I used two different datasets to complete this assignment:
1. Mean annual Nile flow, 1871-1970
2. St. Lawrence River at Ogdensburg, N.Y. 1860-1957
I chose the first data set because I have been to Egypt before, and seen the Nile River. As such, finding this data set brought me back to my time there, and thus I wanted to sonify the data. I chose the second data set because I wanted to sonify two similar data sets with similar timelines.
I knew at the beginning of the assignment that I wanted to stagger the entrances and create a canon. Through experimentation, I realized that I liked the St. Lawrence data better, and thus wanted it to appear twice (versus once for the Nile data). Also through experimentation, I settled on a Triangle Oscillator for the first entrance of the St. Lawrence data, a phasor for the entrance of the Nile data (as it produces a sharper sound that makes the Nile data easier to hear, and a Sine Oscillator for the second entrance of the St. Lawrence data (to mellow the sound out a little more).
In addition, I wanted the first entrance of the St. Lawrence data to sound standard, and thus did not add any effects. However, I wanted to contrast the entrance of the Nile data with the entrance of the St. Lawrence data, so I added effects such as reverb and chorus to this entrance. Finally, to further distinguish the first entrance of St. Lawrence from the second entrance of St. Lawrence, I added heavy reverb, and this ends the piece. In terms of the tones I picked, I experimented with different ranges and sounds, and decided that higher pitched tones would sound better for the St. Lawrence, and lower pitched tones would sound better for the Nile.