The Draft Audio Post was my first foray into Adobe Audition or working with audio equipment. I had a lucky find when searching for an inexpensive lapel microphone set and found a fancy one discounted at 93% off (I love a deal!). Once I had the mic, I started playing with it on my phone and recorded sounds in various locations in my home. It was interesting to hear the difference between recording in a carpeted room with bedding and a large living room with wooden floors and oversized windows.
For this assignment, I interviewed someone I didn’t know well and crafted a two-minute audio file. The file needed to have intro and exit music, along with a few sound effects, to bring the interview to life.
I began by interviewing Mike Austria, a local manager at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. I learned my first interview lesson when I forgot part of the microphone set at home and had to reschedule. The second attempt went very well. I had a few questions prepared, but I primarily let Mike talk. In truth, I had no idea what this interview would be about after I recorded 25+ minutes of audio.
I recorded the audio in chunks of five-minute intervals. When I uploaded the files to Audition, I listened to each carefully and took notes of the main points and timestamps. I attacked these notes with a highlighter and began to see a few topics emerge. My favorite clips were about Mike as a kid whose parents never showed up and how he translated that into a fierce commitment to being there for his children. Even though we had a lot recorded about his friends and hobbies, I chose to tell his story of being a committed father.
It took some time to parse the various audio clips and arrange them in a narrative order. Once I had the basic audition spliced into a two-minute clip, I searched for intro and exit music. I found a motivating track on BenSound, a site with Creative Commons free-use licenses. This was a rather large track, and I cut it down to just the intro and exit while pulling some upbeat parts from the middle of the track.
Lastly, I moved on to sound effects. On a similar site that offers Creative Commons background sounds (called Foley sounds), I downloaded a few sports tracks that captured crowds cheering and sounds from different sporting events. I sprinkled these throughout the interview in appropriate places.
Before exporting the entire session as an mp3, I had to delete many unused files and double-check the volumes on effects and voice. I then exported the file as an mp3 and uploaded it to SoundCloud. I embedded the link from SoundCloud into a new post and shared it with the interviewee. He was impressed and told me it was special to his family. That was very rewarding, and I’m looking forward to interviewing several other people, including my parents and grandparents.
As always, I am happily awaiting peer review and excited for feedback from my talented classmates.
Citations:
Music: bensound.com
License code: 7KIWFXMXHOUNS4H3
https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music?filters%5B%5D=Feel%20Good%20%2F%20Positive&category=Mood&type=free&sort=relevance
Sound Effects: freesound.org
https://freesound.org/people/phillyfan972/sounds/412162/
Scored Basket at a Basketball Game by phillyfan972 — https://freesound.org/s/412162/ — License: Creative Commons 0
https://freesound.org/people/GregorQuendel/sounds/481775/?attribution=1
Crowd Cheering – Ambience and Cheering.wav by GregorQuendel — https://freesound.org/s/481775/ — License: Attribution 4.0
https://freesound.org/people/cribbler/sounds/369194/?attribution=1
Bus leaving busstop by cribbler — https://freesound.org/s/369194/ — License: Creative Commons 0
https://freesound.org/people/deleted_user_2104797/sounds/324892/?attribution=1
Crowd Cheer.wav by deleted_user_2104797 — https://freesound.org/s/324892/ — License: Creative Commons 0
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