Ethnic concerns in sound design

In the lesson today, a topic I previously hadn’t thought about came up. What are the ethical concerns of your group’s project?

After thinking about this question for a while, I’ve come up with a few ideas on what I’m concerned with.

The main concern is the sampled audio, is it appropriate? Was it recorded at a bad time (for example, using real field recordings of war in a comedy)? Is it stolen from a minority (cultural appropriation)? Was it sourced in an inappropriate way? Is the sound allowed to be used by others? All these questions can be answered about recordings I have done. The only recordings I have used are underwater ambience sounds and recordings of instruments, currently, the underwater ambience is sourced through Soundly, meaning it’s allowed to be sampled and used for my own compositions. The other questions don’t particularly apply to what I’ve done as I haven’t stolen from a culture that’s not mine, or stolen something that’s not allowed to be stolen.

Alongside these concerns, the game I’m working with is of a culture I’m familiar with and from, set in England. Edwards’s travels don’t take him far in the game, being underwater, in his owner’s room, in a nightmare and at a campfire, nothing I need ethnic concerns over.

I’ll continue to think about my recording sources, their history (if they have one) and if what I’m doing is culturally appropriate for the game.