Charles MacRae

Charlie Macrae – Final Report

Charles MacRae

Over the past few weeks I have gained a lot of knowledge about the process of creating a soundscape/experimental sound. I have learnt techniques about how I should record certain sounds and I have also learnt how to use Adobe Audition and Pro-Tools a lot more efficiently than I have been able to previously.

What I Learnt During The Recording Process:
– When recording the audio for our soundscape I booked out the zoom and two microphones. The zoom was an extremely versatile piece of equipment and was what we used for the majority of the recordings. Before this project I had very little experience with the zoom but as we recorded with it, I got to grips with it very quickly.
– The microphones that we used were very useful at getting different sounds the 414 that we used was good at getting a clear sound and was useful for getting sounds that would pan from left to right.
– The hyper-cardioid microphone we used was great at getting close up sounds, such as heartbeats and vibrations.
With more experience with different microphones I believe we would of been able to get an even higher quality of sounds for the final piece.

What I Learnt About Adobe Audition:
– I had quite a lot of experience with adobe audition prior to this project so editing on the software was relatively easy after a while. I had a good idea about how i was going to cut up the audio files and as a team we knew what order we were going to put them in.
– The program is very good when using it to cut down audio clips in to usable chunks as well as being able to create multiple tracks to place the clips in order. I believe if we had to assemble the piece in pro-tools it would of been a lot more difficult as pro tools does not have a separate window for editing the clips.
– I believe that I can quite efficiently use Adobe Audition now and if I were to have more practice with the software I think I would be able to use more of its features within my work to improve the final product.
What I Learnt About Pro-tools:

– I had very little experience with pro tools prior to this project so getting hands on with the software really gave me an opportunity to extend my knowledge of how to use its features.

– Adding effects and EQ’ing the audio was relatively easy although it took us some time to get the effects that we wanted due to not knowing all of the available plug-ins that we could use, after a while we got to terms with the plug-ins after a lot of trial and error.

Working As A Team:
– Being part of a team on a project like this was very useful as it allowed us to separate jobs and all take turns with the recording and mixing. Without a team it would of made the whole process a lot less enjoyable as well as taking a lot longer.
– We all shared common goals for this project which was useful as it meant the final product was something that we were all happy with and there was no arguing.

Lots of Effects – Finally Finished

Charles MacRae

Now that all of the editing has been done on Audition it is time to take the .WAV over to Pro-tools to add effects and create the final piece. We started off by splitting all parts of the soundscape up in to separate tracks, we did this because we need to add different effects to each of the sections and it was more simple than creating an auxiliary track. We kept the first part of the soundscape the same and unedited due to it being real life and not yet in the nightmare. Once we got to the lecturer speaking we attempted to muffle the sound but whatever effect we used it just sounded wrong so we decided to just fade her voice slowly leading to falling asleep. Once the nightmare begins there is a continuing ambience that we created by hitting a metal pole and recording the vibrations. Each section contains a different recorded sound and has been edited to make it sound ominous and as if it is in a larger space than it actually was. The nightmare ends on a large explosion like sound to signify waking up and then it goes to the person breathing heavily with a raised heartbeat.

We had to make some edits to the storyline due to time constraints, for example we originally wanted the nightmare to start in the lecture and then the person walks home but we couldn’t fit it in to the time frame we had so we had the person start in an unknown location.

All in all the final piece sounds good and gives the listener a sense of fear during the nightmare scene due to the rapid change from reality. It has been fun working on the project and we have all gained valuable knowledge of how the recording process works for experimental sound and also we have a better understanding of the software used for audio editing.

All Coming Together

Charles MacRae

The process of cutting all of the audio clip in to usable junks has been completed and today we worked on putting all of the audio files in a logical order on the multi-track view on Adobe Audition. Luckily we got all of the clips in to the correct places and the unedited soundscape was completed. The process of fitting all of the files in to the space of 2 minutes was difficult due to the amount of clips that we started with. Next time we meet up (on the 15th) we shall be editing the soundscape and adding various effects to the audio.

The day it all comes together

Charles MacRae

I have just sifted through all 60 of our audio files that were recorded last week and discarded any files which were unnecessary or were not of good quality. I got the files down to around 40 and they have all been named and put in the order of how they fit in the story.

I’m now going to meet up with the rest of the group and we are going to piece together the sounds and try and get a rough draft of what our final soundscape will be.