ECIOV
VENTRILOQUISM
RESEARCH
VIDEOS
A Voice and Nothing More
By Mladen Dolar
Ventriloquism - utilising auditory and visual stimuli that it can make it appear to the audience, that 'something' sounds like something else
PROCESS
AUDIO RECORDINGS
Utilising the ventriloquism effect
WHY NOT APPLY IT ON INANIMATE OBJECTS?
to give them a voice made by sounds that are already created by them
keyboard
trackpad
closing & opening of laptop
By Michael S. A. Graziano
LILAH
FOLEY ARTIST
Recordings of ACTUAL sounds from objects ----> recreating sound of these objects using something else
PURPOSE OF RECORDINGS: Sounds created by objects due to contact/manipulation by something else. Sounds that are often 'ignored' and 'disregarded' as sound -- maybe noise??
leave it to professionals lol
McGURK EFFECT
----> create an illusion as if those objects are saying said sound
turning pages
flipping pages fast
paper texture
pills packet
dropping pills packet
paintbrush bristles
paintbrush "painting" (dry brushing)
hitting with paintbrush
ripping tape off
tape's stickiness
unsticking tape
AUDACITY TESTS
LAPTOP KEYBOARD_TEST 1
combining all keyboard sounds
- using certain parts of the sound + manipulation in the pitch, speed and reverb
MELODY?? ---> DO I WANT TO MAKE A 'SOUND' OR SONG COMPOSED OF SOUNDS
LAPTOP KEYBOARD_TEST 2
added layers of the 'keyboard sound' - original pitch + higher pitch
- higher pitch appears as a "language"
BOOK_TEST 1
combining all keyboard sounds
'flipping pages sound' - pitch lowered, reversed, added bass and reverb
attempting to make a language using sounds made by the objects??
BOOK_TEST 2
added layers of the 'paper texture' and the same sample from book_test 1 of 'flipping pages sound' - higher pitch
- an almost static and stuttering "language"
PAINTBRUSH_TEST 1
combining all paintbrush sounds
'hitting with paintbrush' sound - changed tempo
'brush brushing' sound - selected a part and looped it + added layer of the OG sound
'paintbrush bristles' sound - selected a part and placed that new sound in selected areas of the voice
TAPE_TEST 1
combining all tape sounds
two layers of 'ripping tape off' sound - one has its pitch changed higher and set in different sections of the voice, the other has a section of the original set in different sections of the voice
'stickiness of tape' sound - selected part, and looped
'unsticking tape' sound - compressed, added reverb and bass, pitch lowered
CONCLUSION: each object has obtained their own V O I C E
each being in a different language
V O I C E
FINAL PRODUCTION (includes visual stimuli)
FINAL
FINAL
FINAL
FINAL
I chose this elective with the initial thought I had to create [a] visual/s based off sound, or something to do audio production which I have had experience with but after the first lesson, I realised I was wrong. During the lectures, I've realised I knew very little about the sonic so to learn about different theories and histories, piqued my interest further - particularly about voice, and the idea of auditory illusion, and language.
As always, I started with research. I concentrated on the questions "what does it sound like? what constitutes in beautiful sound?" which led to Mladen Dolar's book 'A Voice and Nothing More.' I liked the idea of the puppet being controlled but also controlling which sparked my main inspiration: ventriloquism. I learnt that is an illusionary effect that utilises both visual and auditory stimuli, and doesn't not need to be applied to puppets only. Referring back to Roald Dahls' 'Sound Machine' got me questioning "what if inanimate objects have their own sound or voice?" Therefore, I combined the idea behind the ventriloquism effect, the McGurk effect, and what foley artists do to create voices for inanimate objects.
With that, I selected objects that people are familiar with and probably often hear sounds made by 'them' but in disregard. I recorded these sounds and per object, created their own unique voice. For extra, I created a video production with visual stimuli for the listener to assist in connecting the 'voice' to the object.