Soundscapes of Self is a 50 minute immersive audio documentary exploring the intricacies of gender and voice, told through voiceover, designed sound elements, and interviews with Canadian transgender people and speech professionals. Using the medium of audio, listeners are able to be uninfluenced by appearance and learn the ways that they are subconsciously performing and interpreting gender through their own voices.

This project serves as the practicum production for O Stecina (they/he) and Luna Larocque (she/her), students in the RTA Media Production program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). It was originally mixed using Dolby Atmos and is available in several Surround Sound formats on our website!

Visit the website: https://ostecina.wixsite.com/voicespracticum

This project has been a labor of love and an intensive test of my audio chops. It began as a simple pitch to a class full of my peers in Toronto Metropolitan University's RTA Media Production program. Something along the lines of "People don't realize how much they perform their gender using their voice. Aside from transgender people, who are intimately aware of it. What if you heard their stories but didn't see their faces?"

Since then, our crew grew, then shrank, then grew, then shrank again, and over a dozen transgender, non-binary, and otherwise gender nonconforming folks agreed to lend their voices to this project. I even got people to pace in circles and make bird noises in a sound studio. I love my work.

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Soundscapes of Self