VSP PROJECT 1 - AUDIO EDITING EXERCISE

VSP PROJECT 1 - AUDIO EDITING EXERCISE

8.10.2025 -  16.11.2025 / Week 3 - Week 8

Dave Christian Moniaga / 0385630

Video and Sound Production / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project 1: Audio Editing Exercise

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Table of Contents

1. Lectures
2. Instructions
3. Project 1
1. Audio Dubbing
2. Sound Shaping
4. Feedback
5. Reflection

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Lectures

Week 3:

Mr. Kannan briefly talked about the basics and the requirements of our audio dubbing project. We would need to mix sound in a way that supports the action and engage the viewer. 

In this project we will be putting focus on Speech/Dialogue and Sound effects. We won't be doing music for now. 

There are two type of sound effect, 

• Hard Sound effects 
• specific sounds that enhance a particular action/event; door creaks, breaking glass, gunshot.
  
  
• Ambient effects
• background noise that helps create a sense of environment and atmosphere (wind, crowd noise).

There are a few requirements for this particular exercise,

• One dialogue track for each character (3 tracks)
• 4 tracks for sound effects 
• 3 tracks for ambience sound
• The use of audio effects such as Pitch Shifter to match voice with the character
• Volume:
• Dialogue: -6dB & 12-dB
• Ambience: below -20dB
• Hard sound effects: Flexible

Week 8:

Frequency is measure in Hertz (Hz) and there are seven subsets of frequency used to define the range as seen in the picture. 

Fig 1.1 Frequency subset and their ranges

Decibels are the threshold of human hearing and measured in 0db SPL (sound pressure level). As it can be seen from the graph, the threshold of pain and instant damage stands at 140db.

Fig 1.2 Average sound pressure of sounds

Mono sounds are recorded using one single audio channel ; one speaker, while stereo are recorded using two audio channels; left and right.

Fig 1.3 Stereo and Mono audio representation

phantom mono sound source

frequency depends on height

reverb depends on front and back, on depth

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Instructions

Project 1: Audio Dubbing

In this week we were given the task to edit and dub the audio of a short scene from the movie, "Everything Everywhere All at Once".

The resources that were given to us are the subtitles and the scene with no sound.

Fig 2.1 Provided subtitles

To help with productivity, Mr. Kannan allowed us to create a group of four students to share a google sheet where we can list down scenes, duration, dialogue, sound effect, and ambience. 

Firstly, I recorded all the necessary dialogue audio using my own voice while also having the scene open as reference for the timing & context. 

Fig 2.2 Process of recording audio

Fig 2.3 All recorded dialogue audio

With the dialogue audio, sound effects, and ambience available, I started exporting all the current element as one project into Premiere Pro. 

My current plan for the set up will be Dialogue track > Sound effects > Ambience.

The first step is to lock the video track as I will not be adjusting it or moving it in any way. This also reduces any accidental mistakes from happening. 

Fig 2.4 Video track lock

The audio track is separated based on the amount of characters, meaning there are 3 tracks for Waymond (man), Evelyn (woman), and Deirdre (office lady).

Fig 2.5 Audio dialogue separation based on character

Based on the guidance of Mr. Kannan, we are introduced to the Pitch Shifter which can help change our tone to match the character's voice. In my research I found that there is 100 cents in 1 semitone. Meaning aside from the semi-tone slider, I can also adjust the cents for a more precise adjustment. 

For female characters, I purposefully increased the pitch to make my voice more feminine and higher. I noticed that above a certain threshold, the voice can become a bit comical especially since my voice during recording is already pretty high. 

• Evelyn (woman): +1.5 semi-tone
• Deirdre (office lady): +1.2 semi-tone

Fig 2.6 Pitch Shifter adjustment 

As I have adjusted and timed all of my dialogue correctly, I made sure to listen to each dialogue in 'solo track' to make sure there are no mistakes and volume peaks. Here I can freely adjust the volume again in the effect controls tab if I want to.

Fig 2.7 Solo track checking

With sound effects, since my methods of acquiring them vary, I would have to manually change the volumes for each clip rather than the audio track mixer. 

During my editing, I noticed that some sound effects also needed a change in speed as it didn't sync up correctly and didn't give the exact sound that I want in with the scene.  

Fig 2.8 Clip speed adjustment

Using this method, I am able to also use the sound effect when Evelyn swings her broom as a transitional sound when the camera moves to the side. 

Lastly, since the scene's ambience changes a lot, I put a lot of audio transition before and after to make sure each change doesn't seem abrupt. Based on my research from this video; Constant Gain is for a constant or sudden volume change, Constant Power is for a more smooth and gradual volume change, and Exponential Fade is for a volume that fades out into silence.

Fig 2.9 Constant Gain for abrupt audio change

I used Constant Power during smooth transition in between audio too, for example when the door to the closet finally opens and the screaming of the people outside can be heard louder. 

This is the layout of the final edit audio tracks:

Fig 2.10 Final editing layout sequence

Final Submission

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Project 1: Sound Shaping

The short voice clip that I made and will be used for this sound shaping project was a quote taken from the Metal Gear Solid videogame; "Six Bullets...More than enough to kill anything that moves!".

1. Voice of phone call.

Fig 3.1 Parametric Equalizer levels for Phone Call #1

I noticed from this video that you can enhance the telephone call effect by lowering down the bass and treble even more while pushing the mid-range higher.

Fig 3.2 Parametric Equalizer levels for Phone Call #2

2. Voice coming from inside of closet.

Similar to the muffled voice that was done in the class tutorial, I kept the bass of the sound at the same level, the treble to the bottom, and raise the midrange to the top.

Fig 3.3 Parametric Equalizer levels for sound inside of a closet

3. Voice of toilet/bathroom.

This time, instead of using the Parametric EQ, the Reverb is used instead.

Fig 3.4 Reverb levels for Bathroom sound

To create a bathroom like sound; there will be a short decay time as the room size creates short echoes, low pre-delay time as sounds bounce back instantly, medium diffusion, and low perception as the space is small. The wetness level should stay low as to not overpower the original voice.

4. Underground cave.

On the other hand, in an underground cave, all reverb sounds are basically amplified.

Fig 3.5 Reverb levels for Underground cave sound

The decay time would be really long, pre-delay time is also long, so as the diffusion, and the perception would also increase as there is more space for the sound to travel and bounce back. the wetness also would have a higher power.

5. Alien/ Orc voice

For this option, I chose to try and create an Orc voice out of the two options. From our previous lessons we had used a pitch shifter before which I will be using again to lower the sound of my voice. 

Fig 3.6 Pitch shifter for Orc sound

Although it sounds pretty good already, I chose to do more research and added a preset Distortion. I had gotten this tip from a video (Special>Distortion). It should make the voice sound heavier and gravely, like its coming from a bigger creature. 

Fig 3.7 Distortion for Orc sound

Here are the final results:
Project 1: Sound Shaping Google Drive Link

1. Phone Call

2. Closet

3. Bathroom

4. Cave

5. Orc