Building Audio

AUDIO



A.	Audio
B.	Audio Use
C.	Microphone
D.	Audio Collect
E.	Audio Analyze
F.	Voice Record
G.	Audio Building

CONTACT:

Don Bergland
bergland@uvic.ca

Building AUDIO

1. THE STUDIO PRODUCTION OF AUDIO

We have now moved from the practise arena where we learned some skills, to the actual production arena where we will put those skills into action, i.e., play the game of actual audio construction. As explained in the last Studio Session, it is like a sport. You can spend much time practicing skills, but you want to start playing the actual game where you can test your skills and engage in the personal inner challenge.

This page hosts the following categories:

1.	Getting Ideas
2.	Using the Universe of Audio & Exemplars
3.	Radio as a Primary Resource
4.	Audio Making Methods
5.	Audio Formats
	A. Soundtracked Voice
	B. Instructional/Training Audio
	C. Audio Interview
	D. An Audio Logo
	E. Advertisement
	F. Audio Business Card
	G. Sound Effects Collage
	H. Radio Drama
	I. Brain Opera
	J. Sonic Landscape
	K. Experimental Music
	L. Audio Poetry

2. GETTING IDEAS

Getting ideas for audio production can sometimes be as difficult as getting ideas for image construction. The two forms of production both require some form of “idea” in order to generate interesting content. The ability to create good audio content is not an innate talent. As we have explained previously, ideas don’t just arise from a mysterious benefactor. They don’t just magically appear. In most cases, ideas come about through hard work and the use of structured procedures. One has to go through a process of reflection, research, design, and production to end up with an audio product that works for your purposes. You have now learned enough basic tools in Audacity to start creating audio examples for your own professional purposes.

3. USING THE UNIVERSE OF AUDIO & EXEMPLARS

There is an entire universe of created audio available for listening. Audio producers can listen to work and gather ideas that they find in their explorations. As in image production, when it comes time to create a concept, producers do not necessarily have to start from scratch. Their minds are filled with “exemplars.” They consult their notes, files of collected audio, and other notations. Out of these influences, they may start to develop an idea for their particular production.

You probably use audio more fluently than you do the process of visual imaging. As professionals, you are always talking, making comments, delivering presentations, and mumbling to yourselves. All of this can easily become “structured” audio when you record and soundtrack it. Any information you want to deliver can be done easily using audio production.

The Exemplar approach can also be used in audio (in the same way as you did in image making). You do not necessarily have to start an audio production from scratch. You can find examples of audio productions that meet your needs and try to use the structure for your own purposes. These exemplars, ideas, and other audio structures can be used to develop an idea, or get a kickstart for your own production.

As we have learned, the “Exemplar” is an already created product you find that sounds as if it would work for your purposes. You acquire this product and use it as an “influence” to “kickstart” your own work. You will use some aspect of the product, such as its structure, to start your own invention. After the exemplar has provided a “kickstart,” you usually abandon it and move off in your own directions. By the time you finish your production, it has become your own. The influence of the exemplar may be heard, but they are now two different images.

There do not exist the same variety of audio exemplars on the Internet as the image exemplars you discovered. Most of the work online falls in the “creative” and “artistic” areas. You can find some examples of these kind of audio productions in the Resource section of the website. You can do this by accessing the website:

WEBSITE

AUDIO - B.Audio Use

On this page, you will find some examples of audio productions. Most of these productions fall in the more “creative” area of audio production, such as experimental music, sonic landscapes, and other audio art production. You can browse this area and see of there are any audio concepts you might get ideas from. Unfortunately, there are not many examples of innovative “business and corporate” audio usage on the Internet.

4. RADIO AS A PRIMARY RESOURCE

One of the best pure “audio” systems still left on planet earth is the radio. Radio stations will present a multitude of audio concepts that cover all the intentions we mentioned last session (information, promotion, education, entertainment). Here you will find professional announcers narrating, selling, advertising, promoting, lecturing, discussing, and imploring through a multitude of structures. Listening to the Radio is an excellent way to hear a variety of possible formats for your own audio messages and productions. Availability to thousands of radio stations covering music, infomercials, and talk show concepts is now possible through Internet radio. With just the utilities now residing on your computer, you can access the entire global system of radio broadcasting. For example, using the Real Player you have installed on your computer, you can access radio stations as easily as you access websites.

WORLDWIDE RADIO CONNECTION ACTIVITY (OPTIONAL)
1.	In an earlier activity, you installed the RealOne Player utility on your computer (See Website - Course - B. Computer Setup).
2.	Find the RealOne Player icon and then double-click it. The Player window will open
3.	Go to the TOP MENU BAR - VIEW - RADIO. Your Internet browser will launch. You will be presented with a website called “Real Radio.” On the left side you will discover a variety of radio genres, from Rock to Talk. Click on a category of your choice.
4.	You will then be taken to a page which list radio stations in the genre you selected.
5.	Clicking on the station link, should download a .ram file to your Desktop. This small .ram file connects you to the radio station. The Real Player should automatically detect this .ram file and begin playing the radio station.
6.	You can place these .ram files in a folder. When you want to play the station, FILE - OPEN FILE. It is possible to identify and collect hundreds of desired stations using this technique.
7.	Note - this is just a brief introduction to Internet radio. You can customize your Real Player to be a very efficient “radio” with access to stations that are unbelievable in their content.

5. AUDIO-MAKING METHODS

In Session 5, we examined some methods for generating images. Let’s now examine some ideas we might be able to use in our audio creation. There are many methods for generating audio products. We will select a few that have some relationship with the tools we have been using in our work so far. You can use one or more of the following methods for starting your own audio productions.

A.	BRAINSTORMING IDEAS This method asks you sit down with paper and pencil and then brainstorm ideas. Think about some information you want to communicate to an audience of people. Think of the content that is most important to you at the present time. Determine a structure for the presentation: - discussion - interview - lecture - soundtracked production - dramatic forms - promotional advertising format - see the rest of the formats listed below (5. Audio Formats) Once you have something on paper, you then write a script, enter Audacity, choose sound enhancements and basically replicate and enhance the idea that is in your mind.
B.	EXEMPLAR/IDEA METHOD We have already discussed this idea above. You can use this method if you have an idea or if even if you don’t. If you have an idea or a concept, but don’t have an idea how to structure it in the audio environment, then find some productions you like. Listen to online radio stations (if you have the time). Explore some of the sites listed in the Resources section. Find some potential ideas and use them as exemplars. You can use this method even if you don’t have a content idea (as well as no idea about how to format the structure of the audio). Just go gather some exemplars. Start playing with them in terms of replication. It won’t take long before some new idea starts suggesting itself to you.
C.	ORGANIC STUDIO PLAY As you already know, this is a playful idea that doesn’t require any ideas or any exemplars. You launch Audacity with no ideas in mind whatsoever. You create an file, and then just start composing on the tracks. Create a voicetrack. Import a sound effect or music. Start splicing sections, moving the waveforms around and “organically” playing with the waveforms and tracks you create. Watch some ideas start forming. You might create a voice statement and then think of some sound effects to add over it. You might think that some applause would be good, so you do an audio search and download a cheering audience. You think that some music at the start might be appropriate, so you dig through the soundtracks on the course CD-ROM. Then you notice that the production needs a second voice, so you record another track and import it. Pretty soon, out of just a play concept, you are starting to invent something that has a life of its own.
Don’t be afraid to take interesting accidents and try to convert them into some kind of interesting audio product. Don’t be afraid to try making some strange sound products (experimental audio, comedy tracks, sonic landscapes), rather than information or actual business concepts. Keep all your attempts. You never know when you might want to go back and rebuild them!

6. AUDIO FORMATS

Audio compositions are usually categorized according to format. Formats can have different functions and purposes. An interview is designed differently from an advertisement and has different purposes. There are many different audio formats used in the business, educational, and entertainment worlds. These can be explored in more detail through Internet searching. We will list a few of the more common formats below: .

SOUNDTRACKED VOICE

A soundtracked voicetrack is a common item in the corporate and business worlds. This format can be used for a variety of purposes and intentions. It consists of a voicetrack that has musical elements beneath it. This format can be used for instructional work, messages, advertising, etc. We have already created a soundtracked voicetrack for Session 6.

1.	To create a Soundtracked Voice production, first create your voice script.
2.	Record your voice and then edit it so it is the way you want it.
3.	Find an appropriate musictrack to put under the voice. Search the resources on the class CD-ROM or use other Internet sources.
4.	Import the musictrack and then size and fit it (introduction, ending , fade out).
5.	Envelope the musictrack.

INSTRUCTIONAL/TRAINING AUDIO

Instructional Training can be much like Soundtracked Voice, but with a direct focus. The objective of this format is to teach a concept through audio. If you use musictrack in this exercise, it is place only at the beginning and end. The actual instructional material is usually “voice only.”

1.	To create an Instruction/Training audio concept, first create your voice script. This should be a small lesson or educational activity (For this particular activity, keep it very short).
2.	Record your voice and then edit it so it is the way you want it.
3.	Find an appropriate musictrack to put under the voice. Search the resources on the class CD-ROM or use other Internet sources.
4.	Import the musictrack and then cut it up so that music only appears at the very beginning (as you introduce the learning concept) and at the end (as you conclude the lesson). Use appropriate fade outs and fade ins.
5.	Add sound effects where necessary. Some trainers find a sound effect such as a small bell or buzzer that they use to highlight list items, or important points.

AUDIO INTERVIEW

The audio interview is a popular format for explicating ideas through a second person. The host acts as the question provider and the guest as the one giving information. You can simulate interview situations by acting as both people in the interview. Either interview yourself, or change the second voice a bit and pretend there are two people in the interview.

Note - There is an interesting function in Audacity that lets you record one voicetrack and then record another voicetrack while listening to the first. The steps in doing this are the following:

1.	Create Voicetrack 1 by speaking some lines into your microphone.
2.	Play the Voicetrack 1 back and determine where you want to add the second voice.
3.	Press the REWIND button.
4.	Now press RECORD. You will notice that while recording, you can hear the first track while recording is occurring in a new track.
5.	While recording, listen to Voicetrack 1, and make voice comments in the appropriate places.
6.	Click STOP when you are finished.
7.	Now Rewind and Play. You will hear Voicetrack 1 and Voicetrack 2 in interaction with each other. You can continue to add more voices using this method.
8.	If you want to delete a track, click the cursor in the target track to select it, then go to the TOP MENU BAR - PROJECT - REMOVE TRACKS.

AN AUDIO LOGO

The “Logo” is usually a visual graphic which captures your eye and delivers some form of product (or company) branding to the audience. An audio logo is the equivalent of the visual logo only the information is “painted” with voice, music, and sound effects rather than with form and color. Creating an effective audio logo is a highly creative project.

1.	To create an audio logo, you must first determine the company, idea, or product you want to emphasize. You want a powerful but short audio burst which presents the idea quickly and effectively.
2.	Figure out how you will organize voice, sound effects, and music in this composition. Write a small script or storyboard outlining the audio presentation.
3.	Gather the resources you will need for the production.
4.	Record, import, and edit.

AUDIO ADVERTISEMENT

“Promotional Advertising” is a very dynamic concept for audio production. You have probably heard thousands of audio advertisements offered on the radio. The idea is to have a product or idea you want to “sell.” You then have to create a dramatic script outlining how you want to make your pitch to the audience. The script is the key item here. You must offer something at the start which attracts the audience, then provide a brief description, then give some attractive details.

1.	To create an advertisement, think of some concept, idea, or product you want to sell.
2.	Sit down and write the script. Analyze it for its power and ability to deliver the point quickly and with impact.
3.	Determine the other audio components in the production - music, voices, sound effects.
4.	Assemble the components in Audacity and start editing.

AUDIO BUSINESS CARD

Start this particular project by inventing a business card in Photoshop. This will become the visual element for your audio product. Now you want to translate this visual card into an audio format.

1.	To create an audio business card, first create a visual business card.
2.	Examine your visual business card. Now how will you translate this into audio?
3.	Think of a dynamic way to transmit the business card information using voice, sound effects, and music.
4.	Assemble the components in Audacity and start editing.

SOUND EFFECTS COLLAGE

This creative production consists only of sound effects. Using a variety of sound effects, you create a composition by sequencing them together in an interesting way. Sound Effects compositions are constructed using sound effects as the main characters in the audio drama. Think of a theme and then collect sound effects which express and communicate that theme. Use Audacity as the studio where you assemble these sound effects into an audio construction.

1.	Think of a particular expressive theme such as, "success," "fear," "action."
2.	What kind of "sound effects" might express this theme?
3.	Go online. Start gathering these sound effects from audio sites.
4.	Save the composition as a .wav file. Think of a title for it.

Click here to experience the construction of a Sound Effects Collage

RADIO DRAMA

Radio dramas are popular forms of creative expression. They can consist of dramas, soap operas, mysteries, or just small vignettes. Using voices, sfx, and music, create an interesting drama.

1.	Think of a particular topic or theme for your drama. Some ideas might be: - Action Theatre - A Soap Trailer - A Movie Preview
2.	Record the voices in Audacity. Use a TTS site or use a microphone. Try creating all the voices yourself or use friends to help you with the voices. Save each new voice track as a .wav file.
3.	Collect music and sound effects to augment the drama.
4.	In Audacity, combine and organize all audio to create the final drama.

BRAIN OPERA

Create something for the Brain Opera on the Internet. The producers of this concept want audio portraits of you and your world (interior) that will become part of Brain Opera performances. - composed or collaged sounds that represent you, your tastes in music, your thoughts about listening, and your impressions of what goes on in your own mind - right now and through memory. Find out more by accessing the site below:

Click here to launch the Brain Opera

SONIC LANDSCAPE

The “Sonic Landscape” is an arrangement of sounds which paint a mental picture. Sometimes called “audio art,” sonic landscapes are the equivalent of an image. You use sound instead of paint. You try to create interesting images in the audience’s mind with the sounds you use. Brief drifts of poetic speech in the distance, followed by the sound of evening traffic, which blends into the shouts of children, etc. These are all ways to use audio forms for sonic landscapes.

1.	Think of an idea or theme. This could be related to emotions, events, or activities.
2.	You can think of sound you might like to incorporate, or you can gather a starting sound, listen to it, and then try to decide where the piece should go.
3.	Play around in this interactive and flexible way, listening to what you have created and then deciding what sound is needed to expand or enhance the “painting.”

EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC

Experimental music can follow regular music structures or you can create your own new formats. Experimental music uses sound but arranges it in ways that act almost like sonic landscapes. New mental images are formed in the listener’s mind. You can gather music tracks, cut them up, reverse them, change the pitch, and then composite them together in the tracking system in Audacity. Or, you can find some experimental tracks which I created for your use. These can be found on the course CD-ROM - AUDIO - EXPERIMENTAL. You will see three types of tracks:

-	EXP TRACKS - These are long tracks such as drones or basic underlays for music which sits on top of them. Sometimes called “beds.” these tracks are good foundations for laying other elements on top of.
-	VOICEBITS TRACKS - These are just some voice bits that you could “feather” on top of other tracks. These are meant to be quite low in volume and only heard as faint echoes of voice.
-	XP TRACKS - These are more treble tracks which can be brought in over some of the other stuff. These can be cut up and positioned in interesting places.

All these “experimental” tracks can be cut up, chopped into pieces, altered, and arranged in any fashion you choose. Once you listen to some of these tracks, try creating your own, or use a combination of these tracks with ones you’ve collected yourself.

AUDIO POETRY

Audio poetry has become a very popular form of creative expression. You can find collections of audio poetry as well as websites which specialize in this interesting form.

1.	To create an audio poem, you first need a written poem. This can be one you have created yourself or a poem created by another. Remember, if it is a poem created by another person, give them credit as the author on your audio piece.
2.	Record the poem and then listen to it critically.
3.	Determine whether the poem needs any other audio elements. Added audio must enhance the actual meaning of the poem. Don’t add other audio just for the sake of adding it.
4.	Assemble the other audio components and compose in Audacity.

Click on AUDIO categories at the top left side of the page to access further knowledge and skills.