WEEK 3
SOUND WORKSHOP
I've been making audio pieces for small video projects that include: 16mm film, observation of clouds by Sanja Dudek, a very small video of the lake district created with still images.
"Clouds" by Sanja Dudek
"Clouds" by Sanja Dudek
sounds by Mateo Monje Shefford
In an observational challenge, Sanja observed weather directly. I observed weather through the video that Sanja made. The thing that I find amazing about sound for moving image, is the way that a simple, underlying score can completely change the intention of the video.
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In the example above, I combined the video of clouds with a dark and broody piece that directs the audience to a sense of impending doom. Below, is another version of the same video but instead of having a dark evolving soundtrack, I replaced the sound with that of a friend of mine playing the theme tune to Beauty and the Beast on the harp that we recorded last year. Note how the feeling in each video changes entirely when we swap out the music.
"Harp performance" by Iona Duncan
Below, I have added some audio pieces that I have made in response to some lectures and seminars we have had throughout the term. These pieces are a combination of recorded materials and synthesized sounds. I believe that it is important to combine both digital and analog methods of creation to create pieces that work in binary with one another. Often this is due to time constraints, sometimes it is solely due to what is available. It always has to be deliberate. Not the decision to create, but the decision to keep. Especially with the endless amount of reworking that can be done to digitized audio.
The visual pieces that accompany these sound pieces can be found HERE, the one exception is 'Sun' which was originally made for 'Mechanical Moon'. however, I didn't feel that the circular, spherical theme to the video fit the track. A worthy sacrifice nonetheless.
Reading: Nature of Sound and Recording - Andrew Hill
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Andrew's observation; on how the physical properties of an object will affect the sound that propagates from it, how far it will propagate, and the directionality of propagation, is something that had interested me during my undergrad and still to this day. I
I have had the pleasure of trying to record actors in small brick staircases and all I seem to hear is the reverberation of the space being captured back into the microphone, muddying the dialogue. While I personally find the sonic aesthetics of any space to be personally interesting, filmmakers seem to expect a 'cleaner' result, while shooting a wide, having to meters away from the subject, right next to a busy London road. The only way that a 'clean' take can happen, in this scenario, is by shoving a shotgun (microphone) into the actor's mouth and pulling the trigger (recording). But that would ruin the shot.
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In this case, it is the materiality of the brick that is causing me to engage with the resulting sound. Additionally, due to the semi-enclosed nature of the staircase, it is also the way that the sound reflects around the space.
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"When sound waves impact with an object, they can be either reflected or absorbed. Hard materials— such as tiles, glass or concrete— reflect sounds. Soft materials— such as carpet, foam or flesh— absorb sounds. The relative propensity of an object to absorb sound is described by its absorption coefficient. This is a mathematical value calculated to describe how likely an object is to absorb sounds at specific frequencies."
Foundations in Sound Design for Linear Media : A Multidisciplinary Approach, edited by Michael Filimowicz, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/gre/detail.action?docID=5793723.
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With this in mind, better/ different microphone placement could have avoided picking up some of the reverb I described in my rant, but this depends on the situation. Sure, in a perfect scenario, I could have minimized the number of early reflections being picked up by a)moving somewhere else that resembled the materiality of the area, but with more acoustic absorption, or b) got closer to the subject so that the signal to noise ratio (if the reverb is noise: defined as unwanted sound) is balanced more towards the target signal than the unwanted noise.
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A benefit of not trying to capture pure direct dialogue is that you get a real sense of space. When performing ADR, you might capture synchronicity between the movements of the mouth and the re-recorded dialogue, you have to apply the correct reverb or the reverb correctly, in order to match the location and action being seen within the scene. Obviously, this can be done, and sometimes very well, especially by using impulse responses, that can capture the essence of a space.
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I am unable to provide photographic examples of my experience on-set, due to a non-disclosure agreement in place until it has been released.
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This is how I captured the essence of the spaces and materials for Disruption. Using a Tascam DR100. I got really close to what I was recording. I felt that the closer I was, the more intimate the sounds seemed. By highlighting the smallest sounds, the space itself grew in order to fit the exaggerated dimensions of these recordings. When recording with only one microphone it's really important to capture as much material as possible, as layering these sounds becomes especially important when reconstructing the space.