Sonic Design - Excercises

24.9.2024 -  / Week 1 - Week
Adriena Tan Yan Zi / 0351236 / BA of Design (HONS) in Creative Media
Sonic Design
Exercises

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Lectures 

Week 1:

For the first week self directed learning which we are not required to attend any classes but only to follow instructions to install Adobe Audition and create our reflective blog needed for this module. 

In our first practical class, he briefly walk us through the MIB explaining the content of of each task and what is required of us regarding each task, equipment and website we needed to access free sound effects. To make his explanation clearer he even showed us some past senior's example work for each task so we can better grasps the MLO of each task. 

We presented our earphone and headphone options to sir, who evaluated them to determine if they were suitable for moving on to the next task. He then instructed us to download a sample music file in ZIP format. Afterward, he guided us through importing the files into Adobe Audition and explained the requirements for the first exercise. He demonstrated how to apply the equalizer to each track to adjust and match them to the flat track for the first track. 

Paramatic equiliser: Left is the base sound and the right is treble. Pull down or up to increase or decrease the volume. 

Week 2:

1. Nature of sound 

Definition: Sound is a vibration of air molecules that stimulates our eardrums. Molecules vibration is called soundwaves. 

The speaker will vibrate when sound is being projected. 

• Propagation: The medium in which sound travels
• Perception: soundwaves captured and being translated by our brain 

• 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 3 tiny bones 
• The inner ear: the cochiea, endolymphatic sac, semicircular canals. The cochiea vibrates in certain area depending of the notes of the sound. 

Sounds travels through longtitude waves.
Frequency is measured in hz. 

Psychoacoustics: the study of subjective human perception of sounds 

- includes how we listen, our psychological responses and the psychological impact of sounds

- traditional psychoacoustics includes pitch loudness volume and timbre.

Wavelength: the distance between 2 point 
Amplitude: the height of the wave, the higher the amplitude, the louder the sound would be. 
Frequency: the fadter the sound source vibrates, the higher the frequency. Higher frequency translates to higher pitch and vice versa.

Properties of sound

1. Pitch 

2. Loundness

3. timbre 

4. perceived duration 

5. envelope 

6. spatialisation 

2. How sounds can be captured 

3. How sounds can be processed

4. Analyse and use it 

6. How to convert to digital world 

7. Pro tools 

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Instructions 

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Exercises 

Exercise 1: Equaliser 

We downloaded another zip file that Mr. Razif sent to our shared Whatsapp group which contain all the 6 tracks plus filter 1 and filter 2. Following his instruction and demonstration to use the parametic equaliser, we are required to complete exercise 1 with adjusting and applying the equaliser to each of the remaining tracks. 

Will careful listening and the explanation from sir, I am able to accurately identify each track's differences from the flat track; using the parametic equaliser and solo out track feature to switch between the original and the rest to adjust them back accurately. I had to go back a few times in between to make sure i capture all of difference in the base, the treble, chords and melodies. 

Final Exercise 1 (Screenshots of parametric equaliser for each track)

EQ 1 

EQ 2 

EQ 3 

EQ 4 

EQ 5

EQ6 

Filter 1 

Filter 2

Exercise 2 

Exercise 2: Sound shaping 

In this exercise, we were asked to experiment around more with the parametic equaliser and adjust the frequency of the original track to match a certain type of stalking sounds in different scenarios. However, before we start adjusting we had to select the whole track and copy to new. After getting the accurate results, we are to save the track in mp3 format. 

Sample rate: Resolution

- 48000: video

- Bit Depth: Colours 16 bit 

1. Telephone 

2. Muffled voice 

3. Walkie Talkie

4. Bathroom

5. Stadium 

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Feedback

Week 2 / Exercise 2

Walkie Talkie: Not quite there yet, maybe i can take the one from the telephone and tweak it from there.  

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Reflection