Week # 6 Blog on Audio Recording and Video Hosting

Reflections on YouTube, SoundCloud, and Free Online Audio

 

Exploring YouTube

This week I took advantage of the opportunity to explore YouTube's privacy features more than I ever have before. I was amazed at YouTube's capabilities, and though I have always been more of a video viewer than a creator, I was a little embarrassed that I have been using YouTube for 8 years without fully knowing how it works. So just for fun, and to make myself more media literate, I uploaded my first YouTube video ever which was a video of me playing my favorite game, Fallout 4. Upon doing this I edited my settings so that viewers can rate and comment on the video. Here is my video (contains graphic content) and the link to my channel https://www.youtube.com/user/killerclowns871. Amusingly, the name I gave my channel when I was 13 (after the movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space) stuck around in my channel's url. 

I also discovered that I can make uploaded videos private or public and remove ads from my videos. Digging even further, I learned that I can use Google Ads Settings to make it so I'm not targeted with ads based on my browser history. Preventing Google from targeting me with ads will make my future internet browsing feel more enjoyable and less imposing.

 Editing Audio in Soundtrap

This week was a week of firsts for me as I also got to make my first ever edited audio recording using Soundtrap. This was a fun assignment for me and I enjoyed all of the different effects, layering and sound cropping that are possible with Soundtrap. I experimented with different volumes for each of my sounds and different effects for my voice such as the resonating "cave" effect and the crisp and clear "clean" effect. After trying many different kinds of music and sounds to blend with the intensity of the poem"The Tyger", I truly learned just how much audio can make or break otherwise compelling content.

 Discovering Free Audio

To find the audio for my Soundtrap recording I explored YouTube's audio gallery along with the other copyright free audio sites listed in the assignment for week 6. I found that many of these websites contained music and ambiances rather than actual sound effects, so I sought out a copyright free website where I could find just the audio I was looking for and came across freesound.org. This website contains all kinds of recorded sounds that fall under Creative Commons, and many are free for use with or without attribution.