The Sense of Self - sound design

original sound design & score

the original poem about ontology - questioning the nature of existence/being.

Core Idea: Exploration of the sense of Self and the nature of Existence
Medium: music + sound
Outcome: an original soundtrack + SFX
Year: 2023
Time spent: 2 weeks

My friend created an original poem, then an animation to accompany it.
I agreed to jump in and help her with the sound, seeing the potential for it.
As the animation was following her poem closely, the sound had to follow both the poem and the animation too.
Given with a few keywords and defining moods:

Ambient
Subtle
World-building
Mysterious

From the ground up, I looked for what notes to use and what chords/chords progression would fit the animation well.
Next, I looked for the right digital instruments for said chords/notes.

IRL annotations of mood, of potential instruments to use, of key actions to support

My workspace in FL Studio

The entire process was a trial-and-error thing, as I have zero knowledge in music theory, or musical software,
so I had nothing but my inner sense of how certain sounds reflect certain emotions, and a lot of tutorials.
I played around with the 4 elements of sound:

pitch
dynamic (volume/loudness)
duration
timbre (tone color)

6 poem verses, each with varying emotions and energy was quite the challenge to compose, especially for a first-timer,
yet the outcome I felt was very fitting and emotional score.

> next: “Hikaribakuh” - pixel art animation

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