The dramatic first chapter of Creeksong: One Woman Sings the Climate Blues sets the scene for a book about fear. It links global climate breakdown with specific local circumstances by chronicling a harrowing journey through record-breaking rainfall and flooding.
This post explains some of the challenges I faced in mixing audio effects and music for a tense, dramatic story. When I tackled this chapter, I was completely new to audio recording and mixing.
This flood was later described by a wag as “the longest swimming pool in British Columbia.”
This audiobook chapter challenged me to balance the intensity of environmental effects with music and special sound effects to create an immersive experience without overwhelming the narrative. My first job (after recording the narrative) was to assemble the auditory environment. Using clips from a sound effects library, I maintained a continuous sound of “heavy rain in the car” and lots of loud, heavy trucks passing by in high-volume traffic.
Inside the car, we were listening to “Climate Blues” by young Australian composer/songwriter Dominic Brinkley. I balanced exterior storm and heavy traffic sounds with interior psychedelic rock music to enhance the emotional intensity of our dangerous circumstances. I simulated radio news bulletins announcing broken rainfall records, flooding, evacuations, and hundreds of dead and dying animals with warnings of still more heavy rain to come. Soon, the sounds of sirens and the car suddenly skidding off the slushy road overpowered the music.
As I mixed the soundtrack to complement the scene’s mood (while enhancing the narrative tension), I paid careful attention to pacing and dynamics. For realism, I modified the quality of the rain sounds as we left the car after we’d escaped the flooded highway.
I used radio alerts to enhance a palpable sense of fear embedded in the narrative. As we drove away from the flooded countryside and regrouped at home in Vancouver’s metropolitan area, I created a shift in acoustic mood from uncertainty to determination. We had escaped the brunt of the storm and were greeted by Oscar. His contented purring communicates that he missed us. Being an indoor kitty, he didn’t mind the sound of the storm.
We could relax. At last.
From an acoustic perspective, the “No Place to Hide” chapter offers valuable insights into our shared human experience of confronting challenges and finding strength in adversity. We were a couple of ordinary people suddenly thrust into danger and escaping unscathed. As I mixed the soundscape, I selected the sounds, other acoustic effects, and music to communicate the fear of climate breakdown–a fear that affects ordinary people. And I tried to communicate simple, human courage.
One message from this harrowing, yet redemptive story might be that everyone needs to cultivate a mindset of resilience and perseverance in the face of the terrors of global climate catastrophe. Perhaps some people can draw inspiration from our experiences in “No Place to Hide”?
This was my debut as a sound mixer. A difficult chapter to start with, for sure. Life became much easier with later chapters. And I greatly valued the lessons I learned as a novice from this challenging learning experience.
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