This is, after all, an audio paper. It’s impossible for it to exist without some form of performance.

But does performance have to be carried out soley through my voice?

No.

I may also use other aspects of myself and being to perform.

Could I use an instrument to perform?

Yes.

Does it have to be a musical instrument?

No.

I will use a pencil and paper to perform.

For my first test of foley recording, I wanted to record myself writing the first draft of my essay with a pencil on paper, to run constantly underneath my voice. I think it’s my aim to make a distracting soundscape that reflects the difficulties I have with concentration and distraction.

I want to start the essay with just the sound of me writing. I then drop the pencil and begin to speak – “Well, why am I doing this anyway?“. The writing resumes, as does the pencil performance. In the first test recording, I started writing the sentences as I have written them in my draft script. Here I encountered my first problem – as I move the pencil along the page, the sound gets fainter and quieter due to its further proximity from the microphone.

Now, I could move the microphone along the paper with my pencil. However, that would be very impractical and probably produce unwanted noise. I soon realised that you can get the same sound by scribbling in the same spot. It’s not quite as conceptually interesting for me as handwriting the essay in full, however it’s much easier to get the sonic result I am looking for. Below is the paper I was writing on; you can observe the experiments that were occurring as you move down the page –

And here’s a snippet of the audio result:

This is me writing the first sentence and then dropping the pencil, with a short sigh in the distance. Eventually through the 10 minutes I recorded this pencil scribble for, I started to feel a performance aspect to it. I could change the intensity and the speed at which I wrote, and add pauses – all for performative effect. I will keep this idea of scribbling on paper, although as I say, I would’ve liked to have written out the paper in real time. Still, I don’t think this will really detract from the listening experience and is simply part of a wider soundscape that I want to build.