Projects
arcane Sound Re-Design Project
This Sound Re-Design project is the one I considered my most high quality project up to date. It compiled all of the aspects from my previous projects and processes needed to make a high quality sound design. It Included focus’s on Magic Effects, Impacts, “Physical and Fictional” Effects, Foley, Balancing, and Correct Sequencing. I believe that this project was the result of my past learning experiences as a Sound Designer.
Within the process of making this project, I had to Consider the practicality of the scene in order to make the actions, impacts, and foley feel grounded but still feel unworldly strong. I loved the metal sounds of the pipe weapon and slingshot like effects from the gun that gave the illusion of fast travelling hits and clashes. Although I wanted to go harder on impacts, I felt as if adding more would reduce the effect on the audience, making it more “studio like” rather than within the fight scene and logic of Arcane.
Frieren Sound Re-Design Project Comparison
For my Frieren Sound Re-Design, I decided to split the scene into 2 different projects both focused on seperate “Areas” of sound. This is the first project that had a lot to do with Magic and Environmental factors within the scene. I always keep the logic of the scene in mind when doing Re-Designs. And so, I focused more on the magic of the spells and how they actively break down the environment around them. The impact of Frieren’s “Black Hole” spell challenged me to think about the wind and walls within the dungeon their in. I added rumbles and earthquakes along with the impact of their laser spells. I incorporated the wind created by the explosives and crashing of the golem within the scene. Ultimately, I love This project because of how grounded it is within the logic of the fight. It had taught me how to intertwine sound with not just the characters but the environment the characters act upon as well.
Frieren Sound Re-design Project 1+2
By Splitting my Frieren Sound Re-Design in half, I could focus more on the distinctive elements of the impacts on the other half. This 2nd Scene comes from a different segment of the episode where the characters decide to use a more offensive approach to their conflict. I wanted to specifically incorporate in universe logic of Frieren in order to tailor sounds specifically for the character : Fern. Fern (the woman with purple hair) is a mage who uses “ordinary offensive magic” which means she uses simple magic in comparison to the fancy wizardry and spell casting of those around her. I thought of this as an oppurtunity to convey this detail via the use of grounded recording’s of sniper rifles and cannon explosions in order to convey her grounded style of wizardry. In comparison, Frieren (the white haired elf) uses magic across all eras, therefor challenging me to mix, distort, and create prexisting sounds into something that sounds like the magic she uses on screen. This second half was extremely fun to create, It taught me how to bring logic of the fictional world into my process of creating sound designs in order to create storytelling through my sound designs.
An extra process I had to learn for this project is what I like to call the “Variance Technique”. I had gotten this idea from indie video games and how they save money on sound design without needing to create more unique recordings. By shifting the timing and stretching the length of clips, it creates a slightly altered version of the same sound effect, giving off the illusion of a new sound. This was extremely useful when creating the scene where Fern unleashes a barrage of magic strikes. Without using this trick, the audio of Fern blasting was flat and not such of a big effect. I plan to use this unique system I created in future projects.
Detroit Become Human Sound Re-design
This Project is what I consider the most expiramental. As I was not as experienced in sound design at the time, I wanted to create a project that was more in depth into special FX rather than just standard foley and sequencing action events. I picked a “mechanically” heavy scene from the game “Detroit : Become Human”. In this scene, the main protagonist, Markus, is a sentient android that needs to replace their mechanical parts in order to get their hearing back. This scene was extremely dense in its environment, not being heard clearly because Markus’s “Audio Unit” was damaged. It challenged me to recreate how environments and sounds sound like to someone with clogged ears to replicate the effect that can be heard in the game. This was the first time I properly used basic effects and tools such as EQ’s and limiters in order to replicate a muffled version of the world Markus was experiencing. I also incorporated sound to the in game user interface and UI using shifting pitches of a bell in order to create computer beeps within Markus’s head. It was very intricate and taught me how to prevent peaking within audio via compressors and limiters. Finally, when markus repairs his hearing unit, there is an audio sequence reminiscent of plugging and unplugging and amplifier at full volume. I wanted to recreate that feeling while also growing tention of the scene. I added risers to create the suspension leading to his hearing unit reset and also lots of mechanical machine noises to further emphasise mechanical process of his robot body. Ultimately, this project may be my least “filled” in comparison to my other projects, but I believe it taught me a very valuable lesson in using basic tools and incorporating effects towards more mechanical/sci-fi like settings.
Visually, this project is extremely empty in comparison to other projects. However, I believe there was more work done in the effects that I added from FL Studio. I also believe that for this specific scene, less did mean more. The setting is meant to be dreaded and lonely, so the silence that is created by Markus’s slow movements adds to the scene in its entirey. This project, in truth, did not need alot of sound effects. But I still think that this project had taught me more skills for future projects.
Witch Hat Atelier Sound Re-Design Project
This Sound Re-Design Project was my very first. It was extremely informative on how the work flow of creating a sound design for a project felt like. Other than learning the basic skills of sound design, I attempted to create my own woosh sound as a foley artist, which in hindsight I felt was lacking and took me out of the fictional world set for the viewer. Looking back, I acknowledge the “studio feel” that came from the mistakes of my mixing that I was trying to avoid. Inevitably as a beginner, I was going to mistakes. However, having a little bit more experience, I can recognize these flaws and have realized Ive effectively grew out bad mixing habits such as extreme hardclipping and bad eq management. Even if some of my mix and balance was bad, I still believe I was able to create great designs for the impacts, magic summoning noises, and environmental management. I included the water and liquid like material of the dragon that is summoned in order to create a big presence like a giant tsunami. I think I was successful with the fight scenes and transformations that happen within this scene. I love the scene where Quifrey (The Magic User with white hair) clears the sky using a spell. For that scene I wanted the impact of that opening to have a good setup (the electricity) and a good punch (the hard wind layering). This technique of a setup and punch became my bread and butter for future projects that had included impacts. All together, this Project displays my past mistakes as a beginner and in comparison my growth as a Sound Designer in my later projects.