For my sound effects I used a Rode Microphone which is a small wired microphone that is used for studio and on location recording. I felt this microphone was really good for sound effects due to how easy it was to move around if I had a fixed studio mono mic the sound effects would have been harder to produce because of the distance between the sound and the microphone. Because the rode microphone also has a clip it makes recording easy as you can clip it onto a piece of car for example so that it is upright and then record near your sound source however you can just hold it near your sound source or even clip it onto your sound source. The rode microphone had a 3.5mm headphone jack which allowed me to plug it into my iPhone for the best quality recording. |
This is a demonstration of me using the rode microphone to record sound effects. In my Frankenstein audio book there is a line where a chime will be played to match with the story content. For this chime sound effect I used a wind up music box as I wanted one of the chimes from that as my sound effect. I set up my iPhone by plugging the rode microphone into the headphone jack, I then clipped the rode microphone near to the sound source and then recorded the segment I wanted.
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This sound effect was clock ticks, I simply placed the microphone near to the clock to pick up the ticking sound.
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I used a piano to create a tension builder sound effect with low keys. I set the mic up so it was near to the keys to fully pick up the sound.
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Here I was recording door creeks and door opening and closing sounds, I clipped the mic to a piece of cardboard and put it near to the door so that the sound was picked up.
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The first question I asked was to gain feedback about if the sound elements fitted to the genre of story which was horror and Gothic fiction. The audience responded with the answer that they all felt as so the sound elements suited the genre which suggests that the piece is fit for purpose as the mood and style of audio book are set by the sound elements. |
My second question asked the audience if they thought the quality of sound was high, this is because I wanted to gain feedback on audio quality as to be able to meet my client brief I have to have a high quality of sound. The feedback I got was that all respondents thought that the audio quality was to a high standard which makes my production fit for purpose and fit for the client. |
My third question was to ensure my audience thought my production sounded somewhat professional to be able to meet the client brief. The response I got from the question was that the audio book did sound professional, I believe this is down to a multiple of things including the professional equipment used to record it which gave it a crisp sound as well as the choice of sound effects and music. |
My fourth question was an open question in order to collect some qualitative feedback, I asked the audience what they personally thought could improve the audio book. I asked this so that I could make amendments to improve the audio book before releasing it. The first responses I got stated that to improve it the sound effects could be made a bit louder and the second response I got was to have background noise to set the scene at the part where there's a discussion between both characters. I believe these amendments will improve the standard of my production and will also satisfy the audience. |
My fifth question asked the audience if they would listen to this on their own accord. I wanted to ask this because I wanted to know if it appealed to the audience to the point where they would want to listen to this. The response I got was that all audience members would listen to this on their own accord, which suggests that the production is entertaining and interesting to an audience. |
My sixth question asked the audience if the start of the book made the audience want to listen to more. I asked this because I purposely tried to make the start gripping, I think this is important when there isn't a visual to go with the audio as often people find it hard to be gripped to an audio product. The responses I got were that the audience felt that the start was gripping and made them want to keep listening, which shows this product meets the audience requirements and client brief. |
Lastly, my last question asked the audience what their personal favourite part of the audio book was, I asked this to be able to gain further knowledge of the parts the audience enjoyed most. The feedback was that one member of the audience thought the start of the audio book was their favourite part as it set the scene nicely, another member thought that when Frankenstein was talking about his illness and deepest thoughts the music changed to a more sad piece and then when he came back into reality the dark music began again which really set the mood and made it effective. The last respondent also said that the start really set the mood and sound effects heard were those that would be present in a horror film which again shows my audio-book is suitable for the genre and meets the client brief. |