The Classical Elements: Making Adjustments (2)

Once I had finished adjusting my video, I returned to the audio as it seemed too quiet when I showed it to the class. I had a few problems when I tried increasing the volume of the clips in Premiere as they were already at the highest volume, yet still were too quiet. At this point I could edit the original recordings to make them louder, or I could record my sound effects. This wouldn't have taken too long as I knew what I was after, but didn't feel remotely up for it. It's not because I'm lazy (well I am, but this time it's not the case) but because I was feeling so ill. So I decided to try and work with what I had. I opened the recordings in Audacity and increased the gain on each clip. I had to make sure I didn't raise it too high as this would have decreased the quality of the clip, so I had to find the right balance.

Finished Animation

I added the edited clips to the Premiere project, played with the audio levels a bit and then played it back to see if it was any better. There was a definite improvement, and I didn't have to have the PC volume at full blast in order to hear it, which was great. However, there were still long silences in-between the sound effects which made the static stand out more in the recordings from the adjustments. I decided to look for a backing track to try and hide this, as well as fill the silence. I looked on SoundCloud for a clip that was subtle and fit the mood of the animation. I had a few options that I was considering, but I was really lucky to stumble across the clip I decided to go with. The clip was actually in the middle of an hour long song, and when I skipped through it to get a general feel of the song, I managed to skip to a part which I thought would compliment the animation well. It was subtle and relaxed which is what I was looking for in a backing track. I downloaded the song as it was free to do so and added it to my project. I then released I would have to give credit to the artist, so had to go back and create a new end credit slide that followed the theme of the other titles. 

Additional End Credit

I'm glad I decided to return to the audio, as I think just by simply adjusting the levels it has greatly improved my animation. Also the addition of the track I found on SoundCloud has filled the silence nicely.