Tag Archives: sound

Sound Feedback

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After watching all our Project Brief 3’s in class, the main criticism for almost all the videos was sound. Often, the background music was too loud, or the audio was just recorder poorly.

The consensus was that more thought needed to be put in on where to record (apparently cars are excellent places for recording sound). In a live room, sound bounces off everything, like rooms with lots of hard surfaces, which is why big old churches are so echo-y and it’s hard to hear your friends in you resident white tiled and concrete floored hipster cafe. In rooms like the one in which our workshop is held are designed to reduce reflected sound and thus be better for recording. Fun things like carpet and acoustic panels (pictured above) can help absorb sound.

I know that the audio in my PB3 is very mediocre, due to recording most of it on a DSLR without a separate microphone. Recording better audio will be important especially in the upcoming audio essay for PB4 so these it will be crucial to keep these issues in mind.

Workshop Exercise: Intro To Recording Sound

This week’s exercise included running around campus pointing our trusty zoom recorders at things hoping to produce something resembling a ‘clean’ recording. The initial challenge was finding a suitable place to record the interview part without any background noise – seeing as quiet places in the CBD are hard to come by and there were 20 other students with the same idea. Once we’d find a suitable hideaway, however, another issue presented itself. Namely, how does this thing work? How far away do we hold it from the interviewee? How do we know if it is recording at the right volume?

The answers mostly consisted of ‘I don’t know, but let’s give it a shot.’ After listening to the interview recordings, I feel that the recorder should have been held closer to the interviewee to record clearer sound. Also, the spot where we recorded the interview was a bit too echo-y, and this affected the final recording.

We also had issues recording particular sound in public spaces, such as the noise of a tram, as there was too much background sound, and you can hardly tell the population of Melbourne to be quiet, please. The more successful recording is therefore the interview one, which was recorded in a comparatively more quiet space.

Bringing the sound clips into Audition was fairly straight forward after coming from learning Premiere the previous week. Although I had some what-am-I-doing moments, thanks to some trial and error this was quickly resolved. I layered a few different sounds to create the clip embedded below, trying to keep in mind the figure-ground-field technique. The figure in this clip is the interview, set against some ‘Melbourne’ sounds – casual chatter, music, and the dinging noise of a tram, that create the atmosphere. I had to move around the levels a lot in order to bring forward the interview recording, and I applied some fades to make it more smooth.

 

Listening VS Hearing: The Modes of Listening

The process of hearing is the ability of perceiving sound through the ear. One can’t consciously turn off this process; we are constantly absorbing and filtering the landscape, sorting out which sound is important and which isn’t. Conversely, listening is an active process. It requires effort and attention. If you’ve ever tuned out in a boring lecture you’ll know what I’m talking about. I certainly frequently struggle to listen.

For example, at a party, if several conversations are occurring at the same time, I constantly switch between listen to them. One conversation might be more interesting at some point than the other. Sometimes, both conversations are worth listening to but its impossible to split your attention equally between both. This last point can tie back to the modes of attention discussed earlier in the course. Just like one can’t truly multitask, doing two or more things at the same time, one can’t truly listen to multiple sources.

So how do forms of media get you to listen rather than hear? Certainly, some radio stations don’t intend to get their audience to listen closely. A lot of radio stations think they can get away with playing the same Adele song 6 times an hour – I’m looking at you, Smooth FM. After all, this kind of radio is mostly intended to be heard as background noise to kill silence in a home, office, or car.

However, podcasts for example, are intended for listening. They are often discussions, or a narrative that requires high engagement, which is created through the rich texture of the soundscape. Producers of this kind of media, for example in the Podcast “Welcome to the Nightvale.” Created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, employ the three stage plan (figure, ground, and field) to create a rich and engaging narrative.

Like most things, these modes of listening have their own uses and pros and cons. It is important to be aware of them, especially as a media practitioner.

Week Four: Sound and Its Importance

This week’s reading, by Theo van Leeuwen and Jan Roberts-Breslin, focused on sound. My interest has always more been with visuals, so the readings raised some interesting points I had not previously considered.

Van Leeuwen’s theory relates to perspective, and how this hierarchizes elements of sound. According to the three stage plan, soundtracks can be hierarchized into figure [the focus of interest], ground [the setting or context], and field [the background.] The listening exercise in today’s lecture definitely highlighted how these three stages work together and can be manipulated to stimulate an audience.

Sound is definitely a powerful tool. Our sense of hearing is constantly working; we are unable to consciously turn it off. As Roberts-Breslin outlines, it is equally important as visuals, if not more important, in film and TV. Without sound, the narrative is difficult to make out, but without visuals and just sound, the audience is inspired to create visuals in their minds, and the narrative is still relayed.

Moreover, sound is also a physical medium. You can feel its vibrations – especially obvious when standing in front of a speaker at a concert (something my poor ears have experienced too many times.) It is also intimate. We speak more softly to those within our personal distance rather than those with whom we have formal and public relationships. The quality of voice or sound can reveal emotion to the listener.

Going forward, I hope that I can learn how to utilise sound effectively in my future media practices. As I expressed in my reflection for Project Brief Two, I was disappointed with the quality of sound I was able to record, and it let down the quality of my film.