Text Description
After playing the soundscape podcast to the staff team then I was able to write the text description for d/Deaf audiences. Working with Sonia was really useful and we began to talk about how d/Deaf audiences are often stuck with no interpreters or not exactly wonderful interpreters
Final Version - Text Description
Podcast Arrangement (editing) and Text Description (words) by Elinor Rowlands
Composition by Sonia Allori and Elinor Rowlands
(Words by Elinor Rowlands)
Elinor’s voice - a soft whispered voice, she sounds quiet, calming almost, yet it rushes in forcefully with the words:
Drake Music is....
Drake is quiet, it’s very very quiet
Drake is different textures and
Drake is experiencing journeys
Drake is the sound of the rain and it’s no sound sometimes because at work it’s always sound
Drake is like an echo, and like the wind, the way it moves and weaves itself around nature.
There is a pause, here, a beat - like in theatre
Drake is exciting.
Then the sound design changes so that the word Porous is dispersed and broken apart, arriving in on loops, arriving and disappearing, the words are spoken by different member of the Drake Music team.
The voices are brought in so that all the hair on your skin stands up on end, it is eerie and haunting. Sonia’s piercing voice and bluesy Southern rhythms flow through cutting through the words, bringing mellow oozing sensations of big bold feminine jazz,
Pourous
Pourous
Porrrr....... Pourus.
(Repeated and flowing in and out)
Voices in a meeting room
Joy: Cool! Nice to meet you all
Gareth (AiR): Nice to meet you too!
Gareth (AiR): Cheers
Sounds of chairs and laughter and saying of goodbye sat the end of an interview.
Then there is the sound of a guitar, an acoustic guitar and Elinor’s voice, quiet in the distant, mumbling to guitar sounds; a peering out of the darkness.
Elinor says:
So I lay in the dark for a very long time.
The guitar falls away to another voice, a male voice singing “You’d like that, I’d like that too, so put your extraordinary…”
Then Joy’s voice arriving in rhythm, her voice over and over again, looped and back and fourth pronouncing the word Fluidity
The return of Sonia’s voice with this oozing mellow Southern melody. Scrumptious and luscious and then another voice, repeated and repeating, light, airy and high.
Fluidity Fluidity Fluidity
Fluidity Fluidity
Fluidity
Fluid
Ity
.
Elinor’s voice returns, as if revealed through the trees like sunlight trickling down from the sky:
Elinor says:
I retrieved a soundtrack I’d created years ago that had methinking of Joy’s interview.
When I listen back to Joy’s interview I see her
on the other side of a window pane with rain
The rain begins to fall as rain effects are played.
sliding down the glass.
It is a stormy night,
and I look at her in the rain on a damp pavement
And she is inside what might be a shop,
or a café, listening to the sounds all around her
And whilst I’m unable to make a room contain this space and sound
I feel I can make the scene more cinematic and make Joy’s reflections more alive.”
Rainstorm sound effects get louder then disperse into a mix track of Joy’s voice on loop and modified to be slowed down:
“I like the sound of rain.” A track mixed with Joy’s voice as she talks on loop about liking the sound of the rain, and a piano plays, then guitar pushed out far, haunting and low.
Then music that is soft and haunting, the sound of a whirring spaceship, a fan perhaps outside a steamy apartment window, it is summer, and the voices of two people talking, the crunch of pillow and mattress and blankets as they cuddle up, Joy’s voice fuses into this scene, this scene of intimacy, summer rain, a downpour in the heat of the day. These outsider bodies/voices feel in the same room as the interview where Drake Music AiRs interview DM team.
Joy: I like sounds that are natural
Outside Female’s voice: Like glass, like the curls of waves, like glass. Like the curls of waves
Gareth: What does Drake Music sound like?
Joy: (laughter) (nervous laughter)
Outside Male’s voice in response: Like a whirlpool.
Then voices again, Elinor’s soon followed by Sonia’s a mirroring, with each turn or note of word and sound, Sonia is following close behind, then her voice disperses to all the spaces of the room, into the corners and against the walls and soon her voice is the whole sky, and Elinor’s voice is floating now with Sonia gently above and around:
Hold on hold on
Hold on Holding (Holdin)
Holding on on on on on
Hold on
Hold on Holding on
Then gently, brightly, vibrantly, the sound of birdsong.
(Birdsong effect)
Birdsong so loud and surrounded that we feel like we are all in a forest.
Elinor: It was really vivid …. And when she said “birdsong”
Elinor: When she said birdsong the whole forest in my mind came alive it was bright and sunshine and leaves and green and Spring. I haveSpring in my head.
I had an empty stage.
Wooden floor, beautiful acoustic raw
Holding on and birdsong.
Elinor delivers this line boldly, brightly and confidently: I had the trees and the forest.
Gently, softly, more quietly,
Elinor: I had the trees and the forest. And birdsong.
And with Tom, it’s quiet, it’s very very quiet. It’s quiet, it’s very very quiet.
Humour and quiet and humour and quiet and laughter and quiet and nervous laughter.
And nirvana.
Tom’s voice describes the sounds of Drake Music,
“It’s quiet it can be very very quiet”
Elinor whispers gently in finding her voice again, mirroring albeit, a little more cautiously than Tom’s,
Nervous laughter and nirvana.
And loud loud loud - (these words jutting forward)
Then her voice pulls the next two words back as if oars in the water, bringing the water back, so that the boat can move on forward;
and soft.
And loud --- moving forward
and soft. (moving back)
And loud and loud and soft.
The words - moving forward and back - a push and pull.
at the word “and”
after soft before nirvana
And nirvana And loud loud loud and soft, and loud and soft.And loud and loud and soft. that moves into the wind.
Sounds of the wind, and then we can hear horses trotting down a street in the snow. And then we hear Louis’ voice:
Louis is speaking about how he has modified instruments to be more accessible for a disabled pupil who wanted to do the music GCSE and he thought that “There’s Gotta be other people doing that”
In his interview he had likened Drake Music to the wind and that’s when I brought the wind in, because Louis, was the wind, as it moves and twists transforming changing shape and responding to all they come into contact with - what he said was very poignant and the wind takes the audience on a journey, we are rushed from a forest filled with birdsong now to the sea, we see the waves, and seagulls pass overhead.
Elinor:
That moves into the wind, and sea and water and waves and seaand water and waves. And Miryam’s sea
Salt.
Air.
3.2 Sound effects: Seascape.
4.6 Insert File: Exploring Textures
Myriam’s voice as if she’s going underwater, or ismoving under water so her voice sounds a little farther away.
3.3 Sound effects: Waves on the sand
1.8 ER:
Taste it. Taste it in the fish, taste in on the land, tasteit on the trees, on the grass. More sound effects of water, of nature, allfused against the urbanesque of London.
And then, Coronavirus happened. And now nature is rising upagainst the urban landscape.
3.4 Sound effects: Wild Jungle Sounds, loud birds, crickets.
3.5 Sound effects: Beachscape
1.9 ER:
Was Drake psychic?
3.6 Sound effects: Waves/Beachscape
Alongside Sonia’s singing is the sounds of the waveslapping up on the sand.
2.2 Sonia’s mix and Voice - Never Lose Heart (ClosingTrack)
Never lose heart – Words &Music by Sonia Allori
Never lose your head,
Even when those around you are losing theirs,
‘Cos that’s an awful lot of heads,
To trip over,
Or kick up the corridor! La la la la la ……
Never lose your trust in people,
Even if they let you down,
‘Cos it’s a case of give and take,
You have to give a little,
And lose all the hate. La la la la la …….
Never lose hope,
That life will keep surprising every day,
You’ve got to keep the faith alive,
Believe in yourself,
Don’t stick your hand in a bee hive! Lala la la la …….
Never lose heart,
Even though life’s frustrating,
Your body’s misbehaving,
You can do it if you try,
And if not,
Then maybe one day you will fly! La la la la la la …
Sonia’s voice stops singing and we are left with an absence that feels heavy hitting into the chest, or the pit of the stomach. The pause is stark, the emptiness is noticeable - we don’t quite know what to do but the waves of the sea keep lapping up on the sand and then we are calm again, resting back into our body - the sea still moving, water splashes and the waves keep on waving.
2nd Draft “Text Description”
2nd Draft script
Elinor’s voice - a soft whispered voice, she sounds younger than her years, her voice is said to be calming, yet here it rushes in forcefully with the words:
Drake Music is....
Drake is quiet, it’s very very quiet
Drake is different textures and
Drake is experiencing journeys
Drake is the sound of the rain and it’s no sound sometimes because at work it’s always sound
Drake is like an echo, and like the wind, the way it moves and weaves itself around nature.
There is a pause, here, a beat- like in theatre
Drake is exciting.
Then the sound design changesso that the word Porous is dispersed and broken apart, arriving in on loops, arriving and disappearing, the words are spoken by different member of theDrake Music team.
The voices are brought in so that all the hair on your skin stands up on end, it is eerie and haunting. Sonia’s piercing voice and bluesy Southern rhythms flow through cutting through the words, bringing mellow oozing sensations of big bold feminine jazz,
Pourous
Pourous
Porrrr....... Pourus.
(Repeated andflowing in and out)
Joy: Cool! Nice to meet you all
Gareth (AiR): Nice to meet you too!
Gareth (AiR): Cheers
Sounds of chairs and laughterand saying of goodbyes at the end of an interview.
Then there is the sound of aguitar, an acoustic guitar and Elinor’s voice, quiet in the distant,mumbling to guitar sounds; a peering out of the darkness.
Elinor says:
So I lay in the dark for a very longtime.
The guitar falls away to anothervoice, a male voice singing “You’d like that, I’d like that too, so put your extraordinary…”
Then Joy’s voice arriving in rhythm, her voice over and over again, looped and back and fourth pronouncing the word Fluidity
The return of Sonia’s voice with this oozing mellow Southern melody. (*Sonia you can add more here!)
Fluidity FluidityFluidity
Fluidity Fluidity
Fluidity
Fluid
Ity
.
Elinor’s voice returns, as if revealed through the trees like sunlight trickling down from the sky:
Elinor says:
I retrieved a soundtrack I’d createdyears ago that had me thinking of Joy’s interview.
When I listen back to Joy’s interview Isee her
on the other side of a window panewith rain
The rain begins to fall asrain effects are played.
sliding down the glass.
It is a stormy night,
and I look at her in the rain on adamp pavement
And she is inside what might be ashop,
or a café,listening to the sounds all around her
And whilst I’m unable tomake a room contain this space and sound
I feel I can make the scene morecinematic and make Joy’sreflections more alive.”
Rainstorm sound effects getlouder then disperse into a mix track of Joy’s voice onloop and modified to be slowed down:
“Ilike the sound of rain.”
Then music that is soft andhaunting, the sound of a whirring spaceship, a fan perhaps outside a steamyapartment window, it is summer, and the voices of two people talking, thecrunch of pillow and mattress and blankets as they cuddle up, Joy’s voice fusesinto this scene, this scene of intimacy, summer rain, a downpour in the heat ofthe day. These outsider bodies/voices feel in the same room as the interviewwhere Drake Music AiRs interview DM team.
Joy: I like sounds that are natural
Outside Female’s voice: Likeglass, like the curls of waves, like glass. Like the curls of waves
Gareth: What does Drake Music soundlike?
Joy: (laughter) (nervous laughter)
Outside Male’s voice inresponse: Like a whirlpool.
Then voices again, Elinor’s soonfollowed by Sonia’sa mirroring, with each turn or note of word and sound, Sonia is following closebehind, then her voice disperses to all the spaces of the room, into thecorners and against the walls and soon her voice is the whole sky, and Elinor’s voice isfloating now with Sonia gently above and around:
Hold on hold on
Hold on Holding (Hold in)
Holding on on on on on
Hold on
Hold on Holding on
Then gently, brightly,vibrantly, the sound of birdsong.
(Birdsong effect)
Birdsong so loud andsurrounded that we feel like we are all in a forest.
Elinor: It was really vivid …. And when she said “birdsong”
Elinor: When she said birdsong thewhole forest in my mind came alive it was bright and sunshine and leaves and greenand Spring. I have Spring in my head.
I had an empty stage.
Wooden floor, beautiful acousticraw
Holding on and birdsong.
Elinor delivers this lineboldly, brightly and confidently: I had the trees and theforest.
Gently, softly, more quietly,
Elinor: I had the trees and the forest. Andbirdsong.
And with Tom, it’s quiet, it’s very veryquiet. It’squiet, it’svery very quiet.
Humour and quiet and humour and quietand laughter and quiet and nervous laughter.
And nirvana.
Tom’s voice describes the sounds of DrakeMusic,
“It’s quiet it can be very very quiet”
Elinor whispers gently infinding her voice again, mirroring albeit, a little more cautiously than Tom’s,
Nervous laughter and nirvana.
And loud loud loud - (these wordsjutting forward)
Then her voice pulls the nexttwo words back as if oars in the water, bringing the water back, so that theboat can move on forward;
and soft.
And loud --- moving forward
and soft. (moving back)
And loud and loud and soft.
The words - moving forward andback - a push and pull.
at the word “and”
after soft before nirvana
And nirvana And loud loud loud andsoft, and loud and soft. And loud and loud and soft. that moves into thewind.
Sounds of the wind, and thenwe can hear horses trotting down a street in the snow. And then we hear Louis’ voice:
Louis is speaking about how hehas modified instruments to be more accessible for a disabled pupil who wantedto do the music GCSE and he thought that “There’s Gotta beother people doing that”
In his interview he hadlikened Drake Music to the wind and that’s when I brought the wind in, becauseLouis, was the wind, as it moves and twists transforming changing shape andresponding to all they come into contact with - what he said was very poignantand the wind takes the audience on a journey, we are rushed from a forestfilled with birdsong now to the sea, we see the waves, and seagulls passoverhead.
Elinor:
That moves into the wind, and sea andwater and waves and sea and water and waves. And Miryam’s sea
Salt.
Air.
3.2 Sound effects: Seascape.
4.6 Insert File: Exploring Textures
Myriam’s voice as if she’s goingunderwater, or is moving under water so her voice sounds a little farther away.
3.3 Sound effects: Waves on thesand
1.8 ER:
Taste it. Taste it in the fish, tastein on the land, taste it on the trees, on the grass. More sound effects ofwater, of nature, all fused against the urbanesque of London.
And then, Coronavirus happened. Andnow nature is rising up against the urban landscape.
3.4 Sound effects: Wild JungleSounds, loud birds, crickets.
3.5 Sound effects: Beachscape
1.9 ER:
Was Drake psychic?
3.6 Sound effects: Waves/Beachscape
Alongside Sonia’s singing isthe sounds of the waves lapping up on the sand.
2.2 Sonia’s mix and Voice - Never LoseHeart (Closing Track)
Never lose heart – Words &Music by Sonia Allori
Never lose your head,
Even when those around you are losingtheirs,
‘Cos that’s an awful lot of heads,
To trip over,
Or kick up the corridor! La la la lala ……
Never lose your trust in people,
Even if they let you down,
‘Cos it’s a case of give and take,
You have to give a little,
And lose all the hate. La la la la la…….
Never lose hope,
That life will keep surprising everyday,
You’ve got to keep the faith alive,
Believe in yourself,
Don’t stick your hand in a bee hive! La la la la la …….
Never lose heart,
Even though life’sfrustrating,
Your body’smisbehaving,
You can do it if you try,
And if not,
Then maybe one day you will fly! Lala la la la la …
Sonia’s voice stops singing and we are leftwith an absence that feels heavy hitting into the chest, or the pit of thestomach.
The pause is stark, theemptiness is noticeable - we don’t quite know what to do but the wavesof the sea keep lapping up on the sand and the sea, and then we are calm again,resting back into our body - the sea still moving, water splashes and the waveskeep on waving.
1st Draft "Text Description"
Key:
1.0 - 1.9
ER = Elinor’s voice visually guiding the listeners into visual scenes of nature, landscape both internal and external.
2.0 -2.2
Sonia's Mixes
3.0 - 3.6
Natural/Nature Sound Effects for the weather and seasons and elements.
4.0 - 4.4
ER Response mixes of interviewees voices/music.
17.44 - Podcast:
Sonia and Elinor’s response to the interviews. Instead of talking/responding to the interviews through descriptive opinions or chat, we decided to respond through our music-making/sound practice. Both of us find it difficult to show ourselves on screen/on websites and hesitate with blogs/vlogs etc, yet – here - we used our voice and words when composing work – so this is where our collaboration flowed really easily because we could hide/describe/verbalise through the sound pieces that weave themselves around each other to create ripples and waves.
We also feel it’s no coincidence that the letters of our names spell, “SEA”
1.0 ER:
Drake Musicis....
Drake is quiet,it’s very very quiet
Drake isdifferent textures and
Drake isexperiencing journeys
Drake is thesound of the rain and it’s no sound sometimes because at work it’s always sound
Drake is like anecho, and like the wind, the way it moves and weaves itself around nature.
(pause)
Drake isexciting.
(Abigail – could you make a prominent pause here and thenit flows naturally into the Porous mix).
2.0 Sonia’s Mix: Porous – all team voices
Could you flow some of the voices ofthe other DM team’s voices to be moving in and out a little more fluidly? Soniamanaged it for her/my voice but for the actual interviewees – having theirvoices a little more softer softer in and out – would be more effective.
4.0Guitar - So I lay in the dark for a very long time.
4.1Fluidity
FluidityFluidity Fluidity
FluidityFluidity
Fluidity
Fluid
Ity
.
1.1 ER:
I retrieved asoundtrack I’d created years ago that had me thinking of Joy’s interview.
When I listenback to Joy’s interview I see her
on the other sideof a window pane with rain
3.0Insert: “Rain Effects”
1.2 ER
sliding down theglass.
1.3 ER
It is a stormynight,
and I look at herin the rain on a damp pavement
And she is insidewhat might be a shop,
or a café,listening to the sounds all around her
1.4
And whilst I’munable to make a room contain this space and sound
I feel I can makethe scene more cinematic and make Joy’s reflections more alive.
(Rainstormsound effects)
4.3Insert file: “I like the sound of rain.”
· Can you make “like a whirlpool” - at4:45 – can you make it louder? I don’t think people will catch it.
2.1 Sonia’s Mix
ER/Sonia
Hold on hold on
Hold onHolding (Hold in)
Holding on on onon on
Hold on
Hold on Holdingon
(There is a thud sound where I “edited” sections of tracksat 6:12/13 – wondered if you could smooth it so you don’t hear the thud asmuch.)
(Birdsongeffect)
1.5 ER:
It was reallyvivid
And when she said“birdsong”
When she saidbirdsong the whole forest in my mind came alive it was bright and sunshine andleaves and green and Spring. I have Spring in my head.
I had an emptystage.
Wooden floor,beautiful acoustic raw
Holdingon and birdsong.
I had the trees andthe forest. I had the trees and the forest. And birdsong.
And with Tom,it’s quiet, it’s very very quiet. It’s quiet, it’s very very quiet.
Humour and quietand humour and quiet and laughter and quiet and nervous laughter.
And nirvana.
4.4Insert file: “It’s quiet it can be very very quiet”
1.6 ER:
Nervous laughterand nirvana. And loud loud loud and soft. And loud and soft. And loud and loudand soft.
(at the word “and” (after soft before nirvana at 10:23)can you take that “squeak” away, or soften it.)
And nirvana Andloud loud loud and soft, and loud and soft. And loud and loud and soft. thatmoves into the wind.
3.1Sound effects: The wind
4.5Insert File: “There’s Gotta be other people/The Wind”
1.7 ER
That moves intothe wind, and sea and water and waves and sea and water and waves. And Miryam’ssea salt air.
3.2Sound effects: Seascape.
4.6Insert File: Exploring Textures
(only if you have time – maybe a littlesound effect at the end of Myriam’s voice as if she’s going underwater, or ismoving under water so her voice sounds a little farther away.)
3.3Sound effects: Waves on the sand
1.8 ER:
Taste it. Tasteit in the fish, taste in on the land, taste it on the trees, on the grass. Moresound effects of water, of nature, all fused against the urbanesque of London.
And then,Coronavirus happened. And now nature is rising up against the urban landscape.
3.4Sound effects: Wild Jungle Sounds
3.5Sound effects: Beachscape
1.9 ER:
Was Drake psychic?
(Could we make this sound a bit of an ending beat – so maybe, a pause then the question – polish it to make it sound clearer.)
3.6 Sound effects: Waves/Beachscape
2.2 Sonia’s mix - Never Lose Heart (Closing Track)
3.7 Sound effects: Waves of the sea to END (17.44)