SONIC DESIGN / WEEKLY EXERCISES

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CHIAH CAI JUN 0365352

Bachelor of Interactive Spatial Design / Taylor's University

Sonic Design / Sept 2025

Week 02 - Week 05

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LECTURE NOTES

Week 02

The fundamentals of sound involve understanding its nature, creation, propagation, perception, and properties. Sound is essentially a vibration of air molecules that stimulates our eardrums, and this process can be broken down into three main stages: production, propagation, and perception.

Production of sound
  • Occurs when an object vibrates, such as vocal cords or speakers. 
  • When speaking, the vocal cords vibrate, creating sound waves that travel through the air.
  • Speakers vibrate their cones to produce sound, which then propagates through the surrounding medium.
Propagation of sound
  • Involves the transmission of these vibrations through a medium (air, liquids, or solids).
  • Sound travels as longitudinal waves, where particles vibrate parallel to the wave's direction, creating compressions and rarefactions. 
  • The speed of sound varies depending on the medium: fastest in solids, slower in liquids, and slowest in gases. 
  • The wavelength is the distance between two consecutive compressions or rarefactions and the frequency (measured in Hertz) indicates how many wave cycles pass a point per second.
  • In solids, particles are close together, allowing sound to travel quickly, whereas in gases, particles are spread out, slowing the transmission.
Perception of sound
  • Occurs when the sound waves reach the ear. 
  • The outer ear captures sound via the ear lobe and directs it into the ear canal, where it vibrates the eardrum. These vibrations are transferred through three tiny bones in the middle ear to the cochlea in the inner ear, which contains fluid that vibrates in response. These vibrations are converted into electrical signals sent to the brain, allowing us to perceive the sound. The cochlea's response varies depending on the frequency of the sound, with different regions vibrating for different pitches, enabling us to distinguish between high and low notes.
Properties of sound
  • Wavelength: Distance between two successive compressions or rarefactions.
  • Frequency: Number of cycles per second, measured in Hertz (Hz). Human hearing ranges from approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with lower frequencies producing lower pitches and higher frequencies producing higher pitches.
  • Amplitude: Height of the wave, which correlates with loudness (the larger the amplitude, the louder the sound)
  • Pitch: Determined by frequency; higher frequency results in a higher pitch.
  • Timbre: The quality or tone of the sound, influenced by the envelope and harmonic content.
  • Loudness: Perceived intensity related to amplitude.
  • Duration: How long a sound lasts, which can affect perception.
  • Spatialization: The perceived location of sound in space, which depends on how sound waves are directed and reflected.
Additional Phenomena
Include echoes, which occur when sound waves bounce back after hitting a surface, and psychoacoustics, which studies how humans perceive different properties of sound such as pitch, loudness, and timbre, affecting emotional and cognitive responses.

Week 03

The fundamentals of sound involve understanding its nature, creation, propagation, perception, and properties. Sound is essentially a vibration of air molecules that stimulates our eardrums, and this process can be broken down into three main stages: production, propagation, and perception.

Sound shaping is the process of refining and transforming audio to create a specific tonal character or spatial feel. We explored two key tools for sound shaping: parametric EQ and reverb. Parametric EQ allows precise control over frequency bands, enabling adjustments that can make a sound brighter, warmer, or more focused. Reverb, on the other hand, adds a sense of space and depth, helping to place sounds within an environment—such as a small room, hall, or open space. Together, these tools form the foundation of sonic design, allowing us to sculpt how a sound is perceived and experienced.

Week 05

Basic sound designing tools
good balance of trebble and base
time stretching: stretching audio (when audio strectched, more slow)
time compress: compress = faster
pitch shifting
reversing: reverse sound
pitch-shifting: 

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EXERCISE 01: QUALITY MATCHING

Instructions

Using the flat audio as the reference, we need to restore the provided audio source in Adobe Audition to closely match the flat version. We will use the Parametric Equaliser to adjust the audio’s brightness.

Figure 1.1 My workspace in Adobe Audition

The Parametric Equaliser acts as a tool to enhance the sound quality — the left side controls the bass, while the right side controls the treble. Increasing the bass creates a boomy sound, while reducing it results in a stumpy or thin sound. By balancing both the low and high frequencies, we can achieve the ideal listening experience.

The images below are screenshots of my exercises in adjusting the sound using the Parametric Equaliser:

Figure 1.2 EQ 1

Figure 1.3 EQ 2
Figure 1.4 EQ 3

Figure 1.5 EQ 4

Figure 1.6 EQ 5
Figure 1.7 EQ 6
Figure 1.8 Filter 1
Figure 1.9 Filter 2

Hyperlink
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EXERCISE 02: SOUND IN DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

Instructions

In this exercise, we are required to practice how the sound feels when we are in different conditions. Mr Razif has provided a conversation sample audio for us to modify into a telephone call, with a thinner, clearer distinction of telephone style. Besides, we also need to practice different scenarios to understand how sound is spread in different spaces. Here are the scenarios that we need to create:
  • Telephone
    • Use a narrow frequency range — typically between 300 Hz to 3.5 kHz — to mimic the limited bandwidth of phone audio. Cut low and high frequencies sharply for that classic “tinny” voice sound.
  • Closet
    • Reduce high frequencies slightly and add a short, boxy reverb to simulate sound reflections in a small, enclosed space. The sound should feel muffled and close.
  • Walkie Talkie
    • Apply strong midrange emphasis and a bit of distortion or noise. The sound should feel compressed and slightly harsh, like it’s transmitted through a low-quality speaker.
  • Airport
    • The sound should convey a large open space with many reflective surfaces but not as echoey as at the stadium
  • Stadium
    • Use a large hall reverb with long decay and a slight delay to simulate distance. The sound should feel wide and spacious, as if it’s bouncing off large surfaces.
  • Bathroom
    • Add a bright reverb with short to medium decay and some high-frequency reflections. The space should sound reflective and slightly echoey, as if surrounded by tiled walls.
Figure 2.1 Telephone

Figure 2.2 Closet

Figure 2.3 walkie-talkie (multiplied twice the parametric equaliser for louder effect, shown in 3rd image)

Figure 2.4 Airport (adding reverb for echo)

Figure 2.5 Stadium

Figure 2.6 Bathroom
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EXERCISE 03: SOUND AUTOMATION

Instructions

In this exercise, we are required to adjust the volume and pan of an audio. We also learned about the definition of clip automation; wherever we move it, it stays. We are allowed to modify the distance of sound (left to right, close to far). From what I observe, the yellow lines stand for volume, while the blue line stands for pan (process of positioning a sound within the stereo or surround sound field to make it appear as if it's coming from a specific location, such as left, right, or centre).

Figure 1.1 Exploring pan and volume (clip automation)

Figure 1.2 Adjusting volume to create bumps (clip automation)

As for track automation, it stays with time (time-based); whenever which clip is put in, it applies the same effect to other clips based on timing.

Figure 2 Track Automation

Then, we did some exercises on sound automation, which is something similar to the previous exercises, but we are allowed to adjust the audio to it, moving from left to right, simulating a walking effect when the sound passes by our sides. 

Figure 3 People walking from left to right

Figure 4 People walking into the cave and walking out (from small to loud to small, with echo)

Hyperlink
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EXERCISE 04: ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND

Instructions

In this exercise, we are given 2 environment images. From here, we should create environmental sounds with a narrative that describes the conditions happening in these particular environmental spaces. The similarity of the 2 scenes is that they are situated in an experimental lab or factory-like zones with a lot of mechanical engines and machines. Therefore, highlighting the mechanical sounds in both environments is very important.

Environment 1

Figure 1.1 Environment 1

Elements to be included in the environment:
- water flow in tanks
- water pump motor
- indoor aquarium
- fish tank aquarium filter
- bubble
- computer beep (system calculation)
- computer beep (calculation completed)
- computer fan
- nature (very little background)
- machines (mechanical processing)
- machines (robot sound)
- soldier steps (slight moves when they are standing) 
- moving gun sound
- water droplets (little)

Figure 1.2 Overall mixdown of Environment 1

Environment 2

Figure 2.1 Environment 2

Elements to be included in the environment:
- Laser
- machines (mechanical processing)
- buttons
- computer beep (system calculating)
- Computer beep (calculation completed)
- human steps (walking on wet floor)
- water droplet
- air ventilation
- electric buzzing
- mechanical arm movement
- mechanical door

Figure 2.2 Overall mixdown of Environment 2

Hyperlink
  • waittt im finding my audio files, i think i saved in the wrong format (will update the drive link with mp3 files here by today sry for the inconvenience caused)
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EXERCISE 05: EXPLOSION & PUNCH (to update in project 1 blog)

Instructions

week 05, learn abt punch



three punch (play game effect)


add pitch


chorus multiply voice


adjust chorus

a2: highlight foreground and background
list down sound effect needed
2 attept and 1 final
focus on storyline first



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