Narrative Soundscape

Headphones recommended.

Summary

This project is an aural journey through an implied series of spaces with no visual elements, following a simple second-person narrative

of my own creation. The soundscape uses audio I have recorded myself, including Foley performed by me, Cameron Dickson and

Xander Abbott. I have mixed the recordings in PreSonus Studio One 6 Professional and mastered the resulting track to the EBU R 128 standard of -23 LUFS for European television and radio programmes, a format also commonly used for video game soundtracks.

Below is a description of the development process.

Development

To produce this soundscape, I first storyboarded a short and simple second-person narrative concerning a journey following a mysterious creature into a lake. This narrative plan can be found below. I planned what recording equipment, props and locations I would need as I wrote, wanting to take advantage of the access to professional microphones and portable recorders the university provides. I hired the equipment from the university and recorded most ambiences and Foley performances at College Reservoir, Penryn, with the assistance of Cameron Dickson. Further sounds were recorded on Penryn Campus with the assistance of Xander Abbott.

Recording sudden bush rustles heard when the creature first appears.

I then imported the recordings into Studio One and trimmed them to remove poor takes, unnecessary gaps between desired sounds and recording faults such as microphone handling noise. Several recordings of longer sounds were marred by faults midway through the sound, which could often be fixed by crossfading; cutting out the fault and merging the parts either side of it with automated volume fading one out while fading the other in at the same rate. All recordings needed balancing with each other in terms of volume, due to variations in recording distance, background noise level and microphone gain.

Cutting up recordings and selecting small sections with faults to delete.

Crossfading clean parts of variable recordings.

Many recordings also required filters to optimise their sound quality; such as an Equaliser to manipulate specific frequencies, most often cutting out muddy bass rumble or emphasising a high-frequency crunch or rustle; or Reverb to integrate particularly close-recorded sounds into a more natural, echoey environment. Recordings such as sudden splashes required a Compressor, used for decreasing the volume range between the loudest and quietest parts of an audio signal, to make their loudest sections more consistent with surrounding recordings without turning down their already consistent quieter sections.

Using an Equaliser to cut out low bass frequencies and boost high frequencies in a specific profile.

Using an Equaliser to locate and cut out a very specific high frequency that interfered with the sound.

Using Reverb to simulate a sound in a more echoey environment.

Using a Compressor to reduce a recording's dynamic range.

Once the recordings were prepared, I arranged them into a cohesive progression to match my storyboard. This was a long process with a lot of trial and error, choosing appropriate takes from each recording for specific places; further editing some to better layer with several others; deciding how long to linger on certain sounds or areas; finding natural balances when panning sounds to the left and right and experimenting with transitioning ambience tracks smoothly with long crossfades. This stage also required me to automate many filters and effects on the audio, dynamically adjusting volume, left/right panning, reverb strength and frequency emphasis or cutoff.

Choosing appropriate takes from one cut-up recording.

Layering multiple recordings for the creature's entrance, curved lines representing volume fades.

Layering multiple recordings for underwater swimming.

Long crossfades for ambience transitions.

Shorter crossfades for stitching together quick creature splashing sounds.

Short crossfades stitching together lots of individual underwater creature paddles, the same five short sounds reordered repeatedly.

A section of the mixing dashboard, showcasing effects applied to tracks as well as their left/right pans and their volumes.

A visual representation of the left/right panning automation of the creature's steps in the initial following sequence.

The panning automation of one of the creature swimming sections.

The volume automation of the same section.

The Equaliser automation of the high frequencies being removed quickly but not sharply, representing the transition to underwater.

The completed mix.

With the mix complete, I needed to export it as one track and apply filters to the soundscape as a whole, to make the mix more sonically consistent. So far, I had been mixing the piece with my headphone volume turned up to near maximum, as the original recordings were very quiet, and due to a lack of foresight I had never attempted to boost the signals to a more normal volume. Upon doing so to the entire mix, several areas were highlighted that caused the overall audio signal to spike above 0dBFS, the maximum accurate volume of digital audio, creating jarring distortions in the exported track.

To rectify this, I applied heavier compression to each individual recording in the problem areas, fixing all except the focus character's dive. I reduced the volume of the entire mix just enough to prevent that volume peak from distorting, and exported it, re-importing it to the project to begin the master. I applied an Equaliser to the track, cutting out any remaining frequencies below 35Hz that would only muddy the sound, then applied a Compressor, setting its threshold around the average volume of the track, with enough strength to diminish anything significantly above it.

To raise the average volume, I then applied a Limiter, able to raise the volume of a track while keeping its loudest parts at a set threshold, a previous iteration of a Compressor with a more limited yet still distinct function. With its threshold at -0.3dBFS and in conjunction with a Loudness Meter, used to monitor volume over time, I adjusted the gain of the track until its average volume was -23 LUFS, the unit for volume over time relative to 0dBFS, with some trial and error. This measurement is the current loudness standard for TV and radio broadcasts in Europe, known as EBU R 128. With this adjustment, the track was at a conventional volume and ready to be exported.

The Limiter capping the audio signal.

The Level Meter reading the overall loudness measurement.

Narrative

You are walking along a gravel path in a forest filled with birdsong. A cyclist passes close by, and soon you approach a bridged river. Before you reach it, a sudden movement in the bushes to your right takes you by surprise. A small creature bursts from the bushes, scurrying further into the forest, and you immediately feel compelled to follow it, turning off the path and into the autumnal undergrowth. The creature leads you on a meandering route closer to the river, now on your left, until you gradually leave it and the lively forest path behind.

You emerge on the edge of a large lake, the atmosphere having become far more subdued as you approached. As the creature approaches the lake, a goose takes flight across its surface, wingtips repeatedly impacting the water at their nadir. The creature hops into the lake, shaking itself and splashing around briefly to acclimatise to the water before diving underneath and quickly swimming out of earshot. You walk to the water’s edge, taking off your backpack without much thought before pausing to consider your plan. Resolving to forge ahead, you remove your shoes and dive into the water.

After the initial shock of diving in, you swim clumsily out into the lake, pausing to steel your nerves before taking a deep breath and ducking beneath the surface. Underwater, it is nearly impossible to detect anything by sight, so you forge vaguely ahead, falling into a regular swimming pattern and heading deeper. After a short time, you pause to regain your bearings, and soon hear the faint paddles of the creature passing perpendicular to you ahead. Pinpointing its direction, you set off after it, though the noise of your kicks and strokes easily drowns out its own.

Soon, you pause again and strain to hear the creature, just about detecting it somewhere in the distance before it swiftly fades from perception. Confused and panicked, you whip your head around urgently to try and regain its trail, but the silence of the lake and your burning lungs force you to instead make for the surface, sound gradually seeping back into the world as you near it. You breach the surface, gasping for air, and hoist yourself from the water, noticing you have travelled to a different shore of the lake, one far less barren. Taking your first steps on dry land, the cyclist passes you by once again.

Credits

Audio Producer

Seb Money

Foley Artists

Seb Money

Cameron Dickson

Xander Abbott

Equipment

Zoom H4n Pro Handy Recorder

Zoom H3-VR Handy Recorder

Røde NTG3 Shotgun Microphone

Aquarian Audio H2d Hydrophone