MMS 172 Closing Blog

My Audio in Multimedia Experience

Audio in Multimedia to me was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. Before getting into the course, I was quite thrilled to learn more about audio but when I actually started going through the modules, it was a bit harder than I thought it would be. So while there was still some excitement in me, I also got worried about properly understanding the unit lessons. But then after that, I got into actually producing my own audio output which turned out to be very interesting. While I struggled a bit with recording my audio pieces, the mixing that came after was very enjoyable and was surprisingly easier to understand. 

In my opinion, the course was planned out well in the way that it allowed us to be able to focus on understanding the unit lessons first and while there were optional activities for better understanding, they were not pressuring. This, to me, was very helpful and enabled me to focus on absorbing the lessons first before worrying about having to do requirements and receiving a grade for it. In consequence, I was also able to give more focus on planning and executing my final project.

Before I talk about my own output, I first want to mention my thoughts about my classmates’ projects. I am not going into much detail about this but I found it really fascinating how there were so many fun and unique audio output ideas from everyone. I also liked and related with how a lot of them took their personal experiences and environments to create a project that is uniquely theirs. Some that I was really amazed about were mostly the audio and radio dramas that some classmates have done. Those types of projects became really impactful to me perhaps because I am not very confident with using my voice especially in terms of acting. With this, I think that my skills are still far from becoming on par with theirs.

On the other hand, as someone whose audio experience includes simply trimming audio on video editing softwares like CapCut or Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, I was also in awe of the knowledge and tips that have been shared through multiple discussions in the portal. Some of them have been helpful for my project too!

There were some obstacles that I encountered in the process of doing my final project but the most significant one is slight time constraints because of some unexpected workload from different courses. Even though there was a lot that could be improved for my final project, I think that I did the best that I could do for the most part. Without comparing with others and just focusing clearly on my current skill standard, I think that I actually did better than I expected. I enjoyed learning mixing as well as using virtual instruments using Logic Pro. Like what I mentioned in the last section of my final project, I was pleasantly surprised at how my vocal mix and transition sounds came out well beyond my expectations. Of course, it is not perfect and could still be improved with better equipment but I think that it turned out pretty good considering what I currently have.

Speaking of stuff that still needs some improvement, I also mentioned that my violin tracks could be better but in terms of recording, I already did whatever I could. While trying out different microphone settings, I managed to slightly improve it but it is still far from professionally recorded instruments. Hence, I could only do my best to make the quality using Logic Pro. It was also unfortunate that I couldn’t blend the violin tracks cohesively with the accompaniments that I have tried to do using Logic Pro’s virtual instruments. It could have added some layers to the project. Furthermore, a small part of me thinks that I could have explored more to make my project more entertaining. Whether it involves adding ambient sounds or adding lines to the script that will allow me to include some foley sounds. Nevertheless, while I wouldn’t say that it is on par with some of my classmates’ works, I was still decently satisfied with my project output. 

This course, for me, helped a lot in making me understand what audio is made up of. Specifically, I mentioned way back that I expected this course to help me produce or improve audio, taking the perspective of someone who is interested in video editing and motion graphics as a career. By the end of this course, I think that it achieved that expectation. There is undoubtedly still a lot for me to learn and explore but even so, I think that I can already be able to apply what I currently know in some personal projects. The experience gave me both new and improved perspectives of sounds and audio.

I am relieved that I finished this course properly but at the same time, if given the chance, I am also open to learning about audio even more. Finally, with my first term as a senior incoming, I have already seen a few courses where I can possibly use what I have learned in MMS 172. That in itself makes me look forward to what’s next.

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