Project 2

Auditory Project

HOU YAN HENG

0378215

My task was to create an audio-visual piece using one of several themes. My audio should allow the listener to imagine what is happening from a first-person perspective through sound.

Wildlife + Background

Daily Life + Background

City + Traffic + Exterior Atmosphere

Industrial and Electronic Sound Effects + Background

Weather + Background

Market + Countryside Atmosphere + Background

For this assignment, I chose "industrial and electronic sound effects" as the theme of sound imagery. I adopted a first-person perspective, aiming to depict a skilled worker who miraculously survived a disaster through environmental sound effects, allowing the listener to experience a catastrophe that occurred in a factory.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ybd1ONzE9j9xC3l8l1dVp_2bqAfx0L-7?usp=drive_link

Sound effects list

Scene 1: Before Entering the Factory

• Seat movement sound

• Car door opening

• Low-frequency background ambience

• Unlocking sound

• Seat movement sound

• Footstep sound when getting out of the car

• Car door closing

• Walking sound

• Wind sound

• Sound of taking out keys

• Unlocking sound

• Cabinet opening sound

• Metal dropping sound

• Indoor footsteps

• Cabinet closing sound

• Motor sound

• Factory side door opening/closing sound

Scene 2: Entering the First Floor of the Factory

• Continuous motor sound

• Indoor footsteps

• Walking upstairs

• Footsteps coming down the stairs + coughing sound

• Stairway ambience

• Female footsteps also going upstairs

• Second-floor door opening/closing sound

Scene 3: Starting Work

• Noisy crowd chatter

• Faint background motor sound

• Walking sound

• Power switch sound

• Password input sound

• Motor starting sound

• Fan starting sound

Scene 4: Explosion Occurs

• Explosion sound muffled by a wall

• Roaring blast

• Shattering glass

• Ringing in the ears

• Alarm sound 1

• Alarm sound 2

• People screaming

• Woman crying

• Ceiling collapsing

• Explosion without wall obstruction

Scene 5: Escape

• Other people screaming in pain

• Protagonist screaming

• Ringing in the ears

• Breathing sound

• Heavy footsteps

• Coughing

• Sound of struggling out of debris

• Fire truck sound outside

• Door being stuck/locked sound

• Shouting/roaring

• Hitting/striking the door

• Door opening sound

• Outdoor fire truck sound

• Lighter/igniting a cigarette

• Inhaling smoke sound

• Phone ringing

• The protagonist’s laugh

Overview

Scenario 1

In Scenario 1, I simulated the sounds of a first-person perspective, from opening the car door to getting out, walking, unlocking, and taking items. The sounds of opening the car door, closing the car door, and locking the car were all achieved by adjusting the sound image to make them more realistic for the first-person auditory experience.

When a person opens the car door from the left, the sound comes from the right. After exiting the car, they close the door, and the sound of the door closing comes from the other side.

I created presets for both the exterior and interior of the factory to facilitate reverb application to different tracks. According to my design, the garage room is more enclosed yet dry, filled with clutter and fallen leaves, fitting the desolate image of the main character.

The factory space was bright and lively, so I adjusted the reverb effect to suit the factory environment as a preset. Room size 62.5 sq m → Large, spacious feel. 2500ms decay is suitable for the long-tailed echoes characteristic of factories, with a high-frequency cutoff above 13 kHz to preserve metallic brightness.

When the character unlocks and locks the car, they are in different positions within the vehicle, so the unlocking and locking beep sounds are also in different positions.

When the character pushes open the door, the noise from the motors and engines on the first floor is instantly amplified, and these sounds are all relative to the character's position.

Scene 2

In Scene 2, I simulated the sound of a character entering a hallway and climbing stairs. The more complex part was simulating the changes in ambient sound as the character changed direction from a first-person perspective. Here, I reduced the background noise from the factory on the first floor and added the sounds of two other characters going up and down stairs. As the character was about to reach the second floor, the sound from the first floor would gradually decrease, while the sound from the second floor would gradually increase until the door opened and the audio switched to the second floor.

      

The two layers of background music shift position as the character turns around.

  

 

The background noise on the second floor grew louder and louder until, after the door was closed, almost all the sounds on the first floor disappeared.

     

Scene 3

Scene 3: The character enters the workstation and begins work.

This is a series of preparatory actions the character takes upon arriving at the workstation, including placing items, moving items on the table, turning on the central control switch, inputting commands, and starting the motor. The command input buttons are located on the left and right sides, so you can hear the button response sounds from both sides.

After the motor starts, it will move in front of the character. The distance and position can be controlled by sound and image, keeping the left fan in the same position, and adjusting the position of the motor.

Scene 4

An explosion occurs

The most challenging aspect of this stage was maintaining order amidst complexity. I wanted to emphasize the impact of the explosion, so I went beyond just the sound; I considered all the possible consequences, such as tinnitus, shattered glass and walls, and the shouts and running sounds of the crowd and the main characters.

Because I had so many audio tracks, the equipment started lagging. I couldn't adjust the EQ and automation for every single track. From this point on, every adjustment or operation I made caused persistent stuttering. As a result, I had to abandon some tracks or forgo adding more effects to others. I believe this problem will be resolved in future classes.

Scene 5

Scene 5: Life-or-death struggle and escape. Here, I wanted to express the protagonist's relief at finally escaping from a desperate situation, having forced themselves to open the escape door. Therefore, I applied a lot of pressure to this segment.

The character's breathing is accompanied by coughing due to the fire.

The protagonist hears the sound of a fire truck outside from inside the door, until the sound changes to an outdoor sound after the door is opened. Because my equipment no longer allows me to modify the EQ, I modified the EQ and reverb of the fire truck using a new project file, exported it as an MP3 file, and then imported it into my project. This achieved a distinction between indoor and outdoor sounds.

The final ringtone effect was achieved by boosting the mid-to-high frequencies and reducing the low frequencies.

Mixer window

Feedback

week7

Mr. Razif reviewed my project during class, and even though he only listened for about 30 seconds, he immediately picked up on the issues. My overall audio levels were too high, causing distortion and affecting the listening experience. The earlier parts were supposed to be normal factory operations, so they shouldn’t have the explosive booming that appears later. I corrected this by adjusting the levels of each track, making them smoother and removing harsh or inconsistent tones.

Mr. Razif also pointed out that my sound design felt too dull and enclosed, and should be more open. So I revised the reverb settings to create a more complex sound field, making the overall spatial feel and tone more open and expansive.

Reflection：

In Week 6, I found nearly half of my sound sources, but when I placed them into the session, I realized most of them didn’t fit. No matter how I adjusted them, they didn’t sound like they belonged in the same scene. I felt disappointed, but I understood the real issue: I was listening to each audio clip individually and choosing it just because it “matched the theme,” without having a complete story in mind. Simply collecting fragmented sounds and pasting them into the project was not the right approach.

So I wrote out a full story framework and searched for ambience and main event sound sources based on that structure. That gave me my first working version. This taught me that some things must be started the moment you make the decision— even if the sound sources aren’t perfect yet, you can always replace them later. Waiting until everything is “ready” before starting is not the right mindset.

When I first began this task, I faced many difficulties. I even doubted whether I could make it sound realistic. I thought that as long as it roughly matched my story, the parts I couldn’t achieve could simply be removed. But as I calmed down and carefully adjusted every part—volume, panning, EQ, and more—my project grew richer and gradually aligned with the story I wrote. My goal shifted from “roughly similar” to “perfectly recreated.”

To make it sound authentic, I spent a lot of time searching for sound sources. Sometimes two clips sounded almost identical, but I would still listen closely to their differences and choose carefully. I did the same with sound design adjustments, constantly debating whether the transitions between different tracks were natural.

In the end, I completed this work. Just like the man in my story, I walked out of this challenge.