We’ve reached the end of Fall Semester COM 561, and what a journey it’s been! This course has been an incredible learning experience, allowing me to dive into the Adobe software suite and learn the InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, and Premiere programs. At the start of the semester, I had never worked with any of these programs, so each one presented its own significant learning curve. As I’ve looked back on my four projects, it’s been exciting to see how much progress I’ve made.

For our final assignment, we needed to choose one project to further revise. I decided to revisit my audio interview with my friend Jay, where we talked about his first time in Japan. I chose this Adobe Audition project because it was the most challenging one for me to complete. After submitting the final version weeks ago, I knew there were some adjustments I could make to improve the sound levels and enhance the experience for the listener.

I first wanted to improve the volume levels of the interview clips and the background music. I increased those and made adjustments in clips that needed extra tailoring using the volume bar and adding keyframe points to further tailor specific parts that were too loud or soft. I also added some sound effects that went nicely with the story to give the listener a more immersive experience. I cropped these with the razor and cropping tools and even spliced two clips together to make the baseball bat hit and cheering sound like one continuous clip.

The entire editing experience in Adobe Audition really opened my eyes to how long it must take to create professional-level audio, considering the work required for a two-minute interview. I hope to use Adobe Audition for promotional and storytelling audio projects in my future nonprofit communications work, so it’s time well spent. I hope my adjustments enhanced the interview, making it more engaging, easier to listen to, and immersive for my intended audience: first-time travelers to Japan. I could see this interview being featured on a travel website or as a part of a travel podcast episode about visiting Japan for the first time.

Please enjoy the further revised interview!

(For comparison, here’s the previously revised interview.)