Sound Designer

Research.
Soundscape project.
 What is a Sound Designer?
Sound designer is a person who looks at creating soundtracks for a variety of
mediums; the tools needed to do so include specifying, acquiring or
creating audio elements using a variety of audio production techniques.
Sound is used in a variety of mediums ranging from film making, television
production, videogame development, theatre, radio to live performances
and more. The sound designer job is to perform and edit previously
composed or recorded audio; for example sound effects and dialogue, this
line of work can also involve creating sound from scratch though either
synthesizers or by hand to get the required audio for a particular object or
person/creature.
The sound designer will also have to consider diegetic and non-diegetic
sound when in the process of sound tracking a film or TV score. The
difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound is that with diegetic the
audio is the sound that the subject of a film or video recording can hear,
meaning they are the original sounds that the object, or being physically
makes and is all natural. An example of this would be the sound you can
hear when submersed in a wildlife film, another being the background noise
of a news reporter and you can hear the traffic commotion in the distance.
In contrast to diegetic; non-diegetic sound is where audio is added to the
film/video as well as using the current noise presently already in the scene,
for example watching a documentary which then has a voice over to explain
what is happening in the shot, similarly when there is a voice over for a
teaching tutorial. Alternatively this includes adding sound effects in films to
either emphasis something or convey various emotions/moods or to build
suspense and drama within a shot, for example the sound of metal rubbing
on metal as a sword is drawn from its sheaf, alternatively when musical
ballads or fast paced tempos are added to a scene to evoke further emotion
from the audience and build that atmosphere of suspense.
 Ben Burtt.
Benjamin ‘Ben’ Burtt is an American sound designer, film editor, voice
actor, screenwriter and director. Burtt has worked in the film industry
creating and inventing a variety of sounds to pair with characters and
objects, experimenting with a broad range of materials to convey the
sound of said person or object. Working on films such as Star Wars
(1977 - 2015), Indiana Jones (1981 - 2008), E.T. The Extra-terrestrial
(1982), Wall-E (2008) and Star Trek (2009/2013).

Burtt is most famously known for creating the distinct sound of the
lightsaber hum and the blaster sounds in the film franchise Star Wars,
using obscure objects to create their sound in ingenious ways. For
example he created the lightsaber hum through a film projector idling
combined with feedback from a broken television set, although created
by accident it gave the lightsaber its iconic sound to then be used
throughout the franchise. The blaster was also created by hitting a guy
wire on a radio tower with a hammer to receive its humming vibrations
when shot out of the blaster. Burtt not only rediscovers sounds but also
looks to use his own voice in some of the mixes he creates, this seen
with R2-D2 and robot characters in Wall-E which are then combined
with different vibration frequencies to give the impression of and
electronic voice. He also looks at the different sounds and pitches to
convey the robot's emotions and actions since the entire film is mainly
focused on the relationship between Eve and Wall-E and how they
interact with one another
 Next Steps.
Moving forward with this project, I will look to create sounds in experimental ways similar to
how Burtt has created his through trying to use unusual materials and objects to create
fantastical audio visuals for the audiences listening ear.