Sonic Design: Exercises

September 29, 2024

Sonic Design: Exercises

27.09.2023 - 18.10.2024 / Week 1 - Week 4
Sylvia Lau / 0356130
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Sonic Design: Exercises

INSTRUCTION

LECTURE

Nature of Sound

Sound is a vibration of air molecules. Sound waves have three stages: production, propagation, and perception.

Production: The source of the sound
Propagation: The medium in which the sound travels
Perception: Sound captured and translated by our brain

Properties of sound wave

The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next phase.

The strength or power of a wave signal. Higher amplitudes are interpreted as higher volume.

The number of times the wavelength occurs in one second. Measure in kilohertz (Khz), or cycle per second. Higher frequencies are interpreted as higher volume.

Properties of sound

Pitch

Less vibration would have a low pitch and low frequency.
More vibration would have a high pitch and high frequency.

Basic Sound Designing Tools

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): A software where we edit or record sound, and would have a set of common tools which are useful for sound design.

Five steps that are normally used in sound design:

Layering: Take two or more sounds and place on top of each other. It allows to blend and mix the various sound into a new unique sound.

Time-stretching/ Time compression: 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. It will change the pacing/tempo/speed of the audio but not the pitch.

Pitch Shifting: An ability to change the pitch of a sound without changing its actual length. Shifting the pitch higher will make the sound thinner and smaller; If shifting to a lower pitch, the audio will sound bigger and more bass.

Reverse: Reversing audio can produce weird and unnatural sounds.

Mouth it: Vocalisation is an important tool of sound design, as our voice is flexible and we can create the kind of sound we want.

Diegetic Sound

Sound that the character can hear, for example: environment weather, music in the movie, weapon, dialogue. If the dialogue is spoken in the character's heart, it will be an internal diegetic sound. It has an massive impact to storytelling.

Non-Diegetic Sound

Sound that the character cannot hear, including sound effects, background music, and narrator's storytelling. It is to increase intensity and make film experiences.

Trans-Diegetic Sound

It refers to any sound that moves in between non-diegetic and dietetic, or vice versa. It helps bridge or link two things, like transitions between scenes. For example, music plays over the opening credits of a film (non-diegetic), once the title sequence ends, the same music becomes a song heard on someone's radio in the opening scene (dietetic sound).

Exercise 1

In our first tutorial, we learned about one of the effects in Adobe Audition, the Parametric Equalizer. It allows for adjusting audio frequencies by precisely controlling the volume of different frequency bands, optimizing sound quality or creating specific sound effects.

We were given a folder with one original audio file and 6 other files with adjusted frequency. So in this exercise, we were required to adjust the frequency according to the original audio.

Equalizer 1

Figure 1.1

Equalizer 2

Figure 1.2

Equalizer 3

Figure 1.3

Equalizer 4

Figure 1.4

Equalizer 5

Figure 1.5

Equalizer 6

Figure 1.6

Exercise 2

During the next tutorial class, we continued learning about parametric equalizer, such as adjusting the sound to mimic a phone call, speaking inside a closet, and a walkie-talkie. Besides, we learned a new effect, which was the rack effect's reverb. This effect allowed sound to produce an echo, simulating reflections from different spaces. We needed to create environmental sound effects like in a bathroom and an announcement in a stadium.

Voice sample - Telephone

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2 Adjustment

Voice sample - Closet

Figure 2.3

Voice sample - Walkie-talkie

Figure 2.4

Voice sample - In the bathroom

Figure 2.5

Figure 2.6

Voice sample - Stadium Announcement

Figure 2.7

Figure 2.8

Exercise 3

In this week's tutorial, we explored more of the effects in Audition, such as the pitch shifter, stretch and pitch, and chorus under modulation. Our lecturer had a demo on using the soundtrack of the explosion.

Explosion

Figure 3.1 Parametric Equalizer

Figure 3.2 Pitch Shifter

Figure 3.3 Stretch and Pitch

Figure 3.4 Chorus

Figure 3.5 Reverse

Figure 3.6 Adjustment on Stretch

Figure 3.7 Combination

The multi-layered effects give the original explosion sound much more tension and depth.

Punch

Using the same method, but this time it would be punching.

Figure 4.1 Parametric Equalizer, Version 1

Figure 4.2 Parametric Equalizer, Version 2

Figure 4.3 Parametric Equalizer, Version 3

I did 3 versions of punching sound by adjusting the parametric equalizer.

Figure 4.4 Stretch and Pitch

Figure 4.5 Reverb, Version 1

Figure 4.6 Reverb, Version 2

Figure 4.7 Reverb, Version 3

Figure 4.8 Combination

Lastly, I adjusted the volume of some of the soundtrack and added transitioning effects.

Firework

Figure 5.1 Parametric Equalizer

Figure 5.2 Pitch Shifter

Figure 5.3 Stretch and Pitch

Figure 5.4 Combination

Exercise 4

In our fourth week, we learned about the panning effect, which causes the sound to gradually shift from one channel (such as the left) to another (such as the right), simulating the movement of the sound source.

Jet Plane

This effect makes it feel like a plane is flying past in front of us and then quickly flying away.