Library Quiet Study Area Soundscape

For this project, we* have chosen the quiet study area in the library, out of curiosity to see what sounds we could hear at a place that is supposed to be as silent as possible. We had to be very attentive in order to become aware of all the -mostly discreet- sounds that were surrounding us: air-conditioning, whispers, coughs, turning of pages, typing, steps, a mobile phone ringing, doors opening or closing. The video was taken with a mobile phone.

For the recreation of the soundscape, we recorded almost all of our sounds both at the library (using a shotgun microphone) and at the studio, and in the end we used those whose quality we thought was more satisfying/ closer to what we heard while taking the video.

The sounds that were recorded at the library and we used in our final soundscape, include door opening and closing, steps on carpet, typing on keyboard, mobile phone ringing, turning of pages and the wail of a siren which happened to be audible in the library during our recording.

Sounds recorded at the studio and used in the soundscape include all the vocal sounds (short whispered conversation, coughs, sniffing, clearing of throat) as well as the sounds produced while packing a bag along with some more typing and page turning.

For the recreation of the air-conditioning noise hum we recorded the sound of a laptop fan.

Our purpose was to include in a 45-second video most of the sounds we heard in the library during 15 minutes, without making it too dense, and therefore unrealistic for a quiet library area.

While mixing, I avoided compression, because it was giving to much 'presence' to the sounds, which was leading to an unrealistic result for a quiet area, or the noise floor was brought up - an inappropriate side effect for a relatively quiet mix. Instead, in cases where more expressiveness was desirable (e.g. vocal sounds) the studio recordings were used.

For a better result, more foley could perhaps be incorporated, for example for the sound of the steps on carpet, which was quite troublesome during the mixing, without giving a great result.

A couple of things that were pointed out and I tried to improve was that my initial mix was too quiet and the air conditioning noise was too prevalent. Therefore I removed a lot of reverb, brought up the level where appropriate, and attenuated the bass frequencies of the air conditioning sound.


*This project started as a group project, so all recordings and the first mixing was done by Sam Bowen and myself.