Music Technology Revision Guide PDF

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY Revision Guide Content Area 4 Sound Creation CONTENTS: 1. Sound Creation for Media 2 2. Foley 2 3. Effects Libraries 4 4. Environmental Sounds 4 5. Sound Synthesis 5...

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY Revision Guide Content Area 4 Sound Creation CONTENTS: 1. Sound Creation for Media 2 2. Foley 2 3. Effects Libraries 4 4. Environmental Sounds 4 5. Sound Synthesis 5 6. Voice-over 6 7. Dialogue 7  1. Sound Creation for Media Forms of Media Visual Non-Visual Live Video games Jingles Theatre Movies Podcasts TV shows TV shows Radio broadcasts Radio broadcasts Installations Advertisements Animations Jingle = a short slogan or catchphrase that has an accompanying melody and music. Short, catchy and memorable. Using original vs pre-existing music: Advantages Disadvantages Original Will match actions/emotions on May require external composer. Music screen. Takes time and money. (composed Composer will receive royalties for the for use of music. media) Pre- Takes less time. Might not be possible to get existing Consumers will be familiar license to use music you want. Music with music. Can be expensive to obtain (taken from Could attract target audience license. somewhere to engage with media. May require editing to match else) actions/emotions. Underscore = Music in the background while other sounds (often dialogue) are heard 2. Foley Foley = a way of creating and performing everyday sounds using physical props (with any object). It is performed and recorded live in a recording studio using microphones. E.g. recording footsteps using a pair of shoes on a wooden table 2 Foley Studio: Recording Foley: Quiet space without background noise Microphones need the appropriate polar pattern A benefit of Foley is that the sound effects will be synchronised to the actions on screen. However, they may still need to be edited in a DAW: time stretch EQ/filters trimming/top and tailing pitch shift loop Advantages of Foley Disadvantages of Foley Match sound exactly to actions. Can be time-consuming. Will be able to get You need audio recording equipment. perfect synchronisation with footage. You need to have a range of props. Can re-record as many times You need a quiet space to as required to get variation of sounds. avoid background noise interference. Unique recordings. Might not be physically possible to recreate Do not have to pay for them (you own the sound exactly. them). You need to know how to High quality recording. professionally record. 3  3. Effects Libraries Libraries of sound effects are available as an alternative to recording Foley. These used to be stored on physical hardware (CDs/DVDs) but are now stored online. They are sorted into categories and easy to find which makes them accessible. Types of effects libraries: Commercial Libraries Professionally recorded and can be purchased for a fee to cover copyright. Online Resources Professional and amateur recordings – sometimes paid, sometimes free. DAW Loops Available within a DAW, sometimes must be installed separately to the DAW. Spot Effects = sound effects that emphasise moments in a form of media (e.g. adding impact to an action on screen; emphasising text on the screen). 4. Environmental Sounds These are the background sounds of a place or space. They might be used in film or TV to make a setting more realistic. Some online Sound Effects Libraries allow you to layer sound effects to create environmental sounds. Recording Environmental Sounds Recordings can be taken in a location. Must be long recordings – looping a short recording does not sound realistic. XY microphone method to get a wide stereo image Mid-Side stereo recording One cardioid (captures the middle) One figure of 8 microphone (captures the sides) Creates a wide stereo image with lots of detail Must be processed in DAW after recording: o Duplicate the side microphone track. o Pan one track hard left. o Pan the other track hard right. o Invert the polarity on one of the side microphone tracks. 4 Problems recording environmental sounds Difficult to control every sound Requires portable equipment/power supply Requires travel (cost) Weather could impact outdoor recording 5. Sound Synthesis This is a method of sound creation that uses waveforms within a synthesiser to create sound (e.g. the sound of a laser gun; ambient wind sounds). It allows us to create completely original sounds. Synthesisers can be physical hardware or DAW plugins. They can create musical and non-musical sounds (e.g. alarms and sirens/atmospheric sounds). Ableton’s synthesise is called Analog: Sound Synthesis – Key Terms: Patch = a configuration of settings on a synthesiser that makes a particular sound Initialised patch = the most basic sound setting on a synthesiser (often just a single sound wave) Preset patch = a programmed synthesiser setting created by a professional to have a specific sound (DAWs have lots of these) Synth pad = long, synthesised note or chord which ‘pads out’ the space in the music Components of a synthesiser: Oscillator = component in a synthesiser that generates sound by producing waveforms at specific frequencies, creating different tones and textures Filter = allows you to filter out specific frequencies, changing the tone of the sound (e.g. high pass) 5  Envelope = shapes a sound’s duration by controlling how it starts, holds, and fades. Often shown as a graph Sawtooth = a type of sound wave created by a synthesiser with a rich bright sound. Looks like this: Sub Drop = a sound eZect created using a synthesiser with a deep, rumbling, dramatic sound 6. Voice-over Voice-over is used in a range of media forms (e.g. adverts; film trailers). Any voice that comes from a character not visible on screen is voice-over. Recording voice-over: problems and solutions Problem Solution Background noise Shut windows/turn off air con Record in quieter space Plosive ‘pop’ noises present in Use a pop filter recording Place microphone off-axis to mouth HPF to remove low rumble Unwanted sounds between words and Trim tracks to remove phrases Use a noise gate Large jumps in volume Use a compressor to even out dynamic range Use a condenser microphone with a cardioid polar pattern for voice-over. Side-chain compression = when the compressor ‘listens’ to another track, applying compression when that track hits a threshold. E.g. an underscore getting quieter when the voice-over speak: compression would be applied to the underscore track, but it would be side-chained to the voice over. 6  7. Dialogue Dialogue is any speech that comes from a person on screen. It might be recorded during filming or overdubbed. Overdubbing = recording a track over a previously recorded track Why overdub? Too much background music on location Different voice actor from actor on camera ‘dubbing’ in different languages Diegetic sound = sound that comes from the action on-screen which the characters can hear (e.g. dialogue) Non-diegetic sound = sound that is not included in the action (e.g. voice-over and underscore) Recording dialogue: Must be realistic and not sound like voice-over (e.g. position of microphone) Have ‘room tone’ so there is not silence between dialogue. Room tone is the natural environmental sound of a space Must be perfectly synchronised with the actor 7