Production reflection - Audio

1. Production Reflection
Ellie Warmingham

2. Process
I began by inserting the recordings I had made previously, making sure to put them in
the right order so it was easier to edit them. I had a fair amount of recordings I had done
so it did take a little longer to find the right ones. Once I had added them all in, I edited
them down so there wasn’t any long pauses or mess ups included within the final
product.
I didn’t have much trouble doing
that, it just took some time to go
through all the footage and see
what I needed to shortened or
even extended.
I also removed the video from my
recordings so it was only the audio
that was left.

3. Process
Finding sound effects was the next thing on my list of things to do. I went onto Uppbeat
and had a look at different pieces of music that I could potentially use. There was a lot
of different categories to look at and I wanted something that sounded more cheerful
as I was doing a kids audio book. I needed it to fit with my story. Some of the upbeat
songs I listened to I saved to a playlist so I could keep track of the ones that I liked the
most.
After a short while, I decided to
have a look on YouTube music
to see what I could find on
there instead. There was some
decent ones on there that I
ended up downloading and
saving for later. I found that
there was a lot more on
Uppbeat than there was on
YouTube music so I downloaded
a few more songs from there
instead.

4. Process
Now that I had decided on some music, I put it onto Premier Pro and cut it down so it
wasn’t too long. I edited it so it had a nice fade out at the end of it rather than
abruptly ending which sounded a lot better than it did before. Now I had to find some
suitable sound effects to use. I went onto YouTube music for this because I had already
seen a lot on there that I wanted to take a look at. Luckily, there was a range of
different sound effects for each thing so I wasn’t limited, for example there was
multiple sound effects for a door opening and closing etc.
I listened to a selection of ones
that I was going to use, for
instance I looked at ones for
the rustling of paper or for
things like people clapping. I
saved them to a folder on
OneDrive before putting the
sound effects on Premier Pro. I
made sure they were cut down
so they didn’t play when they
weren’t meant to.

5. Process
Some of the sound effects I was looking for on Uppbeat and YouTube music I couldn’t find,
so I decided to try out BeepBox. I did this because I needed sound effects for different
instruments and I was unable to find any. BeepBox had a large variety of sound effects and
instruments which is why I wanted to try it. I thought it would take a while to get used to,
but after listening to some of the sounds and playing around with it, it was actually pretty
easy. I managed to create a short and simple sequence of sounds that consisted of three
different notes and then I changed the instrument to whichever one I needed it to be.
Once I had done this with the first
one, I moved on to the other
instruments. I changed the notes
for all of them to have some
variety when the other sounds
played. I didn’t want them to
sound the same when they played
straight after each other. This
happens around the start of the
audio when the characters are
being introduced.

6. Process
Now that I had all the sound effects, music and recordings that I needed, I decided to
listen through and see if I should change anything. I noticed that some of the sounds
weren’t evened out well, making the sound effects louder than the actual recording so
you couldn’t hear it as clearly. I went through each individual sound effect and lowered
the sound so it wasn’t so loud. The process needed to be done and I’m glad I tested it
and adjusted it before exporting it.
Some of the sounds that I
needed, for example while the
characters were performing
near the end, there was going
to be some music to reinforce
that. I didn’t end up putting
this in however because I
didn’t have enough time to
find the song right song for it
otherwise I would have done
so.