LO1

SOUND

Learning Outcome 1

Understanding the Use of Sound in Interactive Media

Theory of Sound

Waveform – When the source of the sound expands and contracts, it creates a pattern of air pressure that moves away from the source, this is known as the sound wave with various waves coming in different forms putting them in the waveform category.

Pitch – Pitch is the frequency range of 20Hz to 20 KHz. It is equal to 10 Octaves.

Herts (Hz) – Hz is the sound unit of frequency. It is defined as number of cycles per second and the waves they create that can be found in radio and other audio sources.

Decibel level (dB) – dB is a unit that shows the ratio of the physical amount against the specific reference level of a sound

Sound Generator – A device that uses synthesizers to produce high frequency sound effects, a radio is a common example.

Basics of Sound Recording

Signals – An audio signal is the analogue representation of a sound. It can come from a transducer such as a microphone but loudspeakers also convert an electrical audio signal into sound and digital representations.

Signal to Noise Ratio – Signal to Noise is a comparing the level of the signal with the background in the audio. If the ratio is high than 1:1, it indicates there is a higher amount in one or the other.

Analogue Distortion – Analogue Distortion is where the analogue pattern created by the sound is changed and is altered by the distortion. This can be changing the music in a music recording device but distortion can cause damage to the signal.

Digital Distortion – Digital Distortion is where the signal is too common in the track. The track tends to be a higher frequency and contain cracks and clicks.

Mono and Stereo – Mono is used for older means of outputting formats such as radio whilst stereo is more modern, containing better quality and the opportunity for split audio channels across the left and right.

Sound Recording Media – Recording Equipment that can be a mixing console, a microphone, multitrack recorder and more. These pieces of equipment allow the user to create a varied amount of sounds and mixes with some of the best quality sound within the device itself.

Digital Audio File Formats – Audio File Formats that can come in various types such as .mp3, .wav, .aif and more. These formats allow sound to be at high quality, manageable in modern day devices and be compatible with most websites.

Analogue Vs. Digital -

Comparison of Analogue and Digital Sound – An analogue signal is continuous with no breaks. Digital signals are not continuous and have certain values to represent their information; this could mean different wave sets, pitch and volume levels, etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Production Techniques –  Digital Media such as CDs can be high quality digital sound files but can prove to be too large for some people and have to be converted various times but they are more equipped for modern day equipment and the quality appeals to a lot of people.

Issues with Digitisation of Analogue Material – Analogue to Digital has allowed the improvement of sound quality in recordings. Higher Sampling Ratings and other features bring a bigger difference between the two types and allow both to have their own purpose in certain circumstances.

Quality Issues – Quality Issues can come in both Analogue and Digital with Analogue having scratches and pops that aren’t in the finished recording product whilst Digital can be too large for some people and not give a decent ratio between size of the file and audio quality.

Examples of Sound in Interactive Media Products:

Product #1 – DVD’s

Description of the Sound Used: The Sound found in DVD’s is very clear. Sound such as the DVD player itself making noises such as beeps when the remote is activated in time with it such as turning it on, the menu music and the film itself that is being played on the DVD can lead to the sounds found in a DVD player as well as more kinetic sounds such as the sound of the disc tray opening and closing.

Purpose of the Sound: The purpose of these sounds can be seen as convenience. Having a certain sound effect when the DVD player power on button has just been pressed can make the user know it is on with ease, even if they are across the room. The same can be said for when the disc tray opens and closes with the touch of the button but it can have entertainment purposes such as how scrolling through the DVD menu from the DVD disc gives indication on where you’re navigating.

Product #2 – Video Games

Description of the Sound Used: The sound found in Video Games is also very clear. Similarly with the touch of a button on the controller, the sounds found in the game can be simple as hearing the gun or the tears of a car revving up as long as it’s in context with the game with something a bit more minatory such as video game console system boot up music and shut down music. 

Purpose of the Sound: The sound in Video Games is very interactive as it can be convenient in the way that is can tell the user that the console is on and provide alerts such as messages that have just been received, downloads that have been completed and so forth but it becomes a useful learning tool as pressing a different button can teach the player how to play and what buttons should be pressed in a certain combination, aside from the visual aspect. This is seen clearly in music based games where you press a button in time with the music and hearing scratches tells the user you pressed the button too early or too late and thus teaches them rhythm.

Product #3 - Smart Phones Description of the Sound Used: The sound found in Smart Phones can mean the sound effects of a text message that has been received, a download that has been completely, buttons that are working correctly and more.

Purpose of the Sound: The purpose of the sounds found in an interactive media product such as a Smart Phone is mostly for true functionality and awareness. The sounds of the key pads on a phone let you know if the buttons are working correctly and hearing the sounds of messages and general alerts such as low battery can give the user some awareness on the situation of their smart phone.

LO2

SOUND

Learning Outcome 2

Client Brief:

It is important to stick to the brief of a client since it is a source of information that the contractor has assigned to you and must trust and respect that until the end of the product. It is a showcase of the project requirements, providing an overall breakdown of the ideas to the client and helping the project come into production and into further steps.

Own Brief:

What is my interactive sound product?

For my interactive sound product, I will be using a flash player that will combine three sound elements. It is going to be primarily commentating a cartoon of two people with two different voices of a football matches. For example, I will use my standard, normal voice for one of the people commentating and a more aggressive, deeper, more exciting voice for the other person commentating, as if there is two people commentating.

What is the purpose of my interactive sound product?

For entertainment and humorous purposes as whilst not everyone is going to find the voices funny, interesting or so forth but I feel it’s an interesting and entertaining way to give a different spin of commentating. I find commentating by two people, discussing things back and forth is more entertaining but being that it’s more of a solo project and I want to keep it that way, I want to do both of the voices.

Description of my video:

The video is either going to be one of a standard football match between three world famous teams such as Arsenal and Barcelona or from the clay-motion cartoon titled “Celebrity Deathmatch” whereby two celebrities fight to the death in an area style play with two wacky commentators provided with the action or having something a little stereotypical such as car advert but something interesting and entertaining with several locations and effective transitions.

The Three Interactive Sounds to be chosen:

-Music Component

-Sound Effects Component

-Commentary

Why I will create these sounds:

I will create these sounds because I feel commentating as two people add an interesting twist on the subject. Doing the cartoon would mean providing some more harder music you would find in hard rock or metal bands which is more to my style and the sound effects could be pretty fun to do but doing a football match can be a little more laid back and give a professional feel.

How I will create these sounds:

I will create the commentary by writing out a script for the two characters of either the football match or the cartoon once I’ve decided and try out various microphones in order to get the right type of audio quality I want as the commentary would be the primary source of sound. As for the music and sound effects, I use programs CuBase and Reason to create convincing and professionally sounds that go well with the themes of the video whether it be more relaxing with the football match or much more of a rush with the celebrity death match cartoon.

Brainstorm:

-Celebrity Deathmatch, a two way commentary where I import two commentary audio files with two different voices and feature a backing music track that I feel is fitting for the action of what is on screen with the clay models based on celebrities fighting.

-Car Advert, a simple car advert but something that is quite stylish, effective and provides something a bit new to the table instead of flashy effects such as a good use of transitioning between scenes and allowing the chance of music changes and strong sound effect use

-Football Match, similarly with the celebrity deathmatch idea where I have a two way commentary, providing two commentary tracks by myself but become more about the commentary and the sound effects of the players giving call outs to be passed to rather than the music but that is certainly an option.

Legal Issues:

Copyright

Copyright is something very common in law. It helps producers put in place what is there in an industry and in this case with music copyright, it is very big business considering the invasion of illegal downloads. Music Copyright usually consists of a copyright law lasting for as long as 70 years outlawing the use of someone creative work unless the person using it has permission from the original producer.

Ethical

Ethical consideration can be made just like in any multimedia business. With music it could mean not using music, sound effects, speech and general music that can offend people as there are certain implications. Ethical consideration is something that has to be in place if you’re appealing to a worldwide audience.

Asset Specification

Asset Specification can provide an issue. It is important that in the world of legal issues that when you are asking for certain assets or using assets to make sure you have the opportunity to not just ask for permission but use them in a manner that respects the original producer/artist.

Summary

It must also be said that when thinking about legal issues that considering in my case when I’m producing all of my own content that the only issues I would come across is that of the permission of the video itself but usually it is for an educational basis it is fine so long as it is not offence to some people, especially minors.

References

http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/default.aspx - Copyright & Ethical 02/02/2012

LO3

LO4

SOUND

Learning Outcome 4

Evaluation

When evaluating my work there are various factors I have to think about one of these is the asset management with importing and organising. I made sure that all my files were the equal timeframe by each frame per second across the board this meant that as my flash player would play there wouldn’t be any sounds out of synchronisation with continuous plays. I made sure that all the files were of .mp3 format and the video .mp4 as the coding with the flash player made this so, any other file types did not work so that was important in the importing side. I imported the files into other programs such as the music and the sound effects in Cubase and Adobe Soundbooth before producing the finished final interactive media sound product and those went smoothly. Commentary not so much. I found some issues getting it to play in the flash player at the start and even at the end of the process, no matter how much I tinkered with it it didn’t seem to work and if I imported it into another program, the program would either freeze or no respond, it was a painful experience but I did have the source file in there, it just seemed to work every now and then. Just like all the units of my Creative and Media Diploma, I made an index folder and made a folder for each unit. Each unit had a folder for each Learning Outcome and the essay criteria. If I felt a certain piece went into both I would copy and paste the file and put it into each, that is the way I organised my work. I made sure that all the sound files in the flash player were sound001 up to sound003 and that the video was video001. This meant the coding in the flash player would work correctly and has for file storage; I made sure any files that were unnecessarily big were cut down to a good length. Editing the audio left me some delight. I found it to be a fun process and I produced the music in Reason, the Sound Effects in Adobe Soundbooth and the commentary such a ZOOM microphone and Cubase. Cubase helped bring everything together and the audio library material was a great inspiration for the sound effects. All the sound effects were very well suited to the car advert and of high quality and provided by Adobe Soundbooth. The music was a mixture of 5 different loops constructed together with various different uses of treble, bass effects, pitch effects and more in order to make them feel more relatable to what is on screen and the various time periods. Transitions were something I wanted in this piece. Synchronising the sounds with the actions on the screen went very well and I very much enjoyed, most of this came into the sound effects department and making sure audio levels were correctly suited with the onscreen movement whether that be a car alarm of a person running.  There was not lip synching unless you can count that of a low breath laugh towards the end but it was a fun process, music played it’s part in the synchronisation too with small abrupt fade ins properly placed in order to make it keep up with the pace of what son screen. When I reflect back on the whole finished product however, it did meet my original intentions even if they weren’t by much and I felt it would meet the industries intentions. All the sounds, sounded suitable and realistic to what they were and even though I felt doing a car advert as a product would be a little cliché it was a fun experience. It fitted its purpose nicely by providing something fun to watch but also sounding very convincing. The feedback I got from the product was that it was high quality, very well made and certainly seemed convincing. I put in my personal skills of doing synchronising on videos into this tasks and my production skills. These production skills were hit and miss. I felt the ideas I came up with could have been very enjoyable but either they were a little cliché or they borrowed heavily on the commentary side. I didn’t feel I met time management too well, spending a lot of time producing my product making it very high quality and not enough research but I felt the workflow was quite even. Each unit felt quite placed with some elements in depth, more so than others and with a slightly help of some teamwork in the earlier stages before the actual production of my product, I felt it helped bring me a bigger understanding on the various components that make a successful interaction media product and it’s use of sound such as the waveforms, herts, analogue versus digital, legal considerations and other consideration that followed. It gave me a glimpse into it and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I felt the project as a whole went very well with only a few hiccups not making it as successful as it could have been but if I would have done this next time is try and come up with more idea generation and be more aware of my time to produce something that wasn’t so cliché to myself but to the audience but also be a high quality product.

Log

SOUND Log

Date	Lesson	Achieved	Reflection
22/09/2011	Cubase Audio Practice for Sound Unit	At the beginning of the lesson, we started off things with a discussion with our teacher on our progress log and our previous homework task. After that we were give a tip on a good way to keep our progress logs up to date by leaving it open at all times like the teachers music technology students so that it’s easy to access. After that brief discussion, we got to the main segment of the lesson which was to produce a word document detailing the outline of your product which would be a flash player involving three interactive sounds. This information was to be submitted at the end of the lesson as well as an up-to-date progress log. The outline of product need to be a word document of some kind that discussed several factors, the purpose of the product, the description of the video we were going to choose, the three interactive sounds to be chosen and how and why we would create those sounds to use for our interactive sound product.	The start of the lesson seemed alright, I liked how we got to check through our progress logs with the teacher and discuss some of the work with the rest of the class to see how certain elements of our previous homework task could’ve been improved. It did seem to drag on a tad but with the main task I felt it was quite enjoyable. We had an hour or so which was plenty of time to think of what we were going to do for a sound interactive media product as well as answer the elements listed in the achieved segment of this progress log entry. It was nice having that time to think and discuss with other members of the class what I wanted to do and see if I could get a firm grasp of what I wanted to do. It didn’t take long to come up with the idea or the sounds as I had that in mind for the past few lessons but it was nice to get feedback and apply that when I was writing the outline for my interactive sound product.
29/09/2011	Sound Effect Experimentation, Pink Panther Cartoon Synchronisation	In Today’s Lesson I managed to successful synchronise various different sound effects in good timing with what was on screen with the Pink Panther cartoon from the beginning credits to half way through the cartoon at the ten minute mark.	I worked very hard in this lesson and it paid off. Synchronisation sound with video is something I do on an day to day basis as I produce videos for the internet and usually I have to have sound effects, music or a combination of the too at key points in order to make something work. It wasn’t too unfamiliar but it was a bit of a handle trying to get Cubase and the sound effects up and running but it was still a lot of fun.
06/10/2011	Soundtrack Importance and Application of more Sound Effects	In Today’s Lesson I looked into the importance of a Soundtrack in the media business and the application of more sound effects. I managed to gain more perspective and understanding on how important a soundtrack can be, understanding more about the software, Cubase and applying more Sound Effects	I felt the lesson went quite well. I found the importance of a Soundtrack in the media business to be rather interesting considering my interest in films and found the application of Sound Effects in Cubase to be not that tricky. I learnt plenty.
13/10/2011	Different beats and effects in Cubase and Soundtrack Impressions	In Today’s Lesson I learnt the impressions a Soundtrack can give and the different beats and effects Cubase. This gave me an even greater understanding of the Cubase Software and how to make a soundtrack that sounds convincing and professional.	I felt the lesson was a bit hit or miss. I didn’t completely understand the use of Tremble and sound effects to the mix but I did understand a couple. The effects in Cubase was something I found difficulty with understanding and doing but the different beats was something I found exciting and became very adventurous and what I felt, successful in.
20/10/2011	Group voice recording	In Today’s Lesson I had Group Voice Recording sessions. We used a ZOOM microphone and various other pieces of equipment. This allowed us to become familiar with a new type of software and equipment, implement what we had learnt before with the Cubase Program and any other programs and learn about the recording/commentary process.	I felt the lesson was quite fun but dragged on a bit. Most of the enjoyment and learning came from the first 20 minutes, playing around with the ZOOM microphone and the various other pieces of the equipment but I felt very confident with it after 20 minutes, knowing the ins and outs so I suppose that was helpful but I lost on what to do next but it did help me understand a bit more on group voice recording processes.
27/10/2011	Sound Recording to a Script	In Today’s Lesson I applied the use of Sound Recording to that of a Script. This meant looking at the script beside me and with the timing issued to record what the script said and implement that in the time frames.	I felt the lesson was quite fun. Sound Recording allowed me to be creative and goofy but still do what was tasked well. I felt I did a good job of saying what was on the script naturally and fitting it in the correct time frame, what I had trouble with was actually importing the voice recording I did into Cubase as it didn’t seem to recognise it but it did towards the later of the lesson.
03/11/2011	Different types of Interactive Media Research	In Today’s Lesson I managed to get a bigger scope of the Sound Unit has a whole and the Different Types of Interactive Media Products out there with Research. I looked into various different pieces of equipment and grew an understanding of the importance, the purpose and what makes an interactive media product.	I felt the lesson was a little dull. Looking into the Different Types of interactive Media Products was interesting enough and did give me a bit of a bigger understanding on the importance and the purposes of sound in these products but it didn’t feel like anything too new and I didn’t use the time of the lesson too effectively.
10/11/2011	Planning of our Final Interactive Media Product	In Today’s Lesson I managed to get myself into Planning the Product of my Final Interactive Media Product. This was mostly about what was expected with this Unit’s final Interactive Media Product.	I felt the lesson was not very interesting nor fun. Planning the product could have been fun but it pretty much meant discussing what 3 types of sound elements you are going to use and how you are going to use this and I felt I knew this in mind already at the beginning of the unit but I suppose it was handy to have them down.
17/11/2011	Further Progression on the Research of Interactive Products, Briefs and Brainstorming Ideas	In Today’s Lesson I looking into more Research of Interactive Products in order to grasp a bigger understanding which I felt was necessary for a well-produced product and came up with several ideas on what I wanted my product to be as well what had to be met by my own brief and my clients.	I felt the lesson was pretty interesting rather than the one prior. I understood more and brainstorming was very fun. I tried to come up with something that was creative but met the briefs well and I felt doing a car advert, whilst a bit cliché would be fun to do.
24/11/2011	Project Planning, Additional Research and Learnzone Application	In Today’s Lesson I managed to get into the actual Project Planning which meant what type of music I wanted, what sound effects I wanted, etc. but also looked into how I would use a website such as Learnzone in order to aid my progress as well as make more research for added in depth analysis	I felt the lesson was not very interesting nor fun. Looking into Learnzone just gave me a headache but I suppose have the time to apply additional Research was good to build it up more to a good standard and project planning was something I still needed to be finished with so that time was spent usefully.
01/12/2011	Interactive Media Product Research	In Today’s Lesson I continued my Research into Interactive Media Products, mostly describing what is the purpose of the sound element is, what impression it gives. What products are out there and the descriptions of the sound elements of these products were discussed at an earlier time in the research phase.	I felt the lesson was pretty good. I continued my Research into the products and instead of gathering images, I actually had the motivation to gather what the purpose of the sound element is and the impression it gives. It lead to some very interesting results and something I generally had fun writing and reading.
08/12/2011	Interactive Media Product Production, Video	In Today’s Lesson I finally got into the production of my Final Interactive Media Product. I started off by obtaining a video and importing it into Cubase and made sure that was running smoothly as well as be a suitable video.	I felt the lesson was very fun. Finding a video wasn’t easy and took me a while to find something I was happy with but once I found the result I was very much pleased and importing it was an easy process.
05/01/2012	Interactive Media Product Production, Commentary	In Today’s Lesson I continued my production with Commentary, using a ZOOM microphone in Cubase.	I felt the lesson was pretty fun. I had fun recording with the microphone for the commentary and being a bit ridiculous but once before I had trouble importing the finals but luckily, like before, I managed to get that sorted at the end of the lesson with a couple of restarts and looking at help guides.
19/01/2012	Interactive Media Product Production, Sound Effects and Research into different Sound Formats	In Today’s Lesson I continued my production once again with Sound Effects, using Adobe Soundbooth to provide them as well as Research into the different Sound Formats out there.	I felt the lesson was the most fun out of the production process thus far. I imported a lot of Sound Effects which lead to my computer freezing several times but it was fun being creative and I found it an interesting process as well as researching into Sound Formats as that was a field I felt very inexperienced in and didn’t know much about at all.
26/01/2012	Flash Player Application	In Today’s Lesson I implemented all the sound effects, commentary, music and the video into the Flash Player and made sure it was to the standards I wanted and worked successfully.	I felt the lesson was quite good. Not much happened which was a shame and I had some trouble with file types importing the Flash Player even though I did make them .mp3 or .mp4 but eventually I got it sorted and corrected the issues with ease but was left with a lot of time to spare.
02/02/2012	Final Interactive Media Product Production and LO3	In Today’s Lesson I completed my Interactive Media Product Completely and all of Learning Outcome 3, which meant to discuss further the process of my product and give some reasoning and understanding on the matter.	I felt the lesson was pretty good. I got a lot of work done and organised the time in the lesson accordingly. I had finished with my media product which was a pleasing thing to say but this meant to look into Learning Outcome 3. It didn’t require too much to issue and I had fun looking at screenshots and discussing what I did and the general process on how I got to my final product since it lead to me backtracking and that was quite interesting to see how far I had come.
09/02/2012	Evaluation	In Today’s Lesson I decided to complete my Evaluation, discussing various different factors across the board of my product.	I felt the lesson was fine. Evaluating work is something I enjoying, analysing and evaluating my interactive media product was no different. I discussed many factors that I felt were needed to be brought up and it was fun writing back on my work as always.