BC&J 112 was a very interesting class all semester. Even though we did not get to do all the hands-on learning we were supposed to do, I would say the semester still was very successful. And I have to thank Professor Subramanian for that. This is all that I learned this semester.
We first started off learning what audio and sound was, and what the difference between the two was. Sound is just natural noise made by vibrations in the air and is picked up by our ears, and audio is the recording of the natural noise. We then talked about what sound is like in the Acoustic, Analog, and Digital World. In the acoustic it is waves of air pressure, in the analog it is electrical current, and in the digital it is sound in numbers. This unit really introduced me to what sound and audio truly are.
Next, we talked about amplitude. Amplitude is the maximum extent of vibrations, and it is measured in Decibels (dB). For example, 0 dB is the threshold of audibility, and -120 dB is the threshold of pain. It is so loud that it hurts. To add on, we talked about frequency, which is the number of vibrations per second. Frequency is measured in hertz, or Hz. So -20 Hz is the lowest audible frequency, and 20,000 Hz is the highest audible frequency. Then we learned the difference between infrasound and ultrasound. Infrasound is sound with a frequency too low for humans to hear, and ultrasounds frequency too high. These really helped me in this course because when we started to use Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro, these terms played a pivotal role in how I created good quality audio.
We then did a few projects. The first project we did was a 1 interesting person project where you choose 1 person of interest and talk about them. I picked my Resident Assistant Curtis Pointer to talk about how to get more involved on campus. And then we did a fake radio ad where you had to create an advertisement like you would hear on the radio. I did a fake WWE ad where John Cena was coming to my hometown. And then we had to do specific editing on Premiere Pro with certain sound snippets and video clips. For example we had to DeEss a video, where the S’s in the interviews weren’t as distracting in the video. We also worked on bringing up the decibels of the person’s voice and the clarity and dynamics of the video audio as well.
In conclusion, I would say that this class was very helpful for me. As a broadcasting student, this was a great tool to put under my belt. Even though we did not have many face-to-face lectures because of the pandemic, it was still a very successful class that I will remember for the rest of my college career and life.
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