This is the end of Week 4? Holy cow have I been busy, I feel like I’m halfway through the semester with all the work I’ve been putting into my classes! It’s Sunday night and I still have to meet a group to do an audio recording for Spanish(hey it’s audio week everywhere!) and study for a geography test!

Note to self: Do not wait until Sunday to finish DS106…or any class for that matter. And also, give yourself a break soon!

Week 4 was our introduction to audio. Audio storytelling, using sound effects, creating bumpers, so on and so forth. So without further ado, I present my work for the week!

First, I learned what audio storytelling was about. I learned from watching multiple videos, which can be found in this post, that masterpieces take time and a lot of trial and error. The most valuable piece of information I got from watching these videos is that, even if you don’t create a quality piece(much like I feel I didn’t accomplish this week!), don’t quit. If you persevere, you can create works of art that you can be proud of.

Next, we had to choose an audio story to listen to and take notes of the techniques that the radio station used. That post can be found here, and I chose to listen to Patient Zero by RadioLab. I noticed the use of audio layering and a lot of interview audio clips to provide reference to their stories. My favorite part of this was being able to lay down, close my eyes, and paint my own picture of what was going on. Sure, it could’ve been more of a story than a history lesson, but it was interesting nonetheless!

Ready for some tunes? DS106Radio has your fix! Check out my post(<–that link over there) and find the link to stream DS106Radio! It’s commercial-free and has music you’ve probably never heard of 24/7! Well, maybe not 24/7, sometimes there are live broadcasts…unfortunately I was unable to catch one this week.(Good thing we have 12 more weeks of DS106!!) I had fun doing this assignment as well because I got to listen to music while doing other work, MULTI-TASKING!

Now it’s my turn to try out some audio creation. My first creation was to create a story using only sound effects. As soon as I saw this assignment, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! (It only took me the whole week to finally do it =/) However, I chose to do my story on the sound effects of a fire call. Start with fire, drop the tones, send the engines, and douse the flames! I had fun making this one and I realized exactly what the videos meant by “first creations will never be great”. I think its cool and I’m proud of it for what I put into it, and that’s what matters!

My second audio creation was to create a DS106Radio Bumper. Don’t know what it is? I’m not going to tell you here!! Go read my post This assignment intimidated me the most. I didn’t know what a bumper was either(although I did facepalm when I did find out) and I wasn’t really fond of recording my voice, especially since I’m sick. But, I actually didn’t think I sounded too horrible and I edited parts of my voice anyways. Check out my post and take a listen to my clip!

Lastly, this week we had 3 Daily Creates. I didn’t like most of them this week, but I found 3 and this is what I made:

TDC254 was to make a picture of the number 3 or something that represents it

Awesomely enough, my license plate has the number 3 on it!(multiple times actually, I just didn’t want to show my whole plate number!) And I guess I can relate the 9 to this assignment because it is a multiple of 3 =)

TDC257 was to draw a picture of mini-golf to show the seriousness of this sport.

I actually enjoyed creating this image! It has tons of different aspects of a putt-putt course and I threw in the UMW Eagle as a joke for getting a whole in one…I think I smiled the hole time I made this! I also liked going through the other submitted pictures and seeing what creative courses/obstacles that people could come up with.

TDC259 was to create an image of an unlikely company merger and the weird products that would result…Ladies and gentlemen, I present, iPants

I almost chose to do a merger of Apple and Macy’s because then I could do a whole line-up of apparel with speakers and other technologically advanced clothing. I however chose 5.11 Tactical because those are the type of pants I have sitting next to me and that is what came to mind.

Summing up the week, I had fun with the audio assignments. I also realized that I need to cut back on work and such so I can get all my homework done in a timely fashion and give myself some time to relax…I could really use a vacation! I look forward to working with a group to create a radio show in the coming weeks….and I didn’t choose a group yet either, not because I’m a slackass, but because I want to work with whoever I get drawn up with…So wish me luck! I look forward to creating more audio art, for DS106 and for my own personal pleasure.