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Don
Bergland
bergland@uvic.ca
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In
addition to being able to locate, download, and audio, you need
to understand the various ways that professionals create, use,
and deliver audio. As stated above, audio can be used in highly
focused ways in the business, educational, and corporate worlds.
You need to examine various ways audio can be used within your
professional environments, i.e., promotional, presentation,
artistic, etc. As the use of prepared audio media is a relatively
new phenomenon, you can be innovative and start to think of
uses that may be original. Think about how “voice”
is used in your field. There is probably no question that you
use your voice in highly focused ways. Now think about your
ability to record, process, and deliver a “voice”
product. How could this productivity skill be used to enhance
training, education, presentations, daily communication, etc. |
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| a. |
Picture
your current working environment (student, teacher). |
| b. |
Think
about how you would use prepared audio within this environment.
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Make
a list of ways audio could add value to your productivity
within your professional life. |
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Audio
is a powerful carrier of meaning. The power of your audio
communication will be significantly enhanced to the degree
that you become conscious of the elements that comprise an
audio production. We are going to use a relatively simple
schema for the analysis of an audio production.
ANALYSIS SCHEMA
When listening to an audio production, you want to be able
to understand it in a way that allows you to see how it informs
as well as how it is constructed. Your ability to deconstruct
audio will ultimately make you a more powerful creator of
your own audio work. When you listen to an audio production,
focus on the following:
| a. |
Components
We have stated that all audio productions consist of three
components, voice, sound effects, and music. This can
occur individually or in combination. As you listen to
the audio, identify these components. |
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Placement
Audio can only occur through time. This means that the
audio production occurs in a linear fashion in a sequence.
Note where the voice, sound effects, or music occur along
this sequence. |
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Tracks.
Think about the Track system in Audacity. In a sense,
this is very similar to the Layer system in Photoshop.
Tracks are stacked on top of each other and extend through
time. In the audio production you are listening to, try
to visualize it in terms of the Track system in Audacity.
See the sounds that are occurring in this context. What
comes first, what happens over top or within a sound?
See if you can mentally reconstruct the audio production
within Audacity Tracks. |
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| a. |
The
following activity contains two simple audio productions.
They were constructed in Audacity and employ voice, sound
effects, and music for their construction. Analyze these
using the schema provided above (Note - you can do this
mentally. There is no reason to have to write out your
analysis). In both these examples, the actual Audacity
track system is provided. Use this to follow along and
see how the production was built. This is much like the
analysis of Layers you did in the .psd graphics files. |
| b. |
Audio
1 - CD Promo - Analyze the following audio piece. See
if you can picture how it was constructed in Audacity.
In this example, a graphic of the Audacity track system
is provided below. |
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AUDIO
7D-1 -.Click on the icon to the left. A window will
appear. Wait for a second or so and then click on
the left side arrow (controller bar) to play the
audio track. Listen to this audio selection analytically.
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Examine:
1. Components (voice, sound effects, music)
2. Placement (occurrence along a linear sequence)
3. Tracks (Visualize the production in Audacity tracks) |
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| c. |
Audio
1 - Chicken Irritation - Analyze the following audio piece.
See if you can picture how it was constructed in Audacity.
In this example, a graphic of the Audacity track system
is provided (excuse the comedic violence in this production.
No real chickens were harmed in its production).In this
example, a graphic of the Audacity track system is provided
below. |
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AUDIO
7D-2 -.Click on the icon to the left. A window will
appear. Wait for a second or so and then click on
the left side arrow (controller bar) to play the
audio track. Listen to this audio selection analytically.
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Examine:
1. Components (voice, sound effects, music)
2. Placement (occurrence along a linear sequence)
3. Tracks (Visualize the production in Audacity tracks |
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We
examined a variety of categories, formats, and styles of visual
product. These comprised the following:
- advertising
- logos
- interfaces
- brochures
- labels
- posters
- packaging
- information design
We examined a large number of websites which hosted examples
of these kinds of visual formats.
Audio is a legitimate mediaform which is also created for
a variety of reasons. As a result, there should be the same
categories, formats, and styles of audio product. This is
not the case, however. When one searches the Internet, one
finds only the standard type of audio productions. These involve
simple voice narration, audio entertainment (stories, comedy,
etc.), and music. Since you are stepping into the cutting-edge
of media productivity within business, corporate, and educational
usage, it is useful for you to start thinking about “innovative”
and “new” ways you could use audio to present
or promote an idea. Consider the following:
- an audio Logo
- audio Advertising
- audio Memos
- audio Brochures
- an audio Business Card
- audio Packaging
- audio Training
- audio in the Company Meeting |
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Consider
the new audio categories listed above (just consider these in
your own mind for now). |
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| a. |
What
would an Audio Business Card look and sound like? How
about an Audio Brochure? |
| b. |
How
could audio be used to present information to clients? |
| c. |
How
could you advertise a product or an idea using audio? |
| d. |
How
would you construct each of these using Audacity? |
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| Click
on AUDIO
categories at the top left side of the page to access further
knowledge and skills. |
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