Sound Editing

Sound Editing:

A sound editor is responsible for assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering of a television program, motion picture, video game, or any production involving recorded or synthetic sound.

History

Experiments in capturing sound on a recording medium for preservation and reproduction began in earnest during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. 

Different kinds of sound effects

  • Background Noise on original Audio - Used to empathise the background noise maybe to set the scene of the environment better.
  • Music - Music can be a good effect to make the audience feel a different emotions at certain points. If you add dramatic music the audience might feel a bit more tense on whats about to happen etc.
  • Sound effects - Sounds effects are normally used to empathise something or make a new sound for a fictional item.
  • Maybe add in background noise - You might add in background noise again to set the scene of the environment and make the audience feel more immersed.
  • Allow the word to 'stop': If you have concerns on a shoot, stop and sort the problem out. 
  • Choose the right team for the right situation: if you only have once chance to get something, as is the case with door stepping, you need to make sure you can hear it. 
  • Work with your contributors: If your contributors have unfamiliar accents or speak softly, show them on screen as early on in the sequence as possible.
  • Choose the right music: Make sure the music sets the scene, and is copy right free.
  • Use a fresh pair of ears: Get someone else to listen to the sound, to make sure it's fine. 

Sounds

Sound Editing

The reason we use sound editing is for many different reasons. One of the reasons is to edit sound to make it more clear or to fix noticeable timing issues. Another reason could be to add sounds for something that doesn't exist ( Fictional Sound) or could be just adding in music. Some movies also record some sound effects separately to make it more clear and better quality.  Example - 

Equipment

  • Microphone
  • Headphones 
  • Computer 
  • Audio Interface
  • pop filter
  • sound booth 

Headphones -

When editing you need to make sure you have a good sounding headphones as this is what you will hear the sounds through. When recording the sounds you want to make sure they sound okay and are at the highest quality possible.

 Microphone - 

There are many different microphones you can get what are ment for different things. With films you want to get the highest quality possible when doing sound effects. When filming the film you will want to use a boom mic to record the audio. But with sound effects you can use a external mic to higher quality sound. 

Computer - 

Computer is a big part to sound editing, as this is where you will actually edit the sound after you record it. You will have to make sure that the computer your using can use sound editing programs like audacity. 

Audio Interface - 

 Audio interface is used to to get sound in and out of your computer. If you want to make a good quality recording of your voice or any instrument and hear the results so that you can mix and master your recordings, you will need an audio interface.

Factual Sound

Factual sound is the raw sound from the footage, what wasn't manipulated. Normally factual sound is used in something like a documentary.   

 

 

Example of Factual Sound  - 

Fictional Sound

Fictional sound is where sound is added in or manipulated to something. Normally fictional sound it used when movie creators have something new like a weapon, enemy etc. But obviously no one knows what it sounds like yet so creators have to come up with a fictional sound for it.

 

This makes the audience familiar to the sound of that item, example light saber if you have watch star wars you know what a light saber sounds like. But if you never watched the movie you wouldn't know because it's a fictional item. 

 

Example of Fictional Sound -  

Software

Audacity -

One of the programs you can use for sound editing is audacity. The program allows you to record sound and edit it, free of charge as well as offering cross-platform compatibility, multi-track audio editor & recorder software , It works on Windows , Mac OS X , GNU/Linux and the other operating systems. Audacity can manipulate the speed , pitch & tempo , It can fad in & out , It can export the clip in various formats including MP3 , You are able to add new tracks into the same clip , making it easy to lay in background music or sound effects , that can then be edited independently of the main track , It can edit WAV , AIFF , FLAC , MP2 , MP3 or Ogg Vorbis sound files.

TECHNIQUES

Removing Noise from recordings -

 Removing noise from recordings is a very popular technique used very often when sound editing as it makes the recording more clear.

To do this in Audacity you select part of the clip what only has background noise. After you have selected it you need to go to the effects tab and choice noise removal/noise reduction. When you have clicked that a box should i appear and click get noise profile, this will analise the audio clip and reduce the background noise. If you don't want to do it auto you can change it manually. After that is completed the audio clip should sound more clear.

Adding in sound effects -

 Adding in sound effects is very popular when making a film, either to enhance the sound or to add in new effects to things. 

To do this in Audacity is very simple you can do it by just adding a track and dragging in the sound effect.

Or you could even do this on adobe by just doing the same adding in a track and dragging in the sound effect. And placing in on the timeline where you wish.   

Adjusting audio gain  - 

Adjusting audio gain is very important when making any sort of video. Making sure the audio is well balanced at audio doesn't peak at certain point in the recording. 

 To do this in Audacity you need to select part of the clip you want to change the audio gain for. Once don't that click on the effects tab and look for the amplify section and then change the values as you wish. 

My Sound EDITING

Draft 1