WEEK 14 - FINAL

Statement for Final Project:

I guess my blog entries detail everything i've done in order over the past semester, but I will summarise what I can. 
The project has allowed me a lot of freedom in terms of creating a sound design piece, so I have taken a personal approach by focusing on using musical elements. In my very first blog entry, I noted examples of what kind of pieces I liked, and were inspired by. Many of these pieces had a very soothing, ethereal touch, as they were constructed by genuine instruments - as opposed to sounding very digital. Being a musician my self, I appreciated the authentic sounds that instruments created, so I wanted to include this in my work. To begin with, I recorded some friends on the piano and cello (individually) to play a somewhat elegant piece that I had co-composed with them and directed them. To keep the style consistent, I recorded some rain and water droplets, to create a calming feel that would flow nicely with the piano and cello combination. The cello was recorded note by note in the same scale as the piano, so this was then taken into post production and puzzled together so that they would harmonise. In the second half of the semester, I decided to continue working on this piece, in attempt to create a greater version. To do this, I added in more instruments, so that it would still have the same feel that I was aiming for, but would sound very grand. Adding more instruments would also give it more of an orchestral vibe. Orchestras control their dynamics based on the amount of musicians playing the same instrument at once. E.g, having 20 violinists would create a louder sound than one. So by having a range of instruments, I was able to control the dynamics of things traditionally, as opposed to altering it through post production. Even though I could have easily altered this in post, I wanted to try and keep things authentic as I could, as stated earlier. In terms of using new instruments in the piece, I had originally recorded the piano melody through a MIDI, so I was able to use a range of presets and have a number of different instruments play the exact same melody. I then chopped these all up in post so that they would fit accordingly. Overall I'm happy with what i've accomplished, as you can clearly hear the authentic instruments, yet it still has a sparkle of digitised sounds to enhance certain areas.

Screen shot of edit session of final sound work:

Final Graphic Score:

Click to listen - Final Project: 
(Note: Please listen with Headphones) 

Click to listen - 30 Second Challenge:

WEEK 11 - 13: FINAL WEEKS

The past few weeks have been a bit all over the place for me, for a number of reasons. 
Firstly my laptop crashed and was under repairs for a whole week, so I couldn't do too much during that episode, and then secondly I have an extension, so my weeks are extended and working progresses by a bit.

In the past two weeks, I have been focusing on bringing everything together with my final piece. After recording many instruments, I cut down to using the harp, malletts, trumpet, double bass and choir, to add into my work. Adding in all these extra instruments was a bit overwhelming and enduring, and I really had to focus on each individual tone so they would all fit together well - it was a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Trying to arrange all the dynamics was also difficult, because you don't want to certain instruments to drown each other out. Eventually it got to a point where I wasn't sure if all these instruments worked together or not - and whether I needed to add more since it still sort out sounded the same to begin with (in terms of the melody etc). I had some friends listen to it, and many of them said that I should leave it with where it's currently at so I don't over do it. All I need to do now is recreate my graphic score and write my final statements. 

WEEK 10 - Recreating

Now that we are able to use any programs as well as presets in this half of the project, I spent the week recreating new sounds through a midi, using the original piano piece I recorded. I have used a range of presets through Logic, such as the harp, double bass, flute, marimba and choir, as I would like to expand on my piece and make it sound a lot more orchestral to emphasise certain areas. The bigger the orchestra, the more I can create natural dynamic range by adding and subtracting certain amounts of instruments playing together. There was one preset in particular that was not a replica of an instrument - more along the lines of a soothing synth sound, which I have made an addition as it brings in more of the ethereal vibe that I was aiming to create with my draft mix. Trying to break all these different tracks down to piece together will probably take quite a while, but I'm looking forward to how it'll all sound and so far I'm quite excited about how things are looking.

Something that I've only just realised, is that my work has been influenced by the artist, Bonobo. I've been listening to his stuff for many years, and it wasn't until I was listening to this particular song by him the other day, Kiara, that I realised his style was an influence towards what I have been creating. Although Bonobo is a DJ, he produces his music using live instruments (mixed with the odd digitally produced thing here and there). He uses strings in many of his pieces, and often tours with a 28 piece band. I was actually going to go see him live here in Auckland earlier this year, but then I found out that it was just his DJ set - and not with his full band. I can really appreciate modern music - even digital sounding ones that have actually been produced with musical knowledge and taking parts from actual instruments. I with my refined version that I am creating, I would like to take it into that similar direction I think.

WEEK 9 - YANG FUDONG

In week 9 we spent half the class time discussing the reading, and going over compression. In all honesty, I have not yet had the time to go over the reading thoroughly due things going on in my life, so I have yet to write up my response. 

As for the compression, it was a good way to learn how to alter specific dynamics. I think it will be something I will look into as I work on my final project, as my piece contains a lot of ranging dynamics as it is. 

Following this workshop, we went on down to the Auckland Art Gallery to view Yang Fudong's exhibition; Filmscapes. Films capes featured three works - The Fifth Night (2010), Yejiang / The Nightman Cometh (2011) and The Coloured Sky: New Women II (2014). Auckland Art Gallery has exemplified him as 'China's preeminent moving image artist' who has 'established himself as one of the world's most extraordinary artists working in video installation' with works of 'lyrical and dreamlike qualities, long and suspended sequences and multiple perspectives reflect the inner worlds of a new generation of Chinese grappling to find their place in the modern world'. I definitely agree that many of his pieces were extremely suspended sequences, as some were almost replicating a still image, and many sequences were so stretched out that they never seemed to end. 

My favourite one was The Fifth Night, as its formation was quite extraordinary. The film was screened on 7 separate screens that were all aligned in a curved line, where each screen was shot on a different angle yet simultaneously - so the entire film was depicted in a range of perspectives. It was a very unique experience. I think I also particularly enjoyed this one as it had an essence of film noir, which what I spent a year studying in media studies in my final year of high school. So I could definitely appreciate it in that sense. 

WEEK 8 - ARTSPACE / RESPONSE TO SOUND DESIGN

In class we covered equalisation and reverb. I particularly found the reverb section useful as it's something that will definitely add to my piece, whereas I felt that the different sections of my piece were already recorded fairly well so I don't really need to equalise them much. 

We then went up to Artspace on K Road, to view/listen to the exhibition, The Shadow of the Dome of Pleasure. Featuring a number of artists, the work was a combination of moving image and sound pieces, that were very contemporary forms. 

My Response:

The curator, Henry Davidson, wanted to create an exhibition that explored different possibilities by displaying a group show of video work that could set up relationships between each work, opposed to a traditional gallery context where the works are usually separate and in discrete screening rooms - due to practical reasons such as sounds and light. So he selected existing pieces and one new piece specifically for the show by Juliet Carpenter, and then worked with two artists who's practices are involved with architecture and interior design - Biljiana Popovic and Alexander Laurie - who built the structure that houses the work (so their work serves all the other works). A large part of what they had to do was create a structure that was sound proof and light proof, but still brought the works relationships together. To do this, they used a special insulation called Green Stuff between the walls. However there is a little bit of bleed so that when you move around, you can also hear the transition of one piece to the next. Henry wanted to create an intense environment where you have to move from each piece in a directed way, so it is quite controlled in what works you see first. 

I thought this was extremely clever and well thought out, and after talking to Henry and understanding the effort and extent that was made to produce an exhibition like this, I can definitely appreciate it even more. Before I had known this, I was a little bit confused about the aim and process of the exhibition. I had never thought about the interior design of an exhibition, as I naturally was always more of aware of the actual work displayed, opposed to it's surrounding environment. The fact that the space has been designed to work with sound, while displaying sound pieces, is something I think is very neat and would love to see more of. The only other time where I have really witnessed a room that is designed to work with sound, was at Semi-Permanent this year, where there were animated 3D shapes protected on the wall, and the louder the audience cheered, the greater the shapes would get and bounce off the walls - so it was interactive with the audience.  

Trailer: The Shadow of the Dome on Vimeo

WEEK 7- RETURN FROM BREAK / READING RESPONSE

Returning from the break, I recieved my formative mark; boarder line of B+ and A-.
I'm personally pretty stoked with it, and I have decided that I will continue working on my piece and try and take it to it's full potential. My formative mark showed that I could improve on concept and music production - since my piece is in that direction. With that in mind, I have decided that I will try and take on an orchestral approach to really emphasise the entire track. Now that we can use presets and other programes, I plan to add in other stringed instruments, such as the harp, as well as possibly some wood wind instruments.

In class we were also introduced to the additional parts of the brief, one of them being a 30 second sound design piece. I have decided to take a more narrative approach for this piece, and I have started working on a track that documents someone walking outdoors - and going through the different sounds that they encounter on their stroll. I knew that I had wanted to work with natural outdoor sounds so I think this is something that could turn out well.

Part of the brief also requires a response to the reading, Sound as a Virtual Image by Bill Fontana.

Response - Sound as a Virtual Image by Bill Fontana

After reading this, I became a lot more aware of how much we underestimate what we hear, in comparison to what we see. Our mind takes in what we see instantly, where as sound seems to take longer and its as if we have to focus harder because we can’t determine where it is coming from with direct senses such as sight or touch. A lot of the time we don’t really take note of every day sounds we hear, such as the wind or foot steps when you’re walking, to a point where we don’t really think about it and our mind practically blocks it out. It’s not something an average person would necessarily appreciate. But to then think of what it would be like to be deaf, is frightening. I thought the Sound Island project was quite fascinating, again it was something I never would have thought about. It’s quite intelligent that the idea uses a piece of sound design to disguise the sounds of the chaotic traffic – which you’d think would be undisguisable. When I first read this section, I thought of when a section of an action film goes in slow motion, and the sound stops as the sequence plays out – e.g. an explosion or a race – when everything is slowed down, they don’t play the chaotic background noises that you would naturally expect to hear. Overall I think it’s a weird yet wonderful way that sound works with your mentality and how it can alter perspectives along side your other senses.

WEEK 6 - FINAL WEEK

This week in class we presented our pieces. It was the first time we heard each others pieces, so it was really interesting to see everyone else's take on the project. Among the ones that I heard, I felt that mine was the most musically emphasised by far, so for the next half of the semester I think I would like to focus more working with sounds that aren't musically captured, and experiment with different styles of sound design. 

Overall I think i've managed to create something that I had visioned right from the start,  and personally i'm pretty happy with what i've accomplished so far. 
It's been a really awesome project so far, especially as its nothing like any of the other papers i'm doing in my course, so I'm definitely looking forward to the next half of the semester. 

Here is the final of my draft mix, and the graphic score that goes with it:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FINAL AUDIO

WEEK 5 - PRODUCING

I'm a little behind the blogging (it's now week 6 - the final week), so I'm going to backtrack a bit. So in week 5 (last week) I began producing. After recording two variations of the piano, I decided to combine them together to create the ultimate piano piece - as I couldn't decide on either one - and also some sections were better than others in both tracks. 

Luckily as they were similar variations, it wasn't too much of a hassle to mix the two together, as the key and melody wasn't changing. 

The trickiest part was putting the cello along the piano, as I had recorded every individual note of the cello in the same key. So I had to move every individual note to match up with the piano by listening to every section carefully. It took several hours just to do this, but it was definitely worth it in my opinion, as it adds so much more and gives a real emphasis to the entire piece. 

I then added in the foley of the water and stick mixing together, but it didn't sound quite right as it got quite clicky, so I opted for the sound effect of the water droplet - which was actually created by flicking the side of your mouth. I added this to a part that wasn't too dramatic, so it could be heard clearly and wouldn't create the piece to sound too cluttered. 
In the end it worked quite well, because I already had the sound of rain being consistent, so adding in another kind of water based sound enhanced the style of the entire piece. 
Overall I went into uni about 3 different times to produce all of this - around 3 hours at a time. 

WEEK 4 - Recording

This week I got a group of my musically talented friends to get together, so I could begin recording and experimenting with different sounds that I felt were appropriate for my piece. I chose piano to play the key melody, as I can play well it myself so it would have been the easiest option to go with. However in the end I got my friend / great musician Seb to be the pianist for my piece, as it took some pressure and stress off me, so I could focus on the project overall. Because I know him well, it was really easy to direct him, and for him to interpret my intentions. Additionally, he has had some experience in producing - so ultimately we had the perfect communication over everything. 
We sat down together and wrote down some words that we aimed the piece to sound (such as 'ethereal - i've grown quite fond of that word as you can probably tell by now), and I stuck this in front of him as he played as a visual reminder.

After trialling different styles and ways of playing the melody, we came to a conclusion that the piece sounded best to be played in the key signature of F# (sharp) major, rather than the limited use of only pentatonic black keys. By playing in F#, it emphasised the pentatonic sound as it allowed it to become more harmonious, if not more balanced as it was no longer sounded blatantly oriental. 
I recorded a few takes of Seb playing the piece in an improvised manner, so it sounded slightly different each time. I did this so I could mix them together in post production to create the ultimate tune that I felt satisfied with. 

I also got my friend Guy, who is yet another brilliant musician, to come over and play notes from the F# major scale, so I can individually piece them together alongside piano part in post production. At first I recorded one take of him playing the entire scale, but after playing it back, we decided it would be better to record each note one by one, so it was easier for me to work with later on, and also so clear, lengthy notes could be produced. I also recorded him plucking the strings, as they could come in use. 

I then went on to record some atmospheric sounds. For once I was excited that the weather was bad, as I got the chance to record rainfall. I recorded the rain several times in different locations. Some up on the roof, to create a tinny sound, some in the car as it was more muffled, etc. 
Following this, I went on to record more sounds, in order to meet the criteria of using 3 different areas of sound recordings. I got a bit confused with the difference between the term sound effect and foley, as they almost cross over. I googled the terms, and came to the conclusion that foley involves physical human interaction with objects in order to produce the sound. So I guess my final chosen area is foley, as I recorded sounds that were made from water being stirred around in a plastic cup with a wooden spoon, as well as popping noises made from my lips being puckered together.  

Now that I have recorded all my sounds, I am in the beginning process of producing my piece together in post production in Pro Tools. 

WEEK 3 - PLANNING

This week we presented our pieces of audio that we liked / were inspired by (refer back to my last blog post to listen to them). After presenting mine, I came to the conclusion that I really enjoy the sound of strings that hold both classical and modern influences. For examples, tones that are created in-between modern guitar sounds, and more classical tones created by instruments such as the violen, cello, etc. So my intention is to incorporate this combination to create a soothing string sound in my piece. I asked Rachel what the best option was, in regards to achieving this as I cannot play the cello, therefore cannot record myself and experiment with it. Nor do I have access to a MIDI that could allow me to alter the sound of a piano to a cello - if I were to record myself playing it. I was advised by her that a good way to overcome this was to record someone playing a cello in a scale, and then unpick the notes in post production so that I may initially create any tune out of it. So I am planning on doing this next week. 

Another element that I have confirmed on including are atmospheric sounds. I like a very eerie, soft ambience as demonstrated in some of the songs I discussed in class / in the previous post. With the very natural sounds of the instruments that I will be exploring, I have decided that I would like to record delicate sounds of something that is naturally produced, such as water - whether its a small stream or soft rain, as I think they will link nicely with the type of sounds I am aiming to portray overall. 
So overall, I will be using music and atmosphere as two of the three elements. I am yet to set a final decision on this, but I think I will choose sound effects as my third option, in order to enhance the instrumental pieces so that they become more unique - such as Sigur Ros has repetitively done in their post production. 

Recently I've also been experimenting with different styles on the piano, as I've been trying to brew up some ideas towards my project. I generally like to warm up by improvising on the black keys only, which is initially using a pentatonic scale. This is an exercise I have done for many years, which has always allowed me to create something new whilst being limited to notes - so it's a pretty neat challenge. Whilst doing this today, I realised that the style of strings I like would fit this pentatonic tune perfectly, as it is always a soothing piece due to its very oriental components. The tune Fake Empire by Ryan Lewis (refer to previous post), has subtle hints of an oriental sound when the strings are first introduced in the piece. I think the oriental sound is another thing I can appriciate, even if its super subtle, as I am half Japanese so it's something I can relate to. So overall I think adding the improvisational style of using the black keys only in a pentatonic form will be great as it brings in a range of personal ties from both my childhood and culture. My task now is to record myself playing this style on the piano, and lace it together with the strings once I have recorded those too. 


So to quickly recap what I need to do between now (week 3 / 4) and the due date; I have quickly noted a timeline:

Week 4: 

• Write up audio storyboard. 
• Start recording! - Piano & Strings. Also arrange friends who play instruments to get together and record. Also record atmospheric sounds. 
• Experiment with sound effects.

Week 5: 

• Piece everything together in post production. 

Week 6:

•  Have everything complete!! (blog, audio storyboard, track)

WEEK 1 & 2 - INTRODUCTION TO SOUND DESIGN

A slightly awkward start to the blog post, as week 1 and week 2 are kind of merged together due to a complication in the time table. So i'm not sure if i'm a week behind or on track. Either way, here I am, attempting this blog/journal/diary - whatever you want to call it. 

Sound design is something i've always been interested in, especially as i've been brought up as a musician and being surrounded by many musically talented people in my life. And then there is film and design which are two things I am personally passionate about - so with all of that combined, sound design is definitely something that interests me. However i've never really explored it in depth - i've never mixed music before or recorded foley's or play around with sound effects on programs; so i'm a little worried that I won't be able to produce something due to the technicalities of things, even if I have the vision that I want to produce in mind. 

This week we experimented with recording sounds with the Zoom microphone, capturing atmosphereic sounds. I think atmosphere will be one of the sound options I go through with in my final piece (as we have to have 3 out of the following 5; foley/music/atmosphere/dialogue/sound effects), as I quite like the organic, rawness that it captures. Our homework task was then to gather some tracks that we like/are influenced by, and present them to the class. The following tracks are my preferences:

1. This is the full album of Takk... by Sigur Rós, an Icelandic band that produces very ethereal sounding music through the mixture of instruments and sound effects. Additionally, they sing many of their songs on Hopelandic, which is a made up language they have created. I think I appreciate this kind of music because they're creating music from legitimate instruments, yet they can transform it into something very celestial. The bands frontman, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, also strums his guitar with a cello bow, which is a very creative form that also provides the unique sounds their band is known for. My personal favourite is the song Sæglópur "Lost at Sea", which is the 6th track on this album (you can listen to it from 23:37). 

2. Ryan Lewis is a renown producer, especially for his work alongside rapper Macklemore. This track here, Fake Empire, is purely by Ryan Lewis (as now days everything he makes is generally alongside Macklemore). I enjoy the light, delicate beginning  which gradually grows as the guitar and strings progress (and eventually gets rather upbeat further sounds are incorporated). In that sense, it carries a similar movement as Sæglópur. Again, it also uses raw instruments, and subtly combines it with some sound effects. As you can probably tell, I definitely appreciate music that isn't completely digitalised (as most of the mainstream music these days are). I grew up playing classical piano for 11 years of my life - so I guess thats where that part of me comes from, perhaps? There is also minimal dialogue used, which I like as it is subtle yet effective, as its not quite lyrical but definitely adds to the entire piece. On an additional note, Ryan Lewis states in the description of his video that he primarily used Pro-Tools to produce this track, which gives me some hope that I will be able to produce a decent track within the next few weeks. 

3. I'm not going into too much detail in the next track, as its only really the first 50 seconds that I'm interested in. Initially this is a remix by Kyson of Bon Iver's song Holocene. The first 50 seconds of this piece carries a very beautiful ambience, as it includes atmospheric sounds of rain faintly falling. It is subtly laced with sounds effects, and then gradually grows as sounds of the saxophone are combined. All of this is yet again similar to the other tracks I have exemplified so far, so I think you can see a bit of a patern as to what kind of music i'm interested in and would like to try and produce myself for this assignment.