There is many different ways to express usage of sound creation. I will talk about 3 ways subjects: The forms of media that it is used in; The different types of sound creation; and the different methods of sound creation.
MEDIA
First, i’ll talk about the media that it is used in. It is used in Video Games incredibly often. This is because they want to have audio as realistic as possible. This means that the quality of the sound they have has improved over time. This is used is all genres of gaming across the sun, from simulation to first person shooters like Call of Duty. Call of Duty, an incredibly popular First Person Shooter game (FPS) would use sound creation for the guns that they fire. It is unlikely that they would be able to find some of the very old guns they they use, so they would have to create their own sounds by manipulating the sounds of other guns, adding audio effects. Certain high-tech guns they have would have to be likely made with methods such as Foley.
There is many other forms of media that Sound Creation is prominent in. This includes Animation. Many old animations from before when PCs and the softwares that came with them became mainstream, many animations with sounds used Foley. An example of a show that did this is Tom & Jerry.
Radio broadcasts would likely use sound creation in a range of ways. This would likely have things like intros, where they play a range of sound effects in a way that is often found amusing, or when someone says something, and they play a sound effect on a soundboard of some kind, allowing them constant access to their heavily edited sounds for entertainment of the audience, known as special effects.
TV adverts use Sound Creation quite a lot as well. Car adverts would likely alter the sounds of the car engines to make them sound even louder and more impressive than they already are, incentivising more people to buy their vehicle over the opposition if they didn’t have the change.
Theatre is a unique example, as they would play a lot of sounds for dramatic effect, with sounds added for a range of different scenarios. This would likely included events such as murder, which would need a sound to accompany it, so that the audience feels that the play is realistic, and make them feel as if they were there.
Movies would use sound creation in absolutely every way possible for the same reasons as many other forms of media. Realism, and scope are 2 reasons. They could even use it as a part of the advertisement campaign for the movie. This could also use underscore to make quieter scenes have different feels, as that could be considered a bad part of the movie if not remedied with a good underscore. This also would use dialogue.
TYPES
There is a wide range of methods of sound creation. I shall be talking about Foley, Ambience, Dialogue, Underscore and Special Effects.
Foley is when you record the sound of a real life object, and edit it to the form that you wish to use. An example of this would be popping a balloon, and editing the sound to make it sound like an explosion.
Ambience is the sounds of the environment. These would commonly be used in nature scenes, and are gained by going out into the nature and recording the sounds of nature, often with a microphone that can record a large area.
Dialogue is the usage of speech, edited so that it is usable and consistent. This is most used in animated cartoons, like DreamWork’s Shrek, which has voice actors to play the part of the animated characters, such as Eddie Murphy playing the part of Donkey.
Underscore is the music in the background of many scenes. This would have to made in a certain way that it doesn’t overpower the main focus of the scene, and is typically done in conjunction with other kinds of sound creation, put in the background of them being used to enhance their effect. Underscore can be used effectively to set the mood of a scene, letting them take focus for a second to show tension, etc.
Special effects are used in a wide variety of situations. These would include, but not limited to, comic relief by usage of certain sounds, ease of use in certain forms of media, and even usage in situations where there is a required noise, and this is on demand. It is commonly used in all types of media, but is especially prominent is Radio shows/Podcasts.
METHODS
For every type of sound creation, there is a method to getting them. I shall be talking about a few of them here.
Physical Props are most often used in Foley, and an example of such thing would be something like a balloon being popped.
Environmental sounds are used for Ambience, and is going out in the nature and recording the sounds you hear.
Sound Synthesis is when you manipulate the waveform to change the pitches of certain bits of audio, manipulating the timbre.
Digital Sample manipulation is when you take parts of another song, and manipulate them to be your own kind of work, which would be used in things like a cover of a song, or for parody.
Effects libraries are a very common thing to find on the internet, and are full of royalty free sound effect that can be used by anyone. This is one of the easiest ways to get sounds on the internet, and is a common way to get sound effects, used by many industry.
EXAMPLES
I am going to use 2 clips 1 TV ad and a computer game trailer.
In this example, the sound designers used lots of different sound synthesis to layer the sounds to create the car skidding through the snow. In the video it takes you through how they did it. When making car adverts sound designers will use lots of different techniques to make the advert sell cars.
In this computer game trailer they have used voice overs, dramatic underscore, ambient sounds from the environment to create the sound. They have also used spot/special effects. They will have used physical props to add to the experience.
Here is my piece. I chose a clip from Pirates of the Caribbean Film
I used lots of audio and midi for this. I added a voiceover at the beginning. I added underscore using strings. I also added gun sounds and explosions. I used the sound effects that are in Logic to add to the experience. I recorded hitting the desk for the explosions. I also tapped the desk for the foot tapping scene.
I used sound effects from the Logic bank to add to the atmosphere
For ambience i used ocean sounds. For tension i added an orchestral bass drum to make it sound scary.
Underscore
Sound effects
Voiceover – I asked sir to say it.
Foley – i rattled some keys and added reverb when he opens his eyes.
I used a sampler to get it in time
Sound synthesis
I used a synth. This is my brass sound:
I wanted more brass so i increased the drive. I also adjusted the cut off
I also did this to my choir at the beginning i increased the resonance to make the notes drag on.
The piece of sound creation that I have made is using a clip from the trailer of Pirates of the Caribbean
My piece has numerous strengths and weaknesses. First, I’ll talk about the strengths. The audio is high quality, and has sounds in all the important places, all linking together with the audio. The underscore sets a mood of strife, and something ominous coming, which is common and good to use in movies like this
For weaknesses, I feel like I could have used audio in a few more areas, like when the characters were talking, there were no words coming out of his mouth. This could work well if the video was at a different, most likely slower, speed.
To improve this piece, I would definitely add more dialogue to it, likely under lots of effects to make it feel like a part of the trailer, and not the main focus. On top of this, I would make the piece longer. I should have got the original audio and used automation to grab the voices from it for the spoken parts. I think this would have made a big difference to the clip.I also ran out of time. If I had more time I would experiment with synthesis more as there is definitely scope for really interesting textural effects that could have been created. Overall, i think it is quite successful.