The advent of sound brought music and dialogue into the art form, and also soundscapes, whether through wild track recordings or creation in post production through foley. Thus, films became immersive worlds that the audience could be totally engrossed with, where not just the eyes, but the whole body experienced the film.
The technology of recorded sound leapt forward in the 50's with 'high Fidelity', and in the 60's with the introduction of Dolby, which reduced the hiss of earlier technologies. The aural element of films became more important, as directors realised how much a good soundtrack could add to a film's appeal. The advent of digital recording in the 80's has had a similar effect, with the ratio of noise to signal being reduced to zero. This gives filmmakers the opportunity to create extremely subtle soundtracks to enhance the mood of a film. Surround sound and very large bass speakers are now the norm in modern cinema complexes.
So, the soundtrack to a film is viewed by some as of equal importance to the images presented. There is an opportunity here for the independent filmmaker to add considerable production value - just as digital image editing has become affordable to those on the periphery of the film industry, so has digital sound editing.
The sound track for 'For the Duration' has been created using a freely available (open source) application called 'Audacity'. This has all the functionality required for editing and producing.
The music for the film has been created using a Yamaha digital piano (DGX-650), which is a very versatile musical instrument. I managed to acquire this piece of equipment for £300, half its list price, as it was listed on Amazon as 'slightly damaged'. When it was delivered, the only damage was the internal polystyrene packaging. It features many digitally sampled real instrument sounds, along with many synthesised ones too. It also has pre-programmed rhythm tracks, which can be manipulated using buttons on a control panel.
These items cost about £100 each.
