Logic for soundscapes - Workshop

Logic for soundscapes: Workshop 1

Sound design hints & tips

Radio one is a British movie

Substitute vision with sound – Sound is not there to enhance the vision but it is there to augment the storytelling.

Altered states:

After the viewers perception

Sound can bring an alternative meaning to a scene. Try ambient washes that evoke an atmosphere. Substitute naturalistic sound for sonic metaphors.

Dramatic events:

Sound techniques that sustain audience interest – sound of tension/release, intrigue/curiosity/resolve. Try drones, crescendos, fade in, fade out – music without resolution. Engaging an audience through ambiguity (sound as question). Listen to current dance music and the way it mashes up sound but creates a sense of progression.

Develop a sense of musicality:

Allow the sound to have a sense of musicality and allow the sound to flow. It can craft a scene, highlight a moment or dramatize progression. Balance the imagery against the sound as though in a conversation. Even small changes in the narrative can disrupt that flow to dramatic effect.

Let the vision speak:

Sometimes music creates an invisible mist between viewer and action. Use music at a subconscious level. Try images with and without music. How does it change the meaning of the image? Set a mood but allow the audience to enter a scene (drop music) and exit (re-introduce music) and try in transitions. Try music as a vehicle to describe time, place, and situation. Allow a balance between the visual action, dialogue and sound/music.

Less is more: the mix

Beware information overload. Music can carry too much information. Likewise overuse of SFX crates noise. A strong melody of rhythm, or lyrics in a song can create conflict with the dialogue, action or mood you are trying to portray. A large orchestra for might be a bit too overpowering for an intimate scene. Try different ‘weights’ of music. Use music as a respite.

Silence is golden:

Try the contrast between visual and sonic noise. As an experiment, select a moment within your own work that could benefit from a sequence of silence. Try muting out the music, dialogue, atmospheres or sound effects.

Final mix: Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize:

As yourself what do I need to hear?

Is it a key phrase in the dialogue?

Is it a dramatic moment in the music?

Has a sound effect a special significance?

Final mix:

A vertical and lateral landscape. Allow each of your sounds to ‘breathe’. Give each of your sounds to ‘breathe’. Give each sound a clarity and definition. Trim each sound to occupy its own space in the vertical frequency spectrum. Think, low subs, mid highs, hot and cold etc. imagine each sound to occupy a place in the landscape. Thinned out distant sounds on the horizon, fat punchy dry sounds close up. Let your sounds define the spatial dynamics.

Other:

Sonic punctuation – look at the relationshop between the editing and sound. Is there a sympathetic empathy in rhythm and dynamics. The Water Murch Emotive Arc – the person who invented sound. He is the godfather of sound design.

Logic Pro – How to add sound to an exported video.

Open Logic Pro

Templates page – empty project

New tracks – number 8 and stereo format

Plus bottom on right side to change the timeline to fire and time

File open movie (open the exported movie) and it will come up on a small screen

If you click on global tracks after clicking on the ‘I’ on the left side it shows the video on the timeline

Import track onto the timeline to start editing

Right hand side to the media tab

Click on lops to see all the different genres of sounds

Any of those sounds can be used but it is better to import your own recorded sounds

Drag the sound onto the timeline

Command R to duplicate the sound layer

To cut the sound go to tools on top right – select scissors and press command and click to cut

Select another sound and drag it onto the audio chosen and again edit it as required

Press A for all the automations for all the tracs used so you can lower or higher the sounds of the track

More sounds can be added to the video through the loops

File export audio to movie or bounce set the end time which is the actual end time on the timeline and begin is 1. This will combine all the audio. Good to mute the video on this point so it can be combines on the video editing software used.