PRE-PRODUCTION

PROJECT CONCEPT

Before, I was just interested in music production as it is a field that I never ventured far due to lack of recording equipment, musical instruments, and singing talent. It was a short-lived desire that left my jotted lyrics and incomplete vocal recordings untouched. 

I never really got to record, produce, and mix within my first musical creation platform, Band Lab. However, I was recently introduced to something more—audio production—from the art of foley, audio effects, ambience, vocal, and acoustic recording, to mixing and mastering in DAW. Now, I got to appreciate more how sounds sound, with all the intentionality on how the track is mixed. 

I was inspired to produce an audio drama which could consolidate most of what I learned. I plan to write a first-person POV story myself entitled “Shower Thoughts” and record it in the local language as I find it more fulfilling and personal that way. I know what I want to communicate by the end of it and by what effect I intend the sounds to feel. I got this idea when I was taking a bath, hearing myself and everything else in the bathroom (knowing about reverb being prominent in this location). It was such an intimate and sensory rich experience. That is why I thought the story should also take place in the bathroom. 

It was a perfect way for me to showcase what I mentioned above. I plan the story to progress with foley recordings like the door opening, footsteps, gushing and splashing of water, brushing of teeth, scrubbing of towel to dry hair with correct timing and levels before, during, and after lines. The main character’s voice tracks would be differentiated for both verbal interactions (inside and outside bathroom) and internal monologues through mixing (reverb, panning, stereo, volume adjustments, etc.)

I am to conceptualize Show Thoughts to be something that would depict our thoughts drifting into needless worry and anxiety instead of AHA moments. I want it to picture how we get absorbed with our thoughts that we fail to see how far we’ve come. There would be a twist by the end which I plan to have a background melody that would signal the end and trigger an emotion together with the realization. This part would satisfy my initial interest in music production as well. 

To begin this project, I would need to proceed with story/script writing after which I can do the vocal recordings. For foley sound tracks, household materials would  be prepared and tested first. Meanwhile, a soft soundtrack theme would be synthesized. I would then be proceeding in post-production. This would all be started from scratch, so a lot of preparation, creation, and trials needed to be done.

LOGISTICS

As mentioned, I'll be repurposing available household materials for foley.  That was mostly the necessary tangible instrument I would need aside from my recording and listening device and the rest are vocal and synth in which I would be dealing using already available software. 

Production Area

This is my desktop workstation which I changed the arrangement in my room so that there would not be much wall surfaces parallel to each other for less reverb and placed it near the curtains for sound absorption.

Equipment

I realized my lack of equipment and the value it would offer so I invested for audio devices for this project. 

Microphone

• • Maono PD300X Dynamic Microphone (w/ Pop Filter)

Speakers

• Samson SR850

Digital Audio Workstation

• AMD Ryzen 7 Desktop Rig

• Tracktion Waveform (DAW)

• VST Plugins (for synth)

Physical Instruments (for foley)

• Yet to be decided since specific sounds required are determined by story 

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I am slightly familiar with audacity but Tracktion Waveform is more intuitive and complete. Meanwhile, I've yet to explore how to import the plugins but I would need a lot of virtual instruments for my lack of musical instruments (I do not how to play requiring of practice and available guitars are broken) and effects for equalization and reverbs. 

SIGNAL FLOW

I would be using a dynamic microphone (PD300X) for recording vocals and foley objects. Although not ideal, it is my only mic and my recording place is not fully treated, so it is a good trade off. I also do not own an audio interface but I would not be touching on any acoustic/electric instruments so I would very much simply process everything from sound source to DAW and listen to it from my only listening device (Samson SR850). 

Signal Inflow

Signal Outflow

RECORDING AND MIXING

I would be doing most of my recording in the desktop area of my room especially for voice tracks (using my own voice and some from my parent/s). While some tools for foley are to be record in the bathroom because the instrument are stationary. I would also be recording the ambience within it as well, however I am not sure since our bathroom was kind of noisy. I would be employing the necessary effects like reverb and panning and playing of virtual instruments (for my synth-based underscore) through the digital audio workstation. So far, my sound tracks are composed of:

Vocal tracks

• 1 main vocal track (myself) (effect: internal/verbal monologue;  outside/inside bathroom)

• 2 vocal track (others) (effect: outside bathroom)

Background

• 1 ambience track (bathroom)

• (x) foley tracks 

Synth-based underscore

• 1 drum track (virtual)

• 1 guitar track (virtual)

• 1 piano track (virtual)

I've never done something like this before, and I am excited to discover this field of multimedia. Sure, I have personal experiences of trying out songwriting but it never really started.  I thought I never had the talent, but maybe I can mix? Synthesize? I was really interested in creating something I can call mine. 

I never got to start creating music or mixing tracks for real. At most, I've got experiences in dubbing for school projects and reporting but it was never processed properly. I was never proficient in any audio related software. That is why, everything would be a challenge for me. But it excites me, which could only be a problem of mindset for me. Maybe I would sound cooler now, and possibly with better microphone I could do much more. I currently have a dynamic microphone which could pose a problem for me as I opt to do a foley.

However, I like this, and I already have the background in mixing sounds that inspired me to create and solve problem in audio. This project would be a stepping stone for me in creating higher value productions in the future.