the average collegestudent

Being a College Student, you find that you can be swamped with the everyday mundane projects that you have to do in order to pass the course for every class and each semester, year in and year out! This is to take the boring part back out of them.

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Audio Reflective Report

For this project, I found that looking for audio clips/tracks that I could use in my Radio show/Podcast was rather difficult. I had a clip/track in mind to use but quickly found that even if I only used 20 seconds or less, I would still need to check it over with the owner of the clip/track to stop a breach of copyright.

I overcame this by having to look purely for Royalty Free sounds or sounds that I could use through Creative Commons where I would need to give credit to the creator of the sounds (and rightly so).

I found that working with Adobe Audition was easy and fun, especially for a first time user.

I did meet the requirements of the project, just not by the deadlines that I set for myself. I found that I put a few things off in favour of other parts of the project and that I spent too much time searching for clips/tracks.

Next time, I aim to finish tasks by the deadline stated and to not spend as much time looking for clips/tracks.

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Task 3

This task involves editing the recorded files I have acquired to create my completed podcast/radioshow.

I have to edit these recorded files so that any unwanted portions are removed.  The files must then be appended.  I can include my commentary in between the captured sounds.

I must use an appropriate sound editing package, to edit all my captured sound. This final file must be saved in both uncompressed and compressed formats.

The compressed format will be the file that will be uploaded to the Internet and this must include compression to narrow the dynamic range. This compression should be applied at a ratio of 2:1, an attack time of 100 ms and a release time of 300 ms.

A backup of the project files must be made and a screenshot provided.

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Task 2 (Audio Acquisition)

Part 1, My Script

In order to create my narrative, I had to play my chosen game. This helped with what I was going to say and what I wanted to comment on, in particular. Such as graphics quality, character movement, sounds, story quality, character abilities and any negative thoughts that I may have about the game.

When it came to writing my script I had to think of how to make it sound like a gaming podcast and a gaming radio review.

So I researched gamers on YouTube, finding Markiplier (a popular American YouTuber known for his lets plays), Jacksepticeye (an Irish YouTuber who also does lets plays), and TheEnglishSimmer (a British YouTuber known for her Sims families, reviews and challenges). Noting their style of happy and bouncy dialogue even in their lets plays of horror games, I chose to copy it as well as their style of YouTube account names.

Having chosen myself a listener-friendly nickname I started to construct a sort of character profile, deciding on a style speech and presentation, the type of show that they would create and which direction they would want to take this show/podcast.

Once this character was created, I started work on writing the script. I added in all my character’s quirks and edited my speech/writing style to their’s into my notes on the game, as well as adding in some research into the game itself.

Though I didn’t know which sounds I wanted to use and where to put them, I tried to outline where they would go by creating a new paragraph where I would naturally finish one point and move on to another.

Upon completion, I handed it into my lecturer for a proof read. Taking his thoughts and criticisms on board before making any and all edits.

Step 2, Recording/acquiring my Audio

Once my script was written and proofread, I moved on to recording my narrative for my Podcast/Radioshow. This consisted of finding a quiet place to record, reducing the chance of background noise. I was given access to my lecturer’s office and a bidirectional recorder to record my narrative.

I also recorded my gameplay on my laptop through the use of a gameplay recording program, NVIDIA ShadowPlay.

I had to source jingles sounds from the internet, as well as background music for parts of my recording and an exit tune/sound.

My audio clips and recordings:

Enigmatic - Sourced from http://www.bensound.com/ and is Royalty Free music

Instinct - Sourced from http://www.bensound.com/ and is Royalty Free music

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers - Recorded by myself through the use of NVIDIA ShadowPlay. Over 20 seconds of use would infringe on copyright so I will only use 20 seconds or less.

Power Failer Sound - Sourced from http://soundbible.com/ Credit to Mike Koenig who created this audio clip

Power-Up Sound - Sourced from http://soundbible.com/ and is a Royalty Free sound

My Narrative - Recorded by me

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Task 2

This task consists of acquiring/recording the sounds/narrative that I’m going to use in this Audio Editing Project. I have to gather the required digital material as defined in my plan. 

My recordings should be uncompressed and be of suitable quality in terms of digital audio format and sampling rate. This is because you lose quality as you compress any type of audio or video files, meaning already compressed audio loses more quality.

While acquiring the audio from the computer, regards should be given to ambient noise, electrically generated interference and health and safety issues in meeting the needs of the brief.

During and after acquisition I must:

ensure all recordings, whether these are going to be used or not, are clearly labelled and identified with a date, student name, class and project title

create a list of all acquired digital audio content and storage locations

ensure I follow current health and safety legislation and reference must be made of this in the log sheet

produce a log sheet of the acquired digital material, outlining any problems and how these were addressed

create a list of the copyright status of all elements of the audio and where required, records of copyright clearances.

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Task 1 - Objectives (My reply)

My expected quantity of my digital audio for this task is enough for a 3-5 minute radio program on gaming. Size in MB is not something that I can give a rough estimate but I’m prepared to deal with a terabyte’s worth of memory, I can also use the OneDrive to store any extra data. I’m aiming for as high quality for the audio but it will have to be compressed correctly to be used for the radio show.

I intend to use a ‘jingle’ in order to start the show off, a welcoming sound that is themed around gaming -this will need to be an uncompressed file in the beginning for me to use because I will lose quality of the sound when it is compressed for the finished product. Using an already compressed sound would result in even more lose in quality of the sound.

I will use a narrative which I, myself, will be giving and recording.

I will also be recording sounds for the product that I am reviewing, LEGO® MARVEL’s Avengers.

© http://www.metacritic.com/

Due to copyright, I can only have 20 seconds of sounds from the actual game before I infringe on the copyright. I must also record these sounds in an uncompressed format, otherwise when the sound gets compressed in the Radio program’s compression I will lose out on quality.

Production Schedule

The resources that I will be using will be my own personal Computer with a paid copy of LEGO® MARVEL’s Avengers from Steam® and record my gameplay with the use of NVIDIA® GeForce Experience's ShadowPlay feature. I do realise that I may only be able to record the sound with the video of my game play but I am able to remove the video and convert it to a sound file with the help of my lecturer.

I will also need to create a script as well, so that I know exactly what I am going to say for this review. I will also need to say when I want to hear sounds from the game but, this can change at the editing point.

I will also have to fill out a Risk Assessment form for every place that I am going to record, so my living room and my bedroom are going to be checked for risks to my health and safety.

[theaveragecollegestudent]

Task 1 - My Objectives

“You must supply the following plans for approval before recording any of your sound files.  Your plan should include details of: 

state the expected quantity and quality of digital audio from the brief,

explain your choices in the types of sound you intend to re-create/ capture and how this will be done,

state the possible sources of digital audio and potential copyright issues;

production schedule with defined timescales,

resources (hardware and software) and where required, booked for a certain time,

a script or storyboard that will contain your commentary describing the sounds being heard,

risk assessment form documenting evidence that you have visited the practical areas for recording and any potential hazards or hindrances to acquiring materials has been identified.”

[theaveragecollegestudent]

There’s never a perfect time for a course project, especially when you have five to do all at the same time

theaveragecollegestudent