Sonic Design - Project 2: Audio Storytelling

21.10.2024 - 8.12.2024 / Week 9 - Week 11
Chan Wan Qing / 0350928 / BA of Design (HONS) in Creative Media
Sonic Design
Project 2

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INDEX:

1. Lectures
2. Project 2: Audio Storytelling
3. Feedbacks
4. Reflection

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LECTURES 

Week 9 / 21.11.2024 

In this week's class, we learned on microphones as we start on our second project. Every microphones has different polar patterns. 

Types of microphones:
- Dynamic microphone
- Condenser microphone
- Shotgun microphone

Patterns:
- Omnidirectional
- Cardioid
- Hyper cardioid 
- Figure of Eight

Patterns of Microphone

We choose the patterns based on the place of recording. 

Proximity Effect: 

As a sound source moves towards a directional microphone an increase in response to low frequency to occur. 

/

The closer you get, the more Barry White you get.

*The smaller the room, the less white noise you will get. 
*Tips: Record 2-3 seconds of white noise before starting on recording the voice

Noise Reduction
*Aim is to reduce the noise without altering the voice

- Make sure the noise is reduced as much as you can
- Find a stable voice part from the track
- Select the part > Effects > Noise Reduction > Capture noise print
- Select whole track > Effect > Noise Reduction (process)
- Reduce dB 

Capture Noise Print

Noise Reduction (Progress)

*Make sure the volume is consistent 
- Reduce dB for some sounds that stands out 

Effect Rack - Dynamics

*AutoGate (If able to reduce the noise, no need to use autogate) 
- Threshold (-30)dB: Nothing can pass by (-30)dB

*Compressor - To even the voice (be careful on how much we squeeze the voice)
- Threshold (-18)dB
- Ratio (3.2)
- MakeUp (6)dB 

Dynamics

Effect Rack - DeEsser (Need to listen to the whole track)
- Threshold (-40)dB

Final Noise Reduction

Frequency Analysis
- Avoid having too much bass - use equaliser to adjust it

Add video track to sync. Export multitrack mixdown. Put it in Adobe Premiere Pro and export the video. 

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INSTRUCTIONS

Project 2: Audio Storytelling

In project 2, we are to pick one popular fairy-tale story and create an audiobook. In this task, we not only need to think about suitable soundscape, but we need to record the voice with the suitable voice acting and bring it all together with sound effects and background music to highlight and enhance the storytelling experience.

Visuals & Script

I picked the story Coco for this project. Then, I found the visuals through a storybook of Coco. In the storybook, there is script for the story including the narrations and dialogues. 

Visuals (The Storybook of Coco)

Sound Effects

After that, I listed out the sound effects I needed for this story. I then found the sound effects from freesound. When I couldn't find the sound effects I need from freesound, I headed to YouTube to find them. 

• Dog barking
• Glass crash
• Guitar smash
• Guitar strum
• Glitter sound

Voice Over

Then, I started to record the voice over following the script using my phone. Before starting to record, I created a surrounding that is as quiet as possible. To reduce the sound of the white noise, I turned off the air con and also the fan. Then, I read through the script once to see the timing and also to clear off all the pronunciations. After that, I started the "official' recording. For every recording, I recorded the surrounding white noise for 5 seconds. In the beginning, I recorded the voice over paragraph by paragraph. I recorded each paragraph for a few times until I'm satisfied with it. But, when I listened to the recordings, I found that my voice is a bit inconsistent. For some of the voice has low pitch but some of them has higher pitch. So when compiling them together, it may sound weird. So, I rerecorded the whole story continuously. 

Adobe Audition + Adobe Premiere Pro

After finishing on the recording, I imported the files to Adobe Audition. I selected the first 5 seconds of white noise and capture noise print. Then, I selected the whole audio track and applied noise reduction. Then, I lower down the frequencies of those sounds that stands out. 

Noise Reduction

Frequency

Then, I applied dynamics to the track. I allowed autogate for -35dB so that no voice lower than it can pass by. I tried to put the threshold from -28, but it makes the voice sounds weird since some of the words / consonants can't pass by and it makes the pronunciation not complete. 

Dynamics

Since the dialogues are from a male kid, I tried to apply pitch shifter to make the voice sounds higher pitch. But, when I applied, I felt that it sounds more like female voice; and if I lower the pitch shifter, it sounds a bit harsh like a male voice. I also applied DeEsser to the audio track.

DeEsser

Then, I edited the sound effects. I applied parametric equaliser, pitch shifter and other effects on them. I lowered the frequency for all the sound effects in multitrack so that they won't cover the voice over. After that, I found the background music for the story. I used the original sound track of Coco for the story. But since, the emotion of the music doesn't sync with the voice over, I have to edit and cut it. I added fade in and fade out for each part of the background music so that they sound smoother. 

Multitrack

Background Music

In week 11, I applied compressor to the voice over track so that the voice sounds more consistent. 

Compressor

I then exported the multitrack mixdown and put it in Premiere Pro to add the visuals. I added video transition of page turn for each page and adjusted the duration of the transition. At the end, I also added 'to be continued' since the story is not completed. 

Page Turn Transition

Final Project 2: Audio Storytelling

Final Audio Storytelling

Project 2: Audio Storytelling (Google Drive)

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FEEDBACKS

Week 9 / Project 2

Reduce the spike parts before applying the dynamics. Prepare the narrative and dialogues first, record it once to see the timing. Need to have narrations, dialogues, sound effects and background music. Clean up , edit, then adjust the loudness.

Week 11 / Project 2

Sounds good and clean, can apply compressor because now can listen like the voice high and low. But don't apply too much cause need to do noise reduction again later. 

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REFLECTION

For project 2, we need to do an audiobook and it was quite challenging for me. But it turns out to be quite fun unlike what I thought. The hardest part for me was definitely recording my own voice where I also need to do a bit of voice acting. This is the first time I try voice acting, I found out that I need to deliver the story's mood and characters with my voice. Before starting on the recording, I have to create an environment that can be as quiet as possible, I had to turn off the air con and the fan, but there is still some subtle white noise on the background. And so, every time I did the recording, I will record the white noise for 5 seconds. And I realised that this worked so well when I applied "capture noise print" on the recording. By doing noise reduction with capturing noise print, it does reduce the white noise and make the voice over clean. It was quite satisfying to listen to the clean voice over, but it was kind of weird to listen to my own voice while doing the sound editing. Next, applying the right sound effects on the right timing is also very important. For some of the sound effects I found, the duration is too long, so I had to cut it or make it shorter to fit the voice over. Another challenging part of this project is the background music. As I can't find a music that completely fit the storytelling, so I had to download different music and edit them to make sure that they sound smooth. Overall, this project taught me about voice acting, noise reduction and applying sound effects and background music without empowering the voice over.