Posted on by saravipond

FIN 200 Unit 1

 Sound Edit Basics

This sound exercise taught us how to become familiarized with Adobe Audition editing tools. Some of the main tools included the move tool, the razor tool to cut and delete clips, and the Time Selection Tool. We also learned how to place markers.

We learned the difference between working in the multitrack session UI, and the waveform editor. By using these tools and the multitrack editor, we were also able to explore noise reduction, copying clips to different tracks and renaming them, adding reverb by misaligning dialogue, fading in and out, and also altering how to pan from the left and right sides. Panning can help in situations of trying to create a 3D sound effect.

We also learned how to properly open files, export files, save our mix, change the clip volume and use keyframes in order to change the volume of an area of the clip.

 Sound Edit Basics 2

Foley-Notes-Tech-Exercise-2

Because I had forgotten to note all clip recordings, in order of the sound effects is:

  • 1 – room tone
  • 2 – footsteps on floor
  • 3 – door handle closing
  • 4 – snap
  • 5 – deep sigh
  • 6 – brushing through houseplants
  • 7 – crickets
  • 8 – human voice

Unedited Best 8:

Edited Mixdown Best 8:

In this tech exercise, we learned to log our foley by logging the sounds that we recorded, what they are meant to be, recording the room tone, and general record keeping for recording sounds. We now know the best rough estimate of what volume to record at and learned about trying to record sound effects multiple times, in different ways. This is so that we can use or keep the best clips for editing, and perhaps have extra sound recorded for different situations or different needs in a scene. Using the editing tools from the first exercise, we edited and exported the clips. Because I was using one of the recommended apps which can save files as a .wav, I noticed that it was really easy to edit the titles of the recordings immediately after recording them. This was a helpful way for me to log any techniques used.
I had some confusion about which clips we were to upload at the end, as I think it said to upload more than one, so I uploaded the unedited and edited versions.

Sound Project

Idea #1: Airship Crash! (Soundscape/’Podcast’)

This idea follows a cast of characters (which may be subject to change:) a runaway princess, the knight who followed her, and the thief who thought he was going to capture her. In a fantasy world or medieval times, a princess might not be so easily recognizable to the average person, but having a princess as a ‘stow-away,’ the characters are still trying to hide her identity from the general public.

This soundscape would be set on an ‘airship,’ a ship that is popular in the Final Fantasy series video games for carrying passengers in the air. It has a sort of steampunk vibe that I really enjoy, and in the video games, scenes (in which dialogue was often not voiced in earlier iterations of the series) would include many steampunk sounds like the compression and decompression of fans or an engine, the creaking wood of the ship’s floor and hull, and perhaps even sounds from the propellers or the wind on the deck. I’d like to attempt to recreate a similar feeling in a scene that is inspired by characters and a setting such as this.

The scene will feature:

  • An original script (inspired by, but not using any character names / not loyal to the plot of Final Fantasy)
  • Found or royalty-free sound effects, my recorded sounds, and voiced but edited sound FX
  • A fantasy setting (think renaissance era / high fantasy fiction)
  • Steampunk sounds of the airship and (hopefully) an airship crashing sequence!
  • A beginning, middle and end (which may be a sort of cliffhanger) 
  • The script and setting should provide enough detail for the setting to be understood

Idea #2:  Isekai’d (異世界!) (Soundscape/’Podcast’)

Fantasy City Wallpapers - Wallpaper Cave

In Japan, a genre of fiction that involves a character being transported from one world into another, like from a modern and realistic setting similar to our world, to teleporting into an online game or a high fantasy setting is called ‘Isekai.’

My idea follows a similar narrative in which two main characters are involved. A character from a world perhaps similar to ours is transported through a type of portal (magical sound effects, something seemingly ordinary, or extraordinary in the real world triggers an event which transfers the character into a new world.) They meet their friend on the other side, but the meeting doesn’t quite go as planned.

The characters must journey through the dangerous alleyway of a large fantasy city at night time, in which the main character must remain hidden from the city guards and for other reasons that we don’t know. There are perhaps monsters also stalking the streets at night, so their friend must transport them safely to a ‘rebel’ hideout or to the quarters in which they work.

I have a conclusion in mind for this ‘story’ taking place and I think it would involve some leftover ideas from my ASMR sequence that I had planned, but ASMR didn’t quite seem to fit creating a full narrative and being able to use the flexibility of having unique sound effects at different volumes in order to create a world. However, I’d like to emulate a similar effect and idea with two microphones, with editing the panning and during a soundscape on either idea. In this case I think it would be the conclusion of the main character who transferred worlds, from the perspective of their friend who reveals their identity in this new world at the end of the scene, and the perspective of leading them through the dangerous alleyway. This story would be scripted and follow the requirements for sounds, much like the first idea.


 

Sound Project Draft

Script

wordpress-Copy-of-Airship-Engineer

First Draft

  • Many of the areas need added sound effects as that is one of my last steps in my process, the middle section especially needs time to add more to the ambience elements of the airship, the crash, and the creature who helps power the ship
  • The added sound effects that still need to be added will roughly be following the script
  • If you hear gaps in the audio, they are likely spaces left for the sound effects to go into

Sound File

Sound File for Critique: “Hard to Stand on Both Feet!”

Attribution for Sound Project

FST180081 (Leather Belt, Freesound.org) https://freesound.org/people/FST180081/sounds/441816/

nicStage (Steam Sound, Freesound.org) https://freesound.org/people/nicStage/sounds/197335/

Mike Koenig (Earthquake sound, Soundbible) https://soundbible.com/1131-Earthquake.html

Sound Project Reflection

My intent with my sound project was to create a scripted soundscape with characters who belonged to a type of fantasy world. In this soundscape, we would go on a type of brief adventure in which someone’s “first day on the job” begins to go wrong all of a sudden. This scenario mostly takes place on an ‘airship.’

I began my project collecting sounds based on the different ambient environments which belonged in the script. For me, that would set kind of the ‘backbone’ of the rest of the script and environment, and would help me to make the ship evident or make it a bit more of a living creature, especially once some of the action begins to occur.

Creating ambience was one of the most enjoyable stages for me; people had interesting options available for exactly what I needed, especially the beginning portion outside, some ambience and folio once the character reached the airship cabin, and then what I had the most fun creating was the boiler room. The boiler room was most interesting to me, because it felt like a more cavernous space, the character could descend deep into that room which was a fun transition to create (even amongst the action,) and it also just happened to feature other characters which was fun too. I feel that I was able to use unconventional sounds during this part especially because of the nature of a kind of steampunk, mist-fed airship which you definitely wouldn’t find in real life. These are the elements that remind me of my childhood and video games that I played featuring similar ships.

This airship also would have, and did feature some ‘wooden’ sounds. I recorded a lot of these with folio myself, I also recorded boardwalk running and walking sounds at the pier in Comox, and this was to varying success because of geese in the background. I was still able to compress the noise and extra sounds in the background, but had I had more time, definitely there may have been some more quiet days over there or perhaps others knew of a different but similar location. Sometimes, I was able to make up for the lack of this with my gathered sounds – some people were stepping on a mattress to make walking sounds, so there are many ways even I can get creative about filling in those extra sounds. I believe the mattress walking sounds came in handy to have an extra set of footsteps, and perhaps when the characters first entered the actual ‘bridge’ part of the airship.

I do understand the criticisms of having a slightly difficult time differentiating the different characters in the script and this doesn’t bother me; I did my best with what I had, I’m not exactly a trained voice actor but it was fun to attempt this nonetheless and I think mostly successful.

In terms of dialogue and scripting, I think where I could’ve edited things down a bit in the middle section before the main character is left on their own to commandeer the airship. I wanted this to feel like a chance to show off the different lever sounds, but when I considered how this might work practically I think some of the details got lost in translation. I wanted the captain to show the main character a couple of the levers, but when I wanted it to really start picking up and building traction was when the character began to try these levers himself. I didn’t want to showcase everything right away, but it sounds like it might’ve led to what felt like some empty spaces. For clicking the red switch, the lack of a sound felt relevant to me, because at some point with being left alone, the character makes some kind of mistake that leads the ship a bit astray. I felt like maybe that would be the red switch. So, at times I left things out unintentionally, but I can see how the captain showing him one or two more switches, or simply editing the script may have helped there.

At the end of the day, I think there are so many smaller details with a bit of a longer piece like this that it makes for a lot of editing. I do feel that I learned a lot and wish to see if I can strengthen these skills more in the future, and experiment more with outlandish dialogue or creating my own special effects specifically.

Working with what I had available to me and the different resources ended up being very fun, though I can see how there are some rough feeling areas in my soundscape. I think my biggest struggle was having the intention of certain ambience (especially for the middle / airship bridge,) and then with the sounds that I created myself, ie. some of the creaking for the ship for the middle section, sounds ended up being either too loud and distracting (with having ~2-3 ambient layers already,) or too quiet to the point that only one person seemed to notice the ‘wood’ creaking sounds of the ship. With this, I feel I learned that sometimes with ambience or creating an environment it’s just about adapting and adjusting; I could easily compare the boiler room and the middle section for example and think about how I could make them even more different to each other and not have quite so similar sounds. I feel like for this project ambience worked best with having 2-3 main undercurrents of ambient sounds per area, and balancing them well, or else things just start to get lost, so as to decide which ones to prioritize and be a little selective. So, even though I had difficulty finding the exact sounds that I wanted at times, I did still have a fun time creating my own folio.