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F For Farnham Haunted Sound Walk

"F for Farnham is a series of ten audio stories which take the listener on a ghost hunt around Farnham, the most haunted town in Surrey. This story walk gives voice to those who have gone before as they share their stories and the resonances that keep them present today." - Sophie Austin. 

 

Created by Sophie Austin in collaboration with composer James Wright, produced by Roz Mortimer and Simon Aeppli (University For The Creative Arts).

 

Sound Designers: Ellie Holliday, Sam Cook, Atlas Davis, Gabriel Nejah, James Wright.

Public Launch: 29th October (The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham).

 

I designed the sound for the audio track 'The Workhouse Queen’. Listen Below:

The Workhouse Queen

My Process

I was given an extensive script of the dialogue for The Workhouse Queen Track. The voice acting had already been recorded so I was able to listen to that first. This helped me to further understand the character and the context, as I got a sense of age, and gender, and the tone of her voice indicated what possible emotions the character was feeling. I read through the script and made notes on location/surroundings, situation, feelings, and objects and took note of the time period. I did extensive research on the conditions of a workhouse and integrated that into the sound story. I mixed the track in Logic Pro. I had an archive of sounds I had recorded when I was studying in Farnham so I was able to use some of these to build an authentic atmosphere. I used a recording of building works as a constant, underlying sound. I placed some reverb over the top to make it sound distant and unrecognizable. You could hear a faint, rather harrowing beeping sound that I imagined could hint at the constant machine noise of a workhouse. I also layered my voice over specific points in the story, to add a powerful and other-worldly element to the undead. I was working in a 7.1.2 surround format to give some spatial awareness and make the story more immersive. I had certain sounds panning to the left and right to create tension and uncertainty. I completed this project within a very short time frame and was extremely pleased with the outcome. I didn't want to overcomplicate the sound design and, instead wanted these sounds to guide the listener into a feeling. Sophie Austin advised more of an ambient approach to all the sound stories and to not just throw obvious sound effects into the mix. It was a really interesting project to be a part of and I'm very grateful to have been involved. I would love to work on more audio stories in the future, as I still have more to learn and experiment with. 

Take a listen to all the stories and feel the presence of those who once were. You'll be transported to the echoing cobbled streets and take a sensory walk amongst the shadows of the unseen. Listen carefully, you don't know what could be lurking. 

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