Sonic Design: Exercises
26/9/2024 - 20/10/2024 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media
Module Name: VSA60204 Sonic Design
Exercises
LIST
Project 1: Audio Fundamentals
LECTURES
INSTRUCTIONS
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PROJECT 1: AUDIO FUNDAMENTALS
"Students are given a series of exercises that develop their sound design
sensibilities by increasing their technical proficiency and knowledge.
Students will be given several tasks to analyze and manipulate sound
properties through the use of sound editing software to fit a desired
scenario."
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Exercise 1 Progress
We were given 9 audios that we needed to equalise:
- Eq 1
- Eq 2
- Eq 3
- Eq 4
- Eq 5
- Eq 6
- Filter 1
- Filter 2
- Flat
Flat is the original audio, so we needed to match the other 8 audios to
that. Some information we needed, before we went into Adobe Audition,
was that the left is the base while the right is the treble.
What flat sounds like:
Fig 1.1, Flat Sound, 26/9/2024
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For Eq 1, the base sounded quieter than the original flats, so I turned
up the base to match the flats.
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| Fig 1.2, Eq 1 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Eq 2, the treble felt quieter than the original so I turned up the
right side to match the original.
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| Fig 1.3, Eq 2 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Eq 3, the middle and base parts sounded very quiet so I turned that
up instead, slightly more for the middle since that needed more.
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| Fig 1.4, Eq 3 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Eq 4, the base was too loud so I decided to turn down the volume
slightly more on each node as the left part was the loudest.
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| Fig 1.5, Eq 4 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Eq 5, the treble was too loud so I did the same thing as Eq 4 but
instead of the base, I did it on the treble part. The base was also a
bit soft so I tuned it up slightly.
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| Fig 1.6, Eq 5 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Eq 6, the base was very quiet so turned that up, where the line
connecting the nodes was above the grid; I turned up node 2 since that
was lacking from the audio. I also turned node 5 slightly down as it
felt a bit too loud.
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| Fig 1.7, Eq 6 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Filter 1, it was somewhat similar to Eq 5 but the middle felt a bit
lacking so I decided to turn node 1 to 3 up. While the base was lacking
it felt somewhat muffled so I put node 3 up towards the top left corner
while nodes 1 and 2 are slightly below it, going to the right as well.
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| Fig 1.8, Filter 1 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
For Filter 2, my friend helped me as I struggled with it. She said to put node 2 at the top right corner and node 5 underneath it to sharpen the noise quality of the drums to match the original audio. I also felt that the melody itself was lacking, so I turned node 4 up a bit
as well.
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| Fig 1.9, Filter 2 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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Exercise 2 Progress
For this exercise, we were given new sound files to play with to learn
more about the equaliser feature.
Link to the files:
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Phone Call SFX
Using the sound “sample_voice.mp3”, we needed to change it via equaliser
to fit different scenarios. For the first scenario, we had to make it
sound like a phone call. Using the equaliser, I turned 4 up while also
bringing 1, 2, 5 and H downwards to create a slight muffle and robotic
noise to the sound file.
Fig 2.1, Phone call SFX solution, 3/10/2024
Closet SFX
For the second scenario, we had to make it sound like the person was
speaking from the closet. Returning to the equaliser, I pulled 1, 3, 4
and 5 towards the bottom right corner to create the extra muffled effect you would hear behind a closet.
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Fig 2.2, Closet SFX trial, 3/10/2024
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After getting feedback from my friends and lecturer, who said the closet sounded a bit too cloth-like, I reduced 1, 3, 4, 5, and H towards the right side, creating a muffled effect that isn't too cloth-like.
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| Fig 2.3, Closet SFX solution, 3/10/2024 |
Walkie-Talkie SFX
After finishing the closet SFX one, I went ahead and did the walkie-talkie effect. Same with the previous attempts, I used the EQ, set 2, 3 & 4 towards the middle top, slightly bringing up 1 and 5 downwards. This creates a static yet sharp noise that most walkie-talkies have.
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| Fig 2.4, Walkie-Talkie SFX solution, 3/10/2024 |
Toilet SFX
After finishing the Walkie-Talkie SFX, I went to do the toilet SFX. Starting off with using the EQ, 3 was brought halfway to the top, followed by 2 being slightly below, 4 going slightly below the origin line while 1 and 5 were completely at the bottom; this is to create a clearer voice without any background noise for the best sound.
After that, I added the Reverb effect and adjusted the levels till the sound was bouncing off of the walls; they usually echo because of the pure silence beside the person talking.
Stadium SFX
For the last exercise, we did the stadium SFX. Again, we start off by using EQ to create the specific sound needed. 2 and 5 were brought up the top, 3 was slightly below them, 4 was slightly above the origin line, H was slightly below the origin line and L was at the bottom; this is to enhance the base and tremble and create the muffled noise that is usually there
Fig 2.5, Toilet SFX Solution, 3/10/2024
Stadium SFX
For the last exercise, we did the stadium SFX. Again, we start off by using EQ to create the specific sound needed. 2 and 5 were brought up the top, 3 was slightly below them, 4 was slightly above the origin line, H was slightly below the origin line and L was at the bottom; this is to enhance the base and tremble and create the muffled noise that is usually there
Once I finished the EQ, I added the Reverb effect to create the echo that's heard when yelling across the stadium, upping the decay time a lot. I've also added another echo by using the Echo effect, increasing the delay and lowering the feedback making it sound more like an empty stadium.
Fig 2.6, Stadium SFX Solution #1, 3/10/2024
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| Fig 2.7, Stadium SFX Solution #2, 3/10/2024 |
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Exercise 3 Progress
For this exercise, we were tasked to layer the noises to create a more authentic experience by manipulating the given sounds from last week's files. We were to use the 'Punch' and 'Explosion' from the files and the new techniques learned to create new sounds.
Link to the files:
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Explosion SFX
For Variation 1, I started with the equalizer, also called EQ and made 1 and H go to the top to get a clearer explosion sound. I've also saved it so I can use it in different variations for layering purposes.
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| Fig 3.1, Explosion SFX Progress #1, 10/10/2024 |
For Variation 2, I used the first variation as the base and used the Pitch Shifter to lower the original to -12, this helps create the base of our layered explosion.
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| Fig 3.2, Explosion SFX Progress #2, 10/10/2024 |
For Variation 3, I used the Stretch and Pitch effect to create a longer version of the original explosion which adds another layer to the explosion.
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| Fig 3.3, Explosion SFX Progress #3, 10/10/2024 |
For Variation 4, I added a Chorus effect. I used a preset called 'Chaos Pits' to create a loud variation that would pair well with the ending of an explosion.
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| Fig 3.4, Explosion SFX Progress #4, 10/10/2024 |
After creating all the variations, I stacked them all together in a Multitrack and by putting some of them offset each other, it created a noticeable layered explosion and sounds less artificial.
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| Fig 3.5, Explosion SFX Progress #5, 10/10/2024 |
Firecrackers SFX
For the firecrackers SFX, I used the original explosion sound as the base. Firstly, I added a Pitch Shifter so it sounded like those Chinese New Year crackers, and then added an EQ to raise the 4 to the top to create the sharp tones that firecrackers have.
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| Fig 3.6, Firecrackers SFX Progress #1, 10/10/2024 |
After that, I added a Chorus effect with the preset '5 Voices' to create a slight echo effect but there's no delay.
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| Fig 3.7, Firecrackers SFX Progress #2, 10/10/2024 |
Then, I added a Stretch and Pitch and increased the stretch by 40% for a longer sound.
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| Fig 3.8, Firecrackers SFX Progress #3, 10/10/2024 |
After listening to the audio, I realised that the EQ could have been better so I went back and changed it.
By significantly increasing the treble area, I can get a higher-pitched tone that matches firecrackers.
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| Fig 3.8, Firecrackers SFX Progress #4, 10/10/2024 |
Finally, once everything was finished, I applied the effects, saved it and went into a new Multitrack to layer the sound. Similar to the explosion SFX, I put them offset off each other to create a more natural feel but I cut the sound itself short since the Chinese New Year firecrackers are short but loud.
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| Fig 3.9, Firecrackers SFX Progress #5, 10/10/2024 |
3 Punches & Explosion SFX
I started off with creating the punch since I already had the explosion sound. For Variation 1, I added a Chorus effect with the preset 'Robotic Bee Attack' which creates a wavy sound.
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| Fig 3.10, Punch Progress #1, 10/10/2024 |
Variation 2 adds a Reverb effect to create this feeling where the person getting punched is strong and the reverb of that energy is shown through the sound.
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| Fig 3.11, Punch Progress #2, 10/10/2024 |
I've also made Variation 3 where I pitched the original sound to have more have a higher tone to layer with the original.
After making the variations, I put them into a Multitrack session to create the 3 punches and explosion. I've layered the sounds according to what is needed. I also added a new variation of the layered explosion, adding an EQ and bringing both the base and treble up to create a more powerful layered sound.
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| Fig 3.11, Multitrack Progress #1, 10/10/2024 |
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| Fig 3.11, Explosion_Mixdown Progress #1, 10/10/2024 |
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Exercise 4 Progress
Before actually doing the exercise, we learned how to pan tracks, we used the jetplane sound that was given as a test run.
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| Fig 4.1, Pan Practice, 17/10/2024 |
For this exercise, we were tasked to create the environmental sounds of the pictures given by our lecturer. Here are the pictures that we were given:
Fig 4.2, Environment 1 & 2, 17/10/2024
Before I went into making and editing the sounds, I have compiled a list of sounds that I've used for the environments that were given:
Fig 4.3, Sounds for Environment #1 & #2, 18/10/2024
Using this method helps save time by knowing the sounds first and then downloading those said sounds without needing to go over one by one what's inside the picture.
Environment 1 SFX
I started off by putting in sounds by following the list I made myself and here are some of the progress I've made. For some sounds, I needed to use the EQ to make the sounds clearer since multiple sounds have static or muffled sounds.
Fig 4.4, Environment 1 Progress #1, 18/10/2024
I used the Denoise effect to get rid of mild static and panning the volume to have an accurate depiction of what I wanted within the audio.
Fig 4.5, Environment 1 Progress #2, 18/10/2024
This is the entire mixdown of Environment 1:
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| Fig 4.5, Environment 1 Mixdown, 18/10/2024 |
Environment 2 SFX
Similar to Environment 1, I added all the sounds into a new Multitrack session and started on my progress. Some of the sounds needed EQ as usual so either sound clearer or muffle other unnecessary background noise. I've also used a Hard Limiter to keep the sounds that are too loud from going beyond the red bar.
Fig 4.6, Environment 2 Progress #2, 19/10/2024
I've also used effects like Pitch Shifter when it's needed. This helps the audio to either go lower or higher to match with the environment more.
Fig 4.7, Environment 2 Progress #2, 19/10/2024
This is the entire mixdown for Environment 2:
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| Fig 4.8, Environment 2 Progress #2, 19/10/2024 |
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FINAL Audio Fundamentals
Drive Link for Exercise 1:
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Fig 5.1, Eq 1 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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Fig 5.2, Eq 2 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.3, Eq 3 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.4, Eq 4 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.5, Eq 5 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.6, Eq 6 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.7, Filter 1 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
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| Fig 5.8, Filter 2 Solution, 26/9/2024 |
Drive Link for Exercise 2:
Fig 6.1, Final Phone call SFX, 3/10/2024
Fig 6.2, Final Closet SFX, 3/10/2024
Fig 6.3, Final Walkie Talkie SFX, 3/10/2024
Fig 6.4, Final Toilet SFX, 3/10/2024
Fig 6.5, Final Stadium SFX, 3/10/2024
Drive Link for Exercise 3:
Fig 7.1, Final Explosion SFX, 10/10/2024
Fig 7.2, Final Firecracker SFX, 10/10/2024
Fig 7.3, Final 3 Punches and Explosion SFX, 10/10/2024
Drive Link for Exercise 4:
Fig 8.1, Final Jetplane SFX, 17/10/2024
Fig 8.2, Final Environmental #1 SFX, 19/10/2024
Fig 8.3, Final Environmental #2 SFX, 19/10/2024
REFLECTION
From the last 4 weeks of doing the exercises, I have learned a lot about
sounds and how changing different intonations and pitches can affect
the overall soundtrack. I felt that there was a hard learning curve when it came to figuring out which sounds are supposed to go, especially when using the equalizers and choruses, and if it fit the vibe that I was going for; It was a very challenging but gratifying experience when I'm able to figure out what I needed to put in and didn't. I've also learned a lot from my friends and peers, especially from the senior's work, I was able to see the thoughts and ideas behind every soundtrack that was shown and was amazed by their dedication to recreating a sound that matches with the environment that was given. Overall, I've got a lot of learning to do and hope that someday I'll get better and showcase my improved skills in future assignments!
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