Documenting a online lecture

During one of the online lecturers by Dr Louise Marshall, the class was asked to describe the soundscape of whatever room they were in and the surrounding environment. 

I felt my room carefully. There was a subtle humming sound that filled my room, a sound that originated from the air purifier above my head. I could hear an alarm that went from far to near and away, and then leave. And the sound of walking in the living room, which was my housemate walking around the living room. She used the kitchen and she didn’t turn the tap tight enough, because I heard the sound of water drop down.

I closed my eyes to feel the sounds and I could clearly distinguish their location. I’ve always felt that we can rely entirely on sound to restore a space or an environment. When I produce sound for a film I determine the reverberation according to the size of the room in the frame, which means that we can actually judge the size or even the structure of the space based entirely on the reverberation or echo of the sound in that space.

For me, the reverberation of the sound is one thing, but the placement of the sound effects is another. How to place the sound effects in the right place is something that interests me a lot. Because I think it helps to design sound for film and television, and if I can create a very realistic space with sound, the film will be much more realistic. But as far as my practical experience now tells me, in right and left sound channel conditions, I feel that there are limitations to that. So that’s probably why 5.1 channel has been developed, so I think it’s important for me to try to do some 5.1 channel project.