Sunday 2 June 2013

Unit 17: Audio Production Techniques

Presentation Techniques for broadcasting


.      Indoor acoustics: the principles of sound and acoustics;
Studio based acoustics
Acoustics in a recording studio are usually said to be “dead” as the walls are built to have a very short reverberation time, soundproofing is also important it has to be built to deal with low frequencies like the rumble of a car engine or the sound of a plane. There is also a double wall between the studio and the main building this creates the room within a room effect which helps reduce low frequency sounds because it’s not as strongly connected to the foundations of the other building. The dead room is usually used to record spoken word as it gives a very clean sound.
Live rooms are sort of the opposite of a dead room, instead of stopping reverb it increases it by bouncing the sound around the room, and the noise it creates is very pleasing to the ear.
The surface types used in dead rooms and live rooms are very different as a certain needs to be attained from use of specific surfaces that either increase or decrease reverberation. In dead room foam insulation would be used in the walls to absorb mid-range to high frequency sound. To stop the diffraction of sound all small holes and cracks will need to be sealed.




As you can see here the surface for a dead room is designed to absorb all reverberation, you can see this from the picture there are a lot of wooden slats, this eliminates any chance of sound bouncing (reverberation)



This a picture of a live room as you can see it is very different from a dead room, not only in size but also the material and room design. Having a big studio room like this stops the comb effect which is usually created by having walls and ceilings very close to the performer; the effect makes the voice sound very hollow. The hardwood is a key material in a live room like this as it reflects sound extremely well.
Reverberation is created when sound is produced in a small space, which causes a high amount of echo which bounces of surfaces like hardwood, the many echoes will disappear.




Outdoor acoustics: 
Outdoor acoustics are very different to indoor as there are a lot of noises that cannot be controlled as easily indoors; this means that you will always need something that will decrease unwanted noise like wind and background noise, to do this a wind shield is used piece of foam that goes over the mic. Sound bites are small sound clips that last between 15 and 30 seconds, it is normally taken from a longer audio clip.
Background noise is easy to get rid of in a controlled indoor studio as you can edit it out using audio programs like soundtrack pro and FL studio, when recording outside there will be a lot more unwanted background noise, the solution to this is to either edit it out, you will be able to get rid of most of the unwanted noise or you can do the conventional way which is to use a wind shield this is often the most effective.
Sometimes you might want this background atmosphere especially if you’re making a film as ambient noise makes the scene more real for example if two people were sat on a beach chatting you would record the sound of waves, some birds, people running about, this would be recorded separately from any dialogue then lay it on the video using editing software like Premiere Pro or Avid.


.     Simulated acoustics: 
Simulated acoustics are effects that are added in post production using sound editing software, effects can also be added live during a performance by using an effects unit, these are normally housed in a rack mount or amplifier, you can also get pedal boards that are normally seen in use with electric guitars, these units can dramatically change the sound output of an instrument.
Effects pedal
Rack mounts; these are almost electronically identical to an effects pedal, they are a lot more complex and contain several effects. They are normally used for studio recordings and live sound mixing; it can be controlled by either a midi digital control interface or the musician who controls it using a foot pedal.
Sound Processors are used to accurately replicate characteristics of sound; they are often used on computers and are referred to as Sound cards.
Compression is a post production process that is done using audio editing software, compression is used to make things louder, and this “means you turn up the levels in the mix without overwhelming everything else”. When something is compressed it “automatically turns down the loudest parts and keeps the average consistent this enables you to turn up the overall level without getting distortion”. Overall compressing makes the audio fuller and more controlled.
Computer-based audio plug-ins are pieces of software that you buy and add to a full editing program like premiere pro or avid, they give a load of effects that don’t come with the editing software. For example you might have a plug-in pack that is used for EQ only or compression.
Surround sound, this is used to immerse the viewer of a film by having speakers set up so they cover 360 degrees, the surround sound processor decodes the multi channel audio formats from the DVD or TV broadcast. There a few different surround sound setups for example 5.1 surround sound which isn’t full surround sound and 7.1 which is, the 7 stands for the number of audio channels and the .1 is the low frequency effect or LFE, .1 is mono and .2 is stereo.
Pitch is similar to frequency, if the sound is high pitched then it will have a high frequency and a short wave length where as a low pitch will have a low frequency and a long wave length.
A time delay effect is similar to a reverb in the way that it plays a sound again after a set amount of time, it does this by using a ram buffer which stores the audio for a set amount of time before releasing it.



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