Unit 24 - Sound Editing
Importance Of Sound Editing
Task One: Why Is It Necessary To Edit Sound?
To maximize satisfactory of a particular product in media, for instance in videography productions, they have to rely on codes and conventions to suit the standards of film etiquette, in this case being one of two major codes in Media being sound. But how is it recorded and how it is engineered and edited to fit appropriately alongside what is happening visually on screen?
Now in cases for any genre, sound is either natural or synthetic, they're either recorded by microphone equipment from what is already being recorded visually, or it will be done behind the scenes, with it being easy to put together and it will be made to sound natural over the top of productions to feel like a ordinary sound instead of trying over and over to get the sound right alongside the actors getting their parts right, the use of sound design behind the scenes is called Foley. This form of art can include literally anything, and is used in most major movie productions, some of the wackiest or even the most normal sounds can be created from almost any mundane objects you see, for example, a pair of halved coconuts hitting against a soft surface can sound like horses galloping, and that is how they record horses in most westerns, as this is easier than trying to record audio from an actual horse. Diegetic sound is every sound that can be found with a source on scene, or to make it easier to explain, sound that the characters on screen can hear like dialogue or cars beeping and birds tweeting, however they cant hear sound like music that plays over the scene or effects that are heard to make us feel a certain way to build some sort of tension, that wouldn't be very realistic if it was heard in real life, that would totally break immersion if the character was aware of every single sound on scene, this is called Non-Diegetic sound.
What Are The Main Reasons Why Sound Is Edited?
There is many reasons for why a sound product would need to be edited, cut out or shifted along a timeline. One big reason is to cut out the unnecessary bits used by the team in order to fit either a certain time limit or to cut straight into what they only want the audience to know, much dialogue may be cut from movies and TV shows as it may add a slight distraction to what the point of the narrative is all about. However to add audio effects such as Foley to a product, it can really give a big boost in the immersion, that's why many production teams rely on Foley art, in fight scenes, maybe the punches don't seem brutal enough, so to record their own sound effects may be the best course of action, this is because this is more likely to have a reaction with a crowd watching, the effects may make us excited by what is happening on screen, and our ears completely blank out and fits perfectly, without much thought.
Sound Editing In Factual Content
As you may notice, many advertisements for products such as Cars may try and capture an advert that makes you feel like if you were to buy this style of vehicle, you will feel powerful, successful and feel genuine happiness if you were to purchase this "new" car. However, if you were to, this wouldn't be the case, however how they draw you in is something that is very clever and can bring in a lot of business for very successful car manufacturers, sound is a big factor. Usually how they would record sound for a vehicle is to surround the car, or a similar vehicle with recording equipment and fire up the engine to hear how it sounds. There is around 20 different recording microphones all from different angles of the car, and are mixed in post production and layered on over each other to give the sense of overwhelming power coming from the vehicle, therefore people will be inclined to buy it to make people feel as if they are powerful and successful to be driving a brand new car. For the editing of the advertisement, the sound editors may feel the need to raise or lower certain volumes or cut some out completely, this is because that they may feel that some sound is a distraction to the main point of power being projected, so to raise a few bars may be beneficial.
It isn't just cars this applies to, in the news, interviews are tweaked so that the person being interview says something that could be applied without any context if the question asked isn't shown, this can make the audience carry on watching to see what the actual question was, or can easily be misinterpreted and spark huge debates and controversy, which messes with the ethics of the point of the interview. In many interviews, sound editing is essential to make sure that the voices are the primary focus so we can extract information without any distractions in the clips. Also, censorship is a huge issue, if somebody was to use profanity, a blur and a large beep would be used to cover up that word which is very handy for when clips like that are used for broadcasts that would go to a large number of viewers.
Sound Editing In Fictional Content
There is endless possibilities when it comes to fiction, so therefore there will be a number of ways in which sound is needed to be used for each context. For example, during the making of Star Wars, Chewbacca was shown on screen to be this 7 ft. 3 inch Sasquatch like character, to get his growl to sound perfect took a lot of thought. They began to experiment with the interactivity with animals, they ended up deciding to tease a bear with food for him to moan and roar, surrounded by recording equipment and handled by a professional team of keepers, the expressive notes used by the bear offered a range of emotions which really reflected Chewbacca to be a very emotional and relatable creature, he reacts throughout with anger, desperation and sadness, plenty of which came from the use of recording a bear, this is in its own way, a use of Foley without using inanimate objects, although the bear isn't aware of being recorded, it has been manipulated by the sound artists to react certain ways and benefited them by the end. Non-Diegetic sound is used often with fictional content, as backing tracks or soundtracks, this is music that is played over the scene to give a feeling to the viewer either of hope, or of dread.
Now after my explanation, I believe it would make the most amount of sense to give some actual sourced evidence and to give an explanation to why it was necessary to have the sound edited to make it appropriate to the production.
Video References:
Going back to my point, i think you can see how important sound editing is for in this case, they needed to layer sound together at the same time to reveal a very specific sound that would give a certain feeling of discomfort to the listener. In this case, sound editing makes you feel different emotions.
Philip Seymour Hoffman Interview Example
In this interview with late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is a very quick setup for an interview because it is filmed in one take and seems very unplanned, the audio is poor, there is unnecessary gaps in between and we can barely hear the interviewer at all. Since this has been untouched, the sound editors job would've been to raise the volume, make sure that all persons can be heard and that they edited all gaps that ruin immersion and change how the interview feels, by doing this, it can make it seem less awkward and then we would've been able to hear what everyone has to say effortlessly.
I know there is a lot of visual problems with this clip as well, however both coincide equally with there problems, therefore planning is also a necessary feature to include in presenting an audio piece, since this clip is said to have been unedited, this doesn't mean that this is a final product of the interview, there might be a full finished version somewhere on the internet or televised, but this proves my point that editing audio is necessary for multiple reasons, because it is hard to hear or because of the awkward pauses, this would then distinguish the problems that this clip does seem to have and would then be a pretty valid interview, uncovering a lot about Hoffman and his career in film.
Notorious B.I.G : Hypnotize (Clean Version)
This is going to be a quick example of why it is necessary to edit sound, for reasons of offence. Many hip hop songs, especially from back in the early to mid 90's, almost all would contain profanity, and so to be played to a wider audience, clean censored versions would be released that blurs or erases the profanity out and so it wouldn't cause offence to certain groups of people. Therefore in this case, it is necessary to edit out swearing to stop offence.
Holey Foley: Sound Design at Earth Touch
In this clip, Dave, the audio manager at Earth Touch explains in detail why it is necessary to use Foley in some cases, example being for entertainment value. He shows us how they would film a nature documentary like
any other, however shows us what we would usually hear with unedited sound and it is drowned by the running of motors and the chatting of tourists, so they're course of action is to wipe all audio and start fresh with Foley sound and some natural sound recorded separately with someone going into a field and recording all the different ambiance around him and then that later gets used for a background track and then gets layered and structured further with multiple sound effects recorded in studio, for example being leather gloves being shaken and hit, it is then put over a deer's tail and ears wacking, this is a lot safer than getting very close to the animals and potentially scaring them or the crew getting hurt, so the next best thing is to create there own after filming is done, although most sounds may not sound entirely natural but it does put you into perspective of witnessing these magical creatures and your brain skips a beat and completely disregards what you hear, almost as if it was entirely natural.
From what was the original sound, i think it is clear which was desirable, that being the fake scripted sound that was created in a studio, and there is good reason for this. Foley work really highlights what the team wants you to hear, what effects it gives and how it makes you feel. From this clip, you are astonished and bamboozled as what you once thought was real sound, it is then taken from you and you are back in reality and everything is not naturally sunshine and rainbows, even the smallest details take a lot of effort to give you the sensations of what you are listening to is real. I think my point has been proven over the three examples i have given, I have shown you that editing sound is not only necessary for the quality of the piece, but for the audience, how it emotionally effects you, how it makes life easier for you and how it replaces sound to something more appropriate, therefore it is defiantly necessary to edit sound.
Task Two: Procedure in Recording Sound
Sound Editing Techniques
My experience using Logic pro was fairly straight forward, you were greeted by a timeline that had options to add more columns for different people who were acting in the scene which was easy to cut back and forth to who is speaking. I got the clips from my SD card and dragged each one individually to where it goes on the timeline with copy and paste tools. We didn't use many of the features that the software offers due to us focusing solely on recording our voices and then trimming the ends and gaps to make it sound like natural conversation, we later added sound effects but I will get into that later on. After we had finished all of our audio clips, I then had to transport all files through USB to my main computer to work on, I assembled the clips in the appropriate order.
To make the broadcast a lot more lively, I put different background noises to make it seem busy and that there was life in the broadcast, I got the sound effects from BBC sounds which had royalty free mp3 downloads free for the public to use. I tweaked the volumes when each clip is played, for example, when the door opens, I raised the volume of what is happening outside, however when it closed I lowered the volume to give a sense of realism and that this has been well thought through. After I messed with all audio clips it was appropriate for presentation, to then it was shown to the class. A lot of editing went into the production including a lot of fades and raises in volume to match what is going on in the scene, also spacing out each audio clip for breathing space so that it flows naturally and is audibly appropriate. As I used pre-made sound effects from the internet, many people would take to using Foley to create the exact sound they need, like from my previous explanation in task 1, but for my presentation, I just used a few selected audio clips. However, if you were to use Foley, you could potentially make the edit better as you have more realistic sound because most mp3 downloads sound very slapstick and false, so it is recommended to create your own with the equipment you have, but isn't crucial to your work. At the end of production, it is sensible to make a hefty number of saves of your work, not just on your hard drive but also to a cloud, or external memory drives so that if one was to corrupt, it wouldn't be lost forever.
Sound Editing Procedures
This all sounds fairly straight forward, and it is when you don't over complicate things and have a good plan, following procedures involved because when you have something to guide you along, it makes life so much easier for you, and the only worries you have to consider is your crew and your equipment, and those really only are needed for 1 day of recording and then it is done if you work hard towards your goal. At the end of production, it is important to go over your work to make sure that everything is perfectly cut, flows naturally and there isn't gaps of silence between the start and the end. Before editing takes place, to make matters easier for dragging clips, why not name them and put them in separate folders so that each one is tagged and is distinguishable from the next, or even using shortcuts to save time using keyboard controls.
This was my experience in recording my audio product, it may be different and more complex for some but this is the bare minimum that you will need in the procedure of recording sound.
Now in cases for any genre, sound is either natural or synthetic, they're either recorded by microphone equipment from what is already being recorded visually, or it will be done behind the scenes, with it being easy to put together and it will be made to sound natural over the top of productions to feel like a ordinary sound instead of trying over and over to get the sound right alongside the actors getting their parts right, the use of sound design behind the scenes is called Foley. This form of art can include literally anything, and is used in most major movie productions, some of the wackiest or even the most normal sounds can be created from almost any mundane objects you see, for example, a pair of halved coconuts hitting against a soft surface can sound like horses galloping, and that is how they record horses in most westerns, as this is easier than trying to record audio from an actual horse. Diegetic sound is every sound that can be found with a source on scene, or to make it easier to explain, sound that the characters on screen can hear like dialogue or cars beeping and birds tweeting, however they cant hear sound like music that plays over the scene or effects that are heard to make us feel a certain way to build some sort of tension, that wouldn't be very realistic if it was heard in real life, that would totally break immersion if the character was aware of every single sound on scene, this is called Non-Diegetic sound.
What Are The Main Reasons Why Sound Is Edited?
There is many reasons for why a sound product would need to be edited, cut out or shifted along a timeline. One big reason is to cut out the unnecessary bits used by the team in order to fit either a certain time limit or to cut straight into what they only want the audience to know, much dialogue may be cut from movies and TV shows as it may add a slight distraction to what the point of the narrative is all about. However to add audio effects such as Foley to a product, it can really give a big boost in the immersion, that's why many production teams rely on Foley art, in fight scenes, maybe the punches don't seem brutal enough, so to record their own sound effects may be the best course of action, this is because this is more likely to have a reaction with a crowd watching, the effects may make us excited by what is happening on screen, and our ears completely blank out and fits perfectly, without much thought.
Sound Editing In Factual Content
As you may notice, many advertisements for products such as Cars may try and capture an advert that makes you feel like if you were to buy this style of vehicle, you will feel powerful, successful and feel genuine happiness if you were to purchase this "new" car. However, if you were to, this wouldn't be the case, however how they draw you in is something that is very clever and can bring in a lot of business for very successful car manufacturers, sound is a big factor. Usually how they would record sound for a vehicle is to surround the car, or a similar vehicle with recording equipment and fire up the engine to hear how it sounds. There is around 20 different recording microphones all from different angles of the car, and are mixed in post production and layered on over each other to give the sense of overwhelming power coming from the vehicle, therefore people will be inclined to buy it to make people feel as if they are powerful and successful to be driving a brand new car. For the editing of the advertisement, the sound editors may feel the need to raise or lower certain volumes or cut some out completely, this is because that they may feel that some sound is a distraction to the main point of power being projected, so to raise a few bars may be beneficial.
It isn't just cars this applies to, in the news, interviews are tweaked so that the person being interview says something that could be applied without any context if the question asked isn't shown, this can make the audience carry on watching to see what the actual question was, or can easily be misinterpreted and spark huge debates and controversy, which messes with the ethics of the point of the interview. In many interviews, sound editing is essential to make sure that the voices are the primary focus so we can extract information without any distractions in the clips. Also, censorship is a huge issue, if somebody was to use profanity, a blur and a large beep would be used to cover up that word which is very handy for when clips like that are used for broadcasts that would go to a large number of viewers.
Sound Editing In Fictional Content
There is endless possibilities when it comes to fiction, so therefore there will be a number of ways in which sound is needed to be used for each context. For example, during the making of Star Wars, Chewbacca was shown on screen to be this 7 ft. 3 inch Sasquatch like character, to get his growl to sound perfect took a lot of thought. They began to experiment with the interactivity with animals, they ended up deciding to tease a bear with food for him to moan and roar, surrounded by recording equipment and handled by a professional team of keepers, the expressive notes used by the bear offered a range of emotions which really reflected Chewbacca to be a very emotional and relatable creature, he reacts throughout with anger, desperation and sadness, plenty of which came from the use of recording a bear, this is in its own way, a use of Foley without using inanimate objects, although the bear isn't aware of being recorded, it has been manipulated by the sound artists to react certain ways and benefited them by the end. Non-Diegetic sound is used often with fictional content, as backing tracks or soundtracks, this is music that is played over the scene to give a feeling to the viewer either of hope, or of dread.
Now after my explanation, I believe it would make the most amount of sense to give some actual sourced evidence and to give an explanation to why it was necessary to have the sound edited to make it appropriate to the production.
Video References:
- A Quiet Place - They Hunt By Sound Scene https://youtube.com/watch?v=ThWvubM3qSs - A Quiet Place - Behind the Scenes https://youtube.com/watch?v=WnozP80Weik
- Philip Seymour Hoffman Unedited Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGfydgAMgTM
- Notorious BIG: Hypnotize (Clean) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MaqFC_ZQzc
- Holey Foley: Sound Design at Earth Touch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li6TSwybqjU&t=39s
A Quiet Place Foley Sound Example
In A Quiet Place, the film has a very distinct lack of sound due to reasons in the narrative, but the way they introduce sound is very clever but so nerve-racking as it does create a massive impact due to what is happening on screen, so they have to get the sound just right to match. However, that is a lot more difficult than it may seem, or maybe we aren't thinking creatively enough? Like I said before, the sound designers working behind the scenes use all sorts of wacky and creative ways to create sound.
One example is the use of grapes and a taser gun, after they had recorded them electrocuting a bunch of grapes, they slowed down the audio and sharpened it up, until it all of a sudden became this menacing clicking, that they then went on to use as a noise for an alien opening his ears. They would record this by setting it up in the studio surrounded by recording equipment and microphones so it can catch a crisp sounding crackle, and it totally paid off, later layering sound to give it a lot more texture, they introduced breaking up celery and other vegetables along side the grape sound effect and it gives this overwhelming, cringe worthy cracking and popping and it sounds just like you would think, and this is by just using everyday household items, if one major code and convention was to be absent, it wouldn't give the same effect, and thats why sound being so uncommon in A Quiet Place, when sound is used it gives this overwhelming sense of discomfort and dread and is yet so perfect for the genre.
Foley work has been used since cinema first began, but originated from radio productions and broadcasts for entertainment value as in the early 1900's, it was rare to see any visual productions until later in the century. Because of this, the teams working on this would have had to put all there effort into sound recording, this would have paved the way for cinema as the primary focus was creating all different types of noise and this would have gave the film industry a huge foundation to build upon.
One example is the use of grapes and a taser gun, after they had recorded them electrocuting a bunch of grapes, they slowed down the audio and sharpened it up, until it all of a sudden became this menacing clicking, that they then went on to use as a noise for an alien opening his ears. They would record this by setting it up in the studio surrounded by recording equipment and microphones so it can catch a crisp sounding crackle, and it totally paid off, later layering sound to give it a lot more texture, they introduced breaking up celery and other vegetables along side the grape sound effect and it gives this overwhelming, cringe worthy cracking and popping and it sounds just like you would think, and this is by just using everyday household items, if one major code and convention was to be absent, it wouldn't give the same effect, and thats why sound being so uncommon in A Quiet Place, when sound is used it gives this overwhelming sense of discomfort and dread and is yet so perfect for the genre.Foley work has been used since cinema first began, but originated from radio productions and broadcasts for entertainment value as in the early 1900's, it was rare to see any visual productions until later in the century. Because of this, the teams working on this would have had to put all there effort into sound recording, this would have paved the way for cinema as the primary focus was creating all different types of noise and this would have gave the film industry a huge foundation to build upon.
Going back to my point, i think you can see how important sound editing is for in this case, they needed to layer sound together at the same time to reveal a very specific sound that would give a certain feeling of discomfort to the listener. In this case, sound editing makes you feel different emotions.
Philip Seymour Hoffman Interview Example
In this interview with late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is a very quick setup for an interview because it is filmed in one take and seems very unplanned, the audio is poor, there is unnecessary gaps in between and we can barely hear the interviewer at all. Since this has been untouched, the sound editors job would've been to raise the volume, make sure that all persons can be heard and that they edited all gaps that ruin immersion and change how the interview feels, by doing this, it can make it seem less awkward and then we would've been able to hear what everyone has to say effortlessly.I know there is a lot of visual problems with this clip as well, however both coincide equally with there problems, therefore planning is also a necessary feature to include in presenting an audio piece, since this clip is said to have been unedited, this doesn't mean that this is a final product of the interview, there might be a full finished version somewhere on the internet or televised, but this proves my point that editing audio is necessary for multiple reasons, because it is hard to hear or because of the awkward pauses, this would then distinguish the problems that this clip does seem to have and would then be a pretty valid interview, uncovering a lot about Hoffman and his career in film.
Notorious B.I.G : Hypnotize (Clean Version)
This is going to be a quick example of why it is necessary to edit sound, for reasons of offence. Many hip hop songs, especially from back in the early to mid 90's, almost all would contain profanity, and so to be played to a wider audience, clean censored versions would be released that blurs or erases the profanity out and so it wouldn't cause offence to certain groups of people. Therefore in this case, it is necessary to edit out swearing to stop offence.
Holey Foley: Sound Design at Earth Touch
any other, however shows us what we would usually hear with unedited sound and it is drowned by the running of motors and the chatting of tourists, so they're course of action is to wipe all audio and start fresh with Foley sound and some natural sound recorded separately with someone going into a field and recording all the different ambiance around him and then that later gets used for a background track and then gets layered and structured further with multiple sound effects recorded in studio, for example being leather gloves being shaken and hit, it is then put over a deer's tail and ears wacking, this is a lot safer than getting very close to the animals and potentially scaring them or the crew getting hurt, so the next best thing is to create there own after filming is done, although most sounds may not sound entirely natural but it does put you into perspective of witnessing these magical creatures and your brain skips a beat and completely disregards what you hear, almost as if it was entirely natural.
From what was the original sound, i think it is clear which was desirable, that being the fake scripted sound that was created in a studio, and there is good reason for this. Foley work really highlights what the team wants you to hear, what effects it gives and how it makes you feel. From this clip, you are astonished and bamboozled as what you once thought was real sound, it is then taken from you and you are back in reality and everything is not naturally sunshine and rainbows, even the smallest details take a lot of effort to give you the sensations of what you are listening to is real. I think my point has been proven over the three examples i have given, I have shown you that editing sound is not only necessary for the quality of the piece, but for the audience, how it emotionally effects you, how it makes life easier for you and how it replaces sound to something more appropriate, therefore it is defiantly necessary to edit sound.
Task Two: Procedure in Recording Sound
The procedure of planning an audio product is very simple when is planned right and you have access to all equipment, personnel and have good time management, all can be solved by structuring everything in pre-production.
Sound Editing Equipment
Firstly its got to start with getting a hold of equipment, I started with using a mac computer and a Mac Book air, both having audio editing software and both being industry standard. There is numbers of arguments between Mac and PC and which is better for each different piece of work, as PC's are cheaper and easy to build yourself, and the software to run is much cheaper to buy which matches a Macs capability. In this case, it is important to have experience in using both as you will come across a lot of them in the media sector and most importantly for recording sound. If you work for a company or assigned in a school or college, you may not have a say in which what you can use in the studio, however if you are freelance you may be able to buy whatever equipment you'd like. If you are thinking about buying either a Mac or a PC, note that mainly a mac would come as one piece and wont need other bits to add on except for external gear like speakers and keyboards for example, PC equipment, you may need to assemble that yourself or get somebody who does know how to set it up, or you may need to purchase extra bits, however in many cases this works out much cheaper than buying a Mac.
For Editing software, in this case I used the latest update of Logic Pro, you can use other software like Adobe Suite or ProTools, however Logic Pro was what was provided for me, if you are freelance, you can download whatever you think is easiest to work with, or what your computer can handle. Depending on where you are in your editing profession, it may be tempting to hire somebody to do the editing for you, just remember that this would result in payment out which could be expensive and ruin your budget, if you are freelance, they would be less than likely to help you, or they may charge a hefty sum for their time.
Now finally, we will need a microphone, any will work fine as long as it can connect with the laptop or mac, with all saved onto a portable memory card like an SD or a USB which can easily be transmitted and saved elsewhere, as long as you do not lose it. The microphone i used was a Rode NT1000 its a large diaphragm condenser microphone that is well suited for recording voice, as it is a condenser the phantom power needs to be +48v. Next is to sort out your script or what effects need to be made, for example in my work, I had to rewrite a script so that it sounded like a radio drama broadcast. After the script was completed, I assembled a team of actors, myself included and recorded the scene.
Sound Editing Equipment
Firstly its got to start with getting a hold of equipment, I started with using a mac computer and a Mac Book air, both having audio editing software and both being industry standard. There is numbers of arguments between Mac and PC and which is better for each different piece of work, as PC's are cheaper and easy to build yourself, and the software to run is much cheaper to buy which matches a Macs capability. In this case, it is important to have experience in using both as you will come across a lot of them in the media sector and most importantly for recording sound. If you work for a company or assigned in a school or college, you may not have a say in which what you can use in the studio, however if you are freelance you may be able to buy whatever equipment you'd like. If you are thinking about buying either a Mac or a PC, note that mainly a mac would come as one piece and wont need other bits to add on except for external gear like speakers and keyboards for example, PC equipment, you may need to assemble that yourself or get somebody who does know how to set it up, or you may need to purchase extra bits, however in many cases this works out much cheaper than buying a Mac.
For Editing software, in this case I used the latest update of Logic Pro, you can use other software like Adobe Suite or ProTools, however Logic Pro was what was provided for me, if you are freelance, you can download whatever you think is easiest to work with, or what your computer can handle. Depending on where you are in your editing profession, it may be tempting to hire somebody to do the editing for you, just remember that this would result in payment out which could be expensive and ruin your budget, if you are freelance, they would be less than likely to help you, or they may charge a hefty sum for their time.
Now finally, we will need a microphone, any will work fine as long as it can connect with the laptop or mac, with all saved onto a portable memory card like an SD or a USB which can easily be transmitted and saved elsewhere, as long as you do not lose it. The microphone i used was a Rode NT1000 its a large diaphragm condenser microphone that is well suited for recording voice, as it is a condenser the phantom power needs to be +48v. Next is to sort out your script or what effects need to be made, for example in my work, I had to rewrite a script so that it sounded like a radio drama broadcast. After the script was completed, I assembled a team of actors, myself included and recorded the scene.
Sound Editing Techniques
My experience using Logic pro was fairly straight forward, you were greeted by a timeline that had options to add more columns for different people who were acting in the scene which was easy to cut back and forth to who is speaking. I got the clips from my SD card and dragged each one individually to where it goes on the timeline with copy and paste tools. We didn't use many of the features that the software offers due to us focusing solely on recording our voices and then trimming the ends and gaps to make it sound like natural conversation, we later added sound effects but I will get into that later on. After we had finished all of our audio clips, I then had to transport all files through USB to my main computer to work on, I assembled the clips in the appropriate order.To make the broadcast a lot more lively, I put different background noises to make it seem busy and that there was life in the broadcast, I got the sound effects from BBC sounds which had royalty free mp3 downloads free for the public to use. I tweaked the volumes when each clip is played, for example, when the door opens, I raised the volume of what is happening outside, however when it closed I lowered the volume to give a sense of realism and that this has been well thought through. After I messed with all audio clips it was appropriate for presentation, to then it was shown to the class. A lot of editing went into the production including a lot of fades and raises in volume to match what is going on in the scene, also spacing out each audio clip for breathing space so that it flows naturally and is audibly appropriate. As I used pre-made sound effects from the internet, many people would take to using Foley to create the exact sound they need, like from my previous explanation in task 1, but for my presentation, I just used a few selected audio clips. However, if you were to use Foley, you could potentially make the edit better as you have more realistic sound because most mp3 downloads sound very slapstick and false, so it is recommended to create your own with the equipment you have, but isn't crucial to your work. At the end of production, it is sensible to make a hefty number of saves of your work, not just on your hard drive but also to a cloud, or external memory drives so that if one was to corrupt, it wouldn't be lost forever.
Sound Editing Procedures
This all sounds fairly straight forward, and it is when you don't over complicate things and have a good plan, following procedures involved because when you have something to guide you along, it makes life so much easier for you, and the only worries you have to consider is your crew and your equipment, and those really only are needed for 1 day of recording and then it is done if you work hard towards your goal. At the end of production, it is important to go over your work to make sure that everything is perfectly cut, flows naturally and there isn't gaps of silence between the start and the end. Before editing takes place, to make matters easier for dragging clips, why not name them and put them in separate folders so that each one is tagged and is distinguishable from the next, or even using shortcuts to save time using keyboard controls.
This was my experience in recording my audio product, it may be different and more complex for some but this is the bare minimum that you will need in the procedure of recording sound.
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