SOUND PRODUCTION

Sound is a form of energy, just like electricity and light. Sound is made when air molecules
vibrate and move in a pattern called waves, or sound waves. Think of when you clap your hands,
or when you slam the door shut. That action produces sound waves, which travel to your ears
and then to your brain, which says, "I recognize that sound." Sound is defined as a disturbance in
an elastic medium that can be detected by the human ear. The medium can be gas, liquid or solid

Sounds are produced by mechanical vibrations. Vibrating object disturbs the molecules of air
surround it causing periodic variations in the air pressure. As the object vibrates back and forth.
the pressure becomes alternately more. and then less dense.

Poor sound can ruin an otherwise spectacular production. Understanding the importance of
quality sounds in movies, games and songs is a crucial part of understanding what it means to be
a successful – and memorable – filmmaker, music producer and game designer. Take a look at
how audio – or the lack thereof – can positively and negatively affect the visceral reactions and
the contextual information an audience is able to understand about a game, song, or film’s
subject matter.

Sound calls attention to the various moods of the characters in front of the audience, and it
defines the overall tone of the narrative. Music, dialogue, voiceovers, sound effects, and even
silence are all audio post-production parts. And, if used creatively and purposely, they can all
affect the audience in unique ways. In other words, sound helps the audience pick up on what the
image lacks, which is interesting because, as we all know, there used to be a time when all
moving images were completely silent. But even then, they managed to include music scores
played live to make it more sensational. With time, filmmakers and pioneers discovered that
sound was the single element missing to make storytelling more engaging and a richer
experience

It does not matter how good the moving picture may be; if the sound effects are not right, it
won’t work. Sound should be as important as the visual image (if not more important). Could
you imagine watching Interstellar with the amazing special effects, the black void of the
universe, award-nominated performances, but with a horror musical score instead? Or with the
kinds of songs that appear in Guardians of the Galaxy like Come and Get your Love by
Redbone? Not as fantastical, right? But how is it possible to achieve good quality audio? With
the right audio team, you can achieve great post-production sound and sound design that is good
or better than what is on screen. The various types of sound in a production includes the
following:

Music

Imagine no music in a movie. Certain scenes, like the beginning credits, would have dead air.
The movie would seem like it was missing something. Music is a very important element for a
movie. In the silent movie period, music was played throughout the whole movie. A film score is
the music for a movie. The film score is the music at the beginning of the movie when the credits
are rolling, and it sets the atmosphere for the movie.

Have you ever closed your eyes to listen to the music? You can feel like you are being whisked
away by the music to a land where the movie is taking place.

Music is also played at critical points during a movie. Have your emotions ever been on edge
during a suspense thriller when a certain piece of music is played at different points of a movie?
Does your adrenaline start going and your heart start to beat faster during these points of the
movie, when you hear that piece of music, because you know something is going to happen? If
these situations have occurred to you when watching a movie, how would the movie experience
have changed if music was not part of it?

Dialogue

Dialogue is defined as a conversation between two or more people in a movie. In addition, a

movie could have a monologue where a character is speaking out loud when he or she is alone. A
character, for example, may contemplate the pros and cons of taking some form of action in a
monologue.
A movie can also have voice-over narration. Voice-over narration is when a character is
explaining what has transpired in a movie and why. Dialogue, monologue, and voice-over
narration progresses the story of the movie.

Sound Effects

Dictionary.com defines sound effect as “any sound, other than music or speech, artificially
reproduced to create an effect in a dramatic presentation, as the sound of a storm or a creaking
door. An action movie, for instance, is more interesting and bolder with sound effects. With
sound effects, the viewer gets more involved with the movie.

Sound effects are most often added into the movie post production. Many times when filming a
scene with multiple actions going on at the same time, such as dialogue, sword fighting and other
background action, sound effects are added post production to make the effect louder.

Ambient Noises (Background Noise)

Ambient noises are background noises that are in a room, a house, outside, or any given location.
Every location has distinct and subtle sounds created by its environment. Ambient noises are
types of sound effects.

As an example to experience what ambient noises are, stand in a room alone and make
absolutely no noise at all. The room noises that you hear are ambient noises. A room in an older
house would have more ambient noises than a newer home. Also, depending on the
neighborhood, you would have outside ambient noises depending on a location. The following
are examples of ambient noises: wildlife, wind, rain, running water, thunder, rustling leaves,
distant traffic, aircraft engines, machines operating, muffled talking, floors creaking, and air
conditioning.

Background noise gives the movie more realism. A movie character is running through a wooded
area at night. This scene would lack any suspense if there were no ambient noises.

Soundtracks
A soundtrack is an audio recording created or used in film production or post-production.
Initially, the dialogue, sound effects, and music in a film have their own separate tracks (dialogue
track, sound effects track, and music track), and these are mixed together to make what is called
the composite track, which is heard in the film.

ELEMENTS OF SOUND

What we perceive as sound are vibrations (sound waves) traveling through a medium (usually
air) that are captured by the ear and converted into electrochemical signals that are sent to the
brain to be processed.

Since sound is a wave, it has all of the properties attributed to any wave, and these attributes are
the four elements that define any and all sounds. They are the frequency, amplitude, wave form
and duration.

Frequency

The frequency, or pitch, is the element of sound that we are best able to hear. We are
mesmerized when a singer reaches a particularly high note at the climax of a song, just as we are
when a dancer makes a spectacularly difficult leap. We feel very low notes (low pitches) in a
physical way as well,

The ability to distinguish pitch varies from person to person, just as different people are better
and less capable at distinguishing different colors (light frequency). Those who are especially
gifted recognizing specific pitches are said to have “perfect pitch.” On the other hand, just as
there are those who have difficulty seeing the difference in colors that are near each other in the
light spectrum (color-blind), there are people who have trouble identifying pitches that are close
to each other.

Amplitude

Amplitude is the amount of energy contained in the sound wave and is perceived as being either
loud or soft. Amplitude is measured in decibels, but our perception of loud and soft changes
depending on the sounds around us. Walking down a busy street at noon where the noise in the
environment might average 50 decibels, we would find it difficult to hear the voice of a person
next to us speaking at 40 decibels. On that same street at night that 40 decibel speaking voice
will seem like a shout when the surrounding noise is only about 30 decibels.

A decibel is a unit of measurement which is used to indicate how loud a sound is. Continuous
exposure to sound above 80 decibels could be harmful. a unit for measuring the loudness of
sound (deci + bel unit of sound power (20-21 centuries), from Alexander Graham Bell
(18471922), US inventor). Unit for measuring the relative intensities of sounds or the relative
amounts of acoustic or electric power.

Wave Form

The wave form of a sound determines the tone color, or timbre that we hear and is how we can
tell the difference between the sound produced by a voice, a guitar, and a saxophone even if they
are playing the same frequency at the same amplitude.

The simplest wave form is the sine wave, which we have seen diagrammed in the examples for
frequency and amplitude above. Pure sine waves rarely occur in nature but they can easily be
created through electronic means. An instrument with a timbre close to the purity of a sine wave
is the flute. The violin section of the orchestra, by contrast, has a much more complex timbre as
seen in its wave form below.

Duration

Every sound event has its unique duration, which we perceive as being either short or long,
depending on the context. Several durations, one after another, create the rhythm of a piece.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ACOUSTICS

Sound Wave Properties

All waves have certain properties. The three most important ones for audio work are shown here:

Wavelength: Wavelength is the distance between two

corresponding points (for example two successive maxima) along
the waveform. Literally, the length of the one wave.

Amplitude: Amplitude is the unit that measures the distance

between the equilibrium point and the maximum point of the
waveform. Greater amplitudes correspond to
higher volumes..

The strength or power of a wave signal. The "height" of a wave when

viewed as a graph.
Frequency:

Frequency is literally the number of cycles made by a wave

in one second. A cycle is composed of a positive half wave
and a negative half wave. It is measured in Hz (1/sec). A
1Hz frequency wave completes one cycle every second.

Higher frequencies are interpreted as a higher pitch. For

example, when you sing in a high-pitched voice you are forcing your vocal chords to vibrate
quickly.

Echo
(A repetition of sound) Echo's, one or a few at most repetitions of an audio signal. Not all sound
that hits matter is absorbed. Some of it is reflected. That means sound bounces off the solid
matter the way a tennis ball bounces off a wall. Sound reflected back to its source is an echo.

1.One repetitions of an audio signals called as echo

Reverberation
Reverberation is the collection of reflected sounds from the surfaces in an enclosure like an
auditorium. It is a desirable property of auditoriums to the extent that it helps to overcome the
inverse square law drop-off of sound intensity in the enclosure. However, if it is excessive, it
makes the sounds run together with loss of articulation - the sound becomes muddy, garbled. To
quantitatively characterize the reverberation, the parameter called the reverberation time is used.
MICROPHONES

Microphones are a type of transducer or convector - a device which converts energy from one
form to another. Microphones convert acoustical energy (sound waves) into electrical energy
(the audio signal). A Basic Look at Microphones

Different types of microphone have different ways of converting energy but they all share one
thing in common: The diaphragm. This is a thin piece of material (such as paper, plastic or
aluminium which vibrates when it is struck by sound waves. In a typical hand-held mic like the
one below, the diaphragm is located in the head of the microphone.

There are three common type of microphones

1. Dynamic microphone

2. Ribbon microphone

3. Condenser microphone…

1. Dynamic Microphone

Dynamic microphone, a very thin diaphragm of Mylar or other material is attached to a coil of
hair-thin copper wire. The coil is suspended in a magnetic field and, when sound vibrates the
diaphragm, the coil moves up and down, creating a very small electrical current.
Note: At the other end of the audio chain, the loudspeaker is also a transducer - it converts the
electrical energy back into acoustical energy.

Principle :
A ribbon microphone is a unique type of dynamic microphone that is based around a thin,
corrugated strip of metal (often aluminum) or film suspended between two magnetic poles.
Unlike traditional moving-coil dynamic mics, the ribbon element responds to variations in the
velocity of air particles, rather than the pressure. As the ribbon vibrates within its magnetic
field, it generates a tiny voltage that corresponds to these changes in velocity. In classic ribbon
designs, this level is very low compared to typical dynamic mics, and a step-up transformer
boosts both the output voltage and impedance. Pre-amp choice is very important when using
ribbon mics.
Because a ribbon mic has an extremely thin, delicate element, it is capable of capturing fast
transients. Ribbons mics have a wide dynamic range, and are capable of handling high SPL s at
high frequencies.
Ribbon mics are very sensitive, but they are often quite fragile; delicate older models can be
broken by strong gusts of air, voltage spikes or even by being stored on their side.

Condenser Microphones
Condenser means capacitor, an electronic component which stores energy in the form of an
electrostatic field. The term condenser is actually obsolete but has stuck as the name for this
type of microphone, which uses a capacitor to convert acoustical energy into electrical energy.
How Condenser Microphones Work

A capacitor has two plates with a voltage between them. In the condenser mic, one of these
plates is made of very light material and acts as the diaphragm. The diaphragm vibrates when
struck by sound waves, changing the distance between the two plates and therefore changing
the capacitance. Specifically, when the plates are closer together, capacitance increases and a
charge current occurs. When the plates are further apart, capacitance decreases and a discharge
current occurs.

A voltage is required across the capacitor for this to work. This voltage is supplied either by a
battery in the mic or by external phantom power (48v dc).

Cross-Section of a Typical Condenser Microphone

Microphone Directional Characteristics

Microphones: Polar pattern / Graphical representation of microphone’s pick-

up pattern or (Polar pattern)
The pickup, or polar pattern, of a microphone is the shape of the area around it where it picks up
sounds with maximum fidelity and volume. Nearly all microphones can pick up sounds from
areas outside the ideal pattern, but their quality is not as good. For best results, the sound source
should be within the pickup pattern, generating enough volume to allow the audio switcher to
keep the volume control pot at a minimal level.

Microphones are classified according to the following three basic polar patterns.
There are three common type of polar pattern 1. Uni-Directional 2. Bi- Directional 3.
Omni- Directional Uni- Directional

Cardioid Microphone

The unidirectional microphone picks up sound from only one direction. Because of this
characteristic, the unidirectional microphone is used most frequently for television work. It is
used by aiming it in the direction of the sound source being recorded. One advantage to the
unidirectional microphone is its ability to reject unwanted sounds at the side and rear of the
direction the microphone is aimed.

Front side (pick up)

Bi-directional

As the name implies, the bidirectional microphone picks up sound in two directions. This type of
microphone is used primarily in the broadcast or recording studio. It is also used for critical
sound reinforcement applications in which front and rear.

Figure of Eight (8) Front side (pick up)

 Rear side (pick up)

Omni- directional

The Omnidirectional (or all directional) micro- phone is live in all directions. This type of
microphone has sensitivity characteristics in which sound is picked up in a 360-degree radius.
The use of this microphone in television production is limited; however, in certain situations,
you may use it to create a specific sound presence. One example is recording crowd noise for a
sports production.

360 degree (pick up)

Audio file formats

The Audio Files category includes compressed and uncompressed audio formats, which contain
waveform data that can be played with audio playback software. This category also includes
MIDI files, musical scores, and audio project files, which typically do not contain audio data.

Common audio file extensions include .WAV, .AIFF, MP3, and MIDI.
1. Wave (wav)

2. AIFF (Audio interchange file format)

3. MIDI (Musical Instruments digital Interface)

4. MP3 (MPEG Level-1 Layer-3- Motion picture expert group)

5. MP3 PRO (An improvement over MP3.Songs encoded at 64 kbps

6. WMA (Windows Media Audio )

7. Real Audio (Format is used for music downloads)

8. AAC (Advanced Audio coding) (MPEG) AAC offers better sound quality than MP.3 at same
bit rate.
Audio Cables and Connectors :

Audio Cables
There are two main types of audio cable we will look at: Single core / shielded (unbalanced) and
One pair / shielded (balanced).

Single Core / Shielded Cable

In a single core / shielded cable, the single core is used for the +ve, or 'hot', and the shield is
used for the -ve, or 'cold'.
This type of cable is used for unbalanced audio signals.

Single core / shielded cable

One Pair / Shielded Cable

A one pair / shielded cable has one core as the +ve, and the other core is -ve. The shield is
earthed.
This type of cable is used for balanced audio signals.
 One pair / shielded cable

Audio Connectors :
There are a variety of different audio connectors available. The most common types are 3-pin
XLR, RCA, and Phone jacks.

3-PIN XLR
3-pin XLR connectors are mainly used for microphone balanced audio signals. Using a balanced
signal reduces the risk of inference.

• Pin 1 is the earth (or

shield)
• Pin 2 is the +ve (or 'hot')
• Pin 3 is the -ve
(or 'cold).

THERE ARE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT XLR'S - 3-PIN, 4-PIN, 5-PIN ETC

3-PIN XLR
FEMALE(LE
FT)

3-PIN XLR
MALE(RIG
HT)

1. The three hole of blue (left) is female connector. For Output communication.

2. The three pin of black (Right) is male connector. For Input communication.
¼"Phono Jack / Connector (6.5mm Jack)
There are two types of phono Jacks: Mono and stereo. The mono jack has a tip and a sleeve,
the stereo jack has ring, a tip and a sleeve.

• On the mono jack the tip is the +ve, and the sleeve is the -ve or shield.
• On a stereo jack being used for a balanced signal, the tip is the +ve, the ring is the -ve,
and the sleeve is the shield.
• On a stereo jack being used for a stereo signal (left and right), the tip is the left, the ring is
the right, and the sleeve is the shield.

Jacks also come in various sizes - phono (¼"), 3.5mm, 2.5mm. The wiring for all of them is
the same.
1/4" Stereo
Jack(left)

1/4" Mono

Jack(Right)

RCA Connector :

RCA connectors are used a lot for home stereos, videos, DVD etc.

The RCA can carry either audio or video. It is wired the same way as a mono jack: The
center pin is the +ve, and the outer ring is the -ve or shield.

 RCA Connector is commonly used

to carry audio and video signals
 Yellow ‐ Video
 White ‐ Audio (L)
 Red ‐ Audio (R)

Modern Recording studio console :

Mixing Consoles (Mixer Boards, or just Mixers) are the iconic symbol of the modern
recording studio.

A Mixer can be divided into three sections

1. Input section

2. Output section

3. Monitor section

Input section
(Here are the main parts of each and what they do:

• Inputs connect to your mics, electric instruments, and recorder outputs.

• Faders are sliding volume controls that affect the loudness of each instrument.
• EQ knobs adjust the tone quality of each instrument (bass, treble, mid range)
• Aux knobs set the amount of reverb or other effects, and also can be used to set up a
monitor mix or head phone mix.
• Pan pot can be used to set the left, centre, right.
• Channel assign buttons route each input signal to the desired recorder track.