Sonic Design - Project 1: Audio Imagery
Chan Wan Qing / 0350928 / BA of Design (HONS) in Creative Media
Sonic Design
Project 1
INDEX:
1. Lectures
2. Project 1: Audio Imagery
3. Feedbacks
4. Reflection
LECTURES
Week 5 / 24.10.2024
Multitrack Layering
1. Label
2. Track Colour
Multitrack Layering
3. Each individual track should not clip (too loud)
- Decrease dB
- Apply hard limiter
[Input boost - used when the track is too soft]
- Go to mixer > apply hard limiter
[Only if the the overall level is still
clipping]
4. Grouping - Easier to manage
- Multitrack > Tracks > Add Stereo Bus Track (has its own volume
control)
- Make sure the tracks are mixed and good to
go
- Name the bus track (eg. aeroplane)
- Mix > Bus > Aeroplane
5. Master Mix in Mixer should be 0
6. Export with 48000 Hz, 16 bits as WAVE
Public Holiday - Deepavali
Week 7 / 7.11.2024*Background sound is needed
*Make the sound fade out when it ends
*When we need to cut the sound, cut it at the intersecting point of the waveform and the middle line
*Depending the audio you want, you need to overlap 2 continuous track so it sounds smooth
*Select the part, capture noise print > Select the whole part, noise reduction
INSTRUCTIONS
Project 1: Audio Imagery
In the first project, we are required to create an audio image using any of the combination below. The audio should create an image for the first-person point of view to be able to visualize on what is going on based on just the audio tracks. It should be able to tell a story for the chosen scenario. We are not allowed to use any voice or dialogs.
The choices scenario are:
2. Everyday Home Life + Background
3. Cities + Transport + Exterior Atmosphere
4. Industry and Electronic sounds + Background
5. Weather + Background
6. Market + Rural atmosphere + Background
I chose weather and background and create the storyline below. There are two options for the second part in this story. The first one is in a mansion and the second one is in a cafe. I think the first one fits the atmosphere more, so I go with the first one.
Storyline
After creating the storyline, I use ChatGPT to come out with the table of the sound effects that I need for the audio imagery. Following the table, I found and downloaded the sound in freesound.
Sound Effects Table
After finding all the sounds, I imported the files into Adobe Audition and started arrange them according to the storyline. First, I put in the wind ambience sound and birds chirping sound into multitrack as background sound. Then, I put those foreground sound including footsteps, cyclist passing, cars passing and more for the first scene. People conversation slowly fades in together with the foreground sounds. For cycle sound, the sound effect is not what I imagined it will be, so I found a similar one and edited the sound effect using parametric equaliser to increase the treble of it. I also applied hard limiter on the sound as it clips.
Cycle - Parametric Equaliser and Hard Limiter
In the second scene, thunders starting to come in. I decrease the volume a bit as it should be a distant thunder. As the thunders getting louder, the rain started to fall on the roof. Initially, I kept the thunder sound in its original volume, but it clips. So I decreased its volume but it sounds a bit soft, so I have to set the volume just right that it doesn't clip and doesn't sound too soft. Then, I added a few more thunder sounds and play around with pan, I make them transitioning from left to right. Similarly, I applied pan and adjusted the volume for the cycle and cars passing sounds. And slowly, the rain becomes heavier where the character took out his umbrella.
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Thunder - Pan
Cycle and Cars - Pan & Volume
I added the footsteps sound along the story. I added the sound of rain falling on an umbrella, but it isn’t very distinct due to the heavy rain serving as background sound. Then, the footstep sounds stop and I added the sound of umbrella closing as the character saw a mansion. I added the sound of gate opening, the creaking sound to represent that the mansion is old and abandoned. When the character walks in, I added wet footsteps sound and loosing chain sound as he opens the inner gate. Then, I added the rustling sound and gravel crunching sound. I applied parametric equaliser to make them sound like some weird sounds. At the same time, I edited the sound of heavy rain to become muffled and smaller as he walks in.
Muffled Thunder - Parametric Equaliser
Then, the barking sound comes in to attract the attention of the character. The character sighs in relief and walks out. While adding in the sound one by one to the track, I rename the track so I am able to find and edit the sounds easily.
Naming
Then, I checked the whole audio track and see if the sounds clip. I applied hard limiter and decrease the volume if the tracks clip. Lastly, I make sure the value of master mix is 0.
Mixer
Attempt 1
After listening to the whole track for a few times, I found that some parts is a bit awkward. So, I made some amendments such as fade in and fade out to make them sound more natural.
Attempt 2
After getting feedbacks from sir, I added some lightning and thunder sound to the front part. Then, I added the gasp sound to show that he is startled by the lightning thunder and the sound of an umbrella he's holding falls on the ground. I also added a bell sound after he stops walking before the character open the gate and enters the house. I cut some parts such as the walking part as I felt like it's unnecessary.
Final Project 1: Audio Imagery
Final Audio Imagery
Project 1: Audio Imagery (Google Drive)
FEEDBACKS
Week 5 / Project 1
Can play around with the rain and thunder sound. See which option's sounds are more available.
Week 7 / Project 1
Overall is ok, but can add something dynamic to it to make it sounds more interesting, for now nothing special, just the person keeps on walking (eg, the character stops walking as he startled by the thunder). Make the bird chirpings sound fade out as the person is walking. Maybe can add some sound to show the person stops in front of a house.
REFLECTION
Initially, I thought this project is going to be fun. But when going through the briefing and how we should do this, it is more complicated than what I thought previously. So, first, I came out with a storyline which focuses on the sound of weather. I decided to use thunders and rains to show the weather. I realised that through analysing the foreground sound and background sound, and also listing out the sounds I need can help me to save my time find the sound. However, I still used quite a lot of time to find the sound effects I need for the storyline since I need to listen to them one by one and imagine if the sounds suit each other or not. After finding all the sounds, in Adobe Audition, I started to put in the sound according to the storyline. I observed that we actually need to adjust the volume first especially the ambience sound so that the background sound will not cover the foreground sound. I found that for some foreground sound such as cars passing, thunders and so on, we can play with pan to make the audio track sounds more interesting. With parametric equaliser, we can alter the sound according to the environment to make the audio imagery more realistic, where audiences can imagine the scenes. However, for some of the parts, I felt like some of the part can be improved by adding more sound, but since the duration is already 3 minutes 16 seconds, I aimed to keep it concise by focusing on essential audio elements. At first in Audition, I found that there are to many tracks, and it is hard for me to edit them together. But later, I realised that I should put the sounds scene by scene so that it's easier for me to focus on the sounds and edit them if needed. Overall, this project is still fun as I learned to use audio to describe a storyline although there are some confusions in the beginning while arranging the sounds.
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