Week 5 - Test Clip
Sound Design Practice - Part 2
For my sound editing task I decided to choose this scene. As you can see there is a lot of smashing and crashing in this scene which I thought would be quite easy to recreate using the sound effects from the BBC Sound Archive. There is also one change in scenery, one is quite a green neighbourhood so I could use birds chirping and perhaps cars passing as the ambient sound; whereas the other location is in an office so I would just need some office chatter. After the office background noise, I would need some smashing and breaking sound effects and perhaps a scream and some gasps.
When producing the soundscape I used a multi-track session on Adobe Audition. I uploaded the video onto the editing software and removed the sound so that I could refer to it whilst producing the soundscape. The sound effects that you hear in my soundscape are mainly from the BBC Sound Archie library but also from YouTube. The reason I didn't record any of my own sounds was because I have already had some hands on experience with the equipment, however, I haven't really had a chance to practice in post-production - other than the first lesson.
I manipulated some of the sound effects using the preset effects on Adobe Audition, for example, I turned both the bird chirping and office chatter down so it would almost fade into the background so that you could focus on all of the other sounds; whereas I enhanced the sound of the character smashing into the ceiling to make more of an impact.
When the character at the end of the office gets thrown into the ceiling, I had to make it sound as if it was distant. I did this by adding the parametric equaliser effect and chose the low frequency because it is easier for the sound to travel a long distance. I also turned the volume of the crashing down a lot because it is happening further away, of course.
Personally, I think I did OK for my first try but I next time I'd like to focus more on the depth of sound. For example, when something is moving past the camera, I want to make it clear in the audio that it is moving; I did not make this very clear in the opening when the female character walks past the camera. These effects give the sound more of an impact and it is much more engaging to the audience. Previously I mentioned that the ear is constantly listening, therefore the more accurate the sound is, the more successful the scene is.
Here is my complete session mix-down.
Artist Research
Ben Burtt
1. Born in NYC on the 12th of July 1948
2. He has worked as a sound designer on a number of films
3. Best known for Star Wars and Indiana Jones
4. Winner of four Academy Awards
Not only is Burtt a sound designer, he is also a director, film editor, screen writer and a voice actor. He has worked on a lot of major motion pictures and has been around in the film scene for a while. A fact that I found interesting about Burtt was that instead of using 'electronic-sounding effects' for futuristic sound effects, he uses natural sounds and mixes them to create the sound effects. For example, the lightsaber sound was made with a combination of the audio of a film projector and a broken television.
As previously mentioned, Burtt is a voice actor and some of the sounds in Star Wards such as the beeps were created using his own voice which also reinforces the idea you can create sound effects very easily.
This made me realise that you can make a sound effect out of pretty much anything if you just use your imagination and so I was inspired by Burtt for this reason. This is something I will bare in mind when recording sounds for my soundscape.
When producing the soundscape I used a multi-track session on Adobe Audition. I uploaded the video onto the editing software and removed the sound so that I could refer to it whilst producing the soundscape. The sound effects that you hear in my soundscape are mainly from the BBC Sound Archie library but also from YouTube. The reason I didn't record any of my own sounds was because I have already had some hands on experience with the equipment, however, I haven't really had a chance to practice in post-production - other than the first lesson.
I manipulated some of the sound effects using the preset effects on Adobe Audition, for example, I turned both the bird chirping and office chatter down so it would almost fade into the background so that you could focus on all of the other sounds; whereas I enhanced the sound of the character smashing into the ceiling to make more of an impact.
When the character at the end of the office gets thrown into the ceiling, I had to make it sound as if it was distant. I did this by adding the parametric equaliser effect and chose the low frequency because it is easier for the sound to travel a long distance. I also turned the volume of the crashing down a lot because it is happening further away, of course.
Personally, I think I did OK for my first try but I next time I'd like to focus more on the depth of sound. For example, when something is moving past the camera, I want to make it clear in the audio that it is moving; I did not make this very clear in the opening when the female character walks past the camera. These effects give the sound more of an impact and it is much more engaging to the audience. Previously I mentioned that the ear is constantly listening, therefore the more accurate the sound is, the more successful the scene is.
Here is my complete session mix-down.
Artist Research
Ben Burtt
1. Born in NYC on the 12th of July 1948
2. He has worked as a sound designer on a number of films
3. Best known for Star Wars and Indiana Jones
4. Winner of four Academy Awards
Not only is Burtt a sound designer, he is also a director, film editor, screen writer and a voice actor. He has worked on a lot of major motion pictures and has been around in the film scene for a while. A fact that I found interesting about Burtt was that instead of using 'electronic-sounding effects' for futuristic sound effects, he uses natural sounds and mixes them to create the sound effects. For example, the lightsaber sound was made with a combination of the audio of a film projector and a broken television.
As previously mentioned, Burtt is a voice actor and some of the sounds in Star Wards such as the beeps were created using his own voice which also reinforces the idea you can create sound effects very easily.
This made me realise that you can make a sound effect out of pretty much anything if you just use your imagination and so I was inspired by Burtt for this reason. This is something I will bare in mind when recording sounds for my soundscape.
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