Transcripts
1. Introduction: Reality is just a
starting point. As storytellers, we have
the power to transform it, enhance it, or completely
re imagine it. And one of the most
powerful tools that we have for
this transformation is something that we might be
taking for granted, sound. As you can see or rather, as you can listen, there's
nothing else here. Up until a second ago, everything that
you were hearing, other than the sound of my
voice, was audio design. The right approach to sound, you can take your
viewers anywhere. You can make them feel anything, all while being true to the message you want
to communicate. Welcome to this class. I'm
Robert, and over the years, I've worked on multiple
filmmaking projects, constantly exploring the creative possibilities
of audio design. In this class, I'll
show you how to expand reality through sound. Whether you are creating
documentaries, narrative films, commercial video work or
social media content, this is a powerful skill
for you to develop. Best part is that you do not need expensive equipment
to get started. If you have a simple recorder or even a phone that can
record video and audio, and if you got a video editing
app, you are ready to go. We'll work together on
a 32nd video project where we will build the
entire audio from scratch. I'll walk you through
my creative process, and I'll give you some
tips from recording techniques to how you put it together in
your editing app, showing you how to transform ordinary footage
into something else. You will learn
practical advice on how to record and collect
the right sounds. Play your audio elements effectively, create
immersive soundscapes, understand the possibilities of audio in the frame and
outside of the frame, and we will discuss other
ideas to enhance reality or completely create
a different world through creative use of audio. This class is perfect
for beginners in filmmaking or anyone
interested in audio design. These fundamental
skills will elevate whatever video work you
do to the next level. This isn't just about
technical skills. It's about expanding your
creative possibilities through the power of sound. Ready to transform
your videos through the magic of audio,
let's get started.
2. How to Communicate with Sound: Audio design, audio editing, and sound effects
are not just for big blockbusters like
Star Wars or Titanic. While big productions clearly
invest heavily in sound, audio can still make
a huge difference for any video project
big or small. Sometimes it can even be more powerful than the
visuals. Why is this? Well, viewers in general can easily forgive
lower video quality, especially if it seems intentional or if it's
a stylistic choice. But poor audio
really stands out. It instantly becomes distracting and pulls viewer
away from the story. On the other hand,
good quality audio draws viewer in and makes
everything more engaging. In video production,
whether it's for narrative, commercial work, even
for documentary work. Everything on the creative side should be as intentional
as possible. When done write,
all the elements, editing, cinematography, directing, color,
sound, and much more, everything blends
together into one piece. And this is something that we should also pursue in audio, being invisible while
still communicating. It's very intriguing
and exciting, actually, to see how audio is
its own language. It can speak to our emotions often without us
realizing example, you may be walking down a
quiet street in the evening. Maybe you hear nothing but
some distant city sounds. Perhaps the sound of the lips gently being
moved by the wind. It can suddenly give you
this feeling of peace. Or you can have the idea of
downtown with loud sirens, lots of people around,
lots of traffic, and suddenly you may start feeling this anxiety or stress. There's, of course, all
of these associations that we may have that somehow
translate to emotions, and of course,
there's more to it, but the fact is that
sound communicates. So how can we use this
power as creators? Sound isn't just about making things more clear
or more realistic. It's about crafting
and experience. We're building an
audio landscape that could potentially
create a world in our viewers imagination and can even go beyond what is
happening in front of the lens. Audio can expand beyond
the frame of the video, no matter how simple it is. With a single switch of a
background sound, for example, you as a creator can put your viewer right in
the middle of a storm. Or maybe you could go for the opposite approach and
add some birds to give your audience a
common feeling of walking out in the
park. Hold on 1 second. Audio, when used for things
that happen outside of the frame can even let you imagine objects like
a window because, well, actually,
there's nothing there. My point is, even without
any fancy visual effects, audio alone can do
so much for you. Dist sounds might
suggest loneliness. Footsteps can create tension and the soft sound of the
wind might bring comfort. And a lot of that is not
about technical perfection. It's about intention and
attention to detail. Some professionals might know every technical
aspect about audio, but the audience knows how
to react to it emotionally. As creators, even if we don't know all
the technicalities, we can tap into this
common understanding. So every time you
work in a video, ask yourself, what do you want
to make the audience feel? What do you want your viewers to see in their imagination? How are you guiding their
attention even without visuals? These kind of questions are
essential and will guide your sound design decisions and elevate your
storytelling to new heights. Whether you are making
films, commercial work, or if you are simply creating video content and sharing ideas, this is something
incredibly important. Understanding this
will even allow you to use the absence of
sound with a purpose. Like right now, I have no
background audio because I want you focused totally on
my voice and my words. Okay? That's the core
message in this class. I want you to begin
to understand what makes audio so powerful. It's not just a
technical element, but a tool that can
communicate beyond what is being said
with the image. It can transform any video
from good to unforgettable. Understanding this power
is your first step towards creating truly
impactful content. Now, let's move on to our next lesson where we will
discuss our class project.
3. Your Project: A Soundscape from Scratch: Let's talk about our project. Here's where the
fun part begins. We're going to create
something that exists beyond what the camera can capture.
Here's your mission. Create a single shot video
lasting 15-30 seconds. You can shoot with a camera or with your phone.
The choice is yours. You will strip away
all the captured audio and build an entirely new
soundscape from scratch. You will be constructing
something that maybe was there or
maybe there wasn't, but it should feel absolutely
real to your viewers. I encourage you to incorporate audio elements that perhaps were not part of
the original audio. Allow yourself to
be surprised by adding things that
somehow fit in there. You better understand
the power of audio by discovering how far you can push reality while keeping it believable
through sound. Remember that as we saw
in our previous lesson, there's so many
possibilities by using audio beyond what can be
seen inside the frame. For the audio elements, you
will need an ambient sound, for example, the city, the forest, the park, the beach, Room tone, if it's indoors, you name it. This is your foundation,
your audio Canvas. And I want you to incorporate at least two different
sound effects that you record yourself. Footsteps, the sound
of folding paper, the rustle of dry leaps. You can use sound effects or background ambien sounds from
audio libraries or online. There's no problem with
that, but recording at least two sounds by yourself would be great for you to
learn through the process. Predict doesn't have
to be elaborate. We're not diving into
full storytelling yet, so it doesn't have to have a narrative arc where there's a beginning,
a middle, and end. You can do that if you want,
but it's not a requirement. I have to tell you that holding the attention of the viewer for 15 to 30 seconds without a
story can be challenging. So you can add a small
narrative element if needed, like a situation, someone going from A to B,
it can be anything. Remember, the focus here is
on your audio landscape. Do not overthink it. Find an interesting
location, your subject, which can be you, by the way, compose your shot and
film something happening. Most of the magic will
happen in post production. I'm looking for creativity and intention, not
technical perfection. How can you use audio to transform a simple scene
into something more? How can you make
viewers feel something beyond what the
visuals alone show? The key here is
making it believable, even if it's different from the sound that was
originally there. I want you to use audio
to light on me so well that I believe
every second of it. I would love for you to share with a class your end result. Post a link to your video. Tell us what you were
trying to achieve, what was challenging,
or if there was any insight that
you discovered. I am sure that this will give a lot of encouragement
to others. In the projects section
here in Skillshare, I will outline all the specifications that I
have mentioned here just in case that you
need more clarity on what to do or what to share. Okay, before you start shooting, let's go to our next
lesson where I will share some recording tips that will help you capture both
video and those sound effects.
4. Sound Basics & Practical Tips: Let's talk about
some things that are important to understand
for your project. There's a lot to
explore about audio. We could spend
hours talking about sound waves, frequencies,
and acoustics. The good news is that you
do not really need to be an expert to
get great results. With good attention
to detail and some decent headphones
or earphones, you are ready to get
started with this. Let's learn some sound
basics that really matter. First, it's important that you understand about audio channels. Most commonly, you'll be working with mono or stereo audio. These days, it's
possible to record or present audio in
many more channels, but I'm talking about the
most basic setups here. Mono audio uses
only one channel. All the sound is coming
from the same direction. This video that you are watching exactly this moment of me talking to the camera is
being captured in Mono audio. The exact same audio
should be coming out from your left and right
speakers or headphones. But stereo audio
uses two channels, which creates a wider
sound experience. This may not be the most noticeable with small
phone speakers, but for those watching
on good speakers with earphones or
with headphones, this can make all
the difference. Guess what? Since in this class, we're trying to create
a world through audio that feels
realistic and immersive, I highly suggest
that if you can, you record your ambient audio
or sound effects in stereo. One of my personal favorite
recorders is the Zooms one. It's small, it's handy,
it's very versatile. It offers great
quality and captures audio in stereo with
stop microphones. If you don't have a recorder
like this, then no worries. In fact, you may already have a very capable recorder
in your pocket. A few days ago, while I was preparing the outline
for this class, I found out that
iPhones can also record audio and stereo
with a voice memos app. If you go into settings,
you can toggle that on. If your phone or recorder cannot capture and
stereo, do not work. It's not absolutely necessary. It's just a nice little extra, but not an absolute requirement. After all, a lot of amazing
films in the history of cinema were done
with mono audio. So don't stress
too much over it. One thing that having a dedicated audio recorder may allow something like
the phone is to have some extra accessories like this windscreen because
microphones are very sensitive. So something like
this really helps manage unwanted low frequencies. There's two key concepts to remember proximity
and direction. Let me show you this
with the Zooms one. I'll let you listen to the audio straight out of this recorder. In this place, I have
air conditioner on, so you are listening
to some room tone. I speak close to the recorder, my voice stands out more on top of the
audio from the room. As I move away, however, my voice blends more and more with all the
surrounding sounds. The quality of my voice
alone becomes more difficult to manage separately
from everything else. Generally, closer is better. You can always make things
sound this and later, but trying to make poor
recorded audio sound close, clean and with good quality
is not always possible. Direction is also important. And this is not specific
to stereo recordings. Every microphone has a
different capture pattern, and recording stereo will, of course, make
this more obvious. Future, if we learn
more about audio, we can see how the
direction of the microphone can help you emphasize or get rid of certain frequencies
like high or low pitch sounds. But generally speaking, especially when you
are getting started, you want to capture audio
by pointing directly at the sound source to get something that is more
balanced in the end. This should also give you more flexibility if you
need in post production. Finally, when you are
out there filming, there are two key
things to remember. First, it's always
a good idea to record sound at your
filming location. Even in a case like
this where we would not be using the one
captured by the camera, or even if you're not
sure if you'll use it, it's still good
practice to capture the background
sound or room tone. If you notice any
interesting sounds that might be useful
later, record those two. You can always record sounds
at home or in a studio. Each place has its own
unique sound qualities. Recording location
sometimes can save you the hassle of trying to recreate this later with
plugins or software. On some situations, of course, it may be super noisy
and it's not possible. So this is just a
small dip of advice. The second thing to keep in
mind is that less is more. And here I am talking
about visuals. Not showing every little detail of a location or a situation, you give yourself more
freedom through audio. Using close ups or
partially showing something can help you tell stronger stories through sound. Since viewers will use their imagination to fill
in what they cannot say. Good. Now you can go
out there and shoot.
5. My Project: Hey, guys. Welcome
back to this lesson. I actually went ahead and filmed the same project that I'm
giving you as an assignment. I wanted to do this
to provide you with some inspiration and
because it will allow me to share some
additional insights about the entire process
in our next lesson. Before we watch it, I want to point out a couple of things. First, remember that
none of the audio that you're about to hear was
originally part of this video. Everything was added separately. Second, you will
notice that I have made the footage
black and white. This was an intentional
choice because color can be its own storytelling device
with its own language. And I didn't want to be a distraction from
our focus on audio. The same with a
single static frame without any camera movement. I just wanted you
guys to focus on what you are seeing in the situation and when
you are listening. With that in mind, I
invite you to watch it. If you can use headphones
or earphones, even better. In the next lesson, I'll break down some of my
creative choices, and I'll show you how everything looks inside my
editing application. It's just 30 seconds long, sit back and listen carefully.
6. Workflow & Creative Process: Welcome back. In
the last section, I'll show you my version
of this project that I'm giving to you as part
of this Skillshare class. Here, what I want to do is
show you some of my process. So I will be opening the
project inside Final Code Pro, my editing application
of choice, and don't worry if you use a different editing app because what I will
be covering here is some of my creative choices
and some practical tips that will help you regardless of what app you use for editing. So, let's jump in, and I will show you how
I built this soundscape. Everybody has their
own different way of dealing with outdoor design, but I personally like to
start with the ambient sound. So in this case, the ambient
sound came from this. So everything is recorded
with my founder. Let me play here. That's without any
sound effects. So I start to add the sounds and I pay attention
to the levels. Since this is the
background ambient sound, I want it pretty low, and here we can see
that it's about -30. That is because I want room up here for many
different elements. Another thing that I
do is not only do I put the level in
the correct place, but also I have a little
bit of I and I don't plan to really go deep
explaining all about IQ, but regardless of your
editing application, you probably will
have the opportunity to set something like this. What you have to know is that
the left area is the deep, deep sounds very low, and the right area is the very high pitch sounds like you know,
very, very high. And the reason that I start to remove this because this
is what I'm doing here. I'm removing those frequencies is so they do not
cause a distraction. There's so much more
to be said about IQ, but if you know this, you will be able to do some
decent mix for this class. And I start to add to
this element and even to many other elements because I am trying to do
this intentionally. There is one element,
for example, where I did not include the IQ, and that is Do you hear that? Because in this case, I wanted the sound very deep. I wanted those low frequencies because in this case,
it's not a distraction. I want the viewers to really know that they
should be looking at the phone because it's
an important element in this little
scene that I shot. I started to look for different elements
inside my frame after I already added
the background sound, the phone, the
flipping of the page, and I will be playing many
of these by themselves. So you can see As you can see, many of them are not
perfectly clean, and that is because many of them are actually
recorded on location. That's a lot of these little clips that you are
listening here. But because the background
sound is so similar, then it just mixes perfectly once I add
the ambient sound here. So let's play that together, the sound effects
and the ambient. It's like the more elements
that you start to add, they start to help one another to kind
of, like, mix better. And all of these, of course, you also have
to watch for the levels. You also have to watch for the IQ like I mentioned before. And once I start having already something solid for
what I see inside the frame, then it was a moment for
me to sit down and think, Okay, what else should I
add outside of the frame? And the moment that I showed
this video, actually, there was no one else in the
part. It was totally empty. But I thought, Okay, since I want to give this same
feeling of a park, I will add some children
in the background, maybe some dogs barking. And Something funny that I have to show you
is that this sound of the phone on the
table also is my sandal. It doesn't even have to
be the exact same sound, something that sounds
similar will also work. I started to add
these other park sounds that somehow become
also part of the background. I have this shot that somehow
changes a little bit. At the beginning,
it's very calm. At the end, she ends up
running out of the frame. So I wanted to emphasize
that also with my audio. I wanted to give her a reason
to run out of the frame. I did not think of this
until I started editing, but I thought maybe
the storm or a storm approaching would be a good
element to add in there. What happens is that
exactly here in the middle where she
actually picks up the phone and stands up the attention of the viewer is no
longer in the frame. We have all of those
flipping of the pages, the little movements, little
accents here and there. But suddenly the moment
that she stands up, we are left with less
information visually. And then this allows for
the audio to take over. I decided that I wanted
to, for example, make the children
sound disappear. And I can do that without
it being a distraction because they were not the center of attention from
the very beginning. So I make the sound of
the children fade out, and in their place, I start
to add some storm sounds. So they're not conflicting
with one another. They are, like, kind of, like, going away, another
one coming in. And as you can see, there's also these fade ins and
fade outs so that the transitions can feel very smooth and without
being so abrupt. And this is a good device
for you to know about because sometimes like
here at the beginning, you can use everything
in balance, the visuals imbalance
with the audio. There are two channels of communication and both can be saying the exact same things. But at some point, it's totally okay if you let the audio channel of
communication become stronger or going in a different direction
than the visual. At the same time, sometimes
the visual will be stronger or it will go a little
bit different direction, and this makes the viewer
to be engaged when he's not paying
so much attention to what's happening
in the frame, then he can be paying
attention to what he's listening and when
he's not listening, then he can be paying attention
to what he's watching. All of these are little
elements that make a little clip a little
bit more engaging. Now, this clip, because of the situation
that I'm presenting, there's so many more
opportunities to add some storytelling
elements and something that I was playing with
at some point was like, Okay, what if I add
actually the sound of somebody talking
on the telephone? I thought, maybe I will add this end of the
world kind of scenario. News. Scientists have confirmed
that a massive asteroid, roughly the size of Texas is on a direct collision
course with Earth. So I did that with AI,
and I thought, Okay, maybe we can really push this to the extreme and make it very, very like action or scary movie. I don't know, add a
suspense or something. And I thought like this. Breaking news, scientists have confirmed that a
massive asteroid, roughly the size of Texas is on a direct collision
course with Earth. All the tension and all that suspense is building
up not only with the rain, but also with the alarm
and so many other things, but I thought, Okay, this is
just a little bit too much. Now for this class, maybe
at some point we can do another class that talks
more about storytelling. And then we can really, really
go more into detail about why I use these elements and how we can actually tell more
of a story with the audio. Yeah, I just wanted to tell you about the layering
possibilities, adding different
elements, kind of, like, guiding the attention
of the viewer with different channels. Now in the next section, I will be giving you
some closing tips of advice that will be helpful to you
as you continue your journey in sound design.
7. Closing Thoughts: There you have it.
You have learned one way out of many
on how to enhance reality through audio and create soundscapes that expand beyond what was originally captured. I strongly encourage
you to share your results in the project
gallery here in Stillsire. If you are up for
it, it could be fantastic to see or hear
it before and after. This really would help
inspire other students and show the difference that thoughtful audio
design can make. You started working
on your project and you are running out of
ideas or want feedback, you can also feel free to comment in the
discussion section. This can also be a great
learning opportunity. If you found this class helpful, I would really appreciate
your review or reading. This not only helps
me understand that this content is valuable and it resonates
with some of you, but it could also
help other students discover this class easily. E review motivates
me to continue creating more content
for this community. Speaking of which, this may be just the beginning of
our audio journey. While we focused on basic
reality enhancement today, there are so many other
fascinating aspects of audio design that
we can explore. I have plans for more practical
project based classes, but I would love
to hear from you. Drop your thoughts in
the discussion section or when you leave me a review. What aspects of audio design
interests you the most? What would you like
to learn next? Something to remember
is that the beauty of audio design lies
in your creativity, but your experience
and knowledge can also grow through a lot
of problem solving. Each obstacle that you encounter and overcome teaches
you something new. So I encourage you to go out, shoot more,
experiment and learn. Whether you're
creating content for social media, shooting
documentaries, commercial work or
creating narrative films, these fundamental audio skills will help you elevate
everything that you do. You can start building
on this foundation that you learned in this class, perhaps adding dialogue
or music to your sense. You are just getting
started in filmmaking, I do have to mention that
I would recommend getting comfortable with pure sound
design before adding music, as music can sometimes
take absolute control of your editing decisions
too early in the process. But that's a topic
for other class. Let me know if you would be interested in learning
more about that. Thank you so much
for joining me here. I cannot wait to see your projects and hear your thoughts. Keep experimenting, keep
creating and most importantly, keep listening to the world around you. See you
in the next one.
Robert J. P. Oberg, Creative • Filmmaker • Photographer
