Mike Cooprider Sound
Life Doesn't Frighten Me
In a scene where one of the characters is walking through a scary park at night, this anxious feeling builds and builds to a point where it boils over and everything blacks out. I created this effect thinking of this big machine powering down with a mechanical clanking and steam.
Directly following the blackout, this soundscape started with the sounds of nature. The scene takes place in a park so I wanted to incorporate the sounds of birds and night time insects humming and chirping. Next I wanted to bring in the sounds of the city. With a power outage, I pictured people coming outside to see what's going on, coming together. Lastly, to add to the nighttime feel, I added some distant dogs barking.
This effect was created to represent fear and anxiety creeping in. I started with the overpowering effect that is reminiscent of pressure. Then layered in a heart beat to give the effect rhythm. then I added in whispers to round out the creepy feeling.
Pictured above is the Adobe Audition File for the Peace Tank Entrance effect.
Based on the book by Maya Angelou, Life Doesn't Frighten Me, this hip-hop inspired musical was co- produced by a handful of children's theaters in the United States, and made its world premiere at The Rose Children's Theater in Omaha Nebraska. This show featured over one-hundred forty cues.From the city park at night to thunderous rainstorms, I designed detailed ambience tracks to bring this world to life. In a song that takes place in a video game, I took an opportunity to make effects for each "player" as they stated their character names.
Set Design: Andrew Cohen
Costume Design: Jocelyn Reed
Projections Design: Brittany Powell-Merenda
Lighting Design: Matt Benes
Knuckles is the online gamer name of a character in the show. During a scene three of these gamers come to support their friend. I designed a sound effect to play when they announced their arrivals to help. Knuckles was a reference to the popular character from Sonic the Hedgehog. To pay homage to that, I started with an effect that feels like someone is charging up to run at superhuman speed. Then I wanted to bring the literal name of knuckles into the effect so I put together a barrage of punching bag effects.
Doogie Bowser is the next character introduced. In a similar idea to knuckles, I wanted to bring elements from Doogie Howser and the Mario character Bowser. I started with an ambulance siren effect that I crossfaded into a monstrous roar.
For Peace Tank's entrance, I wanted to play on the term "tank" in reference to gaming, typically a tank is a character that can withstand a lot of damage while being able to deal a large amount of damage in return. I started this effect with an explosive artillery effect, like a tank firing its big gun. I followed up the artillery effect with some metallic clinks to symbolize a tank character taking a lot of enemy fire without being effectively damaged.