September 2020
Dreadnought
Solo Project
Made using Reaper, Soundsnap
and Adobe Premiere
My goal with Dreadnought was to tell a story using only audio. To do this, I scoured the internet for noises and sound effects that I thought would fit the sci-fi fantasy setting I wanted to set my story in, in the end pulling together nearly 100 different sound effects, layering and mixing them with each other, and sequencing them all together in a timeline.
The story, which I've split into three parts, takes place on the deck of a high-tech warship ambushed by enemy ships while out on a stormy ocean.
Part 1: The Calm
The first part of the audio depicts a normal day upon the deck of the warship, where soldiers are running drills and smaller ships are being launched from the flight deck. The "takeoff" sequence is my favorite part of this section, and uses audio from actual rocket launches, as well as recordings of firecrackers, explosives, and the chain lift of a roller coaster.
The scene of a bustling warship felt incomplete without the voices of soldiers and commanders shouting over it all, but I also wanted these voices to fit the fantasy setting. In the end, I created a sort of alien-sounding language by playing the audio clips backwards and distorting them.
Part 2: The Storm
The second section occurs later in the day, as the warship sails into a heavy storm. In addition to layering a collection of wind, rain, and thunder sounds over the entire scene, I also made sure to dampen the noises previously heard in part one, as the wind and rain would make these things more difficult to hear.
My favorite part of this scene is easily the foghorn that comes in at the halfway point. I remember sorting through dozens of different alarms, klaxons, and horns before finding one that sounded just right; imposing, but still allowing the wind, rain and thunder to be heard.
Part 3: The Attack
The story culminates in a hectic battle around the warship, with the soldiers fighting off boarders on the deck while aerial dogfights rage above them.
In this track, I really wanted the listener to feel like they were right in the middle of things, and to give each noise I used a distinct "place" in the scene to avoid it all becoming just a mush of explosions and lasers. To achieve this, I payed special attention to what side of the viewer sound effects were coming from, and played around with that balance as well as the pitch and volume of the audio to create the effect of things "wizzing" past the listener. My favorite example of this is the fighter crash in the middle of the track, where I pitched one of the firecracker clips through peaks and valleys in quick succession as the fighter spins out and explodes on the deck.