Exercise

 Week 1

In the first lesson, the teacher introduced the purpose and content of the sonic design course and adobe audiotion.

Week 2

First, the lecturer explained the nature of sound. Sound is the vibration of air molecules and travels as longitudinal waves. For example, when we speak, our vocal cords vibrate; when a speaker plays sound, its cone vibrates.

Next, we learned about how sound travels. It moves through solids, liquids, and gases at different speeds—fastest in solids and slowest in gases—because of how densely the particles are packed.

We also looked at the structure of the human ear. Sound passes through the outer, middle, and inner ear, eventually turning into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. I didn’t realize hearing was such a complex process.

We then explored the key properties of sound:

• Wavelength: The distance between two compressions

• Frequency: The number of vibrations per second, which determines pitch

• Amplitude: The height of the wave, which affects loudness

• Echo: Reflected sound when it hits a surface

The lecturer also introduced psychoacoustics, which is how we mentally perceive sound. This includes pitch, loudness, timbre, duration, and spatial location.

Lastly, we learned that the average human hearing range is from 20Hz to 20kHz, though this varies between individuals—females often hear slightly higher frequencies than males.

Overall, this class gave me a solid foundation in sound design. I’ve started paying more attention to the different sounds in daily life, and I’m looking forward to using Adobe Audition in upcoming practical sessions.

In the second lesson, the teacher took us to practice this software to test the quality of our headphones. We imported several identical music respectively, kept one as an example, and changed the frequency and reverb of the remaining few respectively.

In this lesson, I learned a really practical ear training method: associating vowel sounds with specific frequency bands to improve how I identify and fix sound issues during mixing.

Here are some examples he gave:

• 250 Hz sounds like "oo"

• 1 kHz sounds like "ah"

• 4 kHz has an "ee" kind of brightness

In the video, the instructor boosted each band by 12 dB using a parametric EQ to clearly show the tonal change. By switching the EQ on and off, you could really hear the difference. The goal isn’t to hear musical notes—it’s to focus on the texture or feeling of each frequency.

Overall, this method gave me a new way to listen to sound. Instead of just relying on visual EQ graphs, I’m starting to trust my ears more and understand the character of each frequency.

I plan to practice two or three times a week, starting with pink noise. Once I get comfortable with the vowel-frequency links, I’ll try applying it to my own mixes.

It feels like an important step toward developing sharper ears for mixing.

Week 3

Exercise 2

In this class, the teacher explained how low frequency, mid-frequency and high frequency affect the effect of sound by asking us to complete sound effects such as telephone sounds, closed space sounds, bathroom sounds, and airport broadcast sounds.And the changes in sound effects caused by reverberation

Telephone

Due to the limitations of the phone equipment and signal transmission, it is not possible to receive low and high frequencies well, so I turned off the low frequency, lowered the high frequency, and maximized the mid-frequency, and uses speaker reverb.

In 

The Closet

The debugging of this sound effect is more difficult. I tried many times before it was successful. After debugging, I found that I could simulate it by lowering the frequency generally and gathering it within a suitable range.

Radio/walkie-talkie

The principle is similar to that of a telephone, but with more distortion and volume than a telephone.

Airport

I first turned up the mid-range. The key to this effect is the reverb, so I chose the Resonance Chamber mode and made some fine-tuning.

Bath room

Stadium

This sound effect is similar to the airport announcement, but more open, so I chose a larger room for my reverb and fine-tuned it.

Week 4

Exercise 3:

Sound Exercise for Entering the Cave

In this class, the teacher asked us to use automation, EQ, and reverberation to simulate the switching of the sound position in space, such as from left to right.

First of all, the teacher explained automation and envelopes, which can edit the direction of the sound independently and make the sound process change from one direction to another.

I created the sound of the human voice entering the cave and exiting the other side.

First, drag in the life and the found environmental sound. The environmental sound includes some low-frequency echoes and the sounds of outdoor creatures, such as birdsong.

I delayed the vocals by two seconds, added ambient sound, added a fade effect, and adjusted the sound's flow from right to left by adding and moving lines between the left and right channels in the envelope of the vocal track.

I adjusted the parameters, raised the low frequency and reduced the high frequency to the lowest, because in the cave, the sound will become dull. 

Because the cave has an echo, I added a reverb to simulate the cave's echo.

Ambient Soundscape

Scenario 1

The teacher gave me two pictures, and I needed to create sound effects based on them. The first picture suggested a high-tech research institute. I divided the sounds into background and main sounds. The background sound should be low, with a slight echo from the room and the dull hum of electronic equipment. The main sound was a research device with a plant immersed in liquid. I assumed that the device would periodically add liquid for chemical reactions, hence the sound of dripping liquid. The entire device needed to be constantly activated to allow the liquid to react.

The process of this sound effect is as follows: ambient sound starts, the device drips liquid into the research device, the charger is turned on, and after a short charging, the device is started. The engine gradually accelerates, the liquid reacts and emits a low sound. Then the charger pauses, the engine stops, and liquid is dripped again, and the cycle repeats.

Scenario 2

This scene looks very sci-fi from the picture. The background is a place similar to a scientific research base. The space is relatively empty and contains various instruments and equipment. The main subject of the picture is a device that can emit lasers.

The scene is largely composed of steel, so I first sought out some ambient sounds that felt like steel. For the various electronic devices in the scene, I found radio waves to represent their switches and monitors, acting as the central control unit. I also found engine sounds to represent the power-up sound. The central unit is a laser detector, and the charging sound I found was roughly recreated.

I raised the low frequencies of the ambient sound to make it mysterious and dull, and raised the mid-frequency of the alarm sound to distort it, creating a contrast between different objects.

I added the appropriate reverb to each sound, so that it would echo in the appropriate room, but not sound like a broadcast.

Process: Enter the room, ambient sound enters, motor hums, engine starts, short charge and laser firing.

Reflection: 

Over the past few weeks, I've learned the fundamentals of sound propagation and the impact of various frequency bands on sound effects. By simulating various sounds, such as telephone calls and airport sounds, I've practically understood the importance of sound effects. By simulating the sounds of a cave, I've mastered the control of sound placement. With the final two image-based dubbing sessions, I achieved satisfactory results through simple visual association and auditory interaction, starting from scratch and working my way through the process. This has not only deepened my proficiency in Audition but also deepened my understanding of the various principles of dubbing. I've learned what it means to avoid distractions, what constitutes informational content, and how to utilize sound resources. By adjusting frequency, reverb, sound placement, and sound access points, I can make these fragmented sound effects form a cohesive whole. These skills will not only help me complete my studies and meet future challenges, but will also help me better utilize Cubase for music production. I hope to hone more skills and achieve greater fulfillment in my life.