Technological processes of creating soundtrack in an audiovisual work

The purpose of the article is to study the main components of the technological process in the formation of the soundtrack of the audiovisual space. The research methodology is based on the use of methods of source search, systematization, and comparative analysis. The scientific novelty lies in the representation of the attempt to create a theoretical concept concerning the importance of technological processes in creating the sound design of works. Conclusions. The article presents the concept of technological processes for creating sound in the audiovisual context, as a scientific and practical phenomenon, in the form of a panoramic figure. The research will serve as an incentive to search for updated options for combining existing elements of the background composition, as well as to create previously unused sound effects. Keywords: sound design skills, background composition, sound field unit, sound recording techniques, sound design.

Managing Stages of Film Sound Production

The purpose of this article is to analyse the main stages of sound production in film. The study aims to establish the main principles of film sound design, prove the importance of a rational approach to each stage in the context of their impact on the results of the study, and determine the role of sound in film dramaturgy. The research methodology is based on theoretical methods, namely an analysis of information sources, comparison of Ukrainian and foreign approaches to filmmaking, generalisation and systematisation of practical knowledge and experience of sound production in film from the first sound film to the present day. Scientific novelty. The management structure of sound production’s modern stages and their impact on creative and technical components of film soundtracks is analysed in detail for the first time. Conclusions. The article analyses the stages of sound production in film and establishes the main principles of sound design by studying Ukrainian and foreign approaches to creating sound in the film. The author summarises the rational approach to each stage in the context of their impact on the results of the study and examines the role of sound in film dramaturgy.

Cultural markers in the Brazilian film O auto da Compadecida and its subtitles in English

This article proposes a typology of translation of cultural markers in subtitles and uses as research material the film O auto da Compadecida (Arraes, 2000) in Brazilian Portuguese and its translation, A dog's will (Magrath, Videolar, 2000). The difficulty that cultural markers generate during various translation processes is evident and is accentuated in audiovisual works, in which different elements converge (text, image, sound design, soundtrack, body language, among others). To contribute to its analysis in this context, we used the concept of cultural marks and markers (Reichmann and Zavaglia, 2014), translational modalities (Aubert, 2006b), and considered translation techniques (Nunes, n.d.) to arrive at the typology presented here, followed by examples and illustrations.

Euclidean Algorithm for Sound Generation

Euclidean algorithm is known by humanity for more than two thousand years. During this period many applications for it were found, covering different disciplines and music is one of those. Such algorithm application in music first appeared in 2005 when researchers found a correlation between world music rhythm and the Euclidean algorithm result, defining Euclidean rhythms as the concept.In the modern world, music could be created using many approaches. The first one being the simple analogue, the analogue signal is just a sound wave that emitted due to vibration of a certain medium, the one that is being recorded onto a computer hard drive or other digital storage called digital and has methods of digital signal processing applied. Having the ability to convert the analogue signal or create and modulate digital sounds creates a lot of possibilities for sound design and production, where sonic characteristics were never accessible because of limitations in sound development by the analogue devices or instruments, nowadays become true. Sound generation process, which usually consists of modulating waveform and frequency and can be influenced by many factors like oscillation, FX pipeline and so on. The programs that influence synthesised or recorded signal called VST plugins and they are utilising the concepts of digital signal processing.This paper aims to research the possible application of Euclidean rhythms and integrate those in the sound generation process by creating a VST plugin that oscillates incoming signal with one of the four basic wave shapes in order to achieve unique sonic qualities. The varying function allows modulation with one out of four basic wave shapes such as sine, triangle, square and sawtooth, depending on the value received from the Euclidean rhythm generator, switching modulating functions introduces subharmonics, with the resulting richer and tighter sound which could be seen on the spectrograms provided in the publication.

Developing Procedural Generation Tools for Video Game Audio Designers

<p>In video games, audio is often a vital element in the creation of immersive gaming experiences. One set of techniques that are particularly well suited to attaining this immersion are procedural audio techniques. These techniques enable enhanced immersion through supporting close synchronisation between player and game state in ways that are difficult to achieve with other game audio techniques. While this is the case, there is a lack of GUI and script-based tools that support the use of such techniques. This thesis explores this lack, and documents the development of two new video game tools for the creation of procedurally generated audio. The first of these tools is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) library that supports the playback and real-time manipulation of MIDI files in the Unity game engine. The tool achieves real-time procedural audio, yet fails to meet required levels of time accuracy and is only a partial success. The second tool developed is a plugin hosting application that enables the use of the popular audio plugin format, VST2, in the Unity game engine. The tool succeeds in achieving VST2 effect plugin loading and, at the time of the completion of this thesis, is the only tool capable of embedding such plugins into applications developed in a major game engine. This will be of significant benefit to game developers who wish to achieve a high degree of immersivity in the music and sound design in their games.</p>

Developing Procedural Generation Tools for Video Game Audio Designers

<p>In video games, audio is often a vital element in the creation of immersive gaming experiences. One set of techniques that are particularly well suited to attaining this immersion are procedural audio techniques. These techniques enable enhanced immersion through supporting close synchronisation between player and game state in ways that are difficult to achieve with other game audio techniques. While this is the case, there is a lack of GUI and script-based tools that support the use of such techniques. This thesis explores this lack, and documents the development of two new video game tools for the creation of procedurally generated audio. The first of these tools is a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) library that supports the playback and real-time manipulation of MIDI files in the Unity game engine. The tool achieves real-time procedural audio, yet fails to meet required levels of time accuracy and is only a partial success. The second tool developed is a plugin hosting application that enables the use of the popular audio plugin format, VST2, in the Unity game engine. The tool succeeds in achieving VST2 effect plugin loading and, at the time of the completion of this thesis, is the only tool capable of embedding such plugins into applications developed in a major game engine. This will be of significant benefit to game developers who wish to achieve a high degree of immersivity in the music and sound design in their games.</p>

Intangible, invisible and eternally nascent: Designing sound in Australian performing arts

This article is primarily focused on sound design in the performing arts. While scenography is usually defined as the visual/object elements of a performance design, it is often discussed as including all of the heard and seen elements: sound, costume, lighting, sets, props and projections. The intention is that these elements work synergistically to create a ‘whole-more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts’, with scenography considered a wholistic discipline that embraces many aspects to support the intentions of the creators and the performers in a performance. Scenographic designers provide bespoke or unique solutions required to do this across specific briefs and budgets. While the discussion here centres on sound design for performance in Melbourne, it is intended to apply more broadly, particularly in developing a more complementary, integrated approach to sound in scenography, and regarding education and processes. This is to encourage a more global and inclusive consideration of the topic – to develop discussion, and therefore potential – of the manifold interrelationships in scenographic design in the performing arts. While there is no attempt to explicitly answer a key question or propose a defined theory, this discussion intends to illuminate various issues in sound design for performing arts in order to develop conceptual and practical approaches that enhance the collaborations and synergies possible in scenography for performing arts, ensuring that the whole is indeed more than the sum of its parts.

The Immersive Continuity of Roma

In Gravity (2013), Alfonso Cuarón introduced a fully three-dimensional sound design approach that was originally termed by Idrovo and Pauletto (2019) as ‘immersive point-of-audition’. More recently, in Netflix’s Roma (2018), Cuarón not only perfected such treatment of sound, but consolidated an audio-visual style that stands out for its capacity to enhance our sensation of ‘presence’ in the narrative world, a style that is referred here to as immersive continuity. Grounded on the spatiotemporal continuity of the long take, Cuarón’s immersive continuity allows sound objects to flow all around the 3-D space, and hence opens a giant window of opportunity for the exploitation of Dolby Atmos. Through an extensive analysis of Roma, this article describes the aesthetics of such audio-visual style, and beyond, it explores the methods and workflows that permitted Cuarón’s sound team to fully exploit sound three-dimensionality. Finally, I discuss the growing adoption of Netflix as one of the major challenges that the theatrical cinema industry has to face; and argue that embracing immersive continuity may be a powerful weapon for attracting audiences to a cinematic experience that cannot be found at home.