LO4: Evidence of Recording

The photos below show myself and Josh setting up and using the recording equipment in the sound studio.

After we recorded the parts that we needed.  We searched the internet for a piece of royalty free music that suited the tone of our advert to use as a bedding track. We had to ensure that the music we used was free from any copyright as we could potentially be sued if we were to use material that we didn't have the rights to use. I sourced the bedding music from www.bensound.com. Below I have linked all the sounds that were considered for use in this piece of work.

Referee Whistle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da_M2crWscM

Crowd Noise: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ni75bfkb9uy5hx0/small+football+crowd+by+FNC.mp3

Ball Kick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-XcRTSstu8

Editing

To edit my radio advert I imported all the elements I required into a garage band document. I then added a second track to the document so the voiceover and the bedding music could be played at the same time.

I then adjusted the timings of the two tracks so the guitar riff at the beginning of the bedding music started before the voice over did.

Next, I altered the volume of each track. I did this so the voiceover could be clearly heard over the bedding music whilst still allowing it to be noticeable.

Finally, I added a deep bass amp effect to the voiceover. I did this to make it sound more like a traditional radio voice.

Finished Advert

Feedback

The main response from the feedback was that the style of the advert was good, however, there were some issues with the audio levels. We deemed it necessary to act on this feedback as without making the necessary changes it would not be fit for purpose.

One of the responses suggested that we should alter the audio levels as they thought the bedding track was drowning out the music. We acted on this by loading up the original file on garage band and reducing the volume of the bedding track. We did initially increase the volume of the voiceover track, however, this left it sounding slightly distorted so we reverted the voiceover track back to its original volume. 

Another piece of feedback said that the audio was only coming through the left channel. This had happened because the voiceover was recorded as a stereo file. As the issue was me only having one half of a stereo feed I decided that my best course of action would be to change it to a single mono feed. This would mean that the sound that we had recorded would be played through both ears of the headphones solving my issue.

D1 - How the Auditory Qualities Meet The Identified Purpose

The purpose of this unit was to produce a radio (audio) advert of a professional quality. After changing my radio advert in relation to the feedback I received I believe that the audio quality allows it to meet its intended purpose. Before it adhered to the feedback there was an issue with the audio as it was only coming out of the left channel (e.g. if you are listening using earphones, sound only comes out of the left earphone). As I was using industry standard software, I was able to correct this issue properly meaning that the audio of my radio advert is of the same quality as a professional radio advert which in turn allows it to complete it's identified the purpose.

LO3: Be Able to Plan the Production of Sound Elements for an Identified Media Product

Ideas

For this unit, I will be creating an advertisement/jingle for a radio show called Onside FM (which I am also creating for another unit). The radio show is aimed at 24-40-year-old male football fans from the C2DE categories of the NRS social scale. The advertisement for the radio station will be for products with a similar target audience to the station itself. So the radio show is effectively marketed to this target audience, I will make sure that the advertisements/jingles have conventions that appeal to the football casual culture. I will do this mainly by including backing music that relates to the Brit-pop and alternative genres.


Locations

The majority, if not all of the radio advert will be filmed in the sound studio at UTC Sheffield. Ambient noise from a football match may be recorded at a local football ground (e.g. Oakwell, Bramall Lane) but it is highly likely that we will use a secondary source for the required ambient noise.

Equipment

• Microphone
• Mac
• Amplifier
• Speakers
• Necessary cables

Sound Assets

Referee Whistle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da_M2crWscM

Crowd Noise: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ni75bfkb9uy5hx0/small+football+crowd+by+FNC.mp3

Ball Kick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-XcRTSstu8

Legal & Ethical

OFCOM Broadcasting Code Guidance

Section 1: Protecting under 18's and Offensive language on the Radio 

All content of the radio station should be suitable for under 18's. This means swearing, crude comments and other inappropriate content should be kept off the show. Adhering to this section is crucial as people under the age of eighteen may listen to our radio programme. The script has been checked to make sure that any comments that could be seen as inappropriate are not included in the final broadcast.
Section 5: Due Impartiality and Due Accuracy and Undue Prominence of Views and Opinions

It is of utmost importance that all information on our radio show is factually correct at the time of recording to avoid being prosecuted for slander. For our radio show, this includes news updates, transfer rumours, opinions and interviews. It is important that we adhere to this information as misinforming our listenership could result in a damaged reputation for any persons mentioned during a broadcast.

Section 8: Privacy 

During the broadcast of Onside FM, the presenters (myself and Josh) must ensure that they do not release any information that was given to them in confidence that would make a person feel uncomfortable. This applies to our player interviews more than any other part of our show. We must ensure that unless information comes directly from the player himself, we have permission to talk about certain comments on the advert. Failure to do so could result in a negative backlash and possibly legal issues.

LO3: Exploring Ideas

Audio Moodboard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqSXnUeJNfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Galcxa-_9r0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWAVCxtyTS4


Our jingle needs to be lively and energetic to connote sport; however, it should not be too stereotypical of this genre of radio as we want it to stand out from its competitors (e.g. TalkSport)

LO2: Practice examples of applying Soundtrack Tools

For this task, we were given a two-minute clip from a nature documentary about red squirrels with no audio, just visuals. We were tasked with writing our own script to read over the squirrel documentary.

Firstly we set out to find some introduction/bedding music that would fir the theme of the documentary. This music would, of course, need to be copyright free, so we used a website called Bensound (www.bensound.com). We decided to use panpipe music as we felt this fit well with the theme of nature.

Next, we wrote the script. To do this we simply reworded some facts about red squirrels we found on the internet so it would flow nicely and relate to what was being shown on screen. We then recorded this script a few times in the recording studio at the UTC until we got it right.

The final step was editing. First, we imported the documentary footage into an Adobe Premier file, then we added the music over the top of it. We then added the dialogue and matched it up with what was being shown on screen. We adjusted the volume of the bedding track at the part where the dialogue begins and faded it so both it and the dialogue could be heard clearly. Finally, we trimmed off the excess footage and exported it as a .mp4 file.

LO2: Research and Present a Report into the Creation of a Soundtrack

Ben Burtt is an American sound designer, film editor, director, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked as sound designer on various films, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), WALL-E (2008) and Star Trek (2009).

He is most notable for popularizing the Wilhelm scream in-joke and creating many of the iconic sound effects heard in the Star Wars film franchise, including the "voice" of R2-D2, the lightsaber hum, the sound of the blaster guns, and the heavy-breathing sound of Darth Vader, made from himself breathing into a scuba regulator. Burtt is also known for "voicing" the title character, Wall-E, in the 2008 Pixar movie WALL-E. He also created the robotic sound of Wall-E's voice, along with all the other characters in WALL-E, and was the sound editor of the movie.

In an interview on the official Star Wars YouTube channel, Burtt explains that the soundtrack is completely fabricated in a studio. Only about 15 to 20% of the dialogue in the Star Wars franchise was recorded on-set; everything else was recorded later, including sound effects from footsteps to cloth rustle to exploding Death Stars.

One of the main techniques used to record the added sound is called foley sound. This is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to a film in post-production to enhance audio quality. The most commonly reproduced sounds are footsteps as they are rarely picked up by microphones when the film is being shot. In Star Wars, in particular, all the sounds of the lightsabers and laser blasters will have been added using foley sound as they are impossible to replicate on set while filming. The best Foley art is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience. It helps to create a sense of reality within a scene. Without these crucial background noises, movies feel unnaturally quiet and uncomfortable.

Foley artists recreate the realistic ambient sounds that the film portrays. The props and sets of a film often do not react the same way acoustically as their real-life counterparts. Foley sounds can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying aeroplanes or passing traffic.