Sonic Design - Project 2

Project 2

For this assignment, we are required to create a storytelling piece using recordings and sound effects. I have chosen Cinderella, a classic and well-known Disney story. The storybook I retrieved is from the Disney Storybook Collection, published in 2015.

Figure 1.1 Disney Storybook Collection

I decided to pick the plot starting from when Cinderella was provoked by her stepsisters and stepmother, who didn't allow her to go to the ball. Then she met her fairy godmother, who created a dress and a coach for her to attend the ball. At the ball, she met the prince and left behind her glass slipper. 

Figure 1.2 Cinderella's Torn Dress

Figure 1.3 Cinderella's Magical Transformation

Figure 1.4 Ready for the Ball

Figure 1.5 The Midnight Escape

I will be recording the storytelling myself. In addition, for each scene I have identified sound effects that can be added to enhance the immersion and make the storytelling more engaging. Since the duration of some sound effects may be too short, I will focus on the main sound effects and add background music that fits the scene to help evoke the right emotions.

Scene 1 - Cinderella's Torn Dress

• Cinderella running downstairs - Footsteps on wooden stairs.
• Stepsisters' and stepmother's surprise - Gasps of shock.
• Mice observing from the hole - Quiet mouse squeaks.
• Drizella lunging for the beads - Beads jingling.
• Anastasia noticing the sash - Dramatic gasp.
• Tearing the dress - Fabric tearing.
• Stepsisters leaving - Stomping footsteps, door slamming shut.
• Cinderella crying in the garden - Soft sobbing with a background of gentle nighttime garden ambience.

Scene 2 - Cinderella's Magical Transformation

• Animals Gathering Around - Sound of small animals.
• Magic Wand - Twinkling, whooshing sound.
• Pumpkin Turning into a Coach - A deep, low rumble.
• Mice Turning into Horses - Horse snorts.
• Bruno Becoming the Footman - Human-like shuffling.
• Stable Horse Becoming the Coachman - Human-like snort.

Scene 3 - Ready for the Ball

• Magic Wand Transforming Cinderella’s Dress - A shimmering, twinkling sound.
• Cinderella’s New Look - Soft, magical chimes.
• Reflection in the Fountain - Gentle water ripples.
• Climbing Into the Coach - Soft footsteps on the coach’s step.

Scene 4 - The Midnight Escape

• Cinderella Arriving at the Ball - A soft, dreamy chime or a gentle string music swell.
• Cinderella's Heart Pounding - Quick heartbeat.
• The Dance in the Castle Garden - Soft, elegant waltz music.
• The Clock Striking Twelve - A loud, clear chime of a clock striking twelve, echoing through the room.
• Cinderella Remembering the Warning - A sudden intake of breath.
• Cinderella Racing Down the Staircase - Quick footsteps with heels.
• Glass Slipper Falling Behind - High-pitched "clink" as the glass slipper hits the stairs.

I am using an iPhone 11 to record in my bedroom, ensuring there is no background noise like air conditioning. I started the recording by doing one sentence per recording. After finishing, I realized that each time I recorded, the humming sound and my voice sounded slightly different. This made me realize it was a big mistake to use many short recordings and connect them together, as I would need to edit each recording to make them sound fluent. Therefore, I redid my recording in only four parts. From there, I trimmed the parts where I made mistakes. This made the editing process simpler, as I only needed to trim and adjust the volume of some sections, then edit the overall audio recording.

Figure 1.6 Recording

First of all, I started by trimming the parts with mistakes and adjusting the stop timing between each sentence. I also adjusted the overall volume. The narrative parts have consistent volume, while the dialogue parts are slightly louder to enhance the emotion.

Figure 1.7 Volume and timing adjustment

Then, I applied noise reduction to 100% to further reduce the surrounding sound. Next, I applied dynamics to set a threshold so that the small background noise could be further reduced. I also adjusted the parametric equalizer to lower the bass, making my voice less muffled. I also slightly adjusted the Reverb to reduce the spaciousness of the sound. Below are some of my adjustments to my audio.

Figure 1.8 Dynamics

Figure 1.9 Parametric equalizer

Figure 1.10 Reverb

After confirming the BGM I wanted to use, I adjusted the volume and applied fade-ins and fade-outs to align with the recording. I also slightly adjusted the BGM so that when the story plot reached a high point, the BGM also matched with a high pitch. Specifically for the "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" part, I synced it with the BGM. I also added sound effects to the recording. I couldn't use too many sound effects, as it would make the whole piece messy. Therefore, I only included the most important sound effects. Below is how I incorporated all the recordings, background music, and sound effects together.

Figure 1.11 Arrangement

Here is my first attempt at my storytelling audio.

Figure 1.12 First attempt

After consulting with Mr. Razif, I'm glad that he said my overall audio editing is good, with just some adjustments needed to make it even better:

• Make the overall sound louder.
• Adjust the parametric equalizer of my sound recording, as my sound is too thin.

Below is my second attempt after a few tweaks.

Figure 1.13 Second attempt

Lastly, I combined both the audio and images of the story using CapCut. Below is the outcome of my final work.

Figure 1.14 Story Telling Video

Reflection

This assignment has mainly taught me how to do recording. To be honest, I feel very awkward listening to my own recording throughout the whole editing process. However, I am glad that the final outcome is still acceptable to me. Initially, I thought making a clear recording required very professional recording devices, but after a few lectures about tuning recordings and hands-on learning for this assignment, even a basic smartphone can be used to make a good recording with some adjustments using Adobe Audition. Additionally, using the knowledge from Assignment 1, which involved tuning the background music and sound effects, I managed to incorporate suitable audio that fits the story's emotion, making the story more interesting and immersive.