Holophonic sound.

And the first thing to show will be an example of this sound! It was presented during one of the presentations on our course and I absolutely in love with it. Here we are and do not forget: put on headphones and close your eyes!

As you already got, holophonic sound is something like 3D for cinema - it creates the shape of the place and make it deeper.
Stereo sound is played with two channels. And sound itself makes an illusion that the listener is presented at the place which is audio described in the track.
Holophonic sound recording was developed by Hugo Zuccarelli in the 1980s. It is realistic and alive.

" Holophonic recording uses multiple exposures of a sound recording to create a holophonic sound. How do you produce a Holophonic sound recording? You add layers to the recording by including the interference pattern that is generated when the original recorded signal is combined with an inaudible digital reference signal." (http://www.sound-ideas.com/what-is-holophonic-sound.html)

And, by the way, is used professionally for broadcast, film and media.

Foley.

I'm really afraid to be closed in or Foley studio

without any windows and just one door,

which looks like the room from

the Panic Room by David Fincher.

As a start I want to present you a clip which can help you to understand what Foley is and what it is eaten with. It is a long one, specially for the most impatient readers (!). So let's have a look at WALL-E.

As you already get, Foley artists create sound effects.
- A short fact: The Foley technique are named for Jack Foley, a sound editor at Universal Studios -

They don't create soundtrack for films and TV - they create sound. They create what we can hear every day or maybe not. It can be a general sound - such as steps, putting your cup on the table, leafing through a book and so on, and furthermore it can be a spooky sound of a strange creature from the parallel universe, which (the sound) can be made by pressing a wet rag.

So, Foley recreates sound effects.

But why is it done? You can ask yourself and also me: "Why should we do all these difficult things if a good camera could record sound as well? We no more dwell in silent films' age!" And that's a good question. It can be seemed that the perfect sound is the natural, the first one, but actually it is not. Because Foley artists do not just replace the original sound with their new version of it, but record a richer track, a track with no mistakes, the one which can immediately show the spectator what is going on. Moreover, it is very useful for creating sounds for objects which actually do not exist.

Foley artists literally become actors. They should be audials - in this case it will be easier for them to work, because most audial people can just throw a glance at an object and imagine which sound it will create if it's used correctly.
There are minimum two people in the crew - a person who records the sound effects and a person who strictly speaking does the main job.


Here is a quote from a site (http://filmsound.org/terminology/foley.htm, 27.03.14) :

"A foley stage often appear to be storage areas for the studio's unwanted junk. Metal laundry tubes are filled to the brim with metal trays, tin pie plates, empty soda cans, hubcaps, bedpans, knives, forks and broken staple guns. These crash tubes are used for anything from comedy crashes to adding presence (brightness and naturalness) to something as serious as a car crash."

Nowadays some Foley studios use electronic sounds and work without the artist. In this case sound effects are made on a keyboard. But this way of doing it is not a good one, because in this case sound effects can be flat, unemotional, dead and repetitive.

But Foley artists can make these sound effects looks real and trustworthy.

Adobe Audition.

It is the easiest and the most difficult programme I've ever seen.

Easy:
- opening the programme
- cut
- working with a multitrack
- listening to files.
- closing the programme

Medium:
- volume
- working with a waveform
- fade
- finding the right file

Hard:
- mixer
- creation music from the beginning
- markers

Expert:
- Effects!!!

Reading. Characteristics of radio.

During my module I read a lot about radio and sound in general. The course is mostly practical, but theoretical part of it is useful, because it's the basement of the knowledge.

Characteristics of Radio is like throwing a glance into the deepest parts of the radio but nevertheless it covers the questions which actually can be answered logically.

The listeners and the radio itself are blind. We can use just the information that we hear because the visual part of it is invisible - in another case it will be television.

The context should be clear and simply told. The sender should remember that the receiver is not able to follow long complicated sentences with several examples. The text should be easily understood.
Radio is similar to literature in some ways, but with voices which are used to tell information. Personally I cannot withdraw to argue this point, because literature, even scientific and journalistic one, is not tabued to tell the "plot" as easy as it can, moreover fiction literature shows how to express emotions and take the reader to another world just using words and letters. Whereas radio can use music and sounds to create an atmosphere of another space. And the main goal is to transfer the listener all information which is needed to be transfered and to make it as prettier as it can be.
Radio should describe everything - because it remembers that the listener cannot see what is happening, but just hear! For example, the stories which are told on the radio contain a lot of discription which is rare told in real life, such as shouting "What are you doing with this gun?" shows the listener what another character is doing.
The guests are always humans. But is it interesting for the listener to learn what they ate for breakfast?
Radio always stats in present time. But the location can be different and can vary, if it's needed, but, of course, if the place changes it should be described by using sounds as a background or simply words.
Radio is very useful because it helps us to be flexible. You can cook or drive or lay on the bed - but you still can listen it. That's one of the reasons why radio should describe everything and be simple.
And radio is individual. Because all listeners have got different interests and hobbies. We are searching for a station that can suits us and can tell what we want to hear. And finally we find it.

Chapter 1, The Characteristics of Radio, Understanding Radio, Andrew Crisell, Routledge, 1986


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_four

Loop - film project.

I couldn't find time to write here anything because I was engaged in a filmmaking process as a sound runner. Loop is a short film made by a trio of Sussex students, a very interesting one. What did I do? A lot of things, but the most important one is that I learnt how to work with sound in practise. Here are some photos and all are with my ego:

If you want to see some more photos, you're welcome to visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/loopFilmProject (such a small advertisement).

The microphone that I'm holding in my hands is named as a direcionais shotgnut or a boom. It is used mainly for recording dialogues and a it heavy. A good example of a microphone for recording speech and all direct sounds is Sennheiser K6 Kit.
Of course, it's not just recording on its own. One person should run a recording system, which is connected with all microphones on the set.

Different music, sound and my lovely ego.

Talking about sound I cannot skip music topic. As for me I love different kinds of music, but generally prefer symphonic and academic one. And I seriously not able to understand how some people can like, for instance, club music.

For me, sound and music are part of my little world and I know that cannot survive without them. As an audial person I prefer to listen rather than to watch and music is not a background for me, but an art, a creature. A lot of people are not paying attention to music, thinking about it as a background, but if they do, they can see that this is a treasure. Sadly, but people are getting used to music and sounds around them, they sometimes do not notice it. For instance...

...Our first assignment for Sound module was writing down the sounds which you can hear right now. I've got the next list:

- seagulls

- wind

- clanking keys

- fast steps

- whirr of a big fan

- opening door

- my heart beating, pulse.

- tilting trees (because of the wind)

- clothes rustle

- somebody is driving a car

- laugh

- stones running under shoes

- breathing

- buzzing fly.

And it's just a beginning! You can hear more if you want. The trick is - to listen. 

And actually between music and sound there is a strong connection. If you know what and how to listen  - you can find beauty in most places. But what can you find on the road? A lot of passing cars, how boring. Just because of them you sometimes are not able to hear yourself, so what can we say about other sounds! But if you go inside a forest you can find thousands of sounds. The better place - the better quality and number of sounds you can get. For me academic music is like a natural music, which links together colours and shapes which can exist together. And which are a great pleasure to listen to. But, maybe, you like sounds of a hundred of cars.

Sound as life.

Good day.
My name is Anne and I'm going to conduct you through the world of sounds. Hope you'll like our journey.

Most of us hear different sounds every day. We even can hear sounds while sleeping. But we are rare listening to them. Or analyse them. Or even notice them. We have get used to sounds which surrounding us, but they are still very important. Sounds create world around us and help us to orient ourselves in the environment. So lets just close our eyes for a couple of minutes.
First part. What can you hear? Voices, wind outside? A car passing by? Somebody is walking on the street and you can hear his steps?
Second part. Now move your attention. Just imagine where are you "placed" and begin to travel. Mentally go outside, walk outside, rotate, try to listen in different directions. If you live in a building, "go" higher or lower and try to "catch" the environment of sounds in various places.
Third part. Now choose a subject. Somebody can talk, there can be a cyclist fastly going away or wind playing with foliage. Choose whatever you want and try to concentrate on it, focus your mind on it. At first the sound is silent, but then it will change and you will be able to hear the palette of the sound.
Last part. Now let's amuse your ego! Move your attention to yourself and start to listen your body. Try to listen not to all parts of your body, but choose one part and focus on it, like we have done in the third part.
This little exercise is very helpful not just to relax but to train your mind noticing things you don't always see or hear.

With love,
Anne.