{"id":2375,"date":"2009-12-07T20:28:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-07T20:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2009-12-07T20:31:51","modified_gmt":"2009-12-07T20:31:51","slug":"trying-to-be-clever-with-audio-probably-failing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=2375","title":{"rendered":"Trying to be clever with audio. Probably failing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have to create a sound-bed (a piece of backing music) for a scripted narration.<\/p>\n

The narration hasn’t been recorded yet, but reading through the script I can see it will probably come in at about 2m 5s.<\/p>\n

In order to wrap the listening experience up, I need the sound-bed to begin a few seconds before the narration starts. There should be enough of a musical intro to engage the listeners. Then it should fade to allow the narration to impose itself, but the sound-bed should continue almost muted below the speech.<\/p>\n

As the narration concludes the sound-bed should swell upwards and continue the listener’s engagement for a few seconds before ending.<\/p>\n

The mood that the sound-bed has to set is confident but not intrusive or pushy; uplifting and, as I’ve said, engaging.<\/p>\n

The most obvious choice for the perfect sound-bed is Hopp\u00c3\u00adpolla by the Icelandic musical wizards, Sigur R\u00c3\u00b3s.<\/p>\n

But, as a musical expert said to me earlier, Hopp\u00c3\u00adpolla has been a tad overdone in recent years. It’s almost impossible to watch BBC1 these days without hearing it.<\/p>\n

I really want to use just one piece of music; using one piece for the lead-in and a different piece for the fade-up\/lead-out will, I strongly believe, lack audio consistency – no matter how well edited.<\/p>\n

But there is a striking piece of music by James Dean Bradfield that, musically speaking, has the same intro and the same outtro (26s and 24s respectfully).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there is a lot of singing after the 26s and before the 24s, but I have the germ of a cunning plan…<\/p>\n

What if I allow the James Dean Bradfield intro to start and then take the fade at about 22s but, as the scripted narration starts, I take the fade down to such a low level that although it would still register as musical\/audio background, it would be low\/quiet enough to allow me to edit\/mix it in to a piece of similar style\/pace\/rhythm for as long as I need (approximately 1m 15s)?<\/p>\n

And then I could do another cunning edit\/mix when required to bring in\/fade up the last 10-15s of the James Dean Bradfield outtro?<\/p>\n

Well that’s the theory anyway.<\/p>\n

I want to use the James Dean Bradfield intro\/outtro for a number of reasons:<\/p>\n