Video & Sound Production / Project 1 / Audio Editing Exercises

29.8.2023 - 24.9.2023 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Elysa Wee Qi En / 0355060 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Video & Sound Production
Project 1 / Audio Editing Exercises

LECTURES

All lectures were done in Exercises.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fig. 1. Module Information Booklet

Project 1A: Audio Dubbing 

For this exercise, we were given a clip from the movie 'Munich' without any audio, and we were tasked with finding audio clips online and editing them in. 

First, we had to create a spreadsheet to document all the sound effects or movements in the scene:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tP3BC97C0e8Ts5uYCUR369jUOHNUj0reUmp_DKTz8OU/edit?usp=sharing

Then, I found sound effects that I liked and thought fit my vision for the scene. I downloaded them and got to work synching everything. 

Fig. 2.1. Synching footsteps (12/12/2023)

After I settled all the hard sound effects, I added ambience. I used two different audios - one of birds chirping and the other of a busy city. I overlayed them atop one another. For the indoor scenes, or the scenes inside the car or phone booth, I muffled the ambience with the parametric equalizer effect.

I also added the exponential fade effects to some effects. Not all, because in some audio clips it made it some worse.

Fig. 2.2. Adjusting ambience (12/12/2023)

FINAL Audio Dubbing Submission

Fig. 3.1. Final Audio Dubbing Submission (12/12/2023)

Fig. 3.2. Final Audio Dubbing Timeline (12/12/2023)

Project 1B: Sound Shaping

For this exercise, we had to record ourselves with our phone, transfer it into Adobe Audition, and add different effects to it to create 5 different audio clips. Our teacher already told us that he wanted the clips to sound like: 

From a phone call, inside an underground cave, inside a closet, inside a bathroom, like an alien. 

Fig. 4. Audio clips in Audition (2/11/2023)

FINAL Sound Shaping Submission

Fig. 5.1. Phone call (2/11/2023)

Fig. 5.2. Inside underground cave (2/11/2023)

Fig. 5.3. Inside closet (2/11/2023)

Fig. 5.4. Inside bathroom (2/11/2023)

Fig. 5.5. Alien (2/11/2023)

REFLECTIONS

Experience
I had some problems with my Adobe in the beginning of the semester, so I had to play catch-up on my audio dubbing exercise. Luckily, I was able to get it done in around a day and produce results that I'm happy with. I really love sound effects, and despite how tedious it could have been to sync footsteps and all the other sounds, I enjoyed the process. And I enjoyed the end result too. Also, the experience with putting different effects on the audio clips in the sound shaping exercise, it was rewarding to get the right settings to get the effect I wanted.

Observations
In the audio dubbing exercise, I had so many overlapping sound effects. There's a lot of subtle actions that could cause audible sound, however with the ambience and the distance of the camera, they become so soft they might as well not be there. But it is still good to include them, as they add to the experience for the people who listen very closely. 

Findings
I found that the parametric equalizer effect is quite powerful. There's a lot that can be done with it, like muffling audio. That was useful in my audio dubbing exercise, to create the phone effect and the muffled ambience noises. Because of this effect, it's actually not that difficult to edit audio clips to have specific effects or sound specific ways e.g. a voice coming from inside a closet.