Sonic Design- exercise

26.08.2024

Guan Wee Lun/0364012
Sonic Design/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Exercise 1

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Lectures

26.09.2024/Week 1

Briefing

~Sound effect~

P1 - Compose between sound effect sheets

P2 -, focus on voice only tell story using audio image

P3 - Create own sound effect for story

FP - Create sound and bring game to life

Tutorial

Parametric Equalizer

• It will shape or change the quality of the sound.
• It is a method to fixed or match a particular sound source.
• The Horizontal Line in the parametric Equalizer shows frequency range
• The lowest frequency shows the bass of the music, and the highest frequency show the treble.
• When the area in the low frequency being boosted, the bass become louder, and when we cut it, it will reduce 
• In the tutorial, the guitar sound shows at 2k, when we pull it down, the guitar sound become muffle and when we boost it, it become hush
• The horizontal curve in the middle call "q"
• The more narrow the q become, the more focusing on the target frequency

Week 2 03.10.2024

Lectures

Summary

This lecture introduces sound fundamentals, covering sound creation, propagation, perception, and the use of audio editing software.

• Nature of Sound: Explores sound as vibrations in air.
• The air molecules vibration and movement are called soundwaves
• Production _ Propagation _ Perception
• Production = source of sound
• Propagation = Medium, which is the sound travel
•  Perception = Sound captured and translate into brain
• Sound energy travels in the form of sound waves
• Traverse wave: vibration in which all points on a wave oscillate along paths at right angles to the direction of the wave’s advance
• longitudinal wave: vibration paralleled to direction of wave 
• Frequency: the number of waves through a point in a second
• Sound Capture: Discusses methods for recording sound.
• Sound Analysis: Analyzes sound for various media applications.
• Psychoacoustics: Human emotional responses to sound vary, highlighting the subjective experience of audio, which professionals must consider in sound design.
• Properties of Sound: Characteristics like pitch, loudness, and timbre are crucial for creating and analyzing sound, affecting how it is received.
• Frequency Range: Human hearing ranges from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with variations across individuals, emphasizing the need for tailored audio experiences.
• Use of Software: Proficiency in digital audio workstations like Adobe Audition is essential for modern sound design and editing practices.

Tutorial

In the exercise file, the bass of the sound can be reduced to convert to a normal telephone sound in reality

Week 3 10.10.2024

Lectures

By adding the pitch to sound, it will be change to something more complex, to made explosion to hit some other material

• DAW Definition: DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation, the software used for audio recording and editing.
• Layering: Combining multiple sounds to create richer and more interesting audio, similar to graphic design.
• Time Stretching: Adjusting the length of audio without changing its pitch, useful for pacing.
• Pitch Shifting: Altering pitch for effects, such as high-pitched chipmunk voices or low monster growls.
• Reversing: Experimenting with reversed sounds to discover unique audio effects.
• Mouth Sounds: Using vocal techniques to generate sound effects when original recordings are unavailable.
• Experimentation: Sound design involves testing various techniques to achieve desired results.

Week 4 17.10.2024

Lectures

Diegetic Sound Vs Non - Diegetic Sound

• Diegetic: derived by "diegesis", to help establishing world around character, massive impact on storytelling, expand the world than we see
• The world of film and everything in it
• Everything the character experience in their world in diegetic
• Weather, vehicles, weapon, dialogue, voice over
• Internal Diegetic sound: voice over represent character thought, but no one heard
• Non-Diegetic: everything cannot hear by character, SFX, Musical score, form of narrative
• Most of it is Score
• it can enhance motion and movement 
• Everything received by the audiences
• Example: title card, non-diegetic insert
• Trans-Diegetic Sound: Diegetic sound suddenly become non-Diegetic sound, or the opposite way
• It can blur the line reality and fantasy
• Creative Exceptions
• Sound that are not suitable but creative
• Michael Chion divided sound into 3hree part
• Acousmatic zone: Sound we hear but we can't see
• off screen
• Non Dietic
• Visualized Sound: Source of sound visualized on screen
• on screen

Tutorial

stereo sound for space

By breaking down the combination of the sound, it can create a sense of depth and space

sustained to decay

 Week 5/24.10.2024

Tutorial

• Color code can be a same group by changing in the multitrack
• group of sound effect such as
• Ambience
• foreground
• action
• dialogue
• Hard Limiter to used as the last step of the sound effect
• it's used to limit the highest volume in the soundtrack

Week 6 21/11/2024

Type of microphone

• condenser microphone
• it's more for indoor use
• directional microphone
• record video to the pointed direction
• sound source of human is from the chest, as the vibration, not pointed on the mount
• omnidirectional
• cardioid
• more use on studio, character cannot move too much.
• hypercardioid microphone
• cannot for to 
• figure affight
• more on industry, as for interview use
• cable and connection
• Proximity effect
• recording closer or further to the sound,
• when it's closer, it would be amplified
• absorption
• pillow fort
• cover with surrounded place with soft material, such as pillow, blanket and camp, to absorb the reflected voice.

Tutorial

• can record 2 - 3 second of the room noice before recording sound as to reduce the noice of room for the track
• capture sound of room noice, or poppin sound, the use effect - noise reduction
• reduce popin of lip sound by selecting and reduce to over - 20 db
• reduce the voice level to make consistency to other in the soundtrack

• amplitude and processor- dynamic
• auto gate
• mostly use for the room noise, but not the breathing noise as it will affect the sound we need
• control the threshold
• it's such as hard limiter, but difference, the sound that over the level that set, it won't be pass, not like the hard limiter limit the level to set level, it will cut the voice over the set level
• compressor
• squeeze the louder voice to the softer voice
• anything above the set level, it will softer the voice
• make up: the voice that we want to make it up
• Dynamic 

file - multitrack - video track

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Instruction

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Exercise

Exercise 1

For this exercise, an original soundtrack was given and 6 soundtrack that are different frequency and 2 more were adjusted using filter, we need to match these 8 soundtracks to the original soundtrack by using parametric equalizer.

EQ 1

Figure 1.1 eq 1 

EQ 2

Figure 1.2 eq 2

EQ 3

Figure 1.3 eq 3

EQ 4

Figure 1.4 eq 4

EQ 5

Figure 1.5 eq 5

EQ 6

Figure 1.6 eq 6

Filter 1

Figure 1.7 filter 1

Filter 2

Figure 1.8 filter 2

Exercise 2

For this exercise, we need to change the pitch to make the sound like in different environment. we need to practice using pitch filter and reverb.

EQ: Telephone

EQ: Muffle

EQ: Walkie Talkie

EQ: Bathroom

EQ: Stadium

Exercise 3

In this exercise we are require doing 3 part of sound effect using the explosion soundtrack, a dynamic explosion sound, firecracker and a combination of explosion and punch sound to make a punching sound effect of game.

Bomb Explosion

So, for the first attempt, I would like to make explosion sound effect like starting with the bomb triggering and explosion, from mid pitch to high pitch, and give a little gap in between to create a sense for bomb before exploding, inspired by Oppenheimer explosion, but in the end the explosion sound weird, so I decided to put something else to make it more dynamic, so I need a sound to extend the soundtrack, and give it a little bit of vibrate, as it's a explosion

Firecracker

Punch

For this exercise we are asked to create punch sound effect by combining punch soundtrack and explode soundtrack.

Firstly, I created a sound effect using explosion, I reverse the sound effect to make the punch like a wind effect before the punching sound is heard.

And then I started to create punch sound for the normal punch sound by adding reverb into it and slightly adjust on the EQ.

For the third punching sound, I use pitch shifter to turn into something lower pitch, like another move of punching.

For the final sound, I used to normal fist sound and adjust the mid range of the eq and add a wave sound adjusted using explosion and reverb in it.