My layer of "unobvious sound" consists of three sound tracks and one concise idea, stemming from experiences that I had during our recording sessions at the Archbold gym. While doing some primary recording of gym ambient, we recorded a conversation between two young men. They looked to be sophomores, and we simply sitting and shooting the breeze. But when I added this layer into my environmental soundscape, I listened to what they were saying, remembered my experience, and an idea was born.
The layers consist of the following:
1 ambient track of a boy's conversation
1 secondary track of a boy in pain
1 ambient-shifts-to-primary track of hard breathing, pain
I decided to incorporate these unobvious noises not by deliberately hiding them but by masking them slightly through adjusting sound levels, changing speed, and juxtaposing against harsher sounds. For example, the conversation in the beginning seems like just an ordinary inclusion of ambience. The hard breathing at the end starts distorted in a slow, low pitch, but then transitions to a normal sound. This stylized shift, including the intentional cell phone noises I added at the end, gave the piece a fractured, abrupt ending, which I liked a lot because it expresses that not all is well. The singling out of the harsh breathing at the end tells us that something is not right.
The purpose and the idea behind the sounds reflects the ironies and realities of young men's motives in going to the gym. It is so often used as an ego-boost for college boys to go to the gym and feel good about themselves by playing basketball, racquetball, or lifting weights. The cockiness or immaturity is symbolized by the conversation in the beginning, where they use explicit language and dumb humor when walking to the basketball courts. But the idea is that these are illusions that boys create in order to improve their image. When it comes down to it, the gym can be a very dangerous place. I have seen many guys get seriously hurt when playing basketball or racquetball. For example, last weekend a game had to be stopped because a boy started hyperventilating, which partly inspired the heavy breathing at the end. In a nutshell, the significance of the piece is about the young male hubris, and how even the most confident can be humbled, hurt, and scared by injuries or gym accidents. Perhaps, on a further level, it is a small commentary on the relationship between immaturity and reality.
There is great value and moral behind the significance of my unobvious sound because it is a universal fact. The gym is a prime place for boys to go and show off, but hubris and recklessness often lead to injury and pain. Archbold gymnasium is a prime example of this. Personally, I myself have suffered some harsh, embarrassing injuries at Syracuse's fine gym, and it was during a moment of bad judgment. The motive of the piece is certainly a relevant and valuable one. However, it is presented in a slightly avant garde way, and there may not be too much at stake by simply revealing the information without verbally explaining it. But when I do imagine explaining it, it's not something that any young man could deny. The relationship between ego and recklessness is undeniable.
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