“SOMETIMES” is a contemporary projecting combing sound perception, raw emotions, and multiple mediums to explore storytelling art (2024).

“SOMETIMES” takes poems from R3NYAS’ unpublished manuscript of the same name and turns them into an “audio forest” of experience by utilizing foley sounds and background music beds. Each auditory component is tailored specifically for each poem, taking the listener through various emotions and experiences. The pieces feature composed music and foley sound effects, recorded for this project or from real-life audio pulled from home videos from R3NYAS’ life. The purpose of this project is for the listener to be transported into a snippet of someone else’s life and to be given enough auditory stimulation to envision or feel the experience. This project utilized Adobe Audition, Adobe Fresco, GarageBand, SoundTrap, TuneCore, and Canva.

Each piece was recorded on wireless bidirectional lavalier microphones on the iPhone’s Voice Memo application. This served as the original audio (what will be referred to as the vocals) and what the rest of the project would be built upon. The original audio file was then exported to Adobe Audition, where the sound was altered and layered on a multitrack. Each piece attempted to have a composed dimension and a sound effect dimension, alongside the vocals. These components were created on GarageBand, SoundTrap, or on Adobe Audition from original sound files.

Because R3NYAS lacks musical/audial training or knowledge, the composed dimension was not meant to be perfect or utilize music theory to fulfil the project’s purpose. Instead, the composed dimension adds solidity to the project, and would allow for a familiar sound to guide the vocals and sound effects. These notes were composed randomly. As in R3NYAS couldn’t differentiate an A note from a C note. As in R3NYAS didn’t know that a piano was a string instrument. As in R3NYAS was given a computer with a digital audio workstation and was told to click buttons.

The sound effect dimension was created two ways: foley and pulled directly from home videos. The foley was recorded using the same microphones. If a piece required a specific sound effect, the sound would be recorded and edited on Adobe Audition. The foley would be uploaded to the piece’s multitrack and further edited. If the piece required secondary sound, such as a person’s voice or a specific sound from a specific moment, files from R3NYAS’ Snapchat, Google Photos, and videos from a hard drive would be sorted through. The needed sound would be extracted from the video file, and pushed through Adobe Audition. While the extracted sounds were the most timely, they were the most authentic and allowed the piece to be closer tied to the real-life occurrence.

Once the piece was deemed complete, it would be exported as an .mp3 file. The cover art would be created on Canva by using R3NYAS’ own fine line art and the fonts “Jonathan” and “TT Milks Casual Pie Line”. The files were uploaded to TuneCore, who was the distributor when “SOMETIMES” was live. TuneCore was supposed to distribute the pieces to Apple, Spotify, Youtube, and more. Unfortunately, there were some issues uploading to Spotify, which ultimately led to the ending of the project.

After the piece was set for distribution, there would be promotional material created and posted. These promotional pieces were created using Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. 15 seconds of each piece were taken to generate a basic audio waveform, and auto-captioning was used. This allowed for viewers to be visually stimulated. These promotional posts were to go live on social media on the release date, but due to the prior mentioned issues, only six pieces were finished and went live before the entire project had to be archived.

The entire timeline of “SOMETIMES” was meant to align with prominent points of R3NYAS’ life. Similar to the manuscript, “SOMETIMES” was sectioned into three parts: Part One: Oedipus (the teen years and growing up), Part Two: Aphrodesia (trials with love) , and Part Three: Petrichor (the healing). Each parts release date held significance and was outlined as such: Part One was chosen to be released on January 7th of 2025, which commemorates the final time R3NYAS was discharged from the adolescent behavioural unit in 2020; Part Two was chosen to be released on April 29th of 2025, which acknowledges a significant day from her first adult relationship; and Part Three was chosen to be released on August 14th of 2025, which is R3NYAS’ birthday and signifies life, growth, and resilience.

Please review the piece by piece specifics below.

“Bad Sphinx” was created in memory of one of R3NYAS’ former relationships. The poem is written from a woman’s first person point-of-view. She creates similarities between a rabid cat and their owner to her relationship, and she expresses pain and confusion as her lover pushes, pulls, and ultimately controls “the cat”.

Fun facts:

• The cat sound effects were pulled from videos with cats named Oreo, Biscuit, and Lilly!

“Cannibal Lover” emphasizes a metaphorical comparison between cannibalism and one’s relationship. “Cannibal Lover” details one’s internal conflict following the discovery of their lover’s illegal ongoings.

Fun facts:

• This is R3NYAS’ favourite production and took the longest to produce.
• The line about “lemon pepper” is an ode to the couple’s favourite seasoning to cook with.
• One of the effects includes a distorted vocal from the poem’s subject himself
  • This vocal was then layered with a recording of R3NYAS saying, “I own you”, which was a real-life phrase told to her by the poem’s subject.

“Fashion Magazines” is based off of one’s struggles with food, identity, and comparison. It focuses on the premise that fashion magazines further people’s insecurities

Fun facts:

• The chip sound effect came from a Wegman’s brand of potato chips!

“The End” acknowledges one’s lifelong struggles and romanticization of substances based upon the idea that substance abuse is “the cure”.

Fun facts:

• The children’s voices in the beginning was pulled from a video of R3NYAS when she was a kid.

“The Potential Affair” is about the struggles of maintaining one’s sobriety and the temptations of relapse. It takes compares one’s relationship with sobriety to one’s relationship with a concubine, and often debates whether or not a relapse (cheating) would be worth it.

Fun facts:

• Originally, this piece was supposed to contain audio clips from R-rated video and audio material. The ultimate creative decision was to leave those sections out, as participant consent could not be fully obtained.

“Was I Worth Loving?” is a recollection of a relationship that ends with a hypothetical question.

Fun facts:

• This is the first piece created, and did not include background music beds or foley sound. Instead, this piece focused on distorting the vocals and pulling the experience from raw emotion. This is the least built upon piece.
• The line, “yes, I regret it” was meant to be ambiguous. What does the author regret? Leaving? The relationship? The situation? What is “it”?