Sound

Sound

Sound is one of many unseen factors that allow the audience to create a deeper emotional connection to a piece of media. Sound is everywhere and essential to entertainment. Sound plays an essential role in the media that I have been tracking. 

Stab Magazine fully understands how to take advantage of sound in its short films and video journals. Stab uses a large variety of punk rock and alternative rock to complement the rebellious nature of surfing, while also matching the tempo of each individual surfer. When Stab is creating a more relaxed video part, they can substitute rock for reggae or tropical melodies for a slower more fluid, and stylish emphasis. Surf culture doesn’t permit the use of sound effects partially because there are very limited circumstances when a sound effect would be necessary. In almost all circumstances the levels of the music are dialed and correct. The pacing is dependent on the style of surfing, the tempo typically matches the speed and aggressiveness of the individual surfer or wave. Almost always the style of music fits the post but there can be a few editors who believe a certain genre is invited while an audience may disagree. If I were to choose music to be in my surf edit I would use songs similar to “Hey Joe” and “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. these songs have incredible guitar solos and riffs. the songs are twangy and loose while also permitting aggressive surfing.

Stab Article – Mason Ho

The link above is a Stab article about Mason Ho Surfing a “Dry Reef” which is very dangerous and skillful. the music involved is up-tempo, groovy, includes a loose baseline, and matches the style of the individual as mentioned previously. 

Another media that I have been following that includes music is Tik Tok. Tik Tok has a larger variety of music and greater use of sound effects. If a sound is out there it’s been used in one way or another on Tik Tok. For this section of the post, I will reference one specific trend that is currently popular. 

Tik Tok – CPD Trend

This post is one of many posts in the CPD (Calories Per Dollar) trend. The users shop for food and show the audience the CPD ratio and play it off as “research” so the audience can maximize their calories per dollar. The videos use background audio which comes from the Bladerunner 2049 soundtrack. The sound is mysterious and forces the audience to focus on the talent’s voice and message. The levels of the background audio are propper and don’t need adjustment in this video, however, many videos in the trend could use many adjustments to their levels either louder or softer. The tempo of the song is good as it stays slow through the video dragging more attention to the message of the video. The purpose of adding background music is to boost the video’s entertainment value and to match the trend. If the post was lacking music, it would be lacking the comedic “research” aspect. I would not change the music nor would I add any sound effects to the video because there is no scene that permits the usage of it. My second reason being the trend is already so simple, there is no need to over-complicate it with added noises. For those who think the audio should be changed to a different song I understand, the sound is used for many other trends as well, however, the sound is good enough and clear enough in its purpose to be used in this trend.