that much like the sounds in the film, mechanical sounds really displayed a sense of rigidity and sonorous enigma. Sounds such as trains and elevators which I recorded gave me audio to use to further create a conversational nature to the piece overall.
I found an escalator leading up to the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, that sounded as if it was “squealing” whenever someone would step on it. I quickly decided to record it and put it in a sound library for later use. I also found that the brass on top of the piano in the performance lap created a really vibrant horror sound effect as I scraped it with my card. I also recorded air vents and underground trains, thinking about the ways in which I could use them for the Audio behind.
Using these recordings further emphasised the binary nature I was looking for, not only through specialisation but also atmospherically and texturally. Having rougher tonalities would separate the different sonic environments and allow me to explore how I can harmonise differently textures in the same piece, whilst allowing each one to speak for itself in an almost “spacial conversation”. The frontal audio containing very atmospheric, ethereal recordings and more synthesis, with the audio at the back using raw and rough sounds.
Although I did not use any of the microphones used in the lessons, I still found the recordings to be very much useable, and although I would have loved to experiment further with the H3 surround microphone ( I was unable to due to high demand as well as some breaking) It allowed me to record sounds I found whilst walking around London on the fly. I was able to learn to listen and catch sounds that I could use.