Writing AD with Sound
When a sighted person experiences a work of art, he/she is often left with both a visual memory of the work and with a sense memory of the experience. For people with vision loss, audio description can help do the same. I have found that adding sound — music, sound effect, ambiences, dialogue — offers compelling ways to create those images and memories.
Creative use of sound in an audio tour can help listeners have a richer sensory experience to help them both understand how a work looks, and to leave them with a visceral sense memory of the art. Audio description with sound can be mixed in by in-house staff or by hiring an outside audio producer. Here are some ways I’ve combined sound with audio description.
To Create Context
Sometimes I begin an audio tour stop by using sound with narration or dialogue to set the historical or cultural setting for the creation of a work of art. I use the techniques of storytelling to set the context for the work. Then I add traditional audio description to create the visual image of the work.
You can hear examples of this technique in the works on the American Art web site, produced by Art Beyond Sight with works from the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
(If you visit the site, listen with headphones)
Creative use of sound in an audio tour can help listeners have a richer sensory experience to help them both understand how a work looks, and to leave them with a visceral sense memory of the art. Audio description with sound can be mixed in by in-house staff or by hiring an outside audio producer. Here are some ways I’ve combined sound with audio description.
To Create Context
Sometimes I begin an audio tour stop by using sound with narration or dialogue to set the historical or cultural setting for the creation of a work of art. I use the techniques of storytelling to set the context for the work. Then I add traditional audio description to create the visual image of the work.
You can hear examples of this technique in the works on the American Art web site, produced by Art Beyond Sight with works from the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
(If you visit the site, listen with headphones)
Here is another of audio description rich with sound.
It's about a 17th century painting, Still Life with Parrots
by Jan Davidzon de Heem, produced for the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. (Listen with headphones)
You can read a transcript here.
Sometimes you can create context by simply adding an ambience background that supports the content of a painting: birds in a forest setting, restaurant ambience, horses trotting by, a church bell tolling in the distance. Let the content of the painting or sculpture and your imagination suggest the ambience.
It's about a 17th century painting, Still Life with Parrots
by Jan Davidzon de Heem, produced for the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. (Listen with headphones)
You can read a transcript here.
Sometimes you can create context by simply adding an ambience background that supports the content of a painting: birds in a forest setting, restaurant ambience, horses trotting by, a church bell tolling in the distance. Let the content of the painting or sculpture and your imagination suggest the ambience.
To Create Audio Analogues
Sometimes I have created found or created sound analogues for visual images or techniques.
You can hear one example of a sound analogue in this audio tour stop for Marcel Duchamp’s painting Nude Descending a Staircase. (Listen with headphones). It is 3 minutes long.
You can read a transcript here.
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Sometimes I have created found or created sound analogues for visual images or techniques.
You can hear one example of a sound analogue in this audio tour stop for Marcel Duchamp’s painting Nude Descending a Staircase. (Listen with headphones). It is 3 minutes long.
You can read a transcript here.
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