Unit 17 Audio Production

1. Understand characteristics of different acoustic environments in relation to recording sound. Indoor acoustics: the principles of sound and acoustics; studio-based acoustics; live room; dead room; insitu recording; surface types and properties; reverberation; sound proofing; making the most of available acoustic areas; screening
Outdoor acoustics: actuality; sound bites; background atmosphere; unwanted noise; unwanted ambience; wind noise Simulated acoustics: effects units; processors; compression and limiting; computer-based software; surround sound; mono; stereo; multi-channel; phase; pitch; time delay; indirect recording

Indoor Acoustic Essay

Obviously due to the fact that I decided to record in a place where by it was busy and lively. It picked up a lot of background noise. I used this as I wanted to show what can be picked up pretty easily on the microphone.

Outdoor Acoustic Essay

L01 Audio Production Outdoor Acoustics

Simulated Acoustics

1. Effects units

· Reverberation – An echo-like effect

· Distortion – A distorted sound, sounding more grungy

· Delay – A slightly timed delay of a note played

· Wah-Wah – A funk/rock effect, often used to make notes sound unique to it’s accompaniment

· Echo – Similar to delay, sounding ‘spaced’, playing back what you have played fading in volume.

· Overdrive – similar to distortion, giving sound more gain

· Chorus – often used with keyboards, synthesizers and guitars, it’s used to give a more ‘swirling’ effect to notes.

· Phaser - creates a sweeping effect by modulating a narrow notch signal filter.

· Pitch shift – An effect that changes the pitch of a note played

2. Processors

3. Surround sound

4. Mono/Stereo

5. Multi-channel

6. Phase

References:

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213629,00.html

Recording Formats

‘The R and D teams in the audio industry have given us many different ways to capture sound over the past few years.’

'Recording sound was actually underway as early as 1806 when Thomas Young, an English physician recorded the vibrations from a tuning fork onto a rotating wax drum. But he couldn’t prove conclusively that he’d actually done it because he had no way of hearing the recording back. A Frenchman, Leon Scott de Martinville had the same problem, in 1857, when he recorded fluctuations in air pressure onto soot, also using a rotating drum, a large diaphragm and pig’s hair.'

'Thomas Edison completed the task, in 1877, when he recorded his voice onto the worlds first recording medium – a strip of paper, coated with paraffin. Later that year he built a phonograph and used a cylinder to record the sound, this time covered in tin foil. In 1887 he updated the whole thing and began using a solid wax cylinder.

The commercial possibilities of such a momentous discovery were enormous and it wasn’t long before Emile Berliner, invented the gramophone, in 1888. He used a wax coated disc, which, after the recording, he immersed in acid, to expose the grooves made by the stylus.

Magnetic wire and tape
Although the wax analogue recording process remained much same until around the time of the Second World War, record companies began experimenting with two new formats – magnetic wire and magnetic audio tape. Both formats were developed simultaneously and battled for supremacy. In fact quite a few commercial reel to reel wire recorders and playback devices were on sale in the US in the 1940s. But tape eventually won through.'

'In both cases the recording principle is the same. A length of magnetic tape (or wire) is sped past a recording head. An electrical signal, captured by a microphone, is fed to the recording head and recorded onto the tape as a magnetic pattern. The tape is then passed over a playback head which converts the changes in the magnetic field back into electrical signals (sound).'

Indoor recording

Describe the difference between close sounds and sounds far away. Make reference to frequency and clarity.

What background sounds were the most obtrusive to dialogue?

Did you notice any wind noise, mechanical noise from holding the H2?

Did the sound change when near buildings?

Were the headphones efficient? Could you monitor the recorded sound without interference?

What improvements to equipment and technique would you consider for a proffessional setup. (research, you may use pics/diagrams from research to highlight points)

Indoor Essay
For our Indoor recording we used a Zoom H2 and had to record our own sounds and see what noises picked up on our microphones. Below I have explained how we worked in groups and how we examined our sound.

Describe the difference between close sounds and sounds far away. Make reference to frequency and clarity.

What background sounds were the most obtrusive to dialogue?

Did you notice any wind noise, mechanical noise from holding the H2?

Did the sound change when near buildings?

Were the headphones efficient? Could you monitor the recorded sound without interference?

What improvements to equipment and technique would you consider for a proffessional setup. (research, you may use pics/diagrams from research to highlight points)

Our Location was captured around college with the various use of sound we could hear around the campus. I was working in a group with Sean. We went to different parts of Deanfield. The first place we went was the library. The library was big and vast and had lots of space. We listened to how sensitive the recording is to any sense of background noise for instance whispering. Nothing was picked up on a high scale but some small frequencies of sound were heard. After a few minutes we then went to the performing arts studio which became at all different frequencies from high to low. From the students going out of class a lot of noise was picked up and therefore the sounds became increasingly louder and echoes were heard as it was a small narrow corridor. We then went into the student room. There sounds were heard from students singing for the school production. It was hard to record from a close distance as the singer had her back facing away from us. Although the recordings are quite sensitive to make it sound more professional it would be a better idea to place the digital recorder closer to the object and therefore sounds can become more clear and professional. Our next recording was about conversations outside of deanfield. In this we interpreted how clearly voices were heard and how loud they became out of an open space. We listened to how wide spread the area is and how the voice is detected in the dialogue. The third sound we recorded was the lawn mower. The noise of the lawnmower had a high frequency it had a poor clarity to it. The last recording was the crunching of leaves in this we heard a clear yet ruffled clarity. This made a nice mix of sounds to add to a soundtrack. I felt the bigger the space the more the sound echoed. The buildings I found made the sound bounce back. The headphones weren’t great with the quality of sound as I couldn’t hear much what was going on. This was hard to debate weather sound was recorded well and had a good sound quality. But after hearing how loud and how the frequency could be changed with different sounds you then get used to what you should hear to let you know that you have created a good recording. For professional setup I would need to keep the recorder still and not have it in motion. I would also need to be more aware of my surroundings and what parts of sound I want in my recording. I may in some recordings have to help the level of background noise. I would need to be in control of the way I record sound to how I want my final product to be. I would have to focus on how sound gets softer and more quiet from further away than to close up sound. The last thing I want to look at is how I may be able to balance out sound when it comes to stuff such as interviewing.

Outdoor Recording

Outdoor essay

Describe the difference between close sounds and sounds far away. Make reference to frequency and clarity.

The sounds were quite far away as you can hear. Hearing noisy bus engines was very easily picked up when using oudoor sound.

What background sounds were the most obtrusive to dialogue?

Mainly the sounds of engines were most obtrusive to my recording.

Did you notice any wind noise, mechanical noise from holding the H2?

Yes I have learnt from this when creating sound I need to use a wind shield.

Did the sound change when near buildings?
Yes the sound was very easy to bounce off the walls and create an echo type effect.

Were the headphones efficient? Could you monitor the recorded sound without interference?

Yes without headphones you cannot be certain of exactly what you are recording and what is getting picked up on the microphone.

What improvements to equipment and technique would you consider for a proffessional setup.

I would use a wind shield to stop the noise from the wind. Make sure any electronic device is off to make sure no interference is caused.

My outdoor recording was created on campus.

Interview Recording

Describe the difference between close sounds and sounds far away. Make reference to frequency and clarity.
When recording my interview I moved the microphone around to see what works best when interviewing a person. I decided that I can hear and listen into what sounds better.
What background sounds were the most obtrusive to dialogue?
There were none major background sounds which where disruptive to my recording. But the walls did reflect a lot of noise.

Did you notice any wind noise, mechanical noise from holding the H2?
The first interview had some device interference so I decided to re-do the interview.

Did the sound change when near buildings?

Not near buildings but I would say a lot of sound bounced off the walls.

Were the headphones efficient? Could you monitor the recorded sound without interference?
Yes so that I could hear exactly what was being heard.

What improvements to equipment and technique would you consider for a proffessional setup.

By using a studio this would increase the sound and less sound would then bounce off the walls.

Unit 17 Audio Production

Thursday 11 July 2013

L04

Wednesday 10 July 2013

L03

L02

L01