Urban Runner

The whole class becomes the soundtrack for the same clip, Urban Runner, from Soundtrap’s Video Library. Each day adds one layer. Concepts and techniques live on Sound Design.

Schedule

The project is named Urban Runner – Sound Design and the same project is used all five days.

Required Elements

The finished project must have all six. This is the rubric.

• 1. A coin sound on the first four coins.
• 2. A sound on the first bus, with a volume curve.
• 3. A sound on the first truck, with a volume curve.
• 4. A sound on the first car, with a volume curve.
• 5. All footsteps up until the green bus.
• 6. All jumps up until the green bus.

The ambience bed from Day 1 runs under the whole clip. A vehicle with a sound but no curve is not finished.

Project Day 1: Coin and Ambience

1. Soundtrap → New Project → the video option → Video Library → Urban Runner.
2. Watch it once. Find the moment the runner touches the first coin.
3. Search the library for a coin sound (coin, chime, bell, ding, sparkle, glockenspiel, triangle). Drag it to a track and slide it until it lands exactly on the coin. If you have to wonder whether it lined up, it didn’t.
4. Save as Urban Runner – Sound Design.

Then watch with everything muted. Real silence sounds broken. Add one ambience loop under the entire clip — city, traffic, crowd — and turn it down until you stop noticing it. Add one more sync point of your choice.

Stretch: swap the ambience so the same clip feels tense instead of fun, without changing the picture.

Project Day 2: Vehicles and Automation

Finish the ambience and put a coin on the first four coins. Then find a car, truck, or engine sound and place one where the bus appears, one for the truck, one for the car — each vehicle on its own track.

Automate the truck together, then the bus and car alone: the automation curve. Low for a long time, a fast rise, a fast drop. If it fades in evenly, the curve is wrong.

Project Day 3: Footsteps and Foley

Download the Footstep Sound Pack from CTLS. Ten files, each a continuous walk or run:

Pick the surface that matches the runner, drag it into the project, and chop it — Foley. The files are not ready to use: the whole file will not line up and cannot line up. Split out single steps, place each on the frame a foot lands, alternate three or four different steps, and give every jump a takeoff and a landing.

Project Day 4: Finish the Scene

Check the six required elements. Fix what is missing, lowest first. Save. Anything undone is homework before the upload day.

Project Day 5: Upload and Vote

Ten-minute final check against the six elements, then stop editing. Export as a video and upload it to the CTLS discussion (Turning In Work). Then Peer Voting: watch your six, rank a top three. The top three play on the big screen.

Checkpoints

Day 1

• One coin sound lands exactly on the first coin.
• One ambience loop runs under the whole clip, quieter than the effects.
• Saved as Urban Runner – Sound Design.

Day 2

• First four coins have a sound.
• Bus, truck, and car each have a sound on their own track.
• Each vehicle’s volume follows a curve and peaks as it passes.

Day 3

• I split the recording into individual steps and use more than one.
• Every footstep lands on the frame the foot hits the ground.
• Each jump has a takeoff and a landing.

Day 4

• All six required elements are done.

Day 5

• My video is uploaded.
• I watched my six and submitted the voting form once.

Teacher Notes

• Exit tickets that worked: Name one sound you added that has no visible source on screen — what is it doing for the viewer? (Day 1); Why is the truck’s volume curve not a straight line? (Day 2); Why can’t you drag the whole footstep recording onto the timeline? (Day 3).
• Day 3 is the heaviest day. Students who finish footsteps early should go back and put a coin on every coin, not just the first four.
• A break between Day 4 and Day 5 is fine; the project is saved in Soundtrap.
• Post the footstep pack, the assignment chart, and the voting form on CTLS.