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Writer's picturemoawling

Parallel Parking, Panning, PAdobe PAudition: Sound Collage #1



I utilized this assignment to illustrate an experience that paralyzes me with fear: Parallel Parking.


This sound collage depicts a driver attempting to parallel park with the help of their friend, and narrowly avoids bumping into another car while doing so.



I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to explore driving with open-minded curiosity, but I can at least safely emulate it through Adobe Audition (unlike driving, sound design isn’t likely to inflict immediate physical or collateral damage).


What excited me the most about this premise was recreating two different spaces through the sounds of the car’s interior and surrounding environment. I used panning to illustrate the difference between the internal and external space. Panning also conveyed the vast space of the external environment, with cars driving around the driver and their passenger.


This was my first time using an audio software other than Audacity (which I used to capture sounds from Youtube clips). I didn’t understand how to utilize dynamic panning until halfway through the assignment. I was also too stubborn? lazy? to watch a simple how-to guide. I spent a significant amount of time painfully snipping clips, moving them to individual tracks, and manually adjusting each track's panning. It wasn’t until later that I stumbled upon how to adjust the panning within each clip. Oops.


Image Description: A screenshot of Adobe Audition, an audio editing software. On screen are multiple tracks. Too many tracks. Many of the tracks are serving a redundant purpose.


This assignment was all about experiencing humility in various ways. I am forever humbled by my own fear of driving as well as my sheer inability to watch through a 3 minute YouTube tutorial.


Credits:

Voices

Driver- me!

Passenger/other Driver- [name omitted for privacy]


Sound Credits

other sounds were recorded by the artist

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1 Comment


Gabriel Barcia-Colombo
Gabriel Barcia-Colombo
Sep 13, 2020

Fantastic work MeeNa! What I love about this sound piece is that it feels completely real and sets the scene entirely through sound and sound mixing. You did a great job of thinking about every detail, from the electric sound of the window to the crunching of the tires on asphalt. I also really appreciate your attention to detail in panning and volume mixing on each separate track. The ambient sound puts this scene on what sounds like a highway with cars zooming by in the background. I'm curious to learn more about why you chose the highway ambience rather than a city street. It definitely builds the tension of the scene but feels a bit impossible to picture tw…

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