VIDEO AND SOUND PRODUCTION - PROJECT 1

Week 2 - Week 8
See Zi Yi 0340094
Video and Sound Production
Project 1 - Audio-Editing Exercises

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Week 1 (17/04/2020)

In our first sound lecture, Mr Razif gave us a video lecture about the fundamentals and properties of sound. He also taught us about the basics of Adobe Audition such as the parametric equalizer through a video tutorial. According to the tutorial, this feature can be used to edit the bass and treble of an audio file accordingly. 

We were then given 1 original sound clip and 6 modified sound clips. For this week, our task is to equalize the modified sound clips as similar as possible to the original sound clip, and at the same time, to test our headphones. Below are my attempts.

Fig. 1.1 EQ 1

Fig. 1.2 EQ 2

Fig. 1.3 EQ 3

Fig. 1.4 EQ 4

Fig. 1.5 EQ 5

Fig. 1.6 EQ 6

Week 2 (25/04/2020)
As for our second exercise, we learn about sound shaping. It's an exercise about shaping the sample sound provided as if it comes from different sources.

Below are some main points for this tutorial:

- Steps for sound shaping:

1. Identify the quality/characteristics of the sound.
2. Identify if the original sound clip needs more base/tremble to mimic the sound required.
3. Make amendments needed.

For example:
Telephone voice: poor sound quality, less bass, low treble, harsh voice (boost the mid area).
Closet voice: not sharp, something is blocking, a little bit of bass, no sharpness, sounds nasal, opposite with the telephone call.
Stadium voice: echo (time/the delay for the sound to reflect back to ears), longer time=echo/shorter time= reverb)

- 0db is the maximum for digital audio

1. db is the measurement of sound.
2. Clipping:

• if the sound goes above 0.
• when the indicator turns red.
• (waveform is too loud and it's being cut off).
• distortion of sound occurs.
• How to overcome? Hard limiter > maximum amplitude (-0.1)  > input boost (34.7)

- Boosting: increasing the loudness of frequency

- Reverb: gives the effect as if you are in a particular room

- Non-destructive editing: live processing editing which needs to click "apply" to have effects applied.

- Mono: centred in one speaker/ stereo: two speakers can be independent

Below are my attempts:

1. Voice of a telephone call

Fig. 1.7  Voice of a telephone call

2. Voice coming from inside a closet or closed room

Fig. 1.8 Voice coming from inside a closet or closed room

3. Voice of a Walkie Talkie

Fig. 1.9 Voice of a Walkie Talkie

4. Voice in a big stadium

Fig. 1.10 Voice in a big stadium

5. Voice in a toilet/shower/bathroom

Fig. 1.11 Voice in a toilet/shower/bathroom

Week 3 (01/05/2020)
For our third exercise, it would be about Sound Design Techniques. 

We learnt about the six basic sound designs, namely:
1. Layering - taking 2 or more sound and place on top of each other.
2. Time stretching - sonically stretching the audio to make it play slower, without changing the pitch.
3. Time compression - sonically compressing the audio to make it play faster, without changing the pitch.
* (2.) and (3.) change: pacing, tempo, speed, but not the pitch.
4. Pitch shifting - shift the pitch (high and low), but not the length.
5. Reversing - making an unnatural sound.
6. Mouth it - last resort when you can’t find a sound.

More about Time stretching and compression:

- To stretch: toolbar > effects > time and pitch > stretch and pitch (process)

* Default settings: Stretch = 100 (no stretch); pitch = 0 (no change in pitch)

* 100 (neutral); less than 100 (compression); more than 100 (stretching)

Then, we proceed to apply the theories learnt practically through the above tutorial by enhancing a given sound clip: explosion sound. We utilize the multitrack, parametric equalizer, reverb, and hard limiter, mixer, etc to come up with a more enhanced version of an explosion sound. Below is the tutorial video:

Lastly, we export our final multitrack file according to the below tutorial video:

One thing to take note about exporting is that if our sound clip is:
- Part of a video asset: save it as WAV format, which is uncompressed;
- To be shared with friends/embed on Blogspot: MP3, compressed.

HOMEWORK:
1. Variation of punch sound to create a triple punch (from one punch sound file)
2. Monster/ alien voice (from one voice recording) (modulation)
3. Deep rich explosion (from one Lo-fi explosion sound)

Below is a screenshot of my attempt, as well as in the MP3 version:

1. Deep rich explosion (from one Lo-fi explosion sound)

Fig. 1.12 Explosion

2. Alien voice (from one voice recording)

Fig. 1.13 Alien voice

3. Variation of punch sound to create a triple punch (from one punch sound file)

Fig. 1.14 Triple punch

Week 7 (29/05/2020)
This week, Mr Razif taught us how to calculate the background noise as well as to adjust the spike for consistent loudness. 

Here are a few points to note down:
- Clip automation (top) and track automation (bottom)
- Pan from left to right
- Pitch shifting from mature voice to childish voice that is suitable for cartoon.