Sound Design Post 7 (Easter Thoughts Part 1)

During the course of Easter I was considering where music and sound belongs in my life. When I thought about this, I thought about my life from when I started playing music. When I was younger I went through a phase where I wanted to learn every instrument. At first it was the primary school tin whistle, recorder, etc. I liked the sound of music and rhythm and I also like the attention - something I can't really deny. But I always had that idea of being popular and famous. At that time I didn't understand the hardships of being in a band and the reality of being a musician, because movies and the media only showed the fun parts and, of course, I fell for it.

My mom tried teaching me guitar. She had this beautiful 12-string acoustic guitar that she had since she was 16 years old. Later on it would be utterly destroyed by a future band mate just because he was bored. But back to when I was learning... It was far too difficult for me at the time. I couldn't get my fingers in the right place quick enough. At this point I still hadn't found out that I had 'Dyspraxia', which is a motor function disorder. Basically, I can't process things as fast as others and I don't have full control of my body, which causes me to trip up a lot and seriously affects the control of my hands, fingers and sight, (such as losing my place when I look at my copy book to the board, or from my left hand on the frets of a guitar to my right hand strumming/finger picking). Eventually I decided on drums but it took at least 2-4 years of drums lessons and a lot of hard work to pass as an adequate drummer.

Continue in Part 2

Sound Design Post 6

This week was the last class before Easter break and our first project was due later this week. We had to make 8 sounds for our interactive website/video. It was a collaboration between the Sound lecturer, Film lecturer and the Web Design lecturer. The idea was that we could create an interactive website that would hold the short B Movie film that we created in Audio and Visual Production. Before that we had to create input sounds to fit the tone of the B-Movie. The sounds will be heard anytime that the user clicks on the sites pages, video links, successfully logging in, canceling, etc.

I tried creating sounds the way my lecturer showed me by using pitches and manipulating the waveforms but I couldn't get it working. So I ended up creating 8 sounds using Xpand2 and the keyboards. I messed around for a good while trying to find the right instrument that suited the tone of my werewolf film. After creating the 8 sounds I then created 2 extra sounds that I may use eventually. One was to play during the reveal of the werewolf in the film and one was to be background music in case I would use it for anything else.

Sound Design Post 5

This week is RAG week. (Raising And Giving), but it has seemed to loose that meaning in Irish Society. The 'RAG' starts to stand for, "Let's get and drunk/high as possible" nowadays. But I'm not complaining, (at least not until the next morning), there reason why I brought this up is because when I went to all the house parties, there seems to be a generic staple in music nowadays where the most played and most popular tend to send the same, are at the same tempo, and repeat the same line of lyrics that were said from the beginning. Now, I understand that this style of music is highly appealing in nightclubs because when the song never has a bridge (a chill down moment in a song that usually takes place after 2 verses & 2 chorus', which then lead into another chorus), that leads the audience to keep dancing. Sure there is a build up moment where the audience waits for the beat to drop, but that creates the opposite of a chill out. It instead creates a really tense atmosphere where the audience feel more relieved after the beat drops. The problem I have with this music is that nowadays it's everywhere, all of the time and feels like I'm listening to the same song on repeat. Not  just in house parties, but gyms, swimming pools, trampoline parks, etc.
People use the expression "shit music". I don't believe in bad music. That's like saying Liverpool is shit and Man City is the best. It's always just sticking with the majority / minority. Why not have it all? I think all music is good, as long as it was mad to be good and has a constant rhythm (the only exception to this is the geniously made, but horribly sounding 'Piano Quartet by Gerald Barry *shivers/cringes*). However when a song is overplayed, it gets to a point where it is unbearable. My best example is 'Let it Go' from the Disney Animation "FROZEN". Let it go is one of the best songs made by Disney and the Video that went along with it was just stunning. However it has gotten to a point where it has been so overplayed that you can't help but go like "ARGH!!" every time you hear someone sing it.

Sound Design Post 4

This week in class, we were instructed that it's about time that we should be making sounds for our interactive website. There has to be eight sound, all of which have to be different from the other whilst still maintaining the theme of the website. However the problem with them is that the sounds for the website are due very soon, however the website, the film the interactive website is based on, etc, etc are nowhere near completion. This is making everyone nervous because we have to think ahead of what we may need, which is difficult since no one is quite sure how they will do everything. Even right now the films are only finishing shooting and are now moving on the the editing process, which happens to be my favourite.

In class I was having difficulty creating sounds. Mostly because I was confused by how we were supposed to go about it but also because I was unsure how to create short sounds and tones using waveforms. My lecturer guided me through the whole process and now I finally feel like I am capable of creating the 8 sounds. It doesn't actually seem like it would take that long. It's moreso the idea of all the work we have to go through by the end of the semester is just clouding the near future of taking one thing at a time.

Sound Design Post 3

I have decided that what I am going to do for my posts from now on I that I will have the first part containing information on what I have done in class and then I will briefly talk about my own personal experience on Sound that I had within the week.

In class Richie was telling us how to manipulate pitches in Pro Tools. Which can both be used for our sound assignments and our film projects. During class I watched and rewatched the Lara Croft GO video that we were given for our assignment. Then I created a column list for 'Sounds For LARA', Sounds for MONSTERS', 'Sounds For Environment' and 'Miscellaneous'. I also put into the other columns 'Creation' - which contained information on what props I could use to recreate the sounds. Then 'After Effects' for what I may need or want to change about the sounds in Pro Tools.

This week I was playing an MMO game called Final Fantasy XIV. Normally I wouldn't play MMO's because the take too much time and I'm usually not interested. However I am a very strong Final Fantasy fan, and the music is just incredible. So much that sometimes I stop what I am doing, just to listen to music and it just takes my breath away. When I was a little kid, I played a game called Kingdom Hearts, which hit me on a very emotional level and I grew a deep connection with the game. It taught me about Great Storytelling, Friendship, Art, Colour, and most importantly Music. I had a very strong connection with this game and it is fair to say that if I never played it, I would never have become a musician nor would I have gone into the creative media field. Kingdom Hearts draws a strong relation to Final Fantasy and the music within this game is so strong and powerful that I just can't get enough. It really is orchestral music at it's finest. Here is a link to one of my favorite tracks, played by a famous Tokyo Orchestra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1JgIg38QBU

Sound Design Post 2

What we did in class was we were getting used to Creating and recording music in Pro Tools.
While the class was following the instructions of the lecturer, I was recreating my favourite soundtrack which I often play on piano into a soft nilon string version of Eternal Lightwaves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9ee_Ez6tFk
Ritchie than told me what would make it would better would be if I added some reverb to make it sound like it was recorded in a room and also told make some of the notes longer so that it adds imperfections so that it doesn't sound manufactured.

When I got into the car today, Mom asked my what does music mean to me and how it affects my life. I said that, in a story, it is a powerful way of letting the audience know what the character is feeling because sometimes words are not enough. Also, I listen to many types of music all the time when I am walking or have time to kill because if I don't I tend to over think all of the problems I'm having with my life & college, so music is a powerful distraction.

Sound Design Post 1

For my first blog post I will be talking very briefly about the Documentary that we watched in class, and since our lecturer was unable to attend class the week of this blog post, I will talk about the CA that we were given.

The one thing that I noticed from the documentary was that they had to keep using tape at the time. So that would mean after a while of working, your workplace would be filled with tape-worms so to speak. This would have been so irritating for me because I need everything to be in one place. That's why I gt in to Creative Media. Everything you need is in your laptop. Also not to mention the weirdly placed person that was at the back of every interview.

I was really happy when I saw what game clip we are covering for our CA. Although I love the game Monument Valley and would have been interested in seeing what I called do with it, I am a huge fan of Tomb Raider and I cannot wait to have a go at it. Also it is more up to date since it has only been recently released. There is so much in the clip that I know I have my work cut out for me. Also it is good that we are doing a mobile game because nowadays it would be highly unlikely for us to be hired to do the sounds for a triple A game. However Mobile Games are being made all the time and are primarily made by students. So it would be easier to find a job.

But I looked at the original clip with the original sounds and to be honest I wasn't overly impressed. But the sounds did fit well if you are just on a bus or something.

I will be making my clip sound more like the original tomb raider PS1 games.