Sound Design and Audio Mixing Course
Over time, I have come to realise that music is one of the most versatile fields to work in. From film scoring to audio mixing to app notifications, understanding such concepts requires thorough knowledge and skills. As I am passionate about music, I enrolled in an introductory course covering sound design and mixing. This 5-week course provided by GMI(Global Music Institute) was tutored by Jay Pei, Producer and DJ.
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Mixing is fundamentally the filter for a song, a process that overall makes it sound richer and clearer after every sound snippet is added into the mix. Every Wednesday, in a 2-hour session, we got edified on mixing techniques. Mixing is very different from music production, even though people might correlate them. Music production requires mainly the knowledge of music theory whereas mixing techniques involves concepts from physics regarding sound. Whether it is an equaliser or compressor, the knowledge regarding what sound is at a basic level and what few tools can do to affect sound is crucial to make a high-quality mix. In this course, the instructor used Ableton (music software) <link> to demonstrate mixing a music piece called “Towards the end.”These sessions covered how we could make the synths, actual instruments, vocals etc. sound better than they did earlier. Everything about mixing was introduced to some extent, whether it is just increasing the sound quality or having a compelling effect. To practice all of these skills, I worked in Ableton, even though it was new to me.
The second type of session, conducted on Saturdays, was about sound design. This is a very broad field as it includes sound effects for movies and games, the sound in film scores, the sound you get to hear in apps (for example, the notification sound) and so forth. In every session, we learnt new applications of sound design alongside how to approach it. In the first two sessions, we mainly learned about sound designing for music using a plugin called TAL noisemaker, which is a synthesizer(a tool that creates audio signals). In the third session, we designed sound for a short clip from ‘Star Wars.’ This session made me realise how designing sound for films is such a strenuous process. Moreover, in session 4, sound design for video games was introduced. Similar to session 3, doing the sound design for a clip from a mobile video game called ‘Jetpack Joyride’ was demonstrated. Finally, in the last session, the sound design for apps was covered. Overall, out of all the concepts and applications introduced, I enjoyed the most, in film scoring and exploring different settings in the synthesizer.
In conclusion, the course was quite helpful in gaining a better idea of what I am interested in. It introduced me to many fields within Sound design and was also able to help learn about mixing songs. I will be able to use this knowledge over time, in not just creating music, but also in choosing a career path ahead.