Tell A Story With Sounds
Let's see if we can make an audio narrative with a collection of cleverly chosen samples to tell a story.
Inspiration
Go listen to these pieces. What would you do better? Would yours be longer? Stranger? Noisier?
How do you tell a story with sound effects?
Sound Effect Story
https://soundcloud.com/iliana-loaiza/sound-effects-storySimple but wonderful example of telling a story using only sound effects from Freesound.org
People Like Us
http://www.ubu.com/sound/plu_jumble_massive.htmlThere are also more inventive forms of audible storytelling like sound collage. Here’s a piece by Vicki Bennett (aka ‘People Like Us’) which takes bits of radio (including The Archers) and tells new stories with them.
The Truth Hurts
https://open.spotify.com/album/2JqdhEGQWi0Fyijv9CRQ0kThe Truth Hurts is an audio adventure game on Spotify.
Resources
These sites have lots and lots of samples you can download and use in your story.
Look out for sounds that are .wav or .mp3 as they are often easiest to work with.
Royalty Free Soundtracks
https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/full_list.phpGreat list of Creative Commons audio files
BBC Sound Effects
http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/16,000 BBC sound effects for personal, educational or research purposes.
Tools
Often you might want to edit a sample to chop off the beginning, or add an effect. Audacity (desktop) or Probe Audio (online) are great for that.
You could use Audacity to create your entire piece, or alternatively Bandlab is good for organising different tracks.
Soundplant is like a sample player, you drop your sounds on to its keys, then play, your creation by tapping your computer's keys.
I have never used SoundCite but with it you can create a web page with lots of sound samples attached as links and it looks interesting.
With FXFive you can even synthesize your own designs for sound effects, amazing.
BandLab
https://www.bandlab.com/Oh my word! Amazing. A full audio workstation that works in the browser, on Android and iOS.
SoundPlant
https://soundplant.org/Amazing tool to "play" a collection of samples whilst manipulating them.
SoundCite
http://soundcite.knightlab.com/Create stories with audio fragments. Great for music analysis.
DroneFX
https://www.dronefx.com/projects/dronefx/Requires Flash. Really interesting drone/soundtrack generator... Creating a moody filmtrack? This might be useful.