Sound Design - Final Audio

I like the way the final product has turned out, I would like to improve the voice over so that it flows better and the positioning of the objects in the sound scape.

Final Audio

Sound Design

Brief

Pick a Short 30sec - 1min piece of text and create a soundscape to match the text. Only use the techniques that Pierre Schaeffer was limited to in the 50's. Use reverbs, cutting, pitch shift, reverse and distortion to edit the recordings.

I chose to use a cooking recipe because I know that it will be achievable, it can be recorded in a concealed environment, it will be short and it can have some recognisable/distinctive noises that are widely known. I chose Spaghetti Bolognese because I know that to cook it I can use commonalty familiar cooking noises like chopping, a gas stove, frying and bubbling. A oven meal has less specific noises and a raw meal limits the texture of sounds.

Mr Bill, Lego Bolognese

Text Choice

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

1. Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and once hot add the beef mince and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the mince until well browned over a medium-high heat (be careful not to burn the mince. It just needs to be a dark brown colour). Once browned, transfer the mince to a bowl and set aside.
2. Add another tablespoon of oil to the saucepan you browned the mince in and turn the heat to medium. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and fry gently for 5-6 minutes, or until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes. Add the grated carrot then pour the mince and any juices in the bowl back into the saucepan.
3. Add the tomatoes to the pan and stir well to mix. Pour in the stock, bring to a simmer and then reduce the temperature to simmer gently for 45 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and rich. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
4. When ready to cook the spaghetti, heat a large saucepan of water and add a pinch of salt. Cook according to the packet instructions. Once the spaghetti is cooked through, drain and add to the pan with the bolognese sauce. Mix well and serve.

Key Words and sounds

1. (Water filling pan) Heat a large saucepan over a medium heat. (Gas stove turning on>) Add a tablespoon of olive oil and once hot add the beef mince (Sudden frying>) and a pinch of salt and pepper (Salt and pepper grinder). Cook the mince until well browned over a (Pan scrapping stove) medium-high heat, be careful not to burn the mince. (Frying>) It just needs to be a dark brown colour. Once browned, transfer the mince to a bowl and set aside (Wood spoon hitting pan).
2. (Oil gulping) Add another tablespoon of oil to the saucepan you browned the mince in (Gas stove turning on>) and turn the heat to medium. (Knife holder) (Chopping and knife scrapping chopping board) (Sudden frying>) Add the onions and a pinch of salt (Salt grinder) and fry gently for 5-6 minutes, (Frying>) or until softened and translucent. (Sudden frying>) Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes. (Grater) (Knife scrapping chopping board) Add the grated carrot then pour the mince (Pouring>) and any juices in the bowl back into the saucepan (Wood spoon hitting pan).
3. (Sudden frying>) Add the tomatoes to the pan and stir well to mix. (Sudden simmer>) Pour in the stock, bring to a simmer and then reduce the temperature to simmer gently (Bubbling>) for 45 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and rich. Taste and adjust the (Season shaker) seasoning as necessary.
4. When ready to cook the spaghetti (Dry Spaghetti), heat a large saucepan of water (Water bubbling>) and add a pinch of salt. (Dry Spaghetti hitting sides of pan) Cook according to the packet instructions. (Water boiling over) Once the spaghetti is cooked through, (Water poring into the sink) drain and add to the pan with (Wet spaghetti & wood spoon hitting pan) the bolognese sauce. (Plates and cutlery) Mix well and serve.

(>= Fade out)

Things To Record

• Water filling pan (Tap)
• Gas stove turning on
• Gas leaking
• Salt and pepper grinder
• Pan scrapping stove
• Frying
• Wood spoon hitting pan
• Oil gulping
• Knife holder
• Knife chopping
• Knife scrapping chopping board
• Grater
• Pouring small amount of liquid
• Simmering
• Water bubbling
• Season shaker
• Dry Spaghetti
• Dry Spaghetti hitting sides of pan
• Water boiling over
• Water poring into the sink
• Wet spaghetti
• Plates 
• Cutlery

Text Recording

I got a deep male voice for my voice over recording because I think that it is assertive and is more legibly heard than a soft, female voice over the cooking sound scape.

Recordings

Im going to be recording on a Marantz Recorder (16 bit & 48khz).

After my first try of recording, I experienced problems with collecting sounds near heat and steam. Im going to try using a shot gun microphone to get more directed recordings, hopefully this will allow me to be able to turn up the sensitivity notch and not get all the background noise when recording quiet subtle sounds.

I couldn't record frying due to heat and grease so I found and edited a sound from youtube.

Editing

I edited the recordings in Pro Tools and Abode Audition. I only used pan, volume and a compresser. The compresser maxed out at -10ddb. To remove a siren in the background of the voice over, I was shown how to remove a certain frequency in the wav file to remover the siren sound with out obviously effecting the narration.