The intent of my audio project is to blur the lines of the paranormal, of ritual, and of superstition by providing the listener with a sense that creatures lurk near them that don't belong to this world. To accomplish this, I've devised a series of audio devices intended to be used at very specific locations under certain atmospheric conditions in order to deliver a life-like auditory experience intended to open a pit of overwhelming dread in the stomachs of my audience.
I've constructed a scenario which takes place at Saguaro Lake in Eastern Arizona. About an hour out of town and almost a mile and a half wide, it's a popular destination that people drive out to late at night to sit on one of its many docks while staring out at a sprawling body of water. The lake is surrounded by a series of massive canyon walls, which at some sections, run almost perfectly perpendicular to the water. They provide a sense of towering height that make you feel exposed to not only the things below you in the murky lake, but the things lurking above and behind you too. On moonlit nights, you can see the muted hue of these canyon walls reflected in the water. The atmosphere gives you a simultaneous sense of both beauty and vulnerability, and sound resonates in this environment with a crisp and endless echo.
I've constructed a scenario which takes place at Saguaro Lake in Eastern Arizona. About an hour out of town and almost a mile and a half wide, it's a popular destination that people drive out to late at night to sit on one of its many docks while staring out at a sprawling body of water. The lake is surrounded by a series of massive canyon walls, which at some sections, run almost perfectly perpendicular to the water. They provide a sense of towering height that make you feel exposed to not only the things below you in the murky lake, but the things lurking above and behind you too. On moonlit nights, you can see the muted hue of these canyon walls reflected in the water. The atmosphere gives you a simultaneous sense of both beauty and vulnerability, and sound resonates in this environment with a crisp and endless echo.
An Ancient Tribe
This audio piece functions off a call and response system used by a tribe of canyon creatures that communicate with each other over long distances. These creatures have known this lake long before humans discovered it, and they call it home. They come out at night searching for food, but ironically enough for all the nightmare lore surrounding their questionable existence, they care little for the comings and goings of the lake's twilight visitors. If you're incredibly lucky, you might see the shape of one in the shadows, scaling a vertical canyon wall with a frightening pace. The imaginative could describe them as hominid in form in that they walk upright on two legs, but that comparison ends there. They're muscular and lean, and adept at traveling without making sound. When they want to be heard, they communicate with a series of ear-piercing chirps and guttural screams that can be heard over a mile away on quiet nights, when they're communicating their whereabouts with their fellow hunters of distant peaks. Below is a bit of concept art I referenced when conceptualizing this project:
Performance
The ideal audience that I'd like to bring this scenario to life for involves a classic couple: The boy and girl in love. It's 1am and they've made a visit to the lake. They park their car and walk a short distance across a dirt path to reach the docks. They sit at the edge of the docks gazing into the water while flirting quietly with one another. Time passes. In between a moment of laughter, a faint and animalistic scream is heard very far away. A safe distance. A mountain lion maybe? No, too complex. A large javelina? No, this sounded much bigger. The lovers are silenced now, waiting patiently for another call. Moments later, the same scream is heard at the same distance, though before they could console each other's disbelief on what they've just heard, another similar and guttural roar is heard a bit closer to them on the adjacent side of the lake from where they're sitting. It becomes immediately clear to the boy and girl that they're witnessing these two far off creatures communicating, and a feeling of exposed terror washes over the both of them. Adrenaline kicks in, and their hesitant curiosity turns into a steady panic as the sensation of being possibly flanked is felt. It's ok though - at least these things are far away. It's probably time to leave anyway, right? A few minutes pass, and another scream is heard from the closer of the two creatures, which prompts them to stand up and begin heading back to their car in a mild panic - but almost immediately before they're able to, a third response, not 30 feet away in the direction they came from, explodes from the patch of thick mesquite trees that line the trail behind them. Only a feint rustling of branches occurs as this deft creature screams out to its kin in the shadows.
The following is an audio concept I constructed which layers dozens of different samples to portray a soundscape in the spirit of the above scene. The audio is subtle at parts, so headphones are suggested as well as increasing your volume:
Technical
The logistics of carrying out remote controlled audio signals is relatively straight forward. A car battery would power a modified amplifier which lead to a large speaker. Equalization of the samples produced would mimic a baseline of large animal sounds, in that the lows would be reduced, while the mids and highs would be adjusted to replicate the range of air passing through large vocal chords. The source audio would be sampled at a very close range in order to minimize natural reverb, and the atmospheric echos of the sound would be taken care of by the canyon itself. The device would be housed in a small crate adorned with faux foliage in order to blend with the environment.
The playback schematic would ideally consist of four iPhones; three for the creatures, and one for the remote control of each device. A straightforward web application would trigger the playback of each device on demand. Signal issues are a concern being in the canyon, where there's obviously no wireless signal. Cell towers do exist in this area and have a surprisingly widespread reach however, which could still prove adequate to access a web application on the phone. Should control mechanisms still fail at such distances with something as convenient as an iPhone upon testing, a few sets of modified radio controllers could take the place of a trigger and playback device.
Above all else, authenticity is absolutely key to making this project work. The sounds must be reproduced as if they're coming from a living, breathing creature. Careful experimentation with volume levels, speaker size, and equalization will ensure that the project plays out in a completely believable and terrifying fashion.
The playback schematic would ideally consist of four iPhones; three for the creatures, and one for the remote control of each device. A straightforward web application would trigger the playback of each device on demand. Signal issues are a concern being in the canyon, where there's obviously no wireless signal. Cell towers do exist in this area and have a surprisingly widespread reach however, which could still prove adequate to access a web application on the phone. Should control mechanisms still fail at such distances with something as convenient as an iPhone upon testing, a few sets of modified radio controllers could take the place of a trigger and playback device.
Above all else, authenticity is absolutely key to making this project work. The sounds must be reproduced as if they're coming from a living, breathing creature. Careful experimentation with volume levels, speaker size, and equalization will ensure that the project plays out in a completely believable and terrifying fashion.