Expanded Studio Practice – 21013810’s blog

Week Ten

It is overwhelming to trying to complete all the work in 3 days and the quality is terrifying. Most of the recording are not done and the editing of all the tracks are not even basic. I have tried to compile all the recordings I have but haven’t been able to create a proper layering of atmosphere, right now its multiple foley sounds played together.

Was facing difficulty in lifting anything heavy to record Elephant footstep and did try to approach someone for any trick. Was asked to try heavy leather chair seat but wasn’t possible. The easiest trick I figured out was to cover an apple with couple layers of cloth and to tie it tightly. Using this on soil of palm to make the sound was more easier, haven’t added the sounds yet.

Figuring out the Placement of Circute recordings

Week Nine

After my shoulder being injured last week, it has been difficult to do any of the work. Mostly I’m unable to move my right shoulder and it has been physically and mentally affecting me. Though I have been trying to keep myself active and to be distracted by work I havnt been able to make any progress, maybe I should change my strategy of working next time in case of any injury by making my left arm more functional.

While trying to record the song Poovilli Poovilli, a Malayalam Onam song later recorded by K. J. Yesudas in 1975. It has been one of the staple song during the festival of Onam. The tempo of the song is apt for the clip since it is a folk song therefore a more fun tempo with slower pronunciation of the words making it easier to sing an inexperienced singer. It gave me a chance to get comfortable with my own voice after multiple tries. To make it easier I had to cut short the lyrics and mix stanza in between though I only managed to sing 3-4 stanzas.

Lyrics:

Ee pooviliyil
Mohamponnin muthayi mattum poovayalil
Nee varu bhagam vangan

Poovili poovili ponnanamayi
Nee varu nee varu ponnanathumbi

Ee pooviliyil
Mohamponnin muthayi mattum poovayalil
Nee varu bhagam vangan

Poovili poovili ponnanamayi
Nee varu nee varu ponnanathumbi

Poo kondu moodum ponninchingathil
Pullanguzhal kattathadum chembavin padam

Innekoyyam nalekkennal
Atham chithira chothi

Poovili poovili ponnanamayi
Nee varu nee varu ponnanathumbi

I did try other songs which are more meaningful songs which are based on Onam but has a bit more touch to the classical side. One of them was Thiruvona Pularithan by sung by Vani Jayram. This one has more rhytham related to the folk dance Thiruvathira, danced during onam and other Kerala related festivals. I couldn’t sing this because of the pronunciation of most of the words, words are more chunkier but singing and getting the ragam right for this one was easier than Poovilli.

Another improvisation I realized was about the holding technique of microphones. While I was trying to not give strain to my shoulder, I tried to hold the mic using my left hand and multitask the process of recording using one hand. It was challenging but I was able to recognice how I shouldn’t hold the mic and most of the recording were not good to be used.

Slight change in the connection of circuit was at times giving better results, when recorded in a dark room with maximum screen brightness.

The picture below- working on circuit- taken previous week:

Week Eight

While trying to place the monologue together it feels like there is something missing which brings a piece of Kerala into the clip. Though I’m trying to recreate the sounds that are heard at day and night separately, the touch missing is the language. It brought me to the concept of overlaying Malayalam and English script side by side but will have to play around with the especially with stereo.

A suggestion from Milo was to use the light sensor by exposing it to the video, this might help in the translation of pattern found in video to audio. My only concern is if it will work for the duration of night since the flashing of the brightness in even, though the visuals are more vibrant.

Trying to understand pro tools is a bit tough but it gets more frustrating when there are thousands of words to be written. At times I’m losing timing because I start to overthink and be frustrated about writing which overshadows my time to learn DAW.

By accident it was found that I could pierce through food packaging (pre-made meal) using chop sticks to make the sounds of the fircracking blast sounds after the Onam scene

The field is supposed to be quite, but it has reached a point were I can or cannot hear the details off it. I’m trying to solve it and later compress it later.

During one of the field recording I was walking in a very lonely street with my H5 connected to my headphones (wanted to record), when suddenly I heard someone wistling but couldn’t see anyone. It was one of the scariest moment I have faced, but it brought me to the realization about the pov and J-cut. Was able to understand the sound aspect of it in that moment.

Week Seven

During the extra session for Expanded studio practice, I got to know that H5 is quite versatile, and I can multipurpose it for recording foley and for the extras sounds to be recorded for the projects. An idea that popped up was if the PD doesn’t work, I can make simple oscillator circuits using different kinds of sensors (touch, light) and manipulate the sound according to visual intensity of the clip. This would be an iteration and a backup for adding electronic sound to the clip to bring a slight difference to completely natural sound-based video.

The reasoning for the importance of electronic sounds in the background because the reduction in the field of agriculture is due to the increase of importance being given to technology than to support and enhance natural sources flow. For this to be a reality we might have to follow the rule of minimum goes a long way with the right balance. This is represented through the video of having majority of the sound being stacked with the sounds of nature and the right quantity of electronic background atmosphere sound to bring freshness and to make communication with all generation easier especially us who are raised in a technology filled era.

Week Four

Week Four:

Watching We Need to talk about Kevin and then working on getting the intro scene was a moment of revelation. It helped me in understanding the process since I had missed the previous session. Getting familiar with studio is still a foreign concept but I would like to try and experiment with foley production more than in the monitoring room. Trying the sequence making in pro tool was a bit difficult and getting familiarized with the communication and coordination was easier due to prior experience and with the help of my group, who were aware and supportive with helping me with the process.

At some point I felt the syncing of the sound with the clip would be much easier with Premier pro, maybe after editing the whole sound just for syncing premier pro can be used.

Option 1

The clip selected for the main project is Aerial by Margaret Tait in 1974. While I was searching for clips which can be used for foley I was found going back to old Indian (Malayalam) movies, since they always have a vivid visual showcase of the setting of the story. This lead me to the movie, Vatsalyam(1993), the most obvious similarity was the nature but the major one I felt was that I could play around with not just what I see, I could easily make it a bit more scary or festive. I could make it Christmas based or Onam (harvest festival) based on the clip.

Option 2

The story is about a farmer brother struggling to maintain his family while educating both of his siblings. the struggle starts to become evident when the younger brother graduates to be a barrister but his greed separates him from his family leading to the disputes in the family.

The reason for choosing a clip from the movie is because it is one of the older Malayalam movies which represents the beauty of Kerala with the most realism. The clip chosen is from the intro of the movie where the setting and the background of the brother is shown. It also shows the

the director of the movie was a well-known actor in the Malayalam movie industry and these are few of the movies directed by him: (https://www.malayalachalachithram.com/movieslist.php?d=1888 )

Week Three

Week 3:

Experimenting just with the speaker and battery poles was a good start but when I started to add materials like pebbles and tangled cassette tapes, it brought more texture to the sound. While the tape and some nails gave a crisp sound, the stones helped in producing more construction like sound when combined with metal brush. The best experiment was when I gave pressure on the rim of the speaker (the rubber rim). It mellowed the sound but with the same pitch.

One of the materials tried was a metal plate, borrowed from a course mate, the screeching sound was not pleasant at all but it can be used in the future as a background with low volume and quick intervals. Will try to mimic the sound of a birds with metal plate next time.Though I tried to fix materials to a still position, especially the paper cone with the alligator clips being connected through the holes made in the cone. The slight echo was good when it was properly enclosed otherwise, need to work on it more.