{Audio post: FX 1_Buster Keaton}

Today you're going to work on placing sound fx to a short video clip. In case you're interested, the actor in the clip is Buster Keaton, one of the great stars of silent film. I recommend you check out some of his stuff if you're interested. This guy did some CRAZY stunts.

The goal today is to make the clip sound as realistic as possible and make the images come to life by adding audio.

Before you start, you need to do a couple of things. Please copy the following items from the Shared Media folder (Shared Media>Class Materials) to your folder on your hard drive:

• The folder called Hollywood Edge FX Library.
• The video file called Buster Keaton_Bill1.

Once you've got those copied, you can jump into the first part of today's lesson...

Part 1 - Main FX

1. Launch Pro Tools and create a new session. Name it: your name_audio post FX1
2. Import the video clip Buster Keaton_Bill1 into your session (File>Import>Video)
3. Hit the SPACEBAR to play back the clip and watch it through once. Increase the size of the video window to whatever works best for you. (The resolution is crappy. Nothing I can do about it. Sue me!)
4. After you have watched it once, stop playback and zoom in on the video region until it fills up the Edit Window.
5. Now you are going to watch it again, but this time you are going to drop Memory Locators at all the main action points. To drop a Memory Locator, you just hit the ENTER key in the lower right corner of your keyboard. Please drop Memory Locators at all the following points and name them accordingly, along with the Start Times of when the actions happen:

• Bed 1 - where he gets out of bed.
• Crash 1 - Where the 1st building falls
• Crash 2 -Where the 2nd building falls
• Bed 2 - When he jumps back into bed.
  

OK, so now you need to find some sounds to actually put into your project...

1. Go to File>Import and find the Hollywood Edge folder that you copied to your hard drive earlier.
2. Browse through the folders until you find a few sounds that you think might work in this clip. Use the Preview Sound function at the bottom of the Import Window to quickly listen to the sounds so that you can find the ones that work. Don't be afraid to import lots of different sounds, even if you're not 100% sure about them. You don't have to use everything you import, but it's good to have them in your Region List so that you can grab them quickly if you want to try them out.
3. When you find ones you want to use, hit the Convert button and then hit Done.
4. Import these files to your Region List.
5. Once you have some files in your Region List, pick one that you want to work with first and drag it into your Edit Window. Pro Tools should automatically create a new track for it.
6. Rename the tracks according to what they're supposed to be (eg. Wind, Crash, Footsteps, etc.).
   
7. Now use the Grabber Tool and place the sound around the Memory Locator that you dropped earlier.
8. Watch the video closely and make sure that the FX are playing exactly in sync with the actions on the screen. You'll probably need to zoom in really closely in order to get them just right.
   
9. If the FX are too long, try using the Trim Tool to shorten them.
10. Now we're going to Import some wind sounds to give the clip some ambience. Import these files the same way you did with the other FX.
    
11. Try creating a short Fade In at the beginning of the wind ambience to make it come in gradually.

Part 2 - Footsteps
Footsteps can be one of the trickiest things in audio post! It's hard to get the sounds to line up just right with the images. A lot of the time, the audio post engineer will just record someone moving their feet in time with the video. We're just going to do our best to use pre-recorded footsteps and edit them to the picture.

1. Go into the Media Share folder and find the folder called Footsteps (Media Share>Class Materials>footsteps). Copy this into your Hollywood Edge folder on your hard drive.
2. In Pro Tools, preview these footstep sounds and Import one of the files into your project on a new track.
3. Move the region so that it is in the general area where the character starts walking/running.
4. Now Split up the individual steps into separate regions by using the Apple E command.
5. Using the Grabber Tool, move the regions so that they line up with the actual steps. If you need to, copy the regions so that you have enough steps for the whole clip.
   

Now we're going to get into some basic automation to make it sound like he's running away and coming back.

1. In your Edit Window, find your Footsteps Track.
2. Underneath the Track Name, find where it says Waveform and click the little arrow next to it.
3. Select Volume from the list that drops down.
4. In the video, find the point where he starts to run away and, using the Grabber Tool, click on the black line that runs through the track. You should see a dot appear.
5. Now find the point where he is farthest away from the camera. Make another dot on the line.
6. Now find the point where he comes back to where the bed is. Make a third dot.
7. Now go back to the 2nd dot (where he's farthest away) and drag it to the bottom of the track.
8. Play the video back from the beginning and see if the footsteps sound convincingly like someone moving away and coming back.

When you think you are finished, SAVE and show one of the instructors. If he approves it, turn it into the folder called Audio post FX1 folder in the Shared Media folder.

More Audio Effects

(Part 2 of a 2-part guest lecture by Quinn Gibson)

Parameters of the Redrum

Pitch- Effects how "Hi" or "Low" sounding a hit is

Velocity- Effects Softness & Loudness of particular hit

In addition to reverb and delay here are some other commonly used effects that will help you on your musical voyage. But first a quick vocab lesson.

Timbre: Also called shape. Two instruments can play the same note, but sound differently. Why is that? Because the timbre or shape is different.

Distortion- Alters original timbre or shape of sound.

megaton b-boy 2000

Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Part 2

Phaser- Filter & LFO ; Whirly

Bonita Applebum

Chorus/Flanger- Shimmering quality; Result of roughly same timbre & pitch being played at the same time.

Black Hole Sun

Is It A Crime

Appregiator- "Broken Chord"

Stop Running Away

Exercise 2

Create another 16-Bar Song

1) Create Redrum drum pattern using distortion and light reverb.

2) Next create a 4 bar melody using a synthesizer with a phaser or chorus effect. Duplicate tracks and Use same melody in last 8 bars of song using appregiator effect.

Audio Effects & Parameters:Reverb, Delay & the ADSR Envelope- An Electronic Love Story

(Part 1 of a 2-part guest lecture by Quinn Gibson)

So you have a catchy hook, a nice melody, and even an interesting song arrangement( verse, bridge, hook). However there is something else you can do to make your song sound more flavorful and interesting. Welcome to the wonderful world of effects & parameters (fireworks and drumrolls).

Parameters vs. Audio Effects

Audio Effect

*An additional "thing" that is added to process or transform original sound.

Parameters

* "Knobs" & "Sliders" that already come with a particular sampler or synthesizer, or effect. Tells the instrument or effect how to behave.

We'll first look at the parameter known as the ADSR Envelope. To my knowledge this is on every instrument based sampler and synthesizer in reason, but for this demonstration we'll be using the NN-19 digital sampler.

A.D.S.R. Envelope

Attack

How quickly the sound reaches full volume after the sound is activated (the key is pressed). For most

mechanical instruments, this period is virtually instantaneous. However, for some popular synthesized voices that don't mimic real instruments, this parameter is slowed down. Slow attack is commonly part of sounds called pads.

Decay

How quickly the sound drops to the sustain level after the initial peak.

Sustain

The "constant" volume at which the sound remains following the decay until the note is released. Note that this parameter specifies a volume level, not a time period.

Release

How quickly the sound fades when a note ends (the key is released). Often, this time is very short. An example where the release is longer might be a percussion instrument like a glockenspiel, or a piano with the sustain pedal pressed

I might be wrong-Radiohead

Reverb

Reverberation is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is removed. A reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air.

* Causes effected instrument to have a spacious roomy feel.

* The original sound ceases but the reflection of the sound continues.

Reason has to types of reverb

-Digital Reverb

-Advance Reverb

Delay

*Used interchangeably with echo.

*Same sound repeated at different intervals of time until point of decay.

Dr.Octagon 3000

Exercise 1

*Create a 16 bar song with a melody and drum section.

-Utilize the ADSR Envelope on instrument sampler or synthesizer.

-Use Reverb on Redrum.

1) With the proper instrument highlighted in the instrument rack go to the Create menu and click the Digital Reverb.

-Use delay effect on last 8 bars of given sampler or synthesizer :

1) With the proper instrument highlighted in the instrument rack go to the Edit menu and click on "Duplicate devices and tracks".

2) Once this copy is created click on the duplicated device ,labeled "copy" on the side, and go to the Create menu and click the Digital Delay Line Effect.