Link to Audio Project http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~kv795/week6/audio/audio_project.html
Our Audio Project was created based on the sounds within NYU Shanghai. We made the audio project to be an interactive game, similar to the matching card game. In this game, the player supposes to match the audios (sounds of NYU Shanghai) to the corresponding images.
Initial Idea
Our ideas changed a lot throughout the process. Initially, we want to create a project that once you hear the sound, you know where you are. That idea surrounds the places within NYU Shanghai. However, we cannot find the sounds of each room and place that would make it distinct from one another. Our next idea, therefore, is to create a nonlinear storyline where we walk around that place to make it seems like you are actually in that place. For instance, we walked around the 8th floor to record the sounds of different music and dance rooms. However, when we came back and check our recordings, the sounds do not work as it is very unclear, with lots of background voice as we record pass doors. At last, we record objects of NYU Shanghai rather than the places itself.
Recordings
We plan to record 8 objects and 8 corresponding images so that we could create 16 squares in total; which in the HTML page could be created to be 4 rows of 4. The recordings were harder than we thought. A lot of the recordings does not work because there are too much background noises, or that other sounds were more dominant than the sound we want. For instance, we wanted the sound of the coffee machine in the cafe but the sounds of the people were too loud. Therefore, our whole recording process took very long. I kept recording and then checking how I can adjust the quality of the recordings in audacities. Whenever I see that it does not work, I need to go back and record again. Another example is of the gym which is too similar to the stairs. Since our project is to make the audience guess what this object is, it must be really clear. Therefore we decide to keep only one as it is too similar. Additionally, I sometimes also need to create the circumstance so that it is easier to record. For instance, I wanted to record the beeping sound when the food is ready in the 2nd-floor cafe, but it is always crowded with people with loud chattering noises. Therefore, I asked the cafe worker for the beeper and took it into the stairway so that the background noises are cut down. One thing I found out that work extremely well is to record during the weekend at the AB.
Editing the Audios
The editing parts of the audio were also challenging. The thing I found most annoying is the use of noise removal. I really like it since it is useful to cut off the unwanted background sound. But sometimes it is hard to find the right level where our wanted sounds would not be cut off. A lot of times, it affects my audio a lot and creates pitches that sounds totally wrong. Therefore I need to reduce the amount it is applied to the audios. Other functions that I use is the fade in and fade out button. I don’t really like the audio to start and end abruptly. I also used the amplifier to make the sounds louder or softer. One function I really like to use is how I can trim, duplicate, copy, and paste audio wherever I want. One of my audio is of the lift. During the recording, I went from 1st to 8th floor and then there was a long pause. Therefore, I use the functions to cut and move it accordingly. Before this project I never edit audios. I feel that audacity is a really great tool and I sure would use it again in the future. Overall the recordings were really challenging to make it sounds professional, but it was worth the trying.
Codings
The codings are extremely hard. It is because a lot of the function we have not learned before. We faced many problems throughout the process. We know how we want the page to look like but we don’t know how to put it into the computer language. After reading many articles from the websites, we found the way. The hardest part might be the drag function so that we drag the image to the corresponding audio. Then we also have to link the image and audio together as only one combination work. If the combination is correct, then the opacity goes down in both the image and the picture to show that the pair is found. If the pair is wrong, the opacity stays the same. We also have to create the button to reset the whole order, so that the audience does not remember the old order to play. Since there are so many codes and functions that need to be incorporated at the same time such as the loop and transparency, it is very hard to keep out the orders and the place of each element.
Post Mortem
Overall, this project is very time -consuming and challenging to us. It is a lot of work as we faced many obstacles. Even until the night before submission we were already thinking if we should create a new project as this one seems to be impossible; which is why I already create a backup one. Luckily, we got it working just in time. I am very happy to work with Kat and I’m pretty proud to submit this ‘sound of NYUSH ‘ project. I definitely learned so much from this project.