Week 1 (29/8/22)- Week 5 (2/10/22) Student: Tai Ser Yeet (0345798) Programme:
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media Task: Project 1- Audio
Editing
INSTRUCTIONS
Fig 1.1 Module Information Booklet, Week 1 (29/8/22)
PROJECT 1: AUDIO EDITING EXERCISES
Fig 1.2 Lecture Slides, Week 1 (29/8/22)
AUDIO- SOUND FOR VISUAL
WEEK 2-
I began this project by importing the footage provided by Mr.Martin into Adobe Premiere Pro. Then I went onto my phone & recorded the dialogue following the given script using a lavalier microphone. There were some lines that needed to be rerecorded as the mic could pick up my breath & therefore there was a sound of wind which I did not like.
I also recorded a few versions of the exact same line but with different intonation so that I have a variety to choose from & pick one that is suitable during the editing process.
Fig 2.1 Recorded Dialogue, Week 2 (5/9/22)
Then I went on to the website called FreeSound.Org & searched for 3 ambient sounds starting with the city ambiance sound. I try to search for those that include people talking, and cars passing by but are not too loud & crowded. After that, I downloaded it & imported it into Premiere. When I was done with that, I proceeded to examine the little motions in the clip that are loud enough to be heard. One of them was the sound of the man sitting down on the hard floor.
Because I could not find a good leaves rustling sound effect, I went onto Youtube & tried searching. To my luck, this person had made the particular sound effect out of the actual leaves. I immediately converted this video into an mp3 & only extracted the audio.
Fig 2.1.4 Sound of Leaves Rustling, Week 2 (5/9/22)
Fig 2.1.5 Inserting Footsteps, Week 2 (5/9/22)
For the cat's voice, I increased the pitch by 5Hz while for the man, I lowered the pitch until it reaches 7Hz.
Fig 2.1.6 Adjusting Pitch, Week 2 (5/9/22)
WEEK 4-
at least 3 ambient sounds
the volume of dialogue should fall between -10dB & -6dB
ambient sound such as footsteps, and the rustling of leaves is -15dB to -20dB
WEEK 5-
Fig 3.1 Attempt 1, Week 5 (26/9/22)
After I was done with the attempt, I asked for feedback from Mr.Martin. He suggested adding a traffic layer, increasing the volume of the little girl's footsteps and the street noise.
Fig 3.1.2 Revised Attempt 1, Week 5 (26/9/22)
FINAL SUBMISSION OF PROJECT 1: SOUND FOR VISUAL
I uploaded the video to YouTube, pasted the link in Google Slides & submitted that to Google Drive.
Fig 4.1 Final Submission, Week 5 (2/10/22)
AUDIO- SOUND SHAPING
WEEK 4-
I began this project by installing Adobe Audition onto my laptop. After that, I downloaded the assigned file from Google Drive and imported the audio into the software.
Fig 5.1 Importing Audio, Week 4 (19/9/22)
In order to get an idea of how to go about this exercise, I followed Mr. Martin's pre-recorded tutorial uploaded on YouTube. In the video, he teaches about the ways to go about changing up the audio using the Effects rack on the side panel. Some of the features introduced were the parametric equalizer that enables the user to play with the levels of bass, treble, and mid-range.
Fig 5.2 Following the Tutorial, Week 4 (19/9/22)
I thought it would be better if I did a comparison between the audio I edited for a phone call versus the actual voicemail. By doing so, I was able to pinpoint several shortcomings that needed to be fixed in order for my edited audio to sound more realistic.
Fig 5.3 Making a Comparison Between Edited Audio & Actual Voicemail, Week 4 (19/9/22)
Fig 5.4 Playing with EQ, Week 4 (19/9/22)
The phone call was made with the same method as the sample phone call. However, I felt that it was not natural enough so I went onto YouTube to watch tutorials on how others convert their voice to sound as though it was through a phone. In one of the videos that I watched, the audio editor was suggesting to use the Guitar Suite feature and selecting the Supermarket Speaker. That feature was a real game changer as instantly, I had achieved the results that I wanted which is that the voice should not sound so crisped and should be slightly muffled.
SOUND SHAPING- PHONE CALL
Fig 5.5 Using GuitarSuite Feature, Week 4 (19/9/22)
SOUND SHAPING- CLOSET
Increasing the mid-range helps to make it seem as though the speaker is far away, sort of muffled in a way. I am not certain if Mr. Martin wants us to edit the audio in a way that seems as though the third party is listening to the speaker say her lines from inside the closet or is together with the speaker inside the closet.
Fig 5.6 Increasing Mid Range, Week 4 (19/9/22)
SOUND SHAPING- TOILET
Besides applying reverb to the audio track, I played around with the presents and decided upon the Room Ambience as it had more echo in it to resemble the reflection of sound off the walls in the toilet. To create the slight echo effect, I increased the decay time but reduced the pre-delay time to 0. This way, the repetition of the voice would not be too obvious.
Fig 5.7 Applying Reverb, Week 4 (19/9/22)
SOUND SHAPING- UNDERGROUND/CAVE
Because the regular reverb function did not give a stronger echo and delay time for the voice, I selected a full reverb in order to amplify the effect that I wanted by increasing the echo level as well as the feedback.
Fig 5.8 Applying Full Reverb, Week 4 (19/9/22)
I also played around with the perception from the reverb tab by increasing it so that it reaches the reflective stage. For context, the reflective stage helps to produce a subtle echo by "reflecting it off the walls". I also changed the preset to Liquid Speakers as for me, the preset makes the audio sound ethereal hence, imagining that being in the cave also gives spatial and mystical vibes, I went ahead with it.
Fig 5.9 Increasing Perception, Week 4 (19/9/22)
Fig 5.10 Lowering Bass, Week 4 (19/9/22)
FINAL SUBMISSION OF PROJECT 1: SOUND SHAPING
I uploaded all the audio into Google Drive in the Project 1 folder.
Fig 5.11 Submission of Sound Shaping in Google Drive, Week 4 (19/9/22)
WEEK 7-
AUDIO- SOUND DESIGN
- for layering, try finding audio clips that would fill in the gaps of one of the sound effects.
- do not be afraid to deceive your audience with sounds that are not made by the object itself.
- more compression of sound (the number is around 100 on the scale), the pitch will go higher
SOUND DESIGN- EXPLOSION
Mr. Martin said that since the explosion sound effect is quite bad, it can automatically be better by making bass more prominent.
Fig 6.1 Increasing Bass, Week 7 (10/10/22)
Fig 6.2 Selecting Desired Clip, Week 7 (10/10/22)
Fig 6.3 Lowering Stretch and Pitch, Week 7 (10/10/22)
So far, what I have gathered from doing this for the past hour is that it is all about trial and error. We just listen very carefully to catch what the clips lack and alter accordingly.
Fig 6.6 Increasing Boost with Hard Limiter, Week 7 (10/10/22)
SOUND DESIGN- TRIPLE PUNCH
I realised that the sound effect that Mr. Martin wanted us to replicate was mostly done in anime or action movieshence, I went to YouTube to search for inspiration.
Fig 6.7 Playing with EQ, Week 7 (10/10/22)
I took the first half of the punch sound clip and copied to a new file.
Fig 6.8 Copy To New, Week 7 (10/10/22)
After that, I placed it on the next two tracks, overlapping the ending and the starting parts of the clips respectively.
Fig 6.9 Layering the Punch Sounds, Week 7 (10/10/22)
SOUND DESIGN- ALIEN VOICE
In my opinion, I feel that I needed samples of alien voices so that I could replicate it for my project. Therefore, I went on YouTube and searched for the respective sound effect. Below was the video that I referred to.
Fig 7.1 Alien Voice Reference, Week 7 (10/10/22)
I was trying out different types of settings from the Flanger feature and I was torn between Buzzed and Water Flange as both of them sound quite "alien". In the end, I went ahead with Buzzed.
Fig 7.2 Choosing Type of Flanger, Week 7 (10/10/22)
I duplicated the original clip with effects so that it gives a echo effect and is more impactful.
Fig 7.3 Duplicating Clips, Week 7 (10/10/22)
Fig 7.4 Adjusting Pitch, Week 7 (10/10/22)
FINAL SUBMISSION OF PROJECT 1: SOUND DESIGN
Fig 7.5 Final Submission of Project 1: Sound Design, Week 7 (10/10/22)
FEEDBACKS
WEEK 5 -
Specific Feedback
Add a layer of traffic
The little girl's footsteps are too soft
Bring up the street noise because, after the first dialogue, it was too quiet
REFLECTIONS
EXPERIENCE
This exercise was rather easy & fun to do especially because it does not require you to redo a lot of things after the feedback session. I learned a lot from inserting the lines of dialogue according to the mouth movement to increase high accuracy.
OBSERVATIONS
I noticed that having a good microphone truly goes a long way in getting the best audio for dialogue because if not, sounds will get muffled & will affect the quality of the production. Not only that, if the audio sounds good with regular wired earphones on, it does not mean that without it, it sounds the same. Therefore, we have to always double-check both audio hardware preferences.
FINDINGS
After completing the task, I have a newfound respect for those working in the sound effects industry. Oftentimes, people do not recognize the significance of audio until it is removed. Also, certain scenes in movies project the sound first before showing what actually produced the sound so it produces an element of curiosity & immerses the audience fully into the scene. Heck, even matching up the organic noises is tough enough.
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