Recording sounds and editing the recordings
This Unit is all about recording sounds and editing them
On the first day of the unit we were told to go out of college to collect sound recordings of random stuff to then edited and distort them to create interesting different types of sounds.
We used audacity to edit the sounds.
I recorded a seagull and edited it's sounds.
Link to the sound HERE
This Unit is all about recording sounds and editing them
On the first day of the unit we were told to go out of college to collect sound recordings of random stuff to then edited and distort them to create interesting different types of sounds.
We used audacity to edit the sounds.
I recorded a seagull and edited it's sounds.
Link to the sound HERE
Introduction to recording/Foley Sound Effects workshop
What is Foley Sound recording?
Foley Sound recording is the process of creating and recording sounds for a film or short clip which has missing or no sounds from the start. The sounds are created and recorded by professional sound designers in a special studio that contains objects and props to create the sounds.Here is a link to a video that further shows and explains what the Foley process is
images of some Foley sound studios
We did a class workshop on Foley recording. We started off by finding a clip from a film that we all knew and then we needed to remove the sound of the clip so we can replace it with our own sounds, we decided to take a clip from the GhostBusters movie.
To do this we used Logic pro to edit and record the sounds for the clip. The exercise was fun.
Here is the clip with the "New" audio
Logic Audio Multitracking
Here we learnt how to use Logic pro a bit more and create something interesting with multiple different edited sounds.
I went for something kind of industrial and atmospheric (and kind of creepy).
HERE is a link to it
The audio clip makes me think of a big dark room with some kind of weird machinery in the middle that is creating all these weird sounds.
I managed to create these sound by editing sounds of a bike pump, some dry leaves and a pencil being tapped against metal.
Making interesting sounds with audacity
Sound synthesis
Sound synthesis is the process of creating sounds from only computer generated sounds and sound effects, no recordings.
Making interesting sounds with audacity
Audacity is also equipped with some cool sound effects to make some nice and interesting sounds
here are some of them:
Lion sound: this was created with a recording of myself coughing that was slowed down by 75%.
I think this lion roar sounds pretty good.
Sound synthesis
Sound synthesis is the process of creating sounds from only computer generated sounds and sound effects, no recordings.
HERE is my first experimental test sound, this was made with a generated chirp sound with some effects... I kind of just added random effects to see what the outcome would be it was just purely experimental.
HERE I tried to make a cool wobble sound by using the chirp generated noise and by messing around with the speed and pitch of the track and I played around by reversing the track and giving it diffrent effects.
I made these 2 weird laser sound effects: laser1, laser2. I made them by generating a fast chirp Sawtooth sound and then by using the phaser effect on it. the 2nd laser is just the first laser but in reverse.
I made an explosion sound HERE, this was made with a generated white noise that was amplified, duplicated and messed about with many effects.
Section 2
Influences, starting points and contextual references:
This Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vrTsaLMHd0 gave me a few ideas of making an interesting and experimental sound toy but I didn't end up doing anything similar it just influenced me to make somethingexperimental.
Early ideas research and sources:
My early ideas was to have a free roaming experience where you could explore a strange and distorted world which had objects that you could interact with which would make sounds, but I found this idea to be more of a exploration game then an actual sound toy so I went back to the drawing board.
I also had the idea of creating a 2D sound mixer but then i realized how unoriginal the idea was.
Section 3
Intended techniques, non digital and digital processes:
Unity software and techniques with C# programming.Conceptual drawing(s) and design of the sound toy.
Timescales:
Week 1: Getting a basic idea of the type of experience I want to give to the player.
Week 2: Start the prototyping of the general idea of the project to see if it's possible.
Week 3: Start making the final build of the Sound toy.
Week 4: Finish it up and polish any rough edges.
Section 4Proposed methods of evaluation:
I will have some friends test out my sound toy and get some feedback from them to see what they think of it.
When uploading my game to my website and played the it web player lighting bugged out so I had to remove my nice spotlights which is a shame as they created a nice atmosphere and feeling to the map.
I made an explosion sound HERE, this was made with a generated white noise that was amplified, duplicated and messed about with many effects.
Using my custom sounds in Unity
I used the laser sound for my basic first person shooter game that I made in the "Computer games engines unit" as the shooting sound and it plays really nicely as a shooting sound.
i then recorded myself hitting my fist against my table desk to create an impact sound for when the "Bullet" hits and collides with the green boxes.
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Researching famous sound designers
Ben Burtt
Ben Burtt is an American sound designer who is popularly known for doing the sounds of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T. and WALL-E. He is considered as being a great sound designer pioneer for film.
His work mainly consist of recordings of interesting sounds that he then modify's using computer audio software. To find the sounds he wants he would go and find them in their natural state and record them using microphones, he would then modify them later to make them sound more interesting if necessary. But some sounds aren't as easily found and thought of so sound designers like Ben Burtt would experiment with all sort of props and objects to find different interesting sound just like the sound designers in Foley studios. For example Ben Burtt created the laser beam sound from Star Wars by using a metal slinky.
Delia Derbyshire
Delia Derbyshire was an English Sound Designer, Musician and Composer of Electronic music, She is well known for he pioneering sound effects work with the BBC and her electronic realisation of Ron Grainer's theme music to the television series Doctor Who. She is also considered to be one of the first people to create electronic music and what was quite interesting about her music was that she had a very mathematical approach to it.
Her Work mainly consisted of some recordings that were changed and distorted with pitch and other electronic effects. But her main interest was to create synthetic sounds with electronic devices. She would also experiment a lot with audio tapes by cutting them and sticking them with other sound tapes to see what kind of sound it would produce.
A piece of electronic music made by Delia Derbyshire
Making a 2D or 3D sound toy
What is a sound toy?
A sound toy is an interactive art piece that allows the user to play around with different sounds through the use of interactive visual objects/elements. Sound toys could be physical or digital.
examples of sound toys
looking at different digital sound toys
Patatap is a interactive webpage the allows the user to explore different sound by pressing different key on the keyboard, each sound produces a unique visual element. This is a good example of an interactive sound toy as it allows the user to explore different visual & sound element through the use of the keyboard.
Typerdrummer is a webpage that presents you with a text box were you can write whatever you want in it, each letter is plays a unique drum kit sound when written in the text box. This is a good example of a sound toy as it allows the user to explore different sounds using the text that they write.
This webpage allows the user to view music as a 3D visual element but doesn't allow the user to interact with the visuals or music piece. This isn't really what i would call a sound toy but i still thought that it was cool enough to show.
Finding Home is an audio visual journey that allows the user to go through a musical journey through a 3D virtual world with the control of a light that changes the environment around it. This isn't what i would call a sound toy as it doesn't allow the user to interact with the music/sounds but it's not far off of being a sound toy.
A unity game that is all about sound. The idea of this game is that you are blind within the world and that you can see thanks to echolocation by listening to the environment around you and by throwing objects to create sounds to see. this is an example of the kind of experience i want to create
This is an interactive sound sequencer that allows the user to change and modify small sound creatures. it's weird but cool go check it out.
looking at different physical sound toys
sound boards are interactive sounds installations that is basically boards with porcelain plates attached to it and when you hit them with a stick they create interesting sounds.
Resonate is an interactive light & sound installation which has many different cords that produce sounds when interacted with.
This interactive sound toy is a piece of art with a see through sheet on top of it and depending on where you touch the sheet it will produce different sounds.
Why is sound important for Interactive Media?
Sound in the interactive arts and media scene is important as it is itself an art form that is highly enjoyed and respected around the world. Sound effects/music has been used for many other Media types such as television, film, radio... so it only makes sense to be adding sounds and music to interactive music such as software, electronic devices and videogames.
Ideas for sound toys
1. A 3D exploration "game" made in unity where you go around exploring a surreal world filled with many weird props and objects the user can interact with each object has different sounds that play depending on how you interact with them. It would be made with unity.
2. A 2D interface with different kinds of visuals and buttons the user can interact with, each button when activated produces a unique sound and changes the visual elements. it could be made in unity.
3. A 3D sound sequencer that you get to interact with using a first person controller. to activate one of the sounds on the sequencer you can jump on one of the blocks of the sequencer and a sound will start to continuously loop and to turn that sound off you can jump back on it again. and one of the game mechanics could be that you could throw objects like a ball at the sequencer buttons to activate them from a distance.
4. A digital sound toy that allows the user to make music with the use of objects that the user can drag and place on a board to make the sounds attached to the objects loop and distort depending on where they place the object, this could be a 2D or 3D sound toy.
5. A 3D first person game which allows the suer to walk around and interact with different objects and sounds by placing objects on sound tiles to make the sounds loop.
some quick drawn concepts
Here was on of my first ideas which was basically a 2D music loop mixer but I ended up not like the concept enough to further design it. The way that it would work is that you had different loop spaces in which you can place the sound shapes into. each shape had a specific sound and once placed on a loop slot it would loop the sound of the shape and a specific time signature.
This is the idea I ended up going with and it is a similar idea to the one above but in a 3D environment with cubes and sound pads. the sound pads would have specific beats or sounds attached to them and when a cube is placed onto the pad it would start and loop the beat and if the player takes the cube off it would stop. with this you could create a nice controlled looping beat with different sound pads and cubes.
I then went on to asking a few friends what they thought about my ideas and which one they think I should further develop and most of them agreed with me and said that I should further develop the idea with the cubes and sound pads as it was interesting and cool.
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Unit Proposal
Section
1
Working title: Something something sound toy
Target Market:
It is expected that you will be trying to target users of web interfaces. These are people who are not very interested in games but like playing around with interactive art pieces. They are the kinds of people who love visiting Interactive Art exhibitions. See the Decode Exhibition at the V&A for more details.
What you will work towards producing:
An experimental 3D first person sound mixer that is used with the help of boxes that are placed onto sound pads that will play beats on a loop when active.
Working title: Something something sound toy
Target Market:
It is expected that you will be trying to target users of web interfaces. These are people who are not very interested in games but like playing around with interactive art pieces. They are the kinds of people who love visiting Interactive Art exhibitions. See the Decode Exhibition at the V&A for more details.
What you will work towards producing:
An experimental 3D first person sound mixer that is used with the help of boxes that are placed onto sound pads that will play beats on a loop when active.
Section 2
Influences, starting points and contextual references:
This Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vrTsaLMHd0 gave me a few ideas of making an interesting and experimental sound toy but I didn't end up doing anything similar it just influenced me to make somethingexperimental.
Early ideas research and sources:
My early ideas was to have a free roaming experience where you could explore a strange and distorted world which had objects that you could interact with which would make sounds, but I found this idea to be more of a exploration game then an actual sound toy so I went back to the drawing board.
I also had the idea of creating a 2D sound mixer but then i realized how unoriginal the idea was.
Section 3
Intended techniques, non digital and digital processes:
Unity software and techniques with C# programming.Conceptual drawing(s) and design of the sound toy.
Timescales:
Week 1: Getting a basic idea of the type of experience I want to give to the player.
Week 2: Start the prototyping of the general idea of the project to see if it's possible.
Week 3: Start making the final build of the Sound toy.
Week 4: Finish it up and polish any rough edges.
Section 4Proposed methods of evaluation:
I will have some friends test out my sound toy and get some feedback from them to see what they think of it.
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Prototyping map ideas and game mechanics.
Here is the basic prototype of my game idea later I will be adding more sound pads with better sounds. The map in this isn't important it was just testing.
After creating and testing out the game mechanics I decided that the game will be best if it looked nice and simplistic to keep it clean.
The way the Music pads work is that they use a trigger system for whenever they get hit by a rigid body they will activate the sound loop.
The first person controller in this sound toy is just the regular Unity controller that is being used.
And the grabbing mechanic that is used to take hold of the cubes was created thanks to a tutorial i found on Youtube.
Here is a video showing of the basic idea of my sound toy and the game mechanics.
Here is a map concept idea that i wanted to test out but i ended up not continuing it as i thought it wasn't good enough for the kind of thing i wanted.
Making the main map
After playing around with different idea map ideas I finally decided that I want a simplistic map with noting too special so i created a map that shows a long staircase that leads to the main attractions i made it dark with some nice spotlights for better atmosphere.
I wanted the map to have a nice lighting to it to make up for the lack of interesting world design so I added a bunch of atmospheric spotlights that would shine onto the music pads.
For the sounds/beats that are attached to the music pads, I created them with the help of FL studio which is a music producing software and I used it's mixer to create the beats and then I converted the beats to MP3 files. In total I made 9 different beats to be added to the game to be mixed with each other and create some interesting sounds and experiment with.
Image of FL studio
Here is a video showing of the final build of the sound toy.
unfortunately the recording software I was using was slow so the video is laggy and at a low frame rate.
When uploading my game to my website and played the it web player lighting bugged out so I had to remove my nice spotlights which is a shame as they created a nice atmosphere and feeling to the map.
HERE is a link to my final build of the game on my website.
The Sound toy is best played using the Firfox browser.
Controls:
WASD to move around
E to pick-up Objects and release
I had a Friend try out the final Sound Toy and this is what he said: "Didn't like it and found it boring I preferred to play around with the blocks than the sounds. Because I don't care about sounds." He also admitted that his opinion is biased as he doesn't like "experimental games".
I had another Friend try it out and he said: "The idea is cool but one the sound pads sounds cut off early and also when the cubes are being carried go through walls it would be cool if they had collisions"
I had another Friend test out the final build and he said: "I liked the experimental aspect of creating the music even if putting cubes on every music pad made it sound awful"
Final Evaluation
In this unit we were told to create a web sound toy with Unity. So after researching multiple different sound toys I got the basic idea of what a sound toy could be and I started coming up with ideas for my own. eventually I came up with an idea I was happy with and I started prototyping it in unity. My plan was to make a 3D first person simplistic beat mixer were you could turn on and off different looped sounds with the use of block that toggle music pads. I then went on to creating the final build of the sound toy and released onto my personal website.
Even if my Sound toy is very minimalistic and quite simple it's still a decent sound toy as it gives the player to experiment with sounds and gives them the ability to come up with a limited amount of different interesting beats.
But if I had more time to work on this project I would of definitely put more time and effort into the map to make it seem more interesting and I would of added more sounds and music pads to play around with as it is quite limited I would of also liked to fix on of the bugs that I encountered were you can clip a box through walls.
After having my college colleagues try out my experimental sound toy i got some vey good suggestions: i was told that my Sound toy needed a crosshair in the middle of the screen so the user could see what they wanted to be picking up with more ease and that the controls should be explained at the beginning of the game. I was also told that it was really nice to experiment with.
Overall i think my game was quite successful as it does exactly what it's supposed to do but i definitely could of improved some minor things of it.
E to pick-up Objects and release
I had a Friend try out the final Sound Toy and this is what he said: "Didn't like it and found it boring I preferred to play around with the blocks than the sounds. Because I don't care about sounds." He also admitted that his opinion is biased as he doesn't like "experimental games".
I had another Friend try it out and he said: "The idea is cool but one the sound pads sounds cut off early and also when the cubes are being carried go through walls it would be cool if they had collisions"
I had another Friend test out the final build and he said: "I liked the experimental aspect of creating the music even if putting cubes on every music pad made it sound awful"
Final Evaluation
In this unit we were told to create a web sound toy with Unity. So after researching multiple different sound toys I got the basic idea of what a sound toy could be and I started coming up with ideas for my own. eventually I came up with an idea I was happy with and I started prototyping it in unity. My plan was to make a 3D first person simplistic beat mixer were you could turn on and off different looped sounds with the use of block that toggle music pads. I then went on to creating the final build of the sound toy and released onto my personal website.
Even if my Sound toy is very minimalistic and quite simple it's still a decent sound toy as it gives the player to experiment with sounds and gives them the ability to come up with a limited amount of different interesting beats.
But if I had more time to work on this project I would of definitely put more time and effort into the map to make it seem more interesting and I would of added more sounds and music pads to play around with as it is quite limited I would of also liked to fix on of the bugs that I encountered were you can clip a box through walls.
After having my college colleagues try out my experimental sound toy i got some vey good suggestions: i was told that my Sound toy needed a crosshair in the middle of the screen so the user could see what they wanted to be picking up with more ease and that the controls should be explained at the beginning of the game. I was also told that it was really nice to experiment with.
Overall i think my game was quite successful as it does exactly what it's supposed to do but i definitely could of improved some minor things of it.
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