1/31/01 Eva A. Penzes MULT 130 - Intro to Digital Audio Instructor: Tim White Sound Project Title: Caffeine FX Story Synopsis: The scene begins with the cacophony of coffee beans grinding. Then the sound of an espresso machine being opened, the lid is unscrewed. Then the faucet comes on and water is dispensed into the steamer pitcher and poured into the machine. the machine clicks on and begins its low rumble as the water boils. It gets louder and steam hisses forth suddenly. The pitcher of milk is heated with hissing, gurgling and the pitch goes from high to low as it warms up. Finally, the espresso is dispensed into the coffee cup with the milk and its heady covering of foam layered on top. The sound of sipping ensues along with the sound of newspaper pages turning slowly and infrequently.... As this progresses the sound of the coffee foam bubbles popping is ensuing in the background. The bubbles are very active and seem to be getting louder and louder and more raucous with each moment. Coincidentally, the newspaper pages seem to be turning faster and faster and faster! The foam bubbles are getting louder still in an Edgar Allen Poe style nightmare (a la "The Tell Tale Heart") of complete frenzy. The sounds of the foam bubbles and the newspaper pages blend into a cacophony of utter chaotic noise making it quite apparent what the caffeine "rush" has done to the coffee drinker. ...and THEN as this insane soundscape reaches its uttermost crescendo it ends abruptly leaving the listener in silence. Materials: I have included in my folder a recording of the coffee foam bubbles popping which I made with this very cheap little microphone. This was the original inspiration for this project as I have been noticing for quite some time how busy and loud their sounds can be. The bubbles usually start off popping in a tandem uniform way at first, but as they decrease and some of the surface of the coffee becomes visible they start popping in sudden massive waves as though the neighbors trigger each other. I have been able to capture that sound in the recording provided. I wish I could know more about the physics of why they pop that way. I have been thinking this would be cool to make into an sound project long before I signed up for this class! Now, incorporating it into a sound story is a great way to display their talent. As for the rest of the coffee making sounds, I have not been able to make a preliminary recording yet because my microphone cable is too short to reach over to where the kitchen counter is. However, I spoke this past week with my friend who has sound equipment and he will lend me a couple of better microphones very soon. He also has a mixer to loan me as well. Then, I will probably want to buy a microphone stand and an extension cable for the microphones. I have also purchased and installed Sound Forge XP 4.5, so I should be in business here very soon. Implementation Format: The completed project will be presented on an audio CD. Eventually, it will be one of several soundcape stories making up a complete professional-like CD. I also hope to stream this project from my web site (www.quackingduck.net) via real-audio as my web host provides that capability.