Sonic Design - Lecture

Aug 30th, 2022 - Dec 11th, 2022 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Rusydina Fazlin Athirah Binti Fauzi
Sonic Design
Week 1 [August 30th, 2022]
Lectures

INSTRUCTIONS

Lectures

Week 1 - What to know about Sonic Design?

Introduction to Sonic Design

August 30th, 2022

The first day of the week into Sonic Design begins like any other course during a semester. Mr. Razif gave us brief explanations of what to expect for the next 14 weeks of taking up 'Sonic Design'.

First off, a very quick elaboration of the module information booklet was skimmed through by Mr. Razif amongst the class, other than that, he also showcased a few of the senior works to give us ideas on how the tasks/projects worked in this course.

The tasks that were mentioned are:

Task 1: Audio Fundamentals

Audio fundamentals, from what Mr. Razif mentioned are a series of audio exercises that we have to carry out. Working into modifying the audio and/or simply being able to identify audio better and of course learning to better layer each track of audio. But most importantly these audio exercises will help develop our sound design sensibilities and capabilities.

Mr. Razif was even generous enough to give the class a few of our seniors' works to spark up our creativity in carrying out this project.

'Project 1: Audio Fundamentals, Seniors' Work', Soundcloud

Task 2: Audio Storytelling

The second task/project dives into a real-life experience where you put yourself in a first-person perspective, experiencing the sound around you. In this project, Mr. Razif wants us to be able to be critical and sensitive to our surroundings of sound, a way to depict a scenario of choice is stated below:

Wildlife + Background
Everyday Home Life + Background
Cities + Transport + Exterior Atmosphere
Industry and Electronic sounds + Background
Weather + Background
Market + Rural atmosphere + Background

-with the choice of scenarios above, we are meant to download sounds and audio tracks from sound libraries to later be layered over each other and modified to fit within that choice of scenario.

When it comes to the examples of senior work shared by Mr. Razif it is inter-connected with the first task/project, therefore the source of the example can be referred to in the link above.

Task 3: Final Audio

Finally, the last project/task that we'll be working on is a decision between implementing audio into silent move audio (provided by Mr. Razif) or game audio (of our choice), but the challenge here is that the audio and sound effects that will be implemented into the project are produced by us. Students are required to make up/come up/produce/record different types of sounds/audio to later be modified according to the clips to better fit it.

1. Silent Movie Audio -> The first example is silent movie audio done by seniors (can be seen below):

Silent Movie - The Haunted House - Helen Angelia

More variety of project examples (silent movies) done by seniors

2. Game Audio -> The second example is game audio done by seniors (can be seen below):

Game Audio - Fann Man Ling

More variety of project examples (game audio) done by seniors

After Mr. Razif had given us the whole module brief, we started to introduce ourselves which led more to little moments where audio insights would be discussed and talked about. Other than that, Mr. Razif had us make sure we had audio software to work on our projects with, the ones that were mentioned are:

Adobe Audition
Bandlab

Final few hours in class, Mr. Hafiz had us visit the recording studio on campus when there were explanations to do with the surrounding of the recording the kind of materials that were in there along with the apparatuses that are utilized in the recording studio to recording audio/sound/tracks that will hopefully be covered more in detailed in the upcoming classes!

Week 2 - Sound Fundamentals & EQ

What will we learn?

September 6th, 2022

The second week into the sonic design we learned everything- or well mostly having to do with the fundamentals of sound to later than work on an exercise as part of our first task regarding EQ.

How sound can be captured
How sound can be processed
analyze and use it
how to convert to a digital world
Pro tools

a standard audio recorder in an audio studio (it use to run on Mac, but it can be run on windows now)

The list of subtopics that will be discussed and interpreted through my understanding can be seen below:

1. Nature of sound

a vibration of air molecules that stimulates the eardrums

Figure 1.1 - Sound wave depiction (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Sound waves exist as variations of pressure in a medium such as air. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain interprets as sound.

The air molecules and propagation (movement) are called Sound Waves.

Moving into it much more detail, the factor of the nature of sound is:

Production

Figure 1.2 - Visual example of vocal cords as the source of sound (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Usually, when a sound is produced it's all involved with vibrations, speakers that music gets played on along with our vocal cords that vibrate as organisms that produce sound.

Next up we'll look into:

Propagation

Figure 1.3 - Visual example of propagation (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Sound propagation is the movement of sound from the source to the surrounding medium. A descriptive example of an event can be identified through a tuning fork struck against a rubber pad, the vibration induced in the prongs may be felt and brought close to our ears, guitar strings produce sound when struck, and so on.

Finally, we have:

Preception

Figure 1.4 - Visual example of receiving sound (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

When sound is produced we humans hear and listen to whatever has been produced and when we do receive that sound our brain captures it and translate the sound by our brain. That's why are certain situations when we heard a certain sound our brains can have the ability or visually depict what we heard.

Next up let's learn a little about how our human ears work, when it comes to this module our ears are the important parts that play in progress through this module.

Human ear

Figure 1.5 - Human ear (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

The figure above displays, that the ear is an amazingly complex and sensitive organ.

The outer ear: the external, visible portion of the ear and the ear canal
The middle ear: the paper-thin eardrum and a small, air-filled cavity containing three tiny bones (malleus, incus, and stapes)
The inner ear: the cochlea (hearing canal), endolymphatic sac, semicircular canals

Knowing about human isn't as important in my opinion when it comes to this module since listing and hearing plays a bigger role, but it's still a very intriguing topic and insightful knowledge that correlates to Sonic design.

Mr. Razif even showcased a video during class where our cochlea has a similar response of note (pitch) to piano keys (chords), which can be seen below:

Video - Human ear (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Another thing to keep in mind when perceiving sound it plays a part in the factor stated below:

Psychoacoustics - the study of subjective human perception of sounds

This includes how we listen, our psychological responses, and the physiological impact of music and sound on the human nervous system.
Some of the traditional psychoacoustic concerns involve the perception of pitch, loudness, volume, and timbre.

Properties of sound wave

Figure 1.6 - wavelength figure (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Wavelength -

The distance between any point on a wave and the equivalent point on the next phase. Literally, the length of the wave.

Figure 1.7 - amplitude figure (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Amplitude -

The strength or power of a wave signal. The "height" of a wave when viewed as a graph.
Higher amplitudes are interpreted as a higher volume, hence the name "amplifier" for a device that increases amplitude.

Figure 1.8 - amplitude figure (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Frequency -

The number of times the wavelength occurs in one second. Measured in kilohertz (Khz), or cycles per second. The faster the sound source vibrates, the higher the frequency.
Higher frequencies are interpreted as a higher pitch. For example, when you sing in a high-pitched voice you are forcing your vocal cords to vibrate quickly.

There are 6 things to be aware of when it comes to the properties of sound:

Pitch
Loudness
Timbre
Perceived duration
Envelope
Spatialization

Let's look into "pitch" first:

Figure 1.9 - Pitch = frequency (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

"Vibration per second or cycles per second of a sound wave is measured in Hertz"

Hertz
Hertz: cycles per second
Think of a cycle as a single completion of an action or process
Denoted by Hz
Figure 1.10 - Hertz measurements (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

The range of human hearing
Range of human hearing: the frequencies that humans are capable of receiving, or hearing
Figure 1.11 - Hertz measurements (Provided by Mr. Razif's lecture slide_wk 2)

Mr. Razif also showcased one last video on sound, vibration, and wave characteristics in the depiction of wavelengths, although something that should be emphasized is how Mr. Razif has chosen a much older video that scientists carried out this sound-related experiment.

The reason why Mr. Razif did the following explained that no matter how the video will be updated in terms of visuals the information of sound will remain the same.

Finally closing off our lesson for the second week of sonic design, Mr. Razif had us students experiment on our hearing and up to the frequencies that we can listen up tp through an online tone generator but other than that the links below are a couple of web links to an online Tone generator. Play around with it. Try and generate tones for various different frequencies. Take note of what it sounds like.

ONLINE TONE GENERATOR:
http://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/
http://onlinetonegenerator.com/

Week 3 - Continuation in EQ

In-depth insight into EQ

September 13th, 2022

During the 3rd week of class in sonic design, we delve deeper into learning and understanding more about the audio modification of equalizer/equalization of audio. This exercise/practice can enhance our learning and assist in upcoming projects.

Analyzing the characteristic of the sound/waveform, be able to dissect what makes that quality of sound -with an equalizer we are able to make a specific kind of sound to make it sound like how we desire it to sound.

Phone audio quality (not as crisp)

L - REDUCING THE BASS (telephone)

1 - Thinner production

4 - To increase a nasal voice

H - Muffled

- sound from a walky-talky is more harsh and distorted (boost audio level) - waveforms exceed 0db, audio waveform clips which distort the audio.

Increase the gain
Distortion - should be louder than it should
Hard Limiter:

0.1 (ceiling for audio) - set it so that it won't go over .1

A sound modification that someone is in the closet (muffled sound or different room):

One thing to be aware of when modifying audio to be its desired effect is to identify and analyze its characteristics it helps in being able to play around with bass/treble/increasing/decreasing of audio to fit the real-world type of sound, for instance, the one listed below is an act of example in muffled voices/a person in a closet.

Characters of the sound:

not clear
muffled
sound is not getting through
not have a lot of trebles
a bit more bass

2 - Gets boosted

4 - Decreased

5- Decreased

H - Decreased

Sound shaping in EQ is a way to shape the sound. Dissect the characteristic of the sound applies EQ to the sound.

Reverberation

-when sound is being produced its bounces back.

It is used for instruments, usually

Reverb: (an environment, the atmosphere)

Dry - Original Sound

Wet-Mix Effects

Absorbent - Absorbs sound within an environment

Reflective - Voice/sound bounces back

Bathroom - bounces quickly, walls around

The bigger the room longer the reverb, the voice doesn't die out because the voice doesn't bounce off the walls (due to the walls in far away)
Longer trail - bigger room
Short trail - smaller room

Week 4 - Automated Sound

Designing sound effects - directional

September 20th, 2022

In the 4th week of sonic design, we touched on a subject that involved automated sound. But what does that mean exactly? Well, it cuts back to the whole design of sound but in the way of directional audio also known as panning.

Panning of audio/sound effects.

In Adobe audition and to my assumptions a lot of audio engineering programs have the modification of altering where the sound comes out of our headphones or even speakers. A common example is how sound travels from the other end of our headphones/speakers to the other.

-and that effect is able to be set through what is called a:

Stereo balance (panning) - direction of audio

0db (decibels/fullscale) - max loudness any digital audio have

Another thing that for us to keep in mind is how 0db will always be the full scale of volume in audio. Other than just learning about panning the audio, we also learned the basics of volume in audio and how it was adjustable in the initial audio and on an audio track.

initial track (volume) - when moving the audio clip, volume and panning is not changed.
audio track (volume) - varies based on the position of the audio clip.

While Mr. Razif demonstrated our first exercise that we are meant to carry out, there was also an exploration where when panning the audio it creates a way for:

Audio manipulation - an original/specific kind of sound can be manipulated and modified to sound like something else.

-EXP: jetplane can be manipulated to sound like dragon wings when modifying the keyframes of the stereo balance effect (panning).

Before we started our exercise for the 4th week, Mr. Razif made sure we kept in mind the techniques when modifying or altering sound effects since most of the class wasn't as familiar with sonic design, therefore he listed out the following:

Techniques of sound effects -

EQ - makes audio at its peak quality
concept of pitch shifting
time stretching/ audio compressing
audio reverse
audio layering

All these techniques will assist and provide a lot of practice in progressing into our upcoming tasks/projects through the 14 weeks of sonic design.

Week 5 - NO CLASSES WERE HELD.

[September 27th, 2022] Mr. Razif was on Medical Leave, therefore No classes were held. Only progression and completing Project two was the 5th-week task.

Week 6 - Sound Recording

Voice processing

Oct 4th, 2022

In the sixth week into the sonic design, Mr. Razif started off the class by elaborating on our activities and lessons for today that regard on our second coming project which will progress into sound recording. When sound recording comes into play there are factors of how the audio will turn out, that point to background noises.

Therefore this week's lesson we delve into learning all about Noise Print & Adaptive Noise Reduction! Along with a few other methods that play a role in eliminating background noises as well.

The first thing to keep in mind when recording sound is to make sure:

you have your own devices to record your audio
take a brief few seconds of recording before recording audio (sound/vocals/narration)

The lesson regards in a general view regards Noise Compression/Reduction.

It defines compressing or reducing as much as possible in audio without changing an immense amount of audio quality.

Notes Taking has been referenced from Former Classmate - Zetie Bahaman Student's E-Blog

Method 1 - Manually reducing waveform spikes

Steps:

1. Look at the waveform

In every audio waveform, there are differently designed spikes to them, certain spikes are bigger than what I normally see for audio clips.

It has inconsistencies, highs, and lows.

2. Compress audio spikes manually

If there are big spikes, reduce them manually.
Bring it back up if it doesn't sound right (even if it looks good).

Method 2 - Noise Reduction Effects

Steps:

3. Noise Reduction: (Noise Print vs Adaptive Noise Reduction)

Sub-Method 1 - Using Noise Print:

Select the section of the audio
Effects>Noise Reduction>Capture Noise Print
Select the whole audio
Effects>Noise Reduction>Noise Reduction (Process)

Additional steps:

Mess around with the frequency to achieve background noise removal
partial waveform editing

Notes!

Even when audio is recorded in the same room, different noise quality produces different sounds. If it differs, break apart it. It is not advisable to continue to use the same sounds/audio.

Sub-Method 2 - Using ANR:

By using the original sample voice

Effects>Noise Reduction>Adaptive Noise Reduction

After a few seconds of noise, the effect occurs. The parameter indicates how much can be cut.

Method 3 - Multi-band compressor Effects

Steps:

4. Dynamics/Processing (Apply sparingly)

Rack Effects: Dynamics

Effects Rack > AQ > Dynamics

Settings in Dynamics

Settings to enable effect on audio:

Threshold - Limit

Attack - how fast (turn quickly/slowly)

Ratio - the number of turns

Release - how long does it take after turning it down to turn it back up again

5. Normalisation

Bring back the audio to an optimum level

6. EQ/Multiband Compressor to taste:-

Multiband Compressor Settings

The settings in Dynamics work the same way here.

Parametric EQ:

Shape and control the sounds
Move up and down (treble + bass) to adjust
the frequency

Multiband Compressor (suggested for voice):

Compress the highs/lows to a certain limit
To ensure sound quality is consistent

Autogate

Allows audio to come in.

E.g. At a certain loudness, we want to hear something
(Don't apply in the project, for knowledge only)

Additional steps:

Always return to the audio, whether in between words or syllables.
Noise is part of the recorded voice.
Avoid a robotic (when removed totally) audio output.

Week 7 - Pro Tools Tutorial

Sound Recording with Pro-Tools

Oct 11th, 2022

Seven weeks into sonic design class, Mr. Razif straight away started the class off by handing out an exercise that required the students to be in groups, there were a total of 3 groups. We gathered and had scripts to learn and try out a sound recording in the MASSCOMS recording studio.

Studio Recording setup_Sonic_Design_Audio_Exercise

Experiencing being in a studio for sound recording was one thing, but other than that, Mr. Razif brought our attention to the audio program we used to record the sound/audio, called 'Pro-tools'. Which is unfortunately only based on Apple products.

What we were covered from head to toe by Mr. Razif was the surrounding of the room, he pointed out how each wall in the recording room was layered with materials that absorb the sound, why?

So that:

sound does not get bounced off walls which disrupts the audio recording
walls that absorb the sound make audio recording clearer during recording/production

Next, we looked into the apparatuses that co-assist in a sound recording like:

microphones
audio interfaces
soundboards
audio recording programs (Pro-tools)

-all of these pieces of equipment helped in audio recording.

Everything had to be set up, which was done by Mr. Razif before he taught us how to use the audio program for times we need to record our own audio in the near future.

How to use Pro-Tools:

First step -

File > Create new > location > "usually a directory needs to be created" > name the file
After the file has been named and created the program will pop up

Second Step -

Usually on other audio recording programs (tracks would already be visible)
Pro-Tools have to add tracks manually.

Track > Mono (voice, because it is only one source. Exp: Guitar, piano)/Stereo (two channels. exp: Vocals + instruments, keyboards) > create

Step 3 (miscellaneous steps) -

Mixer view (to view mixer view) -

> Window > Mix > Window will pop up (to adjust mixer for audio)

Microphone switching -

input > choose microphone input usage
output > leave it as it is (for speakers)

Enabling audio track to record -

Click on the red record button (if it blinks it turned on) > click on the 'i' to indicate preparation for audio recording > record mode > should record audio

Step 4 -

Audio export - (A usual export that pro tools users use)

File > bounce > disk (export audio) > output (mono)

every time the audio is being bounced (exported), the track will play > format> multiple surroundings > bounce

Google drive - Pro-tools video reference.

Week 8 - INDEPENDENT LEARNING WEEK.

[Oct 18th, 2022] There were no lectures held on this day due to Independent Learning Week.

Week 9 - Microphones

Transducers

Oct 25th, 2022

In the 9th week of the sonic design class, Mr. Razif help it online where we covered the topic of microphones and everything there is to know about recording audio on it.

1. Microphones

Let's begin with the meaning of what a microphone is, in other terms microphones are also known as:

Transducer:

A transducer converts variations in sound pressure into an electrical signal
The air into electrical voltages

There are usually two types of microphones, a dynamic microphone, and a condenser microphone.

Dynamic -

Tough
durable
stage & live use

Let's take a closer look into a commonly used dynamic microphone model as seen below:

Figure 1.12 - Shure SM 58.

The microphone seen above is a dynamic mic and is commonly used and preferred Dynamic Microphones by many users.

Figure 1.13 - Sound waves being picked up by dynamic microphone diaphragm

Figure 1.14 - Cross-Section of Dynamic Microphone

When it comes to how the audio is picked by a dynamic microphone the figures above display prime visuals to understand better sound waves being up and translated into sound through a dynamic microphone.

Next up are condenser microphones,

Condenser -

Very sensitive
Very fragile
Studio Use

Figure 1.13 - Condenser microphone models

The figure above shows two types of condenser microphones, from my understanding I'm pretty sure the condenser mic on the right is a much older model back from the 1900s possibly and the one on the right is a much-defined model design.

Figure 1.14 - Condenser microphone models

Seen above are how condenser microphones would usually function by picking sound waves up and outputting the sound into audio digitally or even through speakers.

2. Patterns

The following sub-topic of this week's lesson is all about the patterns that get picked up by microphones, as seen below are figures showing the kind of patterns that microphones pick up.

Figure 1.15 - microphone patterns #1

Figure 1.16 - Microphone pickup patterns

There are quite a few patterns that microphones pick up from the sound, the first pattern as seen in the figure is called a: (Microphone patterns types reference)

Cardioid

The cardioid pattern is the most frequent unidirectional pattern. Its name comes from its resemblance to a heart. It is most sensitive to noises coming from in front of the microphone and least sensitive to sounds coming from exactly behind the microphone. A cardioid microphone has a useful pickup angle of 131 degrees, thus it can handle one or two vocalists while still picking up a voice using a wandering mic approach. The cardioid pattern provides excellent feedback rejection.

Supercardioid

A super-cardioid microphone has a narrower pickup angle than a cardioid mic, but unlike the cardioid, it has greater side rejection. However, it is significantly sensitive to sound sources directly behind the mic. A super-cardioid mic is more resistant to feedback and provides better isolation from room noise and other instruments than a cardioid mic, but it requires the user to maintain a more steady position immediately in front of the mic.

Hypercardioid

Hypercardioids have some of the properties of a unidirectional microphone in that they are more sensitive to the rear, but they reject sound well from the sides and are very good at rejecting feedback. Because they are so directed, they must be placed extremely precisely to the source. The hyper-cardioid pattern, like the supercardioid pattern, allows severe rejection of ambient sound sources.

Omnidirectional polar pattern

An omnidirectional (or 'Omni') microphone picks up sound equally from all directions since it has the same 360-degree output regardless of its orientation to the sound source. It has a sphere as its polar pattern, and on paper, it seems to be a nearly complete circle. An omnidirectional microphone can pick up on a group of individuals seated around a table, but it cannot be directed to prefer one source over another. As a result, it is vulnerable to feedback.

Bidirectional

A bidirectional microphone, often known as a figure-of-eight microphone, is equally sensitive to sounds coming from both the front and back of the microphone and is least sensitive to sounds coming from the sides. Bidirectional microphones have a very narrow pickup angle, making them helpful for isolating a single voice or instrument in the presence of other sound sources, as long as nothing is immediately behind the mic. They are useful for picking up two sources that are next to each other. Everything else is rejected by the deep null.

Hemispherical

The hemispherical polar pattern is a theoretical pattern that boundary mics can achieve. Fundamentally, these mics place a capsule relatively close with a limit (solid surface) to enable phase-consistent sound capture.

-but with most of these individual microphone pick-up patterns, seen below is a condenser microphone;

Figure 1.17 - Condenser mic, multiple pick-up patterns

-Some Condenser Mics have multiple pickup patterns, as seen on the condenser mics shell with a variety of symbols.

3. Connectors

Next o the list are the type of connectors to assist in audio outputs and inputs from the microphones into speakers or digitally recording audio.

Type of connectors:

Figure 1.18 - TRS Connector

Figure 1.19 - XLR connector (right)

These connectors and cables have their functions of being the co-function of receiving audio from mics or speakers.

Figure 1.20 - Cable and connectors identification

Next up let's look into 'The proximity effect', this particular effect is a sound source that moves closer to a directional microphone and increases in response to low frequencies that can occur.

-or, the closer you get, the more Barry White you get.

Many mics include a bass roll-off switch to counter this effect. The proximity effect doesn't affect Omnidirectional mics. This effect can be used to advantage if Barry White is up to your desires in sounding.

4. Mixers

Last but not least are Mixers. The figure below will display the types of mixers that are used and partnered with the microphones, cables, and connectors along with the knowledge of the many types of microphone pick-up patterns.

Figure 1.21 - Typical Analog Mixer

Figure 1.22 - Hybrid Mixer (Mixer + Controller)

5. Mic Use & Placements

the final sub-topic lesson is how you place your microphones to have been in full use, with an understanding of the microphone pattern pickups when recording audio is useful and helpful with the kind of placement of the microphone regarding the sound and where it comes from.

Figure 1.23 - mic placements recording instrumental (drums) sounds

Week 10 - PROJECT CONTINUATION.

[Nov 1st, 2022] There were no lectures held on this day, students were to seek consultation on the 2nd Project progress if needed.

Week 11 - Digital Sound Design

Game Audio Design

November 8th, 2022

In the 11th week, Mr. Razif recorded an online session of our lectures and brief insights into our final project where we are meant to record our own audio or generate our own sound through digital sound designs to be implemented into a 1-minute long list of gameplay provided by Mr. Razif.

Week 12 - PROJECT CONTINUATION.

[Nov 15th, 2022] There were no lectures held on this day, students were to seek consultation on the Final Project progress if needed.

Week 13 - PROJECT CONTINUATION.

[Nov 22nd, 2022] There were no lectures held on this day, students were to seek consultation on the Final Project progress if needed.

Week 14 - Final Project Submission

Projects line up and Final project submission

November 29th, 2022