Final Project

AudioBook: The Lion Who Wouldn't Try

"Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

― William Faulkner

My first recording in this subject was an Audio Book entitled The Great Hill by Daniel Errico. I reflected back to that experience and listened to the recording again. For my final project, I challenged myself to apply what I have learned from this course. I wanted to come up with an improved output that would reflect my better understanding of Audio in Multimedia Studies.

The Project

As noted in the Pre-Production Plan, I wanted to come up with an Audio Book that will be appreciated by children ages 3-5. While looking for a book that I will be presenting, I realized that most books for this age range rely heavily on graphics. The book "The Lion Who Wouldn't Try" for example was very dependent on illustrations in presenting the story. Graphics is very important in bringing children's imagination alive and is crucial in catching and maintaining their attention. Thus, the main challenge is how to give them the same level of experience as reading an illustrated book but only through audio.

The solution, use my voice not only to read them the story but also to convey emotions. It is also necessary to use music, sound clips and special effects to bring more life to the story.

The Recording Set-Up

Acoustic Treatment

In previous lessons, it has been established that finding the ideal recording environment is very important in achieving the desired audio outcome. I have come to acknowledge that Acoustic Treatment is necessary for all types of recording. However, Acoustic Treatment can be costly so it is imperative to find more practical and cost-friendly solutions.

I initially planned to use my workplace Conference Room for this project because it was designed to minimize external noise thus eliminating the problem of ambient sounds. The room also has good reverb that was great for the Radio Program project. However upon testing, I found that the reverb in the room was not a good fit for this project (see test recording A).

I initially thought of just adjusting the reverb in post-production but I wanted to use this opportunity to test tips and tricks that has been shared by my classmates namely Elisha Ria, Kean Osmund and Madz Aranilla. So, I decided to record my final project in the comforts of my room. As noted in Assignment 5, I am satisfied with the level of ambient noise and reverb in the room due to existing household items that served as sound absorbers . But in addition to this, I adopted the strategies shared by classmates to come-up with the final recording set-up.

Recording Device

As noted in my pre-production blog, I initially intended to use the Macbook Pro as the recording device and the Sennheiser DW 30 HS as the microphone. After doing a test recording, I found that the sound is good but the amplitude was very low (see test recording B).

Since my plan is to add music and special effects in the Audiobook, I was concerned that these elements will overpower the narration. In the end, I used my back-up plan, the Macbook Internal Mic because the sound was louder due to its 3 microphone feature. Ambient Noise Reduction is also available and activated.

Acoustic Treatment and Recording Device Set-up

With everything planned out and tested, here is the final recording set-up.

Recording Box

Pillows as Sound Absorbers

Recording Device in the Final Set-up

Recording Software

Quicktime was unanimously the recommended application for recording using a Macbook. I wanted to record it directly in the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) but changed my mind because I was considering the possibility of multiple takes. As such, I recorded my narration separately using this application.

Test Recordings

A: Conference Room & Macbook Internal Mic

B: Conference Room & Sennheiser

C: DIY Treated Room+Box & Macbook Internal Mic

Post-Production

Sound Effects

Adding audio clips to the narration was helpful in putting context to the story. But most importantly, it is necessary to keep the audience interested. Below are the source of audio clips used in the audiobook.

iMovie is a great tool for editing video and audio recordings. However, for this project, it has become a resource for sound effects. Sound clips that was exported from this application include: forest, jungle, water lake, drag race, cartoon cymbal hit, cartoon boing, boing, tiger roar, and small child giggle

Other sound sources particularly animal sounds came from Zapslat and FreeSoundeffects.

iMovie Sound Effects

Sound effects from Free Sound Effects

Sound Effects From Zapsplat

Digital Audio Workstation

I used GarageBand as my DAW because of its simplicity and ease of use. Aside from the audio enhancement options, the background music - African King Tsonshi 01 came from this application as well.

Audio Effects and Plug-ins

After adding all audio pieces in the DAW, I used plug-ins to further enhance my audio recording. Garageband allows 4 plug-ins to be added from a list of 12. I researched on the recommended audio setting for audiobooks and found the a blog entitled Mastering Audiobooks with Alex the Audio Scientist by Scott Jacobi. After reading this blog and reviewing the options explained in the course manual, I decided to digitally enhance my recording by altering Channel EQ, Filter and Compressor.

Audio Effect: Channel Equalizer

According to YATRITRIVEDI in What Is an Equalizer, and How Does It Work?, Equalizer or EQ is used to adjust the loudness of specific frequencies by cutting and boosting the high and low ranges in sounds. Garageband has many presets for Channel EQ. I chose "Make Warmer" because it tilts towards making vocals and bass more prominent as described by Alex Rowe in his article Audio Dictionary: “Warm” vs “Neutral” vs “Bright,” and the role your brain plays in all this. Rowe added that "warm headphones and speakers tend to sound comfy, musical, and pleasant" which is what I want to achieve in the audiobook.

In the technical side, "Make Warmer" uses more of the Low pass filter (LPF) as explained in the course manual. Casey van Wensem in his article How to Make a Track Sound 'Warm' and 5 Other Confusing Audio Terms, Explained writes that adding warmth entails boosting some low-end frequencies (usually between 200 and 500 Hz), or cutting of some of the super-high frequencies.

Audio Effect: Filter

According to Jacobi, it is important to take note of "Peaking." He defines Peaks as the loudest part or parts of an audio file that happens when the script requires adjustment from calm to excited, or from speaking to yelling. This parts he says will most likely have the highest peaks. He adds that Audio Submissions require peaks to be under -3dB, which helps prevent distortion.

I applied this in my recording and used the Filter Preset - "Darkshift". However, this option is set at an Output level of -2db. As such, I adjusted it to -3dB as pictured below.

Adjusted Output Level to -3dB

Audio Effect: Compressor

Compressor as explained in the course reading limits the range between the softest and the loudest part of an audio clip. According to Rob Mayzes in his article A Master Guide to Voice Compression—How To Compress Voice Recordings, improving voice recordings with a little bit of compression involves tweaking of Ratio, Threshold, Attack Time, Release time and Gain.

Since I want a natural voice output, I selected the Compressor Preset "Natural Vocal" and adjusted it accordingly.

Mayzes recommends that for voice recording, a Ratio of 2:1 and 4:1, with 2.5:1 as a great starting point. For threshold, he advices a starting with -24dB and tweak from there. For Attack time, he sets the good guideline at 1-5ms and finds that 2ms is a great starting point. And finally for Gain, 5dB and adjust from there.

While listening to the recording, I adjusted the values based on his recommendations as well as my preference. See image on the left for the final values.

My Final Project

Finally, after several trial and error and a lot of tinkering and adjusting, below is my final output. Enjoy!

Note: Please check embedded links for information resources

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