Sound Design - Surround Sound 5.1 - Digital Audio IV

                In my digital audio 4 class, I was assigned to sound design an animation. We had the freedom of choosing our own piece as long as we had the permission from the producer. Once I got permission from the producer of the animation called Isolated, I was able to start my foley cue sheet.

                A foley cue sheet is a list of all the sounds that I need to create from scratch. Along with the sounds I need, I also have to list the correct time frame of each individual sound so they may be placed correctly. Now foley is any sound created from scratch that you record. You probably wondered how the door slam on a movie sounds real clean. That came all from foley.

                Once I gathered all my sound effects and recorded all my foley effects that I needed, I then jumped into writing the dialogue script into an audio and video format. I then hired several voice talent that fit each specific character. After all the recording was finished I started my next process of production, which was to mix the audio.

                During my mixing process, I leveled out every each frequency on each individual track so that everything was balanced correctly. I then filtered specific tracks that needed boosts or cuts and also added reverb and delay effects to certain vocals. Once all my mixing was completed, I combined the tracks together to make surround sound 5.1 audio stems.

                I then took the stems and imported them into a surround sound hd pro tools session. This was where I was able to automate each sound to fit the description of what you’re watching. If the animation shows you that a car is coming from the right side, you will hear a car coming from the right. If there are people running from the back, you will hear running footsteps in the back speakers.

                In due time, the project took 11 weeks to complete. I was able to master the animation into surround sound and actually listen to it from 6 different speakers. This was a great learning experience overall. I am now able to mix and master any

film into 5.1 surround sound.

Audio Head Phone Amp

This is my electronics kit project where I was taught how to calculate voltage, current, and resistance. Here I purchased a head phone stereo amp. On this first picture, I used all my electrical equipment to check if any circuits were working properly. This process is called bread boarding. I tested and connected the whole signal flow process. It took me about 5 hours with several short breaks in between. I also was using a safety kit to protect myself from any accident.

 Once I've accomplished the signal flow and found out every component was working correctly, I was able to start soldering all the compositors, diodes and other resisters together. Soldering is the process where you actually bring the component to life. It consisted of actually melting metal and fusing the component to the computer chip. Soldering was one of the most difficult task asides from bread boarding. Bread boarding just consisted of connecting signal. Not difficult, but very tedious.

The whole project was a long process and took some serious time and patience. I had to make sure every solder I made was connected correctly with the right component. If I were to connect the wrong resistor, my head phone amp would have not been working. I would of haven to re-melt the solder and try my best to disconnect the component which is very hard to do.

After finishing up soldering all the components together, I started cleaning up the computer chip before assembling it into its display case. The best part about the project was actually seeing the head phone amp turn on and work. Knowing that all your components that you connected are routed correctly is a real good feeling at the end of the day. With all the hard work and dedicated effort I applied into this project, I ended up with an A to put me back on the Deans Honors Awards once again.