Sounds of Venice: Video and Audio Project

SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences was among the officially accredited institutions for the Biennale sessions. Future managers and leaders need to experience this significant art event to find inspiration and understand our world in the best possible way.

Ole Wolf Traving and Lucia Prennushi Giscombe from the B.A. Creative Industries Management seized the opportunity to create their own sound project in Venice. If you could make a song out of the sounds of a city, what would it sound like? Here is their report:

"Suoni di Venezia" (Sounds of Venice) is a project developed during our stay in Venice, Italy. Our main idea was to look at this unique and inspiring city from a new perspective. As travelers, we notice that each country and city has its own soundscape composed of the environment, people, language, and culture. Venice, surrounded by water, has a distinct atmosphere and symphony of sounds that are completely unique compared to any other city in the world. We aimed to create a song using the rhythmic positioning of the sounds we encountered during our trip. We accompanied the piece with a visual video that showcases different perspectives of the city, enhancing the audio experience.

Armed with a recorder and a phone, we wandered through the city, hoping to find inspiration. Prior to our visit, we prepared a list of sounds to capture, with a particular focus on integrating the element of water and the culture of Venice into our song. These elements are noticeable at the beginning and end of the music, with the sounds of church bells, the accordion playing "La Tarantella," and a guitar played by street performers in a popular area of the city.

In the second phase of the project, we sought out every subtle noise we could find: from construction sites to artisan woodworkers we encountered on the streets, from the sound of gondolier paddles hitting the water to a glass street performer. We collected up to 5 hours of video and sound recordings. However, due to the bustling city environment, many recordings were discarded due to the underlying voices and crowd noise. The provided audio link is a compilation of the sounds used in our song; they are not complete recordings, but a selection of the notes and elements integrated into the final product.

The third phase, made possible thanks to Ole's music production skills, involved selecting specific sounds, editing them, and creating the final song.

We did not expect the result to be such an upbeat, modern song. The combination of the unique recordings led to the creation of a beautiful piece that, when accompanied by the video, clearly tells the story of a beautiful, inspiring, and lively city.

You can find the completed project on the SRH Youtube Channel.