experimental sound devolpment - editing

now i had all the recordings it was time to open up audition and start post production. first thing i needed was to download audition onto my computer. but when i started importing sounds i realised there were no bins in audition. this was a big problem as i had 80 or so sounds so needed them organized. after checking the internet to make sure i there wasnt a way of organising the sounds i started labeling and organising the sounds in the folder itself.



i separated the sounds into fire wind earth water guitar flute piano drums folders and named each file.
i then started taking out sounds which were practices or had problems with them. this left only the good sounds to import into audition.

i had used audition in the past but was in no way a expert. but i was a fast learner and new i had given myself a big task but still i was confident.


i first started with the drum track. i had several different beats one with tom one with snare. i choose the snare as i think it gave the most dramatic sound for the sharp sounds of rocks (just to clarify im not a drummer i just had a go). i realise quickly that i needed to edit the sound as the pitch changes were very dramatic. first thing i did was use an stereo expander to seperate the left and right to bring up the certain drums i wanted.

this is the tutorial i used for the expander




i then realised the snare was very high above the over drums i therefore used a compresser to control that.


i decided to take down the output gain and change the ratio

now was time to add the natural elements
i wanted a slow build up so took some of the more subtle stone sounds and added them towards the start of the drums in sudden places. each one being loauder and longer than the last




i now wanted to create the tone morphing together.

this is the video i watched for the effect. it was diffrent to cross fading as it morphed the tones of each sound so the blended together. i looked for a program to do this but found that the wouldnt work with audition. i believe it would be possible but i would need alot more time on this indivdual thing and to learn a bit of coding to create this effect. (I am still looking into it) I might have to buy a program.

i decided from then that i would like to use a cross fade to create a replicatant effect. but i wanted to capture an combination of the two sounds moving into each other. this required a specific method.

first putting the two sounds next to each other and cross fading them (through the key frames to create the perfect tone for my piece
then copying the combined clips
then pasting and merging the clips
then i could razor the clip to pick the bit i wanted

i could then use this clip in the piece.


this is creating the clip


this is using the clip. i had to use suitable cross fades when putting the clips together to not leave any gaps in drums or lose the rhythm (even though i added so extra beats to create an awkard feeling)

then i moved onto the guitar

i first made sure it went over the drum/rock tone and faded into it. then made sure it was the right level. I had to make sure i put the bits of guitar together well so the tempo stayed the same.



i wanted the fire to come in faster in this part as fire is known for starting an spreading fast.

i split the long wood burner sound into seperate parts so i could layer them together at diffrent levels and built the up to match the guitar.



i again used a compresser on the crackling fire as some of the pops when up very high.

i then did the same thing as with the drum/earth and created a cross fade tone

with the piano id had to keep the level of the first chords of each phrase alot lower than i had played it they were jarring.

with the water i had to choose very specific pieces to create the build up in sound which i decided. i moved lots of clips around an create lots of fades so it matched. i tried to keep the beats of water going with the piano, this created a nice flowing motion.


with the flute i had recorded lots of individual notes (not learnt circle breathing 100% yet)
this meant i got the creative choice of where to put notes. thats what i did first, experimenting with diffrent levels and positioning of notes



the next thing was i noticed there was a buzzing on the tracks. it had come from me charging the merance as i recorded. (battereys are terrible)
i looked at a tutorial and learnt how to remove static and used that


first select the place with only static


then caputure noise print


(noise reduction)
this is were you can use the level of the line to decide what is romoved. i wanted it all gone so selected it all (flute is a very high pitched instrument)

this made the flute sound alot better. but it was still missing something to fit with the wind. i dicided it needed a more reflective sound so i used studio reverb and gave it great hall setting. i changed some of the size of the room for diffrent clips to create a build for parts.




i then focused on the wind. i really wanted to get rid of the metal sound of the wind. i decided the best bet was to use EQ. i opened up and took out alot of tones near the mid and upper parts. after a fair bit of trial and error i found the range which contained the metallic sound i hated and removed it, it created a deeper more windy sound


as each wind tone was diffrent i had to do a diffrent EQ for each.

now i could put the flute/wind bit together and create the build of flute and wind using diffrent clips.


now for the hardest part the shepards tone

i first looked at many tutorials. i first learnt the basic theory on how they work. then looked at one on how to create one. sadly i couldnt find one for audition



 the tutorials taught me i needed to use a pitch shift.
the main issue was they were mostly done on contant tone sounds
but i knew i could give it a shot.
(i now wish there was a keyframe for pitch shift)

firstly i put the drums in order. i had to firslty listen through and cut with the razor at start of 4 part beat.
i then started adding pitch shifts
i had to make sure i kept each in c major

i then moved each section up by one semi tone. and the repeated the process as i got to the 12 part.



i then did the same process for the guitar and put it under. i placed it a little but futher down the timeline so when the drum beat dropped the guitar would still be rising.
i then repeated the process with the piano and flute.
the main problem arrose that often the pitch shifter wouldnt work as it would repeate pitches and not raise them or randomly change values. i had more luck changing it but 2 semi tones for the piano but it didnt work perfecly

(i would like to know why this happened)  id like to go through it with James at some point because i would of liked it to have worked better.

i managed to make it work but distracting the listener to the drops and repeations by unspspectly raising the volumes of some parts whilst other bits lowering.


the final bit was the muffled final sound. for this i EQ each clip exactly the same so their tone was very simliar and they fitted well together and let them fade out individually.


after looking at the export requirments i went through lowering certain loud clips and fininal the whole of certain tracks. i listened through a few more times to make sure the tracks still worked together.



i then exported






then i was done :)