Category: Academic Research

In this post, I will be focusing on subjects that specifically relate to my project and personal learning outcomes. The Sound Effects Bible is a book written by well known sound designer and production sound recordist Ric Viers. The book talks about the process of producing high quality professional sound effects. It covers a range of topics for a beginner sound designer to go off and record sound effects. The topics that will help me with this project and for me to utilise are as follows:

• Microphones- Different types and placements
• Recorders- Different types of set ups to produce high quality audio
• Sound Effects Encyclopaedia- creating that wanted sound

So firstly there are five main types of sound effects within film sound (Viers, 2008, 5):

• Hard Effects
• Foley Sound Effects
• Background Effects
• Electronic Effects/Production Elements
• Sound Design Effects

Specially relating to this project, I will be focusing on hard effects and electronic effects. Example of sounds found within the category of hard effects include car horns, airplanes, punches; they are sounds that don’t necessarily need to be performed and are sounds that are an absolute association to the picture. Electronic effects are exactly what it says they are; electronic sounds. Ranging from electrical buzzes/hums to mechanical noises. They are commonly associated with science fiction films which comes in great for Time Capsule.

Microphones (Viers, 2008, 21-38)

I have selected a few microphones and techniques used that specifically relate to my project and personal learning outcomes.

Stereo microphones- There are three main recording techniques that are used for stereo microphones:

• Spaced pair
• XY
• MS

The spaced pair technique is two pairs of microphones that are apart from each other creating a stereo image. The drawback from this that you can encounter phasing issues and experience sound dropouts.

 

The XY technique is when  pair of microphones are facing each other anywhere between a 90 and 135 degree angle; this picks up a narrow stereo field and a wide stereo field. The XY id a popular technique when recording in stereo.

 

The MS technique uses two microphones. A cardioid microphone pointing forward whilst underneath there is a condenser microphone in figure of eight polar pattern. The drawback from this is that you need a matrix decoder to get the full stereo image of the microphones. This is a more advanced technique of recording and the benefits from it is so you can adjust whether the recording sound is close or distant.

Shotgun Microphones- These microphones are great for recording mono sound effects as they can have a direct hypercardioid polar pattern. They are designed to record sounds directly in front of them as the sides reject external unwanted sounds.

Stereo Shotgun Microphones- Like a shotgun microphone, they have a direct polar pattern to pick up sounds directly in front of them but instead of picking up a mono image they pick up a stereo image, resulting in a fuller recording.

 

Recorders (Viers, 2008, 48-63)

From previous projects, I have confidence in the field recorder that I will be using which is the Sound Devices 633 mixer. I have focused on these specific research topics that will help me when undergoing recording my own sound effects:

• Gain Staging
• Clipping
• Limiters

Gain Staging (Viers, 2008, 53)

The idea of gain staging is to set the gain to the highest point your desired sound will reach. It should not go past this point as it will result in a distorted signal when the audio signal is converted to a digital signal. This takes care and trained ears. If you set you gain level too high you could experience loud unwanted background sound and hissing from the pre amps.

Clipping (Viers, 2008, 54)

When talking about digital clipping, you need to understand the recorded wave form. Digital recorders have an absolute zero and if your audio signal goes passed this point it has clipped, resulting in your wave form being squared off, reducing the full dynamic range of your audio signal. This creates a distorted signal.

Limiter (Vires, 2008, 55)

In simple terms, a limiter avoids clipping. On digital recorders, you can set the highest level that you want to a signal to record at and the limiter detects if a signal is going to pass it and then adjusts the volume.

 

Creating the Sound

Ric Viers has given a whole encyclopaedia in this book on the methods of using objects to create a sound and narrowed them down in specific categories. The category that I will be specifically looking are Animal Sounds, Cartoon Effects and Science Fiction Sounds.

Animal Sounds (Viers, 2008, 214-216)

Recording animals can be very tricky as they can be very unpredictable. The go to microphone is generally a shotgun microphone as it can pick up a direct sound, reducing the background noise. You can actually create animals noises yourself, tapping your fingers on fruit can create the illusion of insects moving.

Cartoon Effects (Viers, 2008, 217-221)

Cartoon effects are usually comical and exaggerated sounds generally to represent actions. Instruments are a fantastic technique to use describe an action sonically. They can also represent the expressions on characters faces and the emotion they are experiencing. Different instruments voice different actions; an example being crash symbol representing clumsiness.

Science Fiction Sounds (Viers, 2008, 282-284)

Common techniques to record ‘futuristic’ sounds is to record everyday sounds that has the potential to be manipulated to become futuristic. Compressed air cans can add ominous sounds underneath mechanical object such as sliding doors. Synthesisers can be used to mimic robot sounds and rocket ships can actually be imitated by jets. When creating sound effects for science, it takes a good ear to find mechanical sounds from electronic devices such as DVD players, laptops and Television sets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Exploring the possible sources of sound-making is one of the most joyous processes for the sound designers’

(Sonnenschien, 2001).

A sound designer uses sound to portray meaning and emotion and does this by representing the art that the animators are creating. The audience then interprets the sounds heard and derive meanings from this (Beauchamp, 2013). So, the combinations of visual art form and the art form of sound have to work hand in hand with each other, conveying meaning to the audience.

Audiation is a term used to describe the psychological effect that sound has on the brain (Beauchamp, 2013). Sound designers in effect enter the brain of the audience, allowing them to be immersed into any film, not only visually but sonically.

Sound design is both an objective and subjective experience (Sonnenschien, 2001, 176). Not only does sound tell you what an object seen in a scene sounds like (diegetic sound) but different sounds convey certain meanings to everyone.

The Sound Elements

Backgrounds play an incredible role in animation. They provide a sonic backdrop for an animation, creating depth within the world it is in. When looking at creating backgrounds within a scene, sound designers often look at the SFX Stem (Beauchamp, 2013, 72):

• Hard FX- Sourced sound FX that are edited and manipulated
• Background- What is being heard in the background: Ambiance
• Foley- Sounds that represent what is seen on screen. They are performed
• WALLA- Crowds
• Design elements- Sounds the drive the narrative forward: Sounds that explain the narrative

How we identify characters

In terms of describing characters in any film, not just animation, visuals aren’t the only character description. Sound plays a massive role in allowing an audience to have a subjective character experience (Sonnenschien, 2001, 178). By having the audience experience what the character is experiencing, it creates a bond. Emotional associates are sounds that define the characters surrounding. The personality of a sound in a characters surrounding can identify the situation they are in, creating an emotional response from the audience (Sonnenschien, 2001, 179). Subtle sonic elements can describe the emotion that character is feeling; from just the sound of footsteps, the audience knows what emotion the character is experiencing.

 

Music has the ability to immerse us into any forms of moving picture. It conveys emotion to any scene. Changing scenes from happy to sad, mysterious to funny and so on. Back when animation was at its early stages of life, music was at the centre of it all. Depicting what actions were being done on screen and pushing the narrative forward.

A fantastic example of this is the earliest Disney movies. Instruments were used to convey the emotions of a character, the actions the were doing and the pace of the scene being watched. As well as individual instruments conveying different connotations to the scene, the actual lyrics within the songs provoke meaning as well (Coyle, 2010).

“The songs are a major factor in communicating the uplifting elements of narratives that otherwise have the potential to be quite disturbing”

(Coyle, 2010, 25)

Composer of the animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas Danny Elfman made sure the narrative followed a light hearted yet sinister approach through the use of his music. ‘Music interprets the image pinpoints and channels the ‘correct narrative’ (Coyle, 2010, 30). By doing so, Elfman made sure that the majority of music score The Nightmare Before Christmas was in a minor key. In fact, only one of the songs performed in the film was in a major key.

For animation, music is also used to represent the diegetic sounds of what is seen on screen. This is what is called Source Music (Beauchamp, 2013, 54). For animation, the underscore plays beneath the sounds on the screen, playing along with the live action. By doing so, the music provides continuity with the action performed by characters, portraying the emotion and the tone of that certain scene. This is what is referred to as Cues (Beauchamp, 2013, 54). Cues also have the ability to add depth to dialogue. A simple way to look at it is the if the dialogue is sad, the music cue will kick in a minor key. A music monologue is a musical score that blends in with the narrative of the film, it is very subtle and fits into the emotion of the scene without being noticed.

The emotional signifier is the music cue that opens suggestions to the emotions a certain character is feeling (Sonnenschien, 2001). It pushes the narrative forward, helping us (the audience) understand the emotions within a scene.