BSA Audio Article Annotation 2

 BSA Audio

Hi!

One of the clips I planned on doing was from the show 'Arcane', which has a very unique fantasy setting which included lots of creative and unique sounds. I found this article (https://www.asoundeffect.com/arcane-sound/) about how they made some of the more magical sounds, specifically of the two 'magical' substances in the show, Hextech and Shimmer. 

One cool detail they discuss is the duality of the sound design for hextech and shimmer. These two elements represent the duality theme throughout the whole show, and are clearly designed to show both sides of magic, one which can be used to advance technology, and one that can be weaponized. Shimmer is clearly the 'darker' of the two and is associated with pain, or in the words of Brad Beaumont, "There is a lot of despair and agony at the center of Shimmer’s sound design.", To reflect this he designed the sound of shimmer transformations to be "very aggressive and oftentimes awful to hear." 

They go on to talk about how they made the sounds, and how it affected the storytelling of the show. One fascinating thing is that they started with some "weird, strained vocal recordings". I like that they started with vocals as it really captures the human agony at the center of the sound, reflecting the painful transformations shimmer inflicts on people. They also include some stingers to add to the horror element of the scenes. 

Listening to the actual scene in the show, you definitely pick up on these elements they discuss. There is a low, bestial element to the screams, showing this horrific transformation into a mindless monster, which fades into a very human yell, reminding us that there is a person under it all. It is then backed up with a high pitched scream, which blends into the classic horror stingers in the music. It ends with this techno-like sound, almost a mix of a digitally edited siren or yelping animal. It all feels very animalistic and the layering and blending gives us that transformative sound. It works well for telling us what is happening to this character, even offscreen, and tells us a lot about the effects of shimmer, and how it feels for the person who used it. 

Then for the sound design of hextech, they go in another direction, leaning more into the magical aspect. Since hextech is based around crystals, they used sounds from a wine glass to ground their sounds. They also focused more on tones and a musical element. 

Listening to the sound in the show, they lean into that classic magical sound design, a combination of high pitched ringing tones, lighting-like crackling, and very pure, crystalline sounds. These sounds make sense, with the ringing and crystalline sounds coming from its form as a crystal, and the lightning crackling showing a sense of power, but also unpredictable danger. While it is a very classic magic sound design, it also tells the audience a lot about how people perceive hextech, as something beautiful and precious like a crystal, but also powerful. 

I really like the sound design of Arcane as it gives a lot of world building and story telling purely through sound. 

Walden, J. (2022, January 6). How Arcane’s Sonic Magic Is Made – with sound designers Eliot Connors & Brad Beaumont, and composer Alexander Temple. A Sound Effect. Retrieved June 22, 2022, from https://www.asoundeffect.com/arcane-sound/