Task 2: Auditory Imaging

 

Task 2: Auditory Imaging

Our task is to create an audio image using any combination of the following. The audio should be from a first-person perspective so that the soundtrack alone can visually convey what's happening. The audio should tell the story of the chosen scene. We are not allowed to use any sounds or dialogue. We are also not allowed to create our own sounds.

The six given scenes are：

1. Wildlife + Background

2. Daily Home Life + Background

3. City + Traffic + Outdoor Ambiance

4. Industrial and Electronic Sounds + Background

5. Weather + Background

6. Market + Rural Ambiance + Background

- The duration is 2 minutes. Be careful of the pacing when doing sound design. 

After considering various possible scenarios, I chose scenario two: Everyday Life + Background. During the project briefing, I already had a story idea in mind: my story depicts my daily life after school. Through subtle sounds like keys unlocking the door, changing shoes, a backpack dropping, and a cat purring, I depict the transition from the outside world into the home. The kitchen hood, the sounds of chopping vegetables, and the clatter of dishes create the background music of home, symbolizing the bustle and warmth of life. The living room lights and the rustling of pages bring a moment of tranquility, while the sound of my mother serving dishes and her footsteps shift the atmosphere toward togetherness and sharing.

In the sound design, I hoped to use these authentic, everyday sounds to convey layers of emotion: busyness and quiet, companionship and belonging, allowing listeners to feel the warmth and security of home through familiar sounds.

家的声音，作者 tian dong

Sound Source： Sound effects from Freesound.org and Pixabay Sound Effects

Sound effects classification and material organization: I searched for suitable sound effects on audio websites, downloaded them, imported them into Audition, and adjusted and arranged them to fit the story.

Audio editing and multitrack design process

• Track hierarchy (Adobe Audition)

I organize my sound effects into multitrack sessions using the following structure to facilitate layered control and effects processing:

• Key Effects Processing

When processing the sound material, I placed particular emphasis on creating a realistic sense of space and emotional depth through effects processing. The reverb settings intentionally gave the kitchen sounds a short, bright echo, simulating the unique acoustic reflections of tiled walls, evoking a sense of the kitchen's cleanliness and vitality. The living room, on the other hand, employed a warm, soft, medium-effect reverberation, as if the sound were gently enveloped by soft furnishings like the sofa and curtains, creating a comfortable, homely atmosphere. Regarding the equalizer, I boosted the high frequencies of the chopping sound, imbuing each knife stroke with a crisp, clean quality. I also moderately enhanced the low-mid frequencies of the cat's purring, making its satisfying vibrations sound even more heartwarming and intimate.

Room reverberation adjustment

Audio high frequency enhancement

• Mastering

To make the soundscape more three-dimensional and vivid, I also designed the sound image and dynamic changes. The footsteps naturally pan between the left and right channels as the character moves through the space, as if you can "hear" the character's complete path from the hallway into the living room. The transitions between scenes are all set with fade-in and fade-out effects, making the sound transitions natural and smooth, avoiding abrupt switches. In the final mastering stage, I used mastering tools for detailed overall control: the exciter slightly boosted the clarity of the high frequencies to make the details more distinct; the compressor balanced the dynamic range to prevent abrupt jumps in volume; and the limiter controlled the output peak within -3dB to ensure comfortable and stable listening.

Fade in and out design

I have finished editing all the recordings and I am going to show them to my teacher and ask him to give me some feedback.

This comprehensive sound design is driven by a clear design philosophy: to create a believable sense of space and nuanced emotional layers through sound. I strive to give each space a unique acoustic signature. Through meticulous imaging and reverberation, listeners can "hear" the character's complete path through the home, from the entryway to the living room, from the kitchen to the dining room—each transition is clearly discernible. In capturing the emotional rhythm, I intentionally created an undulating curve: from the slightly noisy arrival of home, to the warm and intimate interaction with the cat, to the bustling sounds of life in the kitchen, and finally to the tranquility of reading in the living room. This rhythm of tension and relaxation captures the authentic rhythm of daily domesticity. The soft click of keys, the gentle friction of turning book pages, the gentle touch of slippers on the floor—these seemingly insignificant sound effects are crucial to creating an immersive experience. In their simplest form, they evoke the shared memories of "home."

First recording

Teacher feedback and improvement directions

When I showed my work after class, the teacher gave me some specific feedback on my voice practice. Overall, the teacher affirmed my efforts in operation and sound production, but also pointed out several areas for improvement.

First of all, the teacher mentioned that I added a lot of action sounds to my work, but the ambient sounds were not rich enough. "It can't just be movement, we also have to hear the space around us," he said.

This made me realize that sound narrative is not just about showing “what happened”, but also making people feel “where it happened”. For example, when a character walks into a room from the outside, in addition to the sound of footsteps, you should also hear changes in the environment - the sounds of wind and birds outside gradually fade away, and the echoes inside the room become clear, so that the audience can truly "hear" the space.

Secondly, the teacher suggested that I strengthen the connection between sounds. Some passages transition too quickly. You can use volume fades, reverberation changes, or ambient noise to connect them to make the listening experience more natural and coherent. He also reminded me to control the overall volume level to avoid the main sound being too loud and the background being too light.

On a technical level, the teacher hopes that I will continue to practice the use of Automation (automation control) to simulate distance and space through dynamic changes in volume and EQ. For example, when a human voice approaches from a distance, you can gradually increase the high frequency and reduce the reverberation; on the contrary, when you move away, the sound becomes blurred and echoey.

Finally, the teacher encouraged me to use this exercise as the basic training of “spatial narrative” in subsequent environmental sound projects:

Learn to construct space from an auditory perspective and let the sound lead the audience to "enter" the picture instead of just seeing it.

Further development of audio editing and mixing：

Interior environment design

After my initial submission, based on my teacher's suggestion, I focused on adding an indoor ambient soundtrack to enhance the scene's realism and sense of spatial depth. Specifically, I added a persistent background layer of wind outside the window, the low-frequency hum of birdsong, and the faint hum of a range hood. These ambient sounds not only filled in the audio gaps but also contrasted sharply with foreground sounds (such as footsteps and the sounds of objects being manipulated), highlighting the spatial boundary between indoors and outdoors. By adjusting the volume and frequency distribution of each ambient sound, I successfully constructed a soundscape that was both immersive and clear, allowing the listener to naturally perceive the character's complete home environment.

Optimized fade-in and fade-out and sound placement

To realistically reproduce the characters' movement paths within the room, I focused on optimizing the audio and video positioning and fade-in and fade-out processing. For footsteps and some action sound effects, I set a smooth panning between the left and right channels based on the character's movement path. For example, when walking from the entrance to the kitchen, the footsteps gradually shift from the left channel to the right channel, and the directional changes of the door opening sound create a coherent sense of spatial movement. At the same time, I added fade-in and fade-out processing to the sound effects at different scene transitions (such as from the living room to the kitchen) to make the transition more natural. These adjustments not only enhance the three-dimensional sense of the audio, but also give the "sound narrative" a clear flow and rhythm, effectively guiding the audience to construct a clear mental image of the interior layout and character behavior.

Reverb Adjustment

In this revision, I further subdivided the reverb settings to differentiate the acoustic characteristics of different rooms. The kitchen area uses a short reverb with high reflectivity to simulate the bright reverberation of tiled walls. The living room uses a medium reverb time and reduces high-frequency reflections to create a warm listening experience in a soft furniture environment. In the hallway and doorway areas, I added subtle echoes to convey a sense of spatial extension in the open transition zone. All reverbs are layered and controlled via independent bus tracks to ensure that the sound characteristics of each space are both independent and coordinated. This processing not only enhances scene recognition but also conveys the functional and emotional atmosphere of different home areas through the physical properties of sound.

Change Recording 001

Further development of audio editing and mixing (finally)

Following the teacher's suggestions, I focused on enhancing the realism and dynamics of the background soundscape. Specifically, in the "coming home" scene, I added the click of the air conditioner remote control buttons and the "beep" sound of the air conditioner starting up. This was followed by a gradual introduction of the "whoosh" sound of the air conditioner, which gradually increased in volume and three-dimensionality as the character moved into the room. I further optimized the placement of the sound and the layering of the soundscape. While retaining the original panning of footsteps, I specifically positioned the air conditioner sound to a continuous position in the left rear, while the fan sound was localized to the kitchen area in the right front, creating a diagonal sound distribution pattern. As the character walks from the living room to the kitchen, the air conditioner sound gradually fades out while the fan sound gradually intensifies, accompanied by the crisp sound of the fan button and the low-frequency vibrations of the fan motor starting up. This design not only enhances the auditory cue of spatial transitions but also creates a sense of depth in the stereo field through the directional differences in the appliance sounds. All transitions utilize curved fade-ins and fade-outs to ensure the natural and smooth transitions of sound, reminiscent of real-life experiences.

<WEEK 7>

Teacher's feedback on my work:

The teacher specifically mentioned that the sound volume of the cooking scene in my work was too loud and sounded somewhat abrupt, requiring readjustment.

Before recording

Final recording

Task 2 source files

Self-Reflection — Task Two: Auditory Imaging

In this task, my goal was to create visual imagery and narrative atmosphere through pure sound.

I wanted the audience to "see" the scene and feel the emotions even without visual cues.

This process made me rethink the role of sound in narrative: it's not just background, but the core expresser of emotion.

In the early stages of creation, I collected different types of environmental sounds, such as natural sounds, everyday sounds, and mechanical sounds.

I tried arranging them according to timeline and spatial hierarchy, allowing the audience to perceive changes from near to far, from stillness to movement.

During the mixing process, I constantly adjusted the volume and panning, allowing each sound to "live" in its own space.

For example, when I wanted to depict someone entering the kitchen, I gradually brought the footsteps closer, then superimposed the slight clattering of pots and pans and the sound of running water, creating a natural spatial layer.

I also encountered many difficulties during the production process.

The main challenge was balancing the sounds—sometimes the main sound was too prominent, masking background details;

while the background was too strong, causing the overall sound to lose focus.

I repeatedly adjusted the EQ and volume curve, hoping to find a balance that was both clear and deep.

In addition, I experimented with different reverb settings to make the space sound more three-dimensional.

After completing the piece and listening back, I found that the sound truly evoked a strong sense of imagination.

Although listeners couldn't see the visuals, they could feel the rhythm and changes of the story through the sound.

I realized that the auditory imaginative space is broader than the visual one—because everyone's mental imagery is different.

If given the opportunity to improve, I hope to incorporate more subtle dynamic changes into the work, such as making distant sounds gradually approach, or creating a feeling of "traveling through space" through filters.

I also want to explore a more direct connection between sound and emotion, such as using rhythm to express tension, using low frequencies to create pressure, and using high frequencies to bring out lightness.

Overall, this task gave me a deeper understanding of "sound storytelling."

It was not just a technical exercise, but also an exploration of perception, imagination, and expression.

I learned to listen, and I learned to tell stories with my voice.