audio evaluation

Here I have experimented with sound editing, mixing and generating in order to create a soundtrack which could contribute to the immersive experience of the film. In order to do this I used Audition as I felt I had a basic knowledge through the sound tutorial I previously had on this software and also gained some help from Matt the technician. We wanted to use a heartbeat soundtrack which would replicate a child's heartbeat when in the womb of the mother. 

In order to create this we decided upon downloading a royalty free heartbeat soundtrack at a reasonable speed and pitch. We listened to it several samples and felt that a particularly deep heartbeat sounded more natural than a higher pitched one as it could be noticeably artificial and in some cases sound metallic or computerised. We considered generating our own heartbeat through using various drum instruments but felt that time management would play a factor in carrying this idea out so we decided to just download a pre recorded track. However we came across an issue with the playback of the audio as it seemed to be very quiet on the MacBook Pro. We then tried playing it with headphones as well as playing it on an iMac which provided reasoning for the quiet playback. We realised that the speakers on the MacBook pro were too small to project the complete scale of sounds on the soundtrack. As when we played it on the other devices it was much louder and also you could hear the bass levels of the track which were a key factor to the heartbeat. When editing the track I began with using the FFT filter and altering the EQ levels in order to enhance the bass and lower the hi-pitched notes. This allowed for a very deep, realistic sound to be made rather than the previous sound which seemed artificial in the sense that it didn't sound natural. 

After this I then experimented with using the software in order to see what outcomes I could achieve. For example, I included two of the same heartbeat track to play at the same time and through using the FFT filter I could change the tones/pitches of each track. Here I tried to increase the bass and lower the semi and high tones as there wasn't much information after 300 htz. I then increase the semi tones of the other track and therefore got both bass and higher pitched elements when played together. However we still felt that the single lower tones bass heartbeat was much more effective as we felt it was most relevant and natural to use. Another thing that I tried was generating my own noise on Audition as I wanted to create something that could accompany the heartbeat and make it sound more atmospheric. To achiever this used the generate tool where I could make my own noise and also edit it, here I created a very deep continuous noise which added to the impression of a womb, almost seeming underwater. We also considered with the pace of the track and felt that we could perhaps gradually increase the tempo which could correspond to the visuals and plan to include video cuts on each prominent heartbeat. Another thing we took into account was what beat to include the cut on, as a heartbeat mainly consists of two beats. We found that the cuts we made more evident when acquired to the second beat of the heart. 

After we was happy with the soundtrack we decided to visit the Kodak theatre to playback our soundtrack in order to assure that the audio was conceivable by the speakers and the low bass were picked up and our atmosphere was create. We were glad to know that the speakers did pick up the back and create a very immersive atmosphere which surrounded the theatre. Overall, we are relatively happy with the outcome of the heartbeat and feel that it could work very well with the visuals.