Tarek Fahmy: Cultural Critic

Digital Design
Tom Klinkowstein

Klinkows@mediaa.com

Assignment Two
Sound I.D. for a Neighborhood: Sound Design

Software
Audacity, FinalCut (audio portion of software only) or other sound
editing software

Output
Digital audio file

Goals
Become acquainted with the aesthetics of sound design; acquire an introductory working capability with digital sound editing and manipulation software.

Length
3 weeks

Procedure
– Create a 3-6 sec. sound i.d. for one neighborhood in a borough of New York.

- Make all your recordings in that neighborhood (except the music, see below).

- Make at least one document photo during the recording of all the elements in the chosen neighborhood. Post the photos and sound files on your blog.

- Make your sound i.d. from recording sounds with a laptop computer or the built in microphone / recording capabilities of a digital camera or hand-held recorder.
Your i.d. must include a sample from each of these:
*Human language sound, one word in any language
*Human non-language sound
*Machine sound
*Electronic sound (but not from a traditional or electronic instrument or a ringtone)
*An animal sound

- One piece of existing instrumental music that has some connection with your chosen neighborhood.

- Mix all of these into one pleasing sound i.d. for the chosen neighborhood.

Soundtrack Pro Sound Design:

Adding Sound:

• Open up Sound Track Pro

• Move the playhead to 3 seconds and place a visual mark
Goto: Mark > Set End of Song

• In the main browser locate your audio files

• Click and Drag and place on the timeline

Adding Audio Fade Effects:

• On the timeline or the browser, double click on the audio to reach editing mode

• Add time marker at the 3 second interval

• Highlight the audio by dragging from the top right to the bottom left of the stage, stopping at 3 seconds / time marker

• Press delete

• Highlight the audio again

• Goto Process > Fade Out

• Test it

Envelopes: Pan and Level

• Open up your clip envelope, by clicking the arrow to the left of the clip name

• Magnify the stage area by pressing on Apple and the + sign

• To control the volume consistently throughout the clip, move the horizontal line up or down

• You could also control the volume in selected areas of the clip by inserting controlling handles:::: double click on the horizontal line in the desired time area.

• Insert control handles in multiple areas

• Move the control handle up to increase volume, move it down to decrease the volume

• To delete a control handle, select it and press delete

• Do the same exact thing with the pan controls, up is left speaker and down is right speaker

Adding More effects:

• Double click on the audio clip

• Highlight the audio on the stage, editing window

• Goto: Process > Effects > Distortion > Phase Distortion

• Through trial and error, adjust all the different levers in this effect, click apply

• If you don’t like it, either control+Z, or uncheck the effect box in the Actions browser

Adding a downloaded or created sound effect at the end of the clip:

• Go back to the timeline window

• Click and drag the sound effect in the Browser window and place on a different layer on the stage

• If you want to add a second copy of that sound effect, select with mouse, click option and drag (That way you just made a copy of that sound)

• Adjust the sound to your liking, add effects, and manipulate using the techniques that you learned above

synching The 2 sounds Together:

• You want to try to sync the 2 sounds together so they seem united

• First step is to turn off the snap feature….Goto: View > Snap and uncheck it. Or, just simply press the letter N on your keyboard

• Utilize the beat markers: Mark > Add Beat markers to try to sync the 2nd sound with the first.

• On the stage position the 2nd sound effect to that beat marker, till both audio clips sound like one.

Exporting The File Into AIF:

• When finished Goto: File > Export > Export Mix

• Name the file and save it in your folder

Import the sound file into Final Cut Pro like you learned how, and place it on an audio layer in the timeline.
Your finished……

Final Cut Sound Design:

Adding Sound:

• download all your sounds and save them in a ’sounds’ folder in your project folder.

• Great website for sound effects and sound loops is : www.flashkit.com

• File > Import > Files………Import your audio file(s)
It’s the same exact way that you import images. Your audio files will be stored in the main browser.

• Click and drag on the audio file and place it on the timeline.

• Make sure that your audio is the same length as the video, 3 seconds long.
either click and drag to the 3 second position or use the razor blade tool.

Adding Audio Fade effects:

• Open up the Effects browser and goto: Audio Transitions > Cross fade

• Click and drag and place at the end of the clip. Adjust it’s length.
(If you want, you could also add a cross fade at the beginning of the audio clip)

Controlling Level and Pan:

• Double click on the clip either on the time line or the browser.

• Adjust the level/volume and the pan/left, right speaker control, to your liking.

Adding More effects:

• Open the effects browser and goto: Audio Filters > Apple > AUPitch

• Click and drag and place on the audio clip on the timeline.

• Open the Filters browser and using trial and error adjust the different levers to produce a sound of your liking.

• If you want, you could also mess around with the other effects under the Apple folder or the Final Cut folder in the Effects browser.

Adding A Downloaded Or Created Sound Effect At the End Of The Clip:

• File > Import Files……import your short sound effect

• Click and drag on the sound effect and place on a different audio layer on the timeline

• Double click on the short sound effect and play around with the levels

• This short sound effect should be placed at the end of the 3 seconds, it should be a dramatic sound effect.

Using Final Cut Pro

• Before starting on Final Cut, make sure that you have your chosen 3 images cropped to 720 X 480. All photos should be horizontal.

• Create a folder on the desktop and name it ‘assignment_1′. Inside that folder create a sub-folder and name it ‘images’. Place your 3 final photos in that images folder.

• Open Final Cut

• File > New Project

• File > Import Files: You could import more then one file by clicking on the Apple button.
OR
• File > Import Folder: select ‘images’ folder. All 3 images inside that folder will be imported to Final Cut.

File > Save Project

• Place the playhead on 3 seconds on the stage and add a Marker:
Mark > markers > Add

• Placing images on the tmeline
a. From your browser window, click and drag on a selected image and place it on the timeline. Adjust its length.
b. Do the same for the second and third image.
c. Save Project

Adding Transitions

• Click on the effects browser. This houses all of the audio and video effects.

• Add a Fade In at the beginning: Effects > Video Transitions > Dissolve > Fade In Fade Out Dissolve. Click and drag and place on the left of the first image on the stage.

Add a Fade Out at the end: Effects > Video Transitions > Dissolve > Fade In Fade Out Dissolve. Click and drag and place on the right of the last image on the stage.

NOTE: Placing the images on one layer will make the transitions and effects applied more seamless.

• Add Cross Dissolves in between frames: same method as adding Fades.
See above.

• Render sequence: Sequence > Render All > Both

Exporting The Document

• File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion
a. Name the file and save it in your ‘assignment_1′ folder. Click Enter.
b. Give it a little time. This will create a .mov file to be uploaded on your blogs.

This article is about the proliferation of microchips in our products to track the products’ voyage from it’s inception / creation to the market shelves, finally to the consumer. This will allow marketers to form detailed data and spending habits of a consumer. The article states that this is a valid option for data mining that will become widespread in the near future.

Some opponents of this bring up George Orwell’s 1984 and use phrases such as ‘big brother’ when addressing the microchips and their ‘tracking’ like use.

LINK: The Washington Post