Creating a sound for media product: Yesterday's recording sessions

For our next task, we have to produce a media product which includes the 4 sound elements that were previously analysed. Sound effects, atmospheric sounds, music and dialog.
The production work started yesterday. As working within a team there was lots of ideas to consider. The first session yesterday was all about looking at possible genres of a track that we can produce. We decided to produce a track for our coursework, therefore  we had to look at the genres that we as a team would like to produce. This involved lots of consideration since each genre has also sub genres, so we had to listen and decide what we wanted out of our media product and if we would be able to produce a high quality product for a ganre. At the end of that session we have decided to produce an electro house track.
In the second session, it was time to start the producing of the media product. In the session the first task was to put together the drums for the track. This included looking at many different samples on the system and choosing the best sounding sample for the project we were making. After choosing the kick drum the procedure was repeted for the high hats and the ride and then the clap samples. Then, we had the intro drums, and that was what we did in the first 2 sessions for creating the media product.

Researching sound elements

As another task for my media course. I had to research how different sound elements are made, what equipment they require, what techniques etc.

Task 2: Sound elements

 

 

Sound effects

Sound effects can be made in a few ways.

They can be recorded using a voice recorder and a contact microphone when recording most sound effects.  Also after recording basic sound affects they can be improved with audio editing software to make them sound better if needed. However, a contact microphone is one of the ways to produce sound effects.

However, in some cases sound effects can b made using stereo  microphones.

 

Post Production

Also after recording the sound effects, using appropriate microphones, you can export them from your recorder onto your computer, and put some additional effects on the recordings using audio editing software like audacity or Soundforge to make them sound more high quality and for the sound effects to sound professional for the final product.

Some of the effects that can be applied can be Equalisation, gate, normalisation etc.

 

Atmospheric Sounds:

Atmospheric sounds are used to give a listener a realistic impression of where a story is set.

There are a few ways to record atmospheric sound effects.

You can use stereo microphones to record them. In order to insure high quality of the recordings, you can either buy a high quality microphone, or after recording sound effects put them through post production procedures.

You can also use external recorders. Like the Zoom H1 recorder which has stereo microphones. This device also allows you to record in multiple audio formats if you wish to use this option.

 

Post Production:

After the recordings are saved, they can be put through post production procedures to insure that they are the right quality towards the final product. The same audio software mentioned above can be used to modify atmospheric sound effects. Atmospheric sound effects require more advanced and detailed editing in order to insure the high quality of the audio file. So extreme attention to details is needed when using equalisation and normalisation + resampling if required.

 

Music:

Music production is an area that uses most various types of production equipment. To record a music product, either a theme tune, film music or a song, there’s many software and devices that you can use to record a music product.

 

Software

For producing the instrumental track, you can use Garageband, this only one of many music production programmes which allows you to produce music on Apple devices. Another software well known for music production is Logic.

These types of software allow you to compute your own music with a wide range of instruments available, with more kits you can buy and download. You can then also mix down your final product into a song adding effects to the different stems of the track. You can use the same software to record vocals if needed.

 

Music Production Equipment

However, with software also comes equipment, and there’s a wide range of music production equipment available to you. Middy controllers are very popular in this industry. Allowing you to compose music using a controller that is basically a musical keyboard. The controllers vary in the amount of keys and options available, however, they do because of that of course vary in price. These controllers also allow you to add effects into the stems of the track instead of using the computer keyboard. The controllers allow you to add the effects with more precision with the various controls.

 

Dialog:

Recording dialog can be used in many different media productions. Voiceovers for jingles, vocals for a track, commentary on something and much, much more.

 

 

 

 

Recording Equipment

When recording dialog there are a few things to consider regarding recording equipment. Depending to what type of dialog you are recording, you will have to pick the correct microphone. For recording interviews, you will need a by-directional microphones which will record the front and the back of the microphone. For Voiceovers you will need an Omni-directional microphone, which records only the front of the microphone, this will then be recording only your voice.

 

Post Production

Then of course comes the post production for Voiceovers. At this stage you can do the necessary corrections like cutting out silences, sometimes if needed cut out some spoken parts, putting music and jingles when appropriate and then normalising the Voiceover recording if required. All this is done using audio editing software like Audacity Soundforge or Wavepad.

Sound for media analysis

For my next coursework I had to choose a music product, a film soundtrack and a TV show, and anal

Sound for media analysis

 

Music: Porter Robinson – Sad Machine

The track starts with vocoded vocals which aim to replicate a sad sounding voice in order to fit the title of the track.

This short vocal sample at the start tells it’s listeners that this track has a really important message to it and that it has an important meaning to the artist.

Then the track goes into a melody with a synth emotionally sounding piece which does indicate also the sad emotion featured in the vocals and the title of the track. The synth continues with drums coming in which indicate the buildup of the track.

The track has a very emotional chorus with the synth and the drums making the track into a very emotional piece, which showcases the secret meaning the track had for the artist and how important it was for the artist to reflect their feelings in the track so that the listeners could also empethise with the artist’s feelings at the time.

Apart from the vocoded vocals featured in the track, the track also features more powerfully sounding vocals as the part of the buildup to the chorus, which despite sounding powerfull do seeme to still retain the sad emotional feeling of the over all track.

 

Film: Darf Vader theme tune

The musical piece begins with drums and trumpets. The drums indicate a war sounding like track, together with the trumpets the track brings a dramatic and evil sound for the listener and makes them think that something evil is about to take place in the film The marching like drums are a feature of the majority of the piece together with the trumpets.

The piece breaks down in the middle taking away the drums and the drumpets and replacing them with a more of a classical music piece which in some way removes the evil aspect of the piece and replaces it with a magical like sounding track. Which indicates that there’s something magical or unusual about the next scene or character which is represented by the piece.

The whole soundtrack aims to build tention for the viewers and a sence of excitement about what will come next in the film. Also aims to bring out a sence of fear.

 

TV Show: Eastenders

Eastenders always starts with usual signature of drums to tell the viewers that the show is starting. The drums aim to build up excitement of the viewers and also to tell them what show is starting since the drums are a classic signature of the soap opera and has been since it started. The show also ends with the drums most of the time. The end usually ends on a shocking scene and the drums indicate the at the time dramatic atmosphere and the fact that the show is ending and that viewers will have to tune in to the next episode to find out how the story developes. But the drums help to build that tention and excitement for the next episode.

Eastenders also have a which they use sometimes when a storyline has a very emotional, usually sad ending. This brings out the emotion of the scene and the characters involved, and also brings out the same emotion in the viewers. This piece at these times replaces the usual theme tune.

Eastenders don’t use music in the main show, they do use background music to replicate the situation the characters are in. But to make the show realistic they try not to use any other music to represent the mood of the story.

 

Comparing the two roles

Video mixer and audio mixer are 2 very important role when it comes to a web TV production. Even though both ro,roles are separate areas, they are linked in with each other. Both the audio and video mixers need to communicate with each other to make sure that the recording starts correctly without any mistakes.
Both roles ARE KEY ROLES WITHIN THE FINAL PRODUCT.

2 Production Roles

Analysing 2 production Roles

Audio Editor
A key function of an audio editor is to insure that the performance which is to be recorded sounds as professional as possible and that everything is at a correct volume in contrast to other channels on the audio consol. Within the production team, the audio editor also needs to comunicate with video mixers when starting to record the performance.
An audio editor uses an audio console in order to control volumes and the over all sound quality of the recording. Studio monitors in order to be able to monitor the quality of the recording. They also use a microphone and a TalkBack system in order to communicate with the people in the studio who are being recorded.
The skills that the audio editor needs are:
People skills, in order to effectivly communicate with the team and who ever is being recorded.
Knowledge of using an audio console, including how to set up a channel and implimenting different settings when it comes to controling the sound quality of the recording.
Listening skills in order to be able to listen to the sound coming out of the monitors and if there are problems then to make appropriate corrections. Either live or in the mixedown after the session.

Video Mixer
The job of a video mixer is to change between cameras which are operated by the camera crue. The video mixer changes between different cameras in the control room, being able to also do different sorts of fades and transitions between each camera.
The video mixer needs to communicate with other members of the team frequently. Especially with the camera crue to direct them and what should they do, who they should concentrate their camera on, who should they avoid for the moment etc.
Skills required:
Eye co-ordination
Communication skills
Knowledge of using technical equipment required for the job of a video mixer.

Jack Hammer Session March 24th 2014

Today's session was with a bloos band called Jack Hammer.
The band performed 3 songs with the last song having only one take.
My job was different this time, I was on Soundforge recording the prformances instead of pressing the Red Light.
It was a really good session, after the sound check we quickly started recording and despite a few mistakes the session went great and the band were happy with the quality of the final product.

Ethics and copyright in the media industry March 14th 2014

In the last session we were given a task to search for examples of copyright cases and offencive content in the media industry in groups.
My example of a copyright case, which also involved royalties was the case from last year in which Will.I.Am was sued by Tulisa for apparently using lyrics in his song Scream And Shout which she claimed to have written.
As for offencive content, I started looking at music but then decided to look into radio. I found many clips I could use but I went for a clip from the 5 Live Breakfast where Nicki Cambel used the "C" word live on air.