Sonic Design: Task 1
26/9/2024 - /9/2024 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Yang Jiayi / 0369288Sonic Design
Task 1: Audio Fundamentals
LECTURES
Week1-Module briefing
In the first week, the teacher asked us to wear headphones and download the
software before class. The teacher introduced us to the tasks we need to do
this semester and the requirements of this course homework.
Week2-Nature of sound
Let's start with the nature of sound. Sound is actually the vibration of
air molecules that stimulate our eardrums. We analyze sound in several
stages. The first is called production, then transmission, and finally
perception.
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| fig1.1 |
Sound energy is transmitted in the form of sound waves. There are two main types of waves: transverse waves and longitudinal waves. In transverse waves, particles vibrate at right angles to the direction. In longitudinal waves, the waves vibrate parallel to the direction of the sound. Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive presses. The number of waves passing through a point in 1 second is called frequency. The rebound of sound is called echo.
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| fig1.2 |
Week3-Sound Design Tool
- Layering
Layering is taking two or more sound and placed on top of each other,Layering sound on top of another,allow you to blend and mix the various sound into a new unique sound .
- Time stretching
It’s the ability to take a sound that plays at a certain length and sonically stretch the audio within set parameters without changing the pitch ,Time stretching and time compressing will change the pacing/temp /speed of the audio but not the pitch.
- Pitch shifting
Pitch-shifting is the ability to change the pitch of a sound without changing its actual length.Shifting the pitch higher will make the sound thinner, smaller and of course, having higher pitch.Shifting the pitch lower will make the audio sound bigger with more bass, and of course having lower pitch.
Higher pitch -> tiny sound -> small subject/cute/toddler/
Lower pitch -> Bigger sound -> Big subject/Giant/Monster/Dinosaur
- Reversing
Reversing an audio can give a weird and unnatural sound.
- Mouth It
Vocalization is an important tool of sound design! Our voice is very flexible and you'l be surprise with the kind of sound you can create with it
All you need is a microphone.... And a lot of practice
Once you're done recording, play around with the techniques mentioned earlier, Pitch Shift, Reverse and Layer, etc..
Week4-Sound in space
In film, Diegetic is derived from "diegesis", which simply means the world of the film and everything in it. Sound is divided into three areas, two of which are the acoustic area, meaning that they cover the sounds that we hear, but cannot see the source. These are the sounds outside the screen that belong to diegesis. The last category covers the visual area, meaning that the source of the sound is visible on the screen.
Non-Diegetic sound, everything that the characters can’t hear is non-diegetic, this includes sound effects, music scores, and the form of narration. Non-diegetic sound can enhance movement. The boxing sounds we made this week are also based on this principle. The most consistent non-diegetic sound used is the soundtrack. Non-diegetic music plays an important role in the movie experience.
If the two sounds switch between the two modes, it is also called a trans-diegetic sound, which blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
EXERCISES : Audio Fundamentals
Week1
In this exercise, the teacher gave us a lot of audio, including an original
track and four edited tracks. What we need to do is to identify the original
track and compare them with the other four edited tracks, listen to the
differences between them, and adjust the frequency of the sound through the
parametric equalizer to make them sound as similar as possible.
I watched the teacher's teaching video and started to operate，We operate in multiple tracks, name them separately to distinguish them,
select parametric equalizer in the effect, select solo, and you can listen
to the sound of one track alone.
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| fig1.3 Tutorial Videos |
Equalizer 1
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| fig1.4 EQ1 |
Equalizer 2
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Equalizer 3
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Equalizer 4
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Equalizer 5
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Equalizer 6
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filter-1
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| fig2.0 filter-1 |
filter-2
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| fig2.1 filter-2 |
Week2
This week, the teacher gave us the audio source file in class. We cut out a part of the source file in class and adjusted the effect we wanted through the parametric equalizer.
Here is the sound coming from the bathroom
Here is the sound of the phone
Here is the sound from the closet
The sound from the stadium below
Week 3-Sound Design Tools
In this exercise, we were asked to create punch and explosion sound effects using Adobe Audition, layering them to create multi-layered sound effects.
Explosion sound effects
For the explosion sound effect, we need to make it more impactful. I copied three explosion sounds based on the original explosion sound. I used stretching and pitch change. I lowered the pitch to make the explosion sound more tense and deeper.I added an echo at the end of the explosion to make it less monotonous and more in line with natural phenomena.
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| fig Stretching and pitch change |
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| fig Multi-track layout |
Here is my finished product:
Punch sound effect
As with the explosion sound effects, I created a copy of the original track and made edits in each duplicate track. I used stretch and pitch shifter, harmony to adjust the sound. I raised the cents on track three to make the punch sound lighter and sharper, and added an echo to the last hit.
Punch sound effect
Week 4-Environment soundscape
This week, the teacher gave us two pictures. We analyzed the ambient sounds in the pictures and combined them with the website given by the teacher to collect the sounds that would appear and arrange and modify them.
The first environment is as follows：
For environment one, my idea is to be in a plant laboratory, where there will be sounds of technology, human footsteps, and natural sounds. The sunlight from above the laboratory will allow me to add the sounds of insects and the most basic mechanical sounds.
For environment one, this is the sound I found on the website
For environment 1, I added the most basic running sounds of the machine, and then added appropriate natural sounds. There are soldiers in the picture, so I added the sound of soldiers walking with pistols, and also added a little sound of men talking to make it more integrated with the picture. All the low rustling sounds are imitations of the sounds in the tree room. The sound impact of this picture is not very strong. Green brings people a sense of tranquility, so when looking for sound effects, it is natural not to look for strong ones.
Second environment soundscape
The difficulty of environment 2 has increased. From the picture, there is a large running machine inside. The machine is shining a laser beam, so the sound effect will be very strong. There are many people inside. The first person I paid attention to was the woman in high heels. She is the most representative. This picture has a strong sense of technology, so the sound effects will also be very rich.
I imagined a small script for this picture. The woman opens the door and walks into the huge laboratory. The footsteps come from far away and get closer, forming a feeling of walking in front of you. The experimental project is discussed on the phone. The huge machine starts to run, completing the process of synthesizing lasers, emitting lasers, and finally slowly disappearing. There will be many operating sounds of machines mixed in.
Final Environment 2：
Google Links：
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