Sofa, so good: looking back at WIRED online

One side-effect of the upheaval brought by Covid-19 has been finding out how many things it’s possible to do at home. For better or worse – and at least for the immediate future – many of us now work, see friends, enjoy gigs and much more with the help of a screen.

But what about learning sound design, recording or editing from scratch? And with only your phone and a bunch of household objects to hand?

When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March, YSWN had to rapidly revise its WIRED course, which was nearing the end of its second run with face-to-face workshops for young women at The Point in Doncaster. Our quick-thinking course leaders took the last two sessions online, adapting the content and sourcing free music-making apps to keep everyone learning and having fun at home.

With in-person workshops out of the question, we took what we learned in March and used it to design three online mini-courses for summer, offering participants a taster of different aspects of sound and technology.

These were: Introduction to Sound Recording, led by Caro C and Sophie Cooper; Editing using Audacity with Emily Johnson and Liina Turtonen, and Introduction to Sound Design with Aiwan Obinyan and DJ Angel Lee. Open to 11-18 year-old girls and non-binary young people, each course was free to take part in and required no previous experience.

As no travel was involved – beyond perhaps moving from the sofa to the kitchen table – we had people signing up across the Yorkshire region, including Sheffield, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Keighley, Bradford, Hull and York.

And while the past few months have highlighted the inequalities that still exist in terms of access to IT at home, we strove to make WIRED online as easy to take part in as possible. Each course made use of free (or free for a limited time) software, including the ShurePlus MOTIV recording app, Audacity and Reaper, all of which would work on a range of phones or computers.

Armed with their handheld ‘studios’, our participants got stuck into a host of audio activities. For the sound recording course, they went on a treasure hunt for different sounds around their homes and used everyday objects at hand to create a soundscape for a photo.

With Audacity, they learned to loop and edit samples, tried out delay and reverb effects and manipulated pitch and speed. And their first steps into sound design involved using Reaper to create soundscapes for video clips with the help of a range of sound samples, while learning about EQ and panning.

Extra tasks to try out between the weekly sessions and the chance to share work and offer feedback in a friendly and encouraging setting helped everyone feel connected to the group in spite of physical distance. As one participant said afterwards: “[The leaders were] very friendly and kind and made me feel that I could be at ease because I didn’t have to do things when I didn’t feel confident doing them. I could slowly build my confidence and it wasn’t as intimating as doing it face to face.”

As well as the chance to build skills in the specific software packages, participants told us that they loved having the opportunity to be creative with sound and to meet new people who shared their interests. Several said that they would continue to make their own music and soundscapes, experiment with recording techniques or produce their own songs from scratch.

Inevitably, some had encountered technical glitches during sessions or missed the true ‘hands-on’ experience. Yet others found the online environment to be welcoming and less intimidating: “It was easier to talk to people,” said one, while another concluded: “I think that using technology for everything is making life much easier for me!”

We’ll be taking note of what we learned delivering WIRED online and are currently planning lots more virtual events for the winter and into 2021, so watch this space.

WIRED is supported by Youth Music using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England; ISME (International Society for Music Education); Music for All; and Kirklees Council via the Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool.