LECTURE NOTES

Week 1 Sound Design (PDF)
Week 1 Acoustic Ecology (PDF)
Week 2 Sound Fundamentals 1 (PDF)
Week 3 Sound Fundamentals 2.1 (PDF)
Week 3 Sound Fundamentals 2.2 (PDF)
Week 4 Sound and Sensation 1 (PDF)
Week 4 Sound and Sensation 2 (PDF)
Week 5 no notes
Week 6 no notes
Week 7 Sound and Perception (PDF)
Week 8 Sound and Space (PDF)
Week 9 Sound and Time (PDF)
Week 10 (no notes)

SOUNDWALK

Part 1: Soundwalk Reflection

"A soundwalk is any excursion whose main purpose is listening to the environment. It is exposing our ears to every sound around us no matter where we are. We may be at home, we may be walking across a downtown street, through a park, along the beach; we may be sitting in a doctor's office, in a hotel lobby, in a bank; we may be shopping in a supermarket, a department store, or a Chinese grocery store; we may be standing at the airport, the train station, the bus-stop. Wherever we go we will give our ears priority."

--Hildegard Westerkamp

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Following the Ai campus soundwalk, list all of the sounds you heard (retype them from your original notes so that we can read them).

Go to a place or space significantly different than the Ai complex (a beach, park or hiking trail if possible). Sit, close your eyes, and just listen for five minutes without doing anything else. LISTEN. For five minutes write down everything you hear. Indicate which sound you found most interesting and explain why this sound struck you as interesting.

Go to a sonically rich place in your home. Sit, close your eyes, and just listen for five minutes. Then write down everything you hear for five minutes. Indicate which sound you found most interesting and explain why this sound struck you as interesting.

Your Soundwalk reflection will also include answers to the following questions (please be as specific and thorough as possible:

1. List all of the sounds you heard on all three soundwalks (Ai campus, external site, home interior).

2. Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen? If yes, explain. If not, why not?

3. Was it possible to move without making a sound? If yes, explain. If not, why not?

4. Describe your experience analyzing sounds with a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place.

5. Describe the overall balance of human, mechanical, and natural sounds.

6. Find the drone that always seems to be present (ventilator, AC, traffic, ocean surf) and sit with it for a while. Try to really feel it out, find nuances and variations, and see if you can trace it to its source. Describe your experiences with this drone.

7. Describe the dynamic range of each soundscape (from extremely close sounds to sounds coming from very far away).

8. For each of the following three locations how would you describe the particular soundscape? If you recorded this environment and played it back to someone who hadn’t been on your walk, what would they tell you about this place?

a. Ai campus
b. External site
c. Internal site

9. Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?

10. How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a designer, if at all?

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
Upload your Soundwalk Reflection to your own website or to the personal folder in the MM3314 Folder at Dropbox.com by the beginning of class Week 2. You may structure your answers in any way you wish: organized by location, contained in a narrative, or woven into an interview format, but you MUST answer all twelve questions. Your file format must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file. Upload by the beginning of Week 2.

File Name Format: lastname_SW1
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 01_Soundwalk

After you have learned how to conduct a soundwalk you will probably find that you stop cataloguing the sounds that you hear. Instead you’ll find that at all times and places you will be conscious of the sounds that surround you, whether good or bad, and will be able to identify the sounds that make you feel peaceful or happy, and the sounds that cause you to feel apprehensive or disjointed.

Above all, be with yourself. Immerse yourself in your environment. When you can understand your responses to the place where you are, you’ll have a better chance of bringing your listeners along with you. You will also have a better sensitivity to sound when you make the transition from listening to recording, as chronicled in the second part of this assignment, Field Recording.

Part 2: Field Recording

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
An introduction to the art of gathering sounds from the real world.

Check out a Kodak Z18 camera and microphone from the cage (or use your own recorder if you have one). Find things in your environment which meet the following criteria and record one sound for each of the following qualities:

1. Small room
2. Large room
3. Cafe or restaurant
4. Store or mall
5. Exterior, urban
6. Exterior, nature
7. Quietest ambience possible (very early morning?)
8. Other space (gymnasium, pool hall, tunnel, cave, church, nightclub, etc.)

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
Edit your raw recordings into clean and edited sounds. The length of each sound should be long enough to illustrate its sound qualities but not so long that it wears out its welcome. At least 30 seconds but no longer than 3 minutes. Create separate files for each sound you recorded--with just that one sound in the file.

File Name Format: lastname_FR_1.mp3
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 01_Soundwalk

FIELD RECORDING SOUND LOG
Fill out the Sound Log with information for each individual sound file:

Sound #
File Name
Description of Sound
How, Where and When Created
Comments
Link to file (if hosted on your own server)

The file format for your Sound Log must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file.

File Name Format: lastname_FR_sound_log
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 01_Soundwalk

DEADLINES
Part 1: Soundwalk Reflection is due Week 2 at the beginning of class.
Part 2: Field Recording is due Week 3 at the beginning of class.

Soundwalk Grading Criteria (PDF)

• interviews with the subject
• interviews with people who know the subject
• narration by you – to describe the person, as an introduction, to set the stage, to provide information about this topic that you found out through research
• individual sounds – sounds from their hobby/job/unique skill
• music – do not use copyrighted music
• ambient sound from the locations where you visit the person
• sound effects – if appropriate to the subject

SUGGESTIONS
Choose your subject based on:

• your ability to interview the person directly (not over the phone) 
• your ability to visit their place of work/hobby/skill so that you can get first-hand recordings of the location and the sounds that occur in the course of their job/hobby/skill
• the suitability of what the interviewee does in terms of SOUNDS that happen that you can use in your project.

Listen to "Pasquale Spensieri, Grinder" at Radio Diaries (New York Works) as well as other podcasts there and at The Sonic Memorial Project and Lost and Found Sound to get some inspiration for your own podcasts.

INSPIRATION

The Sonic Memorial Project
Lost and Found Sound
Radio Diaries
Radio Diaries (New York Works)

CREATIVE COMMONS / OPEN SOURCE SOUND

CC Mixter
Creative Commons
Find Sounds
Free Sound Samples
Incompetech Royalty-Free Music
Internet Archive: Open Source Audio
OpSound

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
Final project must be between 3 and 5 minutes long, and must include at least one clip from EACH of these types of sound sources:

• In-person Interviews
• Ambient location recording
• Sounds of the job/hobby/skill
  

No use of copyrighted music.  Music licensed under Creative Commons is fine so long as you abide by the terms of the CC license.  Music in the public domain is fine to use.  Royalty-free music is okay to use as long as you pay any necessary fees.

File Name Format: lastname_podcast.mp3
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 02_Podcast

OUTLINE FORMAT
Write an outline for your podcast. This will help you block out the structure of the podcast as a whole, and will clarify the types of sounds you will need to capture.

Use a basic, straightforward format for your outline.  List who is speaking, followed by what he/she says (or a rough guess of what may be said). For example: Roger Smith: "I’m a piano tuner, and I learned what I do from my Uncle Joe."

Your outline MUST include sound cues and descriptions of the sounds.  Present these sound cues/descriptions in all UPPERCASE letters so they stand out. For example: PIANO PLAYS A SHORT BIT OF MUSIC, VERY OUT OF TUNE.

While you won’t be able to detail what happens in your interviews beforehand, you can anticipate what kinds of information you want, what questions you will ask and in what sequence your interviews should unfold.

You can script your introductions, and any of your narration ahead of time, and that should be included in the outline. For example: Narration (John Doe): "I met Roger Smith at the local coffeeshop one afternoon . . ."

A suggested format for your script could be the scripts for the New York Stories audio portraits, such as the one found here.

The file format for your Outline must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file.

File Name Format: lastname_podcast_outline
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 02_Podcast

PODCAST SOUND LOG
You will need to fill out a sound log to cover each individual sound you used in your podcast. While you are not required to turn in these individual raw sound files for credit, they will need to be documented in the Sound Log:

Sound Name
Description of Sound
How, Where and When Created (or) URL if downloaded
Comments (the role of the sound in Outline/Transcript, its placement in Podcast, etc.)

The file format for your Sound Log must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file.

File Name Format: lastname_podcast_soundlog
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 02_Podcast

TRANSCRIPT FORMAT
Once the podcast is complete, then you must TRANSCRIBE the podcast, transforming your outline into an accurate scripted version of your podcast. While it doesn't have to be a word-for-word adaptation, the transcript should reflect the reality of the podcast after all of the final edits and changes. Follow the same format as the outline above.

The file format for your Script must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file.

File Name Format: lastname_podcast_transcript
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 02_Podcast

DEADLINES
All material should be uploaded to your own site or Dropbox by the beginning of class on the following dates:

• Outline due Week 3.
• Status Check due Week 4.
• Completed Podcast, Sound Log, and Transcript due Week 5.
  

Audio Portrait Podcast Grading Criteria (PDF)

SOUND MAP
Copy and paste the following Sound Map into a text editor, and, when finished, upload to your server or to Dropbox.

+++++

BRAINSTORMING
Answer each of the following questions:

1. Read the entire story. Note where the story is broken into distinct scenes. List some of the sounds linked to people, objects and actions in the narrative that are explicitly described.

2. List several environments in the story that can be fleshed out with sonic ambiance.  Describe them briefly.

3. List the key words in the story’s scene description and dialogue that give clues to the emotions of the scene (both of spectator and the viewer). 

4. What are the moments of physical or dramatic transition in the story?

INVENTORY
From your brainstorming session, list all of the sounds in the appropriate categories for each scene of the story, as well as any comments about the sounds and your process:

1. Name (or number) of the Scene
2. Diegetic SFX/Foley
3. Diegetic Background
4. Voice
5. Non-Diegetic
6. Comments

+++++

Diegetic SFX/Foley: those that appear to be connected with the image, belong to the reality of the film, and can be heard by the characters in the film. Can also include diegetic music (a radio is turned on, a band plays live onscreen, etc.)

Diegetic Background: ambient, background and room tone sounds that the characters can hear in the reality of the narrative space.

Voice: not just dialogue, but all sounds that are emitted through the mouth including yawns, sneezes, coughs, laughs, etc.  Dialogue that needs special treatment by the actor or postproduction manipulation (echo, telephone voice, etc.) can also be noted.

Non-Diegetic: those that are disassociated from the reality of the story and turn into a kind of sensorial or emotional element independent of the character’s reality within the story.  Usually includes musical score and voiceover.  Also can include ambient sounds when they are used to create a general mood and cannot be heard by the characters.

+++++

The file format for your Sound Map must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file. Upload to your own site or to Dropbox.

File Name Format: lastname_story
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 03_Short_Story_Adaptation

DEADLINE
All material should be uploaded to your own site or Dropbox by the beginning of class by Week 6.

Short Story Adaptation Grading Criteria (PDF)

GAME SOUND DESIGN

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
You have been hired to create an original sound design for a video game, including sound effects, background and transitions.

We start by downloading the two games and start exploring the action and play of each video game world. Please note that these two Windows-format games should only be downloaded using Internet Explorer:

Atomaders

Star Defender 3

Play through and have fun, but also start thinking about how you might contribute a unique set of sounds to populate the action. After a while, turn off the game's built-in sound and start imagining your own sounds plugged in. Take notes.

At this point pick one of the games to focus on for your sound design. Brainstorm all of the sounds you will need to provide weapons (firing, loading), explosions (bad guys as well as your own ship as you lose a life), acceleration, transitions, confirmations, etc. Also think of what kind of ambient soundtrack, music or sound, you want playing in the background during gameplay.

You will be generating your own sounds from scratch, using various methods of sound synthesis and manipulation. For a good interactive overview of waveform basics and sound synthesis, check out the Electronic Music Interactive tutorial. Another good source is Chapter 4 of Introduction to Computer Music by Jeffrey Hass, Indiana University (although this site includes far more technical and scientific information than we need for this project).

Any audio editing application or Digital Audio Workstation should be able to generate pure tones (sine, square, sawtooth, pink noise, or white noise). Audacity is a good, free, cross-platform audio editor that makes great tones. Check the list of audio freeware applications on the Resources page for other great methods of generating and manipulating unique synthesized sounds.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
You will need to create 15 unique, synthesized sound effects that will populate and support a 30-second run-through of the game. You can use the screen captures provided in the Zuul drive (remember to grab them before they're gone!) to pull a 30-second excerpt (taken from any aspect of the game, as long as there are a variety of actions that illustrate the basic action and goals of the game). Use any video-editing software you wish (Quicktime Pro is good for this).

If something happens onscreen that calls for a sound, there must be a sound for it in your design. You must also provide a 30-second backing track that can be ambient sound, music, or a combination of the two (as long as you synthesize this yourself . . . no sampled music!).

Now, sync all of the sounds to the visuals in your 30-second clip. Compress and export as a Quicktime movie (.mov) using these parameters:

Compression: H.264
Quality: Medium
Prepare for Internet Streaming: Fast Start

Please use the following format to name and upload your 30-second Quicktime clip:

File Name Format: lastname_game.mov
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 04_Game_Audio

Please use the following format to name and upload your fifteen Sound Effects (one of which will be the 30-second background music track):

File Name Format: lastname_laser_1.mp3, lastname_explosion_2.mp3, etc.
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 04_Game_Audio

GAME AUDIO SOUND LOG
You will need to fill out a sound log to cover each individual Sound Effect you used in your Game Audio:

Sound Name
Description of Sound
How, Where and When Created
Audio software used
Comments (if any)

DEADLINE
Game Audio Movie Clip, 15 individual Sound Effects, and Sound Log Due Week 8.

Game Sound Grading Criteria (PDF)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
You have been hired to design a complete sound design for a scene from a film, video, or Flash animation, including all sound effects, dialogue, narration, and non-diegetic music, presented as a self-contained video clip with synchronized audio.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS
Clip length = 3-5 minutes, Quicktime format (.mov). If your clip is longer than 5 minutes, choose the strongest 3-5 minute section, or edit together a 3-5 minute "highlights" clip.

If people speak on screen, you will be responsible for recording the necessary dialogue (or for finding a believable, creative reason within the sound design for why we can't hear them). All dialogue should come from you (or your actor friends) and not from the source clip.

All hard SFX and Foley must be covered in your soundtrack. At least 50% of your SFX and Foley should be created by you from scratch, while the remaining sounds (particularly those that prove more difficult or expensive to create) should be sourced from legitimate sound libraries or other open source or royalty-free sites. You can explore the CD effects collections at the AiCA-OC Library, as well as the following sites:

AudioMicro Free Sound Effects
Free Sound Effects and Samples

The video clip itself must be either open-source or original footage:

Open Source
You may download a film or a scene from a film that is freely available on The Internet Archives Moving Images Archive or the Prelinger Archives, as long as you follow the terms of the particular film's Creative Commons license. There are hundreds of thousands of free movies on these sites, so you should have no problem finding something that works for you. Many of these films are in the public domain (particularly those in the Prelinger Archive) so they are completely open for your use as you see fit. Use the highest quality video available - but be sure to test the downloaded film in your video editor to make sure you can export it when you are finished.

Original Footage
You can create your own original footage. This can be a video or Flash animation. All footage must be the result of your own work. If you use copyrighted material for your project, you will receive an F. NO USE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

In either case, you should choose a source clip based on your ability to create a coherent sound design and to source all of the sounds necessary to populate the clip.

NO SOUND SOURCE from the original video/film may be used. All sound in your project must be placed there by you, and cannot be taken from the original. This includes dialogue!

Non-diegetic music must be open-source or free of copyright. Music licensed under Creative Commons is fine so long as you abide by the terms of the CC license. Music in the public domain is fine to use. Royalty-free music is okay to use as long as you pay any necessary fees. You should investigate the resources available at the AiCA-OC Library, including Killer Tracks and OmniMusic, as well as the following sites:

Association of Music Podcasting
Magnatune
MobyGratis

SOUND MAP
Copy and paste the following Sound Map into a text editor, and, when finished, upload to your server or to Dropbox.

+++++

BRAINSTORMING
Answer each of the following questions:

1. View the clip and select your 3-5 minute excerpt. Note where the video clip is broken into distinct scenes. List some of the sounds linked to people, objects and actions in the narrative that are explicitly described.

2. List several environments in the clip that can be fleshed out with sonic ambiance.  Describe them briefly.

3. List the key words in the clip’s scene description and dialogue that give clues to the emotions of the scene (both of spectator and the viewer). 

4. What are the moments of physical or dramatic transition in the clip?

INVENTORY
From your brainstorming session, list all of the sounds in the appropriate categories for each scene of the clip, as well as descriptions of the sounds' origins and your process:

1. Name (or number) of the Scene
2. Diegetic SFX/Foley
3. Diegetic Background
4. Voice
5. Non-Diegetic
6. How you created each sound (or URL/source if sampled)

+++++

Diegetic SFX/Foley: those that appear to be connected with the image, belong to the reality of the film, and can be heard by the characters in the film. Can also include diegetic music (a radio is turned on, a band plays live onscreen, etc.)

Diegetic Background: ambient, background and room tone sounds that the characters can hear in the reality of the narrative space.

Voice: not just dialogue, but all sounds that are emitted through the mouth including yawns, sneezes, coughs, laughs, etc.  Dialogue that needs special treatment by the actor or postproduction manipulation (echo, telephone voice, etc.) can also be noted.

Non-Diegetic: those that are disassociated from the reality of the story and turn into a kind of sensorial or emotional element independent of the character’s reality within the story.  Usually includes musical score and voiceover.  Also can include ambient sounds when they are used to create a general mood and cannot be heard by the characters.

+++++

The file format for your Sound Map must be PDF, RTF, DOC, or plain text. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 (or 2010), please "save as" an earlier version. I will deduct points for any ".docx" file. Upload to Dropbox.

Please use the following format to name and upload your Final Sound Design:

File Name Format: lastname_final.mov
Folder Placement: Dropbox.com / MM3314 / Lastname_MM3314 / 05_Final_Sound_Design

DEADLINES
Week 9: Presentation of your proposed Final Sound Design: URL of the film's page, name of the film, which scene you will be doing, along with the approximate time when the scene begins and ends, along with your ideas of what you plan to do with the sound.

Week 10: Status Check.

Week 11: Final 3-5 minute sound-synched clip due.

Final Project Grading Criteria (PDF)