shiyanggui-uh

[shiyanggui-uh]

Summary

It's almost the end of the semester. The term of graduate student is different from what I went to before. Although there are not many courses and lectures, I can learn a lot from them, and the advantage is that I can spend a lot of time thinking. In addition, the main learning is research and reading. I think this way of learning also has many advantages. For example, I can learn what I am interested in. Beside, I can learn some knowledge that I am not familiar with but is very useful for my music creation or sound production. I think this way of self-study can make every student have their own unique ideas and practices in practice, and their ideas will not be limited. This is the most important thing for composers and sound designers!

For me, my goal is to become an outstanding game composer. Through this semester's study, I can feel that I am one step closer to my goal. After I know this learning method, I no longer doubt whether I can learn new knowledge and get new skills more efficiently. On the contrary, I have more confidence in myself. In addition, I have confidence in my assignments in the future. I will create soundtracks for movies and game pieces in my own way.

I have been used to this way of learning, and I will learn more useful knowledge for myself in the future. For example, learn the audio effects and other skills of logic X, the use of studio and Foley room, the types of microphones and their functions. I also need to listen to more music, watch more movies and analyze their soundtrack and sound. I think the most important thing is to understand the composing methods and habits of soundtrack composers, which is the most worth learning.

[shiyanggui-uh]

Chinese Traditional Music in Games

Distinguish

How to distinguish Chinese traditional music?

In fact, traditional Chinese music can be distinguished in many ways:

1. Musical instruments

The picture is from website: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/508766089127068663/

There are many kinds of Chinese musical instruments, mainly flute, zither, Chinese drum, chime and other musical instruments (September Shuo Feng, 2019). Chinese traditional music is played with Chinese traditional musical instruments.

2. Notes

Actually, different from western music, Chinese traditional music is mainly composed of 5 notes. If it is music in C major, it is mainly composed of C, D, E, G and A. The other notes are quite few (Reading History, 2020).

3. Style

Based on Chinese traditional musical instruments and notes, combined with Chinese traditional music style, Chinese music is composed. According to Musiceol (2019), ancient people also pursued harmony and nature, and it was more suitable for people to think and enjoy under soothing music. However, composing music for poetry and people often occurred in ancient China. In addition, traditional Chinese music did not emphasize rhythm and beat.

Soundtracks in Chinese Games

At first, martial arts novels were very popular in China. Later, they were remade into films and TV dramas, which were also popular. Maybe they like this kind of genre very much, and the Martial Arts Games gradually appear in front of people. For example, Chinese Paladin series (1995-2021). This is a series of Role-Playing Games. Their soundtrack can often make game players feel like they are in the martial arts world. With the development of time, technology and people's aesthetic improvement, the soundtrack of the game is becoming more and more mature.

For example, this soundtrack was created in 2003.

This is the soundtrack that will appear in the scene of the heroine. In the sequel of this work, the heroine appears in the story again.

With the passage of time, the mentality of the heroine at that time changed. Gamers no longer feel danger in the soundtrack, only calm and a trace of desolation highlighted by the imperfect story. It mainly takes the sound of zither and flute as the main melody, and becomes very full with the background sound. In addition to the main melody, there is a relatively weak harp melody, which can increase the sense of calm.

With the improvement of people's aesthetics, game music composers are more and more strict with their works. The soundtrack of many martial arts games also has elements of non-traditional Chinese music.

For example, the soundtrack of "Tianlu Town" scene in Gujian 3 (2018) is mainly composed of Violin and viola, and there are many notes other than "China 5 notes". Miraculously, you can still hear strong Chinese style in this soundtrack.

References

September Shuo Feng (2019) Top 10 traditional musical instruments, do you know? Online: http://www.yidianzixun.com/article/0L0LPpWK

Accessed on: [10 December 2021].

Reading History (2020) Why is the ancient Chinese music only have a palace, business, angle, and feathers, and the West has seven sounds? Online: https://www.163.com/dy/article/FN0M6NQE0543JGYI.html

Accessed on: [10 December 2021].

Musiceol (2019) Music culture: the charm of Chinese traditional classical music. Online:

http://www.musiceol.com/news/html/2019-2/201922616365836854378.html

Accessed on: [10 December 2021].

Chinese Paladin series (1995-2021) Softstar Technology (Beijing) Co.,Ltd. Soundtrack by Chen Yupeng, Luo Jiyi, Xiao studio, Xiaoxu Music & Zeng Zhihao.

Gujian 3 (2018) Shanghai Zhulong Information Technology Co., Ltd. Soundtrack by Xiaoxu Music, Zhou zhihua.

[shiyanggui-uh]

My Initial Study of Psychoacoustics

In order to complete my annotated bibliography, I have read a lot of texts related to my major so far. In the process, I saw a word that attracted me, "psychoacoustics". At first, I thought this kind of knowledge was about what kind of psychology people would have when they heard what kind of voice. But after searching and consulting on the Internet, I found that psychoacoustics is not only these.

Definition and relevance

According to Sound Vibration Home (2017), psychoacoustics is a discipline that studies the relationship between sound and its induced hearing. The subjective feelings of sound auditory psychology mainly include timbre, loudness, sound height and some characteristics. The perceived range of the audio rate of a healthy human voice is about 20-20000 Hz. This text also explains the listening valve, loudness, pitch, audio masking, aftersound and nonlinearity.

Applying psychoacoustics to music

In this video, he talked about how to use psychoacoustics to improve the audience's experience. The first is to explain how the human auditory system transports sound from the ear to the brain. In fact, the head, its shape, size and direction play a role in how sound is affected before it reaches the ear (Sage Audio, 2019).

If you want to create a spectrum shift effect in your mix. Firstly, take the mono of a track and copy it, and translate each mono track equally and inversely. Now you have two mono tracks, one left and one right. Secondly, amplify and attenuate the equalization of the two tracks respectively. Then you need to put on headphones and listen with your ears to adjust the volume of each track. Gradually affect the channel pusher level, sound image quantity and equalization curve of each track to fine tune the position of the object in the stereo sound field (Sage Audio, 2019).

References

Sage Audio (2019) How to Mix Your Music Using Psychoacoustics. Online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLH8LcnGPk

https://www.sageaudio.com/blog/mixing/how-to-mix-your-music-using-psychoacoustics.php

Accessed on: [7 December 2021].

Sound Vibration Home (2017) 6 Basic Knowledge of Psychoacoustics. Online:

https://www.sohu.com/a/155385889_294136

Accessed on: [7 December 2021].

[shiyanggui-uh]

Methodology

Research Method

In fact, before I studied the pre-master of HIC creative arts, I had almost no understanding of English research methods, formats, Harvard referencing style and other knowledge, and even my English writing and speaking sometimes didn't work. In the process of studying pre-master for 3 semesters, I learned academic writing, research methods and other professional skills. Here I would like to thank my teacher Joe Lonsdale who not only taught me how to make music and Foley in Logic X, but also let me know a lot about sound, sound wave, editing, etc. In addition, he patiently explained a lot of professional terms of sound to me, so that it was not so difficult for me to listen to the course. Now, when the teacher says some complex words or knowledge points, I often think of "thank Joe, he told me some about this, so I can understand". Most importantly, he also taught me in detail how to make good research.

Usually, in addition to reference books, articles, magazines and dissertations, my reference resources are also searched on video websites such as YouTube. Many of my teachers tell me not to refer to Wikipedia because their information is not professional and accurate. In addition, Wikipedia can be edited freely and anyone can modify it, so many entries may change in the future.

When I find materials that may be helpful to my research, I will read and find important information and record it. After I think there is no more helpful information for me, I will sort out the information I recorded and use it in my research.

Books are one of the most important sources of information for academic research. I can find the chapters I want to read from the titles and contents. For example, in my research "Influences of Life Experiences on Classical Composers and Their Consistent Influences on Listeners", I read the biographies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin then looked for the impact of some of their experiences on their personality and works.

Besides, I often refer to music magazines. They are well suited to be used in the study of pop music because they often publish information of new music and music practitioners.

In addition, I often look for some YouTube Videos. There is a huge resource pool, and I can usually find what I want. For example, the professional knowledge I want to learn, the interview videos of practitioners I research, some film clips and music, etc.

About Creation

I often get inspiration in different ways. Sometimes I just think of idea when walking or driving, and sometimes I accidentally play a new melody when playing the piano, and start creating on this basic.

I think the most important study about my creative inspiration was a few months ago. The requirement of the project is to let me research 4 practitioners. Analyze their works and study how they create them. So I found some videos about the main works of these composers and their interviews. Finally, it was found that they all got inspiration in interesting ways, some from classical music, some meditate in a park for inspiration. What impresses me most was that Hans Zimmer once created soundtrack for the film Interstellar (2014). In order to understand the protagonist's love for his daughter and the meaning of being a father, Zimmer wrote a love letter to his son for get ideas (Jice, 2020).

References

Interstellar (2014) Film. Directed by Chrostopher Nolan, soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.

Jice (2020) Top movie soundtrack master Hans Zimmer talks about music. Online:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14Q4y1P7gE?from=search&seid=12208185275335225222

Accessed on: [6 December 2021].

[shiyanggui-uh]

Reflection: Audio Effects

Since I finished the assignments of Chirality video, I found that I didn't use audio effects enough. In the process of sound designing, I used too many reverb, delay, pan, EQ and automation in Logic X. In addition to these, I hardly use other audio effect functions that I am not familiar with. In order to improve my understanding of sound design and soundtracks, I must know more about sound effects and their functions. In this way, I can have more choices in soundtrack and sound design.

1. Distortion

Here he describes the functions of the knobs of clip destruction. Combined with his statement, I also made an attempt.

I used "60s swing snare drum" in the library in Logic X as the material to test the function of each knobs of clip destruction. LP Filter can be interpreted as the adjustment of EQ. While Mix is used to blend the original and process signal. I can also use the mouse to move the "Crest" in the middle to highlight or weaken the distorted sound area. In addition, Drive knob affects the reverb, delay and Hertz values.

2. Compressor

In fact, in a class last week, Roberto talked about the function of compressor. This can be a very practical audio effect. In order to use it more skillfully, I found a video on the Internet and made a detailed record combined with practice.

In logic x, there are 7 different compressor types for use where appropriate. In addition, there are many compressor presets. For example, the preset of "classic drum" may be suitable for the track of classic drum.

In the compressor panel, we can see 2 charts, "Meter" and "Graph", which are used to observe the compressed value of sound. The "Threshold" knob is used to adjust the minimum value of the compressed sound. The "Knee" knob is used to adjust the compressed area. The lower its value, the higher the degree of compression of the part with large volume, and the position of its turning point is affected by "Threshold". The "Affected" knob also has "Ratio". The value of "Ratio" affects the value of "Knee" compression. The "Attack" knob is the time to start compression, and its maximum value is 0.2 seconds. Instead, the "Release" knob is the time to end the compression. In addition, "Limiter" can prevent sound explosion, which may be very practical in sound design, because we often design some monster running, roaring, destructive sounds and other sounds that need to be turned up but are easy to explode.

Through this study and previous experience, I have concluded that no matter what kind of sound is designed, as a sound designer, I should first think of which audio effect to add to the sound sample. Importantly, listen carefully with your ears.

References

Stoneymusicman (2017) Logic Pro X Quick Tips Clip Distortion Part1. Online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtZgZ0sQkzs

Accessed on: [5 December, 2021]

Tony Holiday (2019) How to Use Compression | Logic Pro X Compressor Tutorial. Online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtZgZ0sQkzs

Accessed on: [5 December, 2021]

[shiyanggui-uh]

Prepare for Industry Test

We will submit the assignments of soundtrack in interactive games before 25 January 2022. I need to make some preparations in advance because I have no experience in game sound design. Although we are allowed to use public resources such as Freesound to produce, many sounds often can not achieve the effect I want. For example, I can find some gunshots in Freesound, but I can't make them appear in front of the screen or far away.

This video explains several important directions in making game sound.

Here, they talked about several key words of game sound design "Gameplay cues, feedback, driving emotion", which are related to whether the game can deliver effective auditory information to game players, such as whether they know they have passed the level or picked up key props.

In addition, there are some very important sound terminologies.

1. Sound Frequency

“A frequency is basically the rate at which a vibration is going to occur.” In other words, the frequency of vibration affects the pitch. They also demonstrated the use of five different frequencies to design the sound of thunder to make the sound of thunder more realistic.

(The picture is a screenshot from the video) 

2. Sound Envelopes

"We like to break a sound into 4 parts. The attack, the delay, the sustain, and the release.". The "ADSR" of all sounds is different, and the proportion of "ADSR" among them is also different.

(The picture is a screenshot from the video)

3. Dynamic

"Small tweaks to the dynamics can have a dramatic effect on how sounds feel, or what emotion and context comes through."

Seeing here, I think this was the most rewarding part of my study, because I got an idea of how to make the sound of guns shooting into metal realistic. Maybe I can try to coincide the sound of the bullet hitting the metal with the release part of the gunshot, and then make some appropriate adjustments.

4. Attenuation

"In games, attenuation refers to the reduction in the strength of the signal as you get closer of farther from the source of the sound."

According to muscato (2021), when sound waves propagate in the air, the sound energy is reduced due to beam divergence, scattering, absorption, reflection and other reasons. In order to make the game more realistic, sound producers have to follow these physical rules.

5. Implementation

Implementation here refers to some sounds after a specific event of the game is triggered, including sound effects and background music after the event is triggered.

References

Riot Games (2018) So You Wanna Make Games?? | Episode 8: Sound Design. Online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcorIwJscFA

Accessed on: [4 December, 2021]

Muscato C. (2021) Sound Attenuation: Definition & Effects. Online:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/sound-attenuation-definition-effects.html

Accessed on: [4 December, 2021]

[shiyanggui-uh]

Some of Chopin's works

RWhen I was a teenager, I taught myself classical piano. In addition to the basic practice, I also practiced some classical piano music. However, compared with other classical composers, Chopin's works can affect my mood and touch my heart. For me, I may be obsessed with many creations of Chopin, whether Nocturne, Waltz or other types of piano music.

For example, Fantasie Impromptu played by Reosseau (2019). They use technology to convey the playing notes to people with visual effects. In this way, we can intuitively see every note he plays. In the reviews of it, I found that the people who wrote reviews had different feelings for this music. Some learned classical piano for playing this music, and some felt it for relaxation and I also have very special feelings for it. I even heard its melody in my dream.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6eZFiHEV6nKcEJj3EHkeWU?si=fb61158093224f87

I often encounter bottlenecks in composition. Sometimes I listen to classical music to find inspiration, because they have a lot to learn from. This picture shows the notes after the 17th bar after the beginning of the main melody of Fantaisie Impromptu. We can see that the left hand needs to play the cycle of three notes up and three notes down, while the right hand is an octave span followed with two decorative notes. This skillfully reflects the feeling of "Fantasy".

The picture is a screenshot from Rousseau (2019).

In addition, there are many brilliant works in one of Chopin's etudes. For example, this song Etudes, Op. 10 No. 3 in E major, which is also called Tristesse. This song mainly exercises the doppio playing skill of piano player. That means that the piano player practices playing two or more notes at the same time with each hand.

Even though it is an etude for pianists to practice, Chopin has deep feelings for the song he created. According to you Chuang Encyclopedias (2020), Chopin could not return to his motherland due to the war, so Chopin's homesickness was indeed integrated into the melody of tristesse. Others say it was created for a girl loved by Chopin. Because he decided to leave his country for Paris, he played it to the girl before leaving.

Finally, I want to share Waltz in E flat major Op.18 No.1 by Chopin. It was Chopin's first waltz. I personally admire Chopin's 3 / 4 beats creating, which is mostly reflected in his Nocturnes and Waltz. This music was created by Chopin for his students with gorgeous style, so it is also called "Brilliant". This song has a clear structure, gorgeous skills and a rich and warm atmosphere. Later, this song was adapted into orchestral music, and German composer Schumann highly praised this work. Chopin has hardly created works of this style since then (Fan, 2018).

References

Fan Huiqing (2018) On the Music of Chopin's Waltz in E flat major “Brilliant”.  Northern Music. Online Available at: 

https://www.fx361.com/page/2018/0514/6422596.shtml

Accessed on: [15 November, 2021]

Reosseau (2019) Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu (Op. 66) Online, Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gus4dnQuiGk

Accessed on: [15 November, 2021]

You Chuang Encyclopedias (2020) Tristesse by Chopin. Online, Available at:

https://www.ucbaike.com/zhishi/472029.html

Accessed on: [15 November, 2021]

[shiyanggui-uh]

Soundtrack in film

Like games, the soundtrack of movies can usually affect people's emotions. Usually, people can hear the corresponding soundtrack in different movie scenes. For example, sad soundtrack will appear in the scene of parting. Often people's emotions when watching movies can not be described in one or two sentences. They need to be expressed by music, so that people can resonate from the combination of film scenes and soundtrack, so as to understand the feelings expressed by the film.

Most of the soundtrack in The Legend of 1900 (1998) comes from the performance of the sea orchestra in the film story. This way of expression can clearly express the feelings of the film characters. For example, in a piece of the film: the reporters heard that the protagonist 1900's piano skills were brilliant and extraordinary, so they invited him to record a piano performance. When the recording began, 1900 played the piano, but when he saw the girl he fell in love with at first sight outside the window, his playing style changed. The style of the music was like flowers in spring. He may was imagining the scene after they fall in love.

Sometimes, the soundtrack can not only affect people's emotions, but also take the lead and let the audience's emotions follow the soundtrack. 

For instance, a piece of The Boat that Rocked (2009): when the boat was sinking into the sea, Carl was saving Bob who didn't know it. Then bob sank into the water because he wanted to protect his precious records. This should have been a very dangerous scene, but when the music remembered it, it didn't feel that way. The soundtrack seemed to tell the audience that there was no danger. Carl and Bob were fine. In fact, music has a warm feeling. When Carl saw that Bob refused to leave a heavy record, there were still some helplessness to escape.

The piece of The Boat that Rocked (2009) link: 

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Db411y7gE?from=search&seid=15846477621301434708&spm_id_from=333.337.0.0

The picture is a screenshot of The Boat that Rocked (2009)

References

Curtis R. W. A. (2009) The Boat that Rocked. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiFZGgeaXMM Accessed on: [14 November, 2021] 

Tornatore Giuseppe (1998) The Legend of 1900. Available at: https://tv.movie/movie/the-legend-of-1900/16151?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&t_source=64&utm_campaign=uk-198&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhMOMBhDhARIsAPVml-EH-xJ5pm0IGaPfoqUAasddGN7GRWcIVx0llgr4pG9hWH7sJDR09yQaAo0GEALw_wcB Accessed on: [14 November, 2021]

[shiyanggui-uh]

Soundtrack in games

The soundtracks in games have different aspects and degrees of influence on the game itself. 

Normally, the evaluation of a game often affects the sales of the game. However, the soundtracks of the games have a certain impact on the evaluation of the games. In the game NieR: Automata (2017), many people bought the game just for the soundtrack. For me, even the content of the game is brilliant, and the score of the soundtrack is better than the game itself. For example Amusement Park (2017), at the beginning of this song, the celesta was introduced as the main instrument, and the ambient sound and strong reverberation were added to increase the sense of emptiness. Then, the piano and violin were added to render the atmosphere of the whole song. It is mainly in G minor. At the beginning, there are only two chord cycles, G and A flat. After 4 bars, the main melody is skillfully converted into A minor. After the chorus part, it returns to G minor. The composition and arrangement are presented in a unique way. This form of soundtrack can make game players who play this kind of role play feel deeply in their environment.

Music link: https://open.spotify.com/track/32OCH26Knq4TMWhq7AV9tN?si=38ed0a4352294d3e

The picture is a screenshot of NieR: Automata

Secondly, the soundtrack of the game may affect the play of game players. According to Dr. Chen (2014), good games are better at effectively paying attention to and meaningfully integrating audio and visual clubs. They can better understand the warnings, clubs and feedback in the soundtrack than orderly games. In the world-famous game Super Mario (1985), when the game players pick up the props of ‘invincible star’, the soundtrack will change, and game players will involuntarily accelerate forward, and the same happens at the end of the countdown, because the soundtrack accelerates tempo.

The picture is from website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WPIj5XoOLk

From another point of view, games like movies, their soundtracks can directly affect people's emotions. This is also a question that every soundtrack producer needs to consider. Foster (2017) mentioned that music of any genre should convey correct emotions according to the situation in the games. People should always be clear about the overall emotions and feelings they are looking for in the repertoire. The soundtrack producer should know what the emotion and feeling of the track should be before making any track. For example, in this game Genshin (2020), there is a battle between game players and a dragon. This dragon was originally the patron saint of the whole area, but it was controlled by evil forces, players had to defeat it. Therefore, the soundtrack in the process of fighting reflects the tension of fighting with the rapid playing of the pizzicato cello and violin, and the singing in the middle part also reflects the sense of helplessness of the dragon.

Music link: https://open.spotify.com/track/4p5Zu3kpIELEebGeMNNiU3?si=d16befb922c5440f

The GIF is from website: https://games.sina.com.cn/2020-06-19/doc-iirczymk7881445.shtml

References

Siu-Lan Tan (2014) Video Games: Do You Play Better With the Sound On or Off? Online: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/what-shapes-film/201402/video-games-do-you-play-better-the-sound-or Accessed on: [12 November, 2021]

Samantha Foster (2017) Game Music and Emotion – Why it is essential

Online: https://indiewatch.net/2017/03/26/game-music-emotion/ Accessed on: [12 November, 2021] 

[shiyanggui-uh]

Chirality Analysis

The first assignment for the course of Sound Design in Visual Media this semester requires us to add music and sound to a 1:46 video. In fact, in my pre-master course, I learned how to use Logic X to add music and Foley to video pieces. For example, the following figure and video:

Joe Lonsdale once sent me a promotional video of Ghost in the Shell and I added music to the beginning of this video. As you can see from the track name in this picture, I used software instruments with sci-fi elements and made some simple track there. I thought about how the just robot made a magnificent debut and how to add the evil robot to the atmosphere of terror, so I used the function of sound getting louder and lower gradually.

This video is the middle part of Ghost in the Shell. I added Foley in this gun battle in less than 10 seconds. I used guns, footsteps, machinery and other sounds to add to the video.

Based on my experience and what the teacher told us this semester, I have a general idea of this chiral video task. 

There is no doubt that it has many difficulties. First, it's probably for students to miss some details in Foley process. We have to watch the video again and again after Foley to ensure that every detail has its corresponding sound. Secondly, we may encounter difficulties in simulating sound. For example, it is difficult to simulate the sound of the monster sliding down the hillside and pulling out the red crystal in the video. We can refer to the method of sound simulation in the video uploaded by Great Big Story (2017). For example, they use the sound of pinching pinecones to simulate broken ice, or the picture of a traveler in a hat walking in the rain, but it is actually the sound of water pouring on a boot in a watering can.

In addition to Foley, we also need to add background music according to the scene. I think this video should be divided into two main parts:

1. The monster explores in the cave. I will add simple and quiet music here. There may be only one track at the same time to express the feeling of the monster exploring alone.

2. The monster is chased. I will add some music that can create tension in this part. Before that, I will refer to some movies about monsters and battles to see what instruments and styles they use in the chase scene. Watching these movies is also good for my Foley production. Maybe I can learn how to simulate the cry of monsters in them.

Reference

Great Big Story (2017) The Magic of Making Sound. Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO3N_PRIgX0

Accessed on: [9 November, 2021]