RODE University has been updated, now offering 10 free online classes on recording sound for film and TV, delivered by sound effects master Ric Viers. Now you don’t need to own a Rode mic to sign up to the classes. It’s free and open to everyone. These are the topics:

• Ep 01: Location Sound Recording (NTG-3) - This week Ric Viers, author of The Sound Effects Bible, demonstrates fundamental techniques for recording dialogue and environmental audio on location.
• Ep 02: Location Sound Recording (Indoor Dialogue) - In this episode Ric explores options for getting the best audio when recording dialogue indoors. Whether it’s in tight spaces or sporting venues, Ric has the tips and tricks to help you get the best…
• Ep 03: Camera Microphones - Getting good quality audio is often a struggle with consumer camcorders and even digital SLRs. In this episode Ric explains how to maximise your sound when using on-camera microphones.
• Ep 04: ENG Recording - ENG (Electronic News Gathering) is the staple work of many audio professionals, and possibly the most demanding. From ‘one man bands’ to full ENG teams, Ric gives you the advice you need to run…
• Ep 06: Voiceovers and ADR - In this episode Ric covers the best approach for recording high quality off screen dialogue for voiceovers (VOs), as well as his personal tips for getting best results from talent when using ADR (automated dialogue replacement).
• Ep 07: Foley Recording - Foley artists add depth and reality to a scene, creating sound effect overdubs that supplement the dialogue and score. In this episode Ric shows how to record and perform foley like a pro!
• Ep 08: Studio Sound Effects Recording - The creation of sound effects is Ric’s home turf. From headline effects like car crashes and bone breaks to subtle environmental sounds like door opens and falling debris, RØDE University lets you in on the industry secrets.
• Ep 09: Location Sound Effects Recording - In the second part of Sound Effects Recording, Professor Ric takes the gear out of the studio and gets his hands dirty recording a car-by on location.
• Ep 10: Semester Wrap-Up - School’s almost out, but before you leave be sure to check out the semester wrap-up, where Ric gives his all time top ten tips for broadcast recording. This is an episode not to miss.

RODE University
Via: @blastwave

Photo by rogerdominh (CC)

Colin Hart has published a very interesting and detailed article about the principles and techniques of boom operation. It’s more focused on location sound, but it will be an amazing read for anyone who has to deal with booms, including sound designers and recordists.

The Boom Operator: one of the most crucial parts of a sound team, if not the most crucial. Also, one of the most misunderstood positions. He is a ninja. No, seriously, he is.

Let’s talk cinema style audio for a bit. On a film set, the boom operator is the “voice” of the sound team. He’s the one that communicates most set-related concerns to the proper crew. If he’s having trouble with placement, he’ll talk to the cam op or DP. If body pack or Comtek batteries are low, he’s the one that changes them. If talent is having trouble with their wire, the boom op is generally the one to fix it. The mixer usually stays off to the side. Because of this, the boom op needs to be a very personable character. He needs to know how to get what he needs without pissing people off. He needs to be able to get along with whomever is thrown his way.

Once we start talking ENG, the mixer not only mixes, but does everything the boom op does. He’s a one man band. He needs to be able to move very quickly, anticipating every need before it happens, staying one step ahead of the crew, lest he hear the dreaded phrase “Waiting on sound!”

Now, you could be the most personable person in the world, not stepping on anyone’s toes and getting all the work you need to get done finished without negatively altering anyone’s mood, and still be a terrible boom op. Let’s talk technical.

A boom op needs to realize how incredibly sensitive his gear is. It’s a game of inches. You need to be able to think one step ahead of the talent. You need to be quick, light on your toes, and stealthy. You need to be everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. You need to be moving faster than the talent, staying dangerously close to the frame line, so much so that people are breaking into a nervous sweat. You need to perform near stunt moves, moving over and around obstacles on set during moving shots, being aware of your surroundings while sticking your mic on a spot the size of a quarter. You need to do all of this without making a single noise. This is why the boom op is a ninja.

As a boom operator, you have to be willing to do crazy things to get that perfect sound. You will, at times, find yourself in strange positions, in harms way, or in otherwise less-than-comfortable situations. You have to be on point at all times, knowing that if you mess up, you’ve compromised the entire shot.

Ok, if I haven’t scared you away yet, lets go over some basics of boom operation.

Read the full article

Alexandre Rocca, Dorian Darcourt and Hugo Guiral have founded Surround Library, a new online sound effects library offering surround sounds for download, in different categories and formats. This is what they said about it:

After several months of hard work, we are pleased to announce the launch of our online surround sound effects library : Surround Library.

Our website offers a large range of ambiences and effects exclusively in surround, recorded by our enthusiastic and professional sound engineers’s community with specific surround microphones systems. Community that we hope will rapidly grow worldwide.

Our catalog is still under development and it keeps improving every month. All sounds include BWF (Broadcast Wave) and Soundminer v4 metadatas, and all audio related technical details are specified on the website for each sound, along with an excellent and uncrippled stereo sample to listen to. We also insist on the “paternity” of sounds, by always specifying the recording’s Author or Producer.

Our website privileges sobriety and ease of use, while still offering powerful features such as drawing up Wishlists or using custom Tags among others. We also seek for interaction with our users via a discussion Forum and a Blog.

We hope that you will enjoy the experience, so please feel free to give us your feedback by posting in the Forum or by sending an email. We hope to hear from you soon.

Surround Lib Catalog

Via: Soundminer

Photo by "Jean H. de Buren"

New month means a new special on DS. I’m very glad to announce the visit of one of my favorite sound designers out there: David Farmer. He will be sharing a lot of interesting stuff, including articles, interviews, videos, and more! I hope you enjoy it.

Bio

David Farmer grew up in the little town of Gladys, Virginia. He was always interested in music growing up, and played drums, guitar, and bass in his youth. Drums actually come the most natural to him, but he wanted to write songs in their entirety, so picked up the guitar. He  would record a drum part to a cassette, then play guitar along with that cassette while recording the composite mix to another cassette. Rinse & repeat with other instruments until the song is done. This is far from how songs are actually made (using multi-track recording), but was all he had access to. More than just music, he found he was actually interested in sound itself, which led him to my career in sound effects for feature films.

Condensing the next phase of his life, he wound up in Burbank CA working on films, such as Mortal Kombat, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, etc…. After that, he started working on films out of Skywalker Ranch, including The Arrival, Armageddon, Con Air, Space Cowboys, and so on. He wound up as the Sound Designer for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Clearly this was a dream job for someone in this field.

Awards & Nominations

• Golden Reel Nomination for Best Sound Editing in Computer Entertainment – World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• Golden Reel Nomination for Best Sound Editing in Feature Film (Foreign) - King Kong
• Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Computer Entertainment - Goldeneye: Rogue Agent
• BAFTA Nomination for Best Sound/Golden Reel Nomination for Best Sound Editing – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
• BAFTA Nomination for Best Sound/Golden Reel Nomination for Best Sound Editing - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• BAFTA Nomination for Best Sound/Golden Reel Nomination for Best Sound Editing – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Selected Work

• A nightmare on Elm Street (2010) – Sound designer
• God of War III (2010) – Sound designer
• Invictus (2009) - Sound designer
• God of War II (2007) – Sound designer
• King Kong (2005) – Sound designer
• Need for Speed: Underground 2 (2004) – Sound editor
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – Sound designer
• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) – Sound designer
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) – Sound designer
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - Sound designer
• Space Cowboys (2000) – Sound Designer
• Fallout 2: A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game (1998) - Sound Designer
• Mortal Kombat (1995) – Sound Designer

David Farmer IMDb
David Farmer Music Site

The guys of Game Audio Podcast have published the fifth episode of their podcast series. This time it’s a mini episode, talking about different things:

Its a mini episode, no guests, just us catching up as we get ready for another season of game audio.

We talk about the rise of the indie sample libaries, the mini synth rage, projects we are working on.

You can download it now or listen online at gameaudiopodcast.com

Wow, August just flew! Here is the final post of the Rob Nokes special, with the answers to the questions made by the readers during this month. Hope you enjoyed this month, and get ready for September! :D

Designing Sound Reader: How well do you take care of your microphones? Do you leave them out in the studio overnight or do you put them away the minute the recording session is over? And how often do you get them serviced?

Rob Nokes: I store my microphones in a temperature controlled room that also stores the SoundStorm library, 75F and 38% humidity. I don’t use the Neumanns in dangerous situations but I have placed an MKH-60 adjacent to a car’s muffler. Cheaper microphones are placed in harms way, such as the SANKEN CUB-01′s and AKH C4000B. I have lost some Sennheiser E835′s.

The studio sound proofing controls temperature and humidity so I don’t have a problem leaving the microphones out over night. Microphones get serviced when they have problems, it’s important to have backups available when a microphone starts to sound bad.

DSR: What type of headphones are you using to monitor while you’re recording?

RN: For field recording I have used the Sony MDR-V900HD Studio Monitor Type Headphones.
For studio recording I absolutely love the Sennheiser RS-180 wireless headphones because they are wireless. The sound quality is not “wired” quality but it’s very good considering the price ($300) and the flexibility of working wireless in the studio.

DSR: How well dampened or deadened is the ADR studio you worked in? Was it extremely dead like an anechoic chamber or was it slightly live? Also, how big was it (dimensions)?

RN: The reflections are controlled so there are no flutters or standing waves that cause frequency bumps. My ADR room is designed in such a way that I can control the liveliness of the room by exposing concrete or wood by quickly removing carpeting. The lower half of two side walls has baffles that can be removed to increase reflections. In the corner I have two 4 foot traps stacked 8 feet high to eat up a 300 HZ bump at the back of the room. The most important sound treatment happens on the front and back wall and ceiling. An anechoic chamber is not recommended unless you only need the sounds for pure sound design and even then that can be over done. The room is 17 by 19 by 10.

DSR: While recording ambiences, do you set the mics extremely still or do you like to walk around with them to get a constantly changing environment?

RN: Both. It depends on the situation and the desired effect that is needed. If you are shooting a moving POV remember to move slowly so that the perspective change is always minor (not jarring).

DSR: How do you think the Zoom HN4 compares to the 2? Specifically the preamps?

RN: I only used the H4 so I can only compare to that unit. The H4N was a significant improvement but let’s be clear that the H4N is great for general sounds, if you are recording pure tones or ultra-quiet sounds you’re better off with the Zaxcom Deva 5 or a similar quality recorder.

DSR: Do you also choose different preamps to work with for the right sound like you choose different mics? Or do you always use one type of preamp?

RN: I had two SoundDevices preamps for these purposes but I found the controls to be clumsy (very sensitive and easily altered when field recording) and the additional bulk was unwarranted for the quality difference. It’s really important to get to a good sound and quickly record it before the opportunity has passed. Now I don’t have any additional pre-amps, hold it; I forgot; I do have a EAA PSP-2 and BeachTek DXA-6A. Otherwise I use the onboard pre-amps on the Zaxcom Deva 5, Korg MR-1000, and H4N.

DSR: What sample-rate do you record/edit at? If you record at 96 or 192, what do you use to downconvert it?

RN: Depends on the sound and purpose of the sounds. If a sound can be recorded really clean and is for sound design: 192. If the sound is for editing only then 96.

DSR: Do you ‘master’ your sounds before you put them in your library (and the Sounddogs shop) or leave them as you recorded them.

RN: Always master them. Mastering is harder work than recording, by far! The good thing about mastering is you learn how your microphone sounds and most importantly you learn not to breath on the mic, shuffle your feet, crunch rocks, have keys in your pockets, have your cell phone, etc. By mastering the sounds you curse yourself for all the editing you’ve caused yourself to do.

DSR: Do you prefer mon sounds to work with in surround or stereo?

RN: This is more of a mixing and editing question. If you are moving a specific sound in a surround environment mono is practical. Stereos are good for ambiance and backgrounds.

DSR: How do you “clean” your takes from undesired backgrounds, specially when recording outside?

RN: “Backgrounds” suggests you are talking about a constant noise in the background of a recording. This depends if I am mastering a specific or background, if it is a background you’re kind of hosed, the three things you can do are: cut out the most offensive sections of noise. secondly EQ the offensive noise to minimize its perceptibility and noise reduction (Izotope). If the sound recorded is a specific, then shoot with your back to the undesired background and the good sound at the directly in front of the microphone. Also record multiple takes so that your chances of getting a clean sound is higher.

DSR: Do you always use a preamp between the mic and the recorder, or do you sometimes use the recorder’s preamp?

RN: See answer above.

DSR: How do you make recordings under the rain? I mean, covering the mic with an umbrella or something will produce undesired sounds!

RN: An umbrella will introduce too much noise from the rain hitting the umbrella. Look for an elevated canopy to help shield the microphone or record briefly with a jammer on your zeppelin to help protect from rain.

DSR: Do you use acoustics at all when you are field recording?

RN: Yes absolutely. Acoustics and near reflections can help color and build sound considerably. Clap your hands in the corner of a room and in the middle of the room, the difference is substantial. I like to elongate short sounds by adding near reflections.

DSR: Do you position your subjects for the best possible acoustics? Like if you were recording an elephant, would you go so far as to place him away from the side of a building to get rid of the echo slap-back?

RN: Yes, but it depends on what the need of the sound designer is. With the example you have given, a near reflection (close to the wall) might be less noticeable as a medium reflection that would be more noticeable. The initial sound blast will hide a very close reflection but it cannot hide a medium long reflection because the time difference of the reflection is longer and is not hidden by the decay of the original sound.

DSR: How do you apply acoustics to your recordings?

RN: Positioning the sound source or the microphone. Also physical reflectors (boards, metal sheet) can be positioned for desired effect.

DSR: Do you use compression in your recordings? Or do you apply it afterwards?

RN: No. I very rarely use a compressor.

Full disclosure, I haven’t seen Edgar Wright’s first film (A Fist Full of Fingers) but his two other theatrical releases(“Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz)” I enjoyed immensely and were both very sound friendly. “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” follows suit and interviews with Wright confirmed my suspicion of his love for sound. Below is an excerpt from a Cinematical.com interview with Edgar.

Cinematical: I had a conversation with a friend who mentioned that there is a sound effect that comes from Sonic the Hedgehog, which I actually didn’t know or recognize. How much are people supposed to be identifying the specific little sounds and details like that, and how much is meant to be just a part of the overall pastiche?

Wright: I think it’s not the central part of that joke, but the Sonic the Hedgehog noise is, and I feel like those things are kind of to create almost a pavlov’s dog response for people in the audience who have grown up with those sounds. I think it’s more that I wanted to create – those sounds and audio references and motifs are not supposed to stop the film dead. If people don’t recognize them, it’s not what the scene is about or even the joke is about. It’s more that what I kind of figured is that with some of that music, and even like Mac and PC and Blackberry noises, is that they’re the kinds of sounds of the last 15 years. So it’s sort of like a pavlovian response to like a Mac error sound is that you know you’ve done something wrong (laughs). Because I think if you actually put a microphone in somebody’s apartment that uses a lot of technology, there would just be a number of sounds that we take for granted that are just part of our lives – vibrating cell phones, Mac errors, the sound of trash.

Basically, Scott Pilgrim is like living his life through the pop culture he’s consumed over the last 30 years, so there’s like this endless jumble of resonant sounds. So to the character and to me, it’s like the Sonic the Hedgehog noise is basically just like 1993′s lightbulb sound, do you know what I mean? Ding! That’s it – there’s nothing and not extra jokes written in that, and it’s sounds that you recognize and have grown up with over the last 20 years. I love that it has that sort of pavlovian response; I mean, some of them are very kind of buried in the mix, but it makes me laugh because we went through all of the Windows and Mac sounds of the last 15 years, and just when somebody wakes up it has the sort of startup sound, so that it just happens to be in the background. But a lot of them are diegetic as well, and I’ve done that in Spaced as well; I always find that interesting, trying to soundtrack things rather than raid the Hanna-Barbera sound effects. You sound diegetic from the technology we use.

I’d love to share more examples of Edgar’s thoughts on sound (There’s plenty more) but I’d better get on with our interview with sound supervisor Julian Slater.  Slater has been working with Edgar since 2004′s “Shaun of the Dead” and I actually interviewed him for 2008′s “In Bruges”.  Anyway, Thanks to Julian for answering some questions about his work on “Scott Pilgrim v. The World” and you can see him in The Soundworks Collection’s interview for the film too.

DS: When did you start working on the film and what were the initial conversations about sound with director Edgar Wright like?

(Julian Slater) JS: Edgar first approached me around December 2008 to talk about the project and what he felt would be the overall ‘feel’ of the soundtrack. He actually showed me some test footage they already shot which turned out to be very accurate to the finished film. I started on some initial sound work around May of 2009 which included new video game and 8 bit sounds to send to the cutting rooms over in Toronto while they were shooting.

DS: What sound effects were lifted direct from video games, inversely when paying homage to video game sounds what type of research went into the process?

JS: Ha! Lots of playing video games! Actually, as a percentage very little of the game sounds you hear in the movie are lifted from the actual video games. There are some from Zelda, Sonic, and Super Mario Bros but pretty much everything else was created from scratch. If you go way back to the early 80’s many game sounds were created from pretty basic chips and as such are quiet easy to replicate or recreate with a similar feel. One of the tasks we had was making each sound complement what was happening on screen. If you are a retro gamer like myself, your brain inherently associates those old 8 bit sounds with particular graphics or images so when you apply new images to this (particularly with such vivid visuals as we had) your brain has problems coupling the old sounds with the new images. So we spent a fair amount of time experimenting and seeing what sounds, old or new, would work within the context of the scene. Bill Hader’s voice is featured heavily in the ‘Ninja Ninja Revolution’ game that is a new spin on the popular dance game in arcades. The game looks like a real game but its not, its all a recreation so all those ‘in game’ sound effects are totally new. Once we had edited and mixed the sounds afresh, we actually worldized them through an old arcade machine that had sitting in my garage for the past 6 years!!

DS: In the Soundworks Collection interview you talked about electing to manipulate high fidelity sound effects into an 8bit futz rather than use existing 8bit sound effects for on-screen action. What plug-ins or other processes did you use to achieve this and what type of sounds translated the best into an 8bit counterpart?

JS: We knew from the outset that using real 8 bits punches etc were not going to cut it within a modern cinematical soundtrack. Not only because they would not have the weight and low end required but also because we needed to come up with a bunch new variants. I had the immense pleasure of working with Sound Designer Jimmy Boyle on this movie and he spent a lot of time combining real punches with his own vocal sweetners (almost human beatbox style) to come up with new punches that sounded retro and 8 bit but also fresh and new. He also used an old Atari console that had been mutated into an 8 bit synth that generated a ton of new variants on the classic sounds of old!

poster credit: MONDO (They have so many cool designs there)

DS: In the same interview you mentioned the use of whooshes, not to emphasize action but to add a subtle layer of aural cues. For example the espresso machine hissing underneath Scott Pilgrim’s ex-girlfriend “Envy’s” dialog in the scene @ Second Cup? What other scenes have this type sound in it and how was this conceptual sound design conceived?

JS: A common thread in the work I do for Edgar is he likes having new sounds pop out with repeat viewings. This film is littered with that kind of sound design. Pretty much every scene has some type of layer used as a device to reinforce the action. Edgar was clear from the outset that he wanted to take the sound in this movie to another level from where his others had been.

DS: Speaking of Edgar, in an interview about Hot Fuzz he said, “I just really, both on Shaun of the Dead and on this, kind of like making the sound mix really vivid. …we set out to make the loudest British film of all time. I think we succeeded. Calendar Girls is a close second … If we don’t get an Oscar nomination for sound effects editing, I’m going to cry.” Edgar comes off as a director passionate about the sound in his films. What sets him apart from other directors you’ve worked in this respect and how does his enthusiasm carry over to the way you work?

JS: I think I remember reading that! I actually remember Edgar telling me while we where mixing Hot Fuzz that comedies don’t get nominated for anything other than ‘best comedy’! He’s definitely sound aware but i don’t think he is anymore into his sound as he is, say the editing or music, etc. He is just totally into every aspect of his film. Working with Edgar definitely pushes you further creatively. Firstly because he gives you great visuals to lay sound against, but also because once you think you’ve finished a sound, he will then ask you to push it another 3 stops further! More than once on this movie i would present something to him that we felt was amazing and perfect but Edgar would make a suggestion that would be exactly what was needed to finish it off.

Tim Prebble has been interviewed by Ande Schurr at “The Big Idea”. The interview is really interesting and full inspiring, don’t miss it!

Sound Designer Tim Prebble is at catch for my freelance series. He has an office across the road from Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post, is a thrice finalist in this year’s Qantas Film and Television Awards for Best Sound Design and has a fan base that only a genre director could rival.

Tim epitomises many of the things that could be classed as best freelance practices. His developmental and DIY attitude with social media, websites and e-commerce; his emphasis on collegial rapport and being in good standing among colleagues; his efforts to map out the territory he wants to play in – exploring his passions – and turning them into viable sources of income.

A recent graduate of an Auckland audio school told me that that his home page is Tim’s blog. The Music of Sound covers it all – from comparing the major audio editing software packages to crowd sourcing sound fx to methods of creating great SFX (Sound Effects).

Packed full of ideas for people in all film and TV departments, Tim Prebble is a freelancer who has raised the bar for those of us wanting to make our passion our work.

Full interview here

Here is an interview that Rob Nokes had some time ago, where he talks about the work on his sound effects company. Let’s read:

Question: What is the quality control for sounds available for the users and customers?

Answer: A Sounddogs.com librarian will review the recordings and master them before they are imported in the web site for users to purchase and download. The librarian ensures that only good quality sounds are making it onto the web site. There are a lot of substandard sound recordings out there and we take pride in providing a great library with a money back guarantee on all purchases.

Q: Who buy the sounds? What is the public Sounddogs.com focus?

A: Every one buys sounds as they are everywhere and in almost all products.
These products, and more, contain sounds for example: cellular phones, television, DVD menus, commercial music, video games, movies, TV shows, radio stations, webisodes, amusement rides, simulators, toys and etc.

Sounddogs.com’s focus is feature film. That is where the best sounds are being recorded and created and we believe that if our sound effects are used in feature films then they are good enough for every other person producing products that need sounds also.

Q: The price of sounds on the website is not expensive. How is it possible to maintain the site?

A: You’re right. Sounds are pretty cheap when you consider how much effort goes into recording, mastering, cataloging, and importing sounds on to Sounddogs.com’s website. The only way it is possible to stay in business is by sales volume and the expansive catalog we own the copyrights to. The first seven years of the business were precarious but now that we own so much of our own content we can sleep a little easier. It’s a tough to be successful in such a small niche micro payment business but when you love sound effects the way we do it makes it a worthwhile sacrifice.

Q: Does Sounddogs.com work with special orders?

A: Those are the best kind of jobs and the most challenging. We love doing special orders especially if they involve recording sound effects somewhere in the world. Sometimes special orders have a very limited budget and in those cases when delve into our immense archives and search for sounds that will do the trick. We purchase a lot of sound archives and are fortunate to own one of the largest sound libraries in the world. Check out SoundStorm, there are thirty years of film sound in that library.

Q: There are mp3 samples on the web site. What is the audio format you deliver to clients?

A: MP3 are for low-resolution previews. When a customer purchases a sound it is delivered to them immediately via ftp in full-resolution sample rate and bit rate in one of three selectable formats, mp3, wav, or aiff. All purchases come with a money back guarantee we’re not interested in getting paid unless you’re happy with your sound files.

Q: How can the sounds be used? Is it copyright material?

A: Each sound effect has a copyright just like music. The difference is that sound effects are sold with a synchronization license which allows an Editor to use the sound in a production with no additional license costs on condition that the sound effect is incorporated into a multimedia production with voice, visual, music, or other sound effects.

The sound effect may not be sold or used as a single sound effect by itself. That usage requires a mechanical license to reproduce the sound effect as a sound effect or a derivative of the sound effect. On the movies I work on I retain all ownership of sound effects that I record, create, and master but I make a point of over delivering to the production. I appreciate that they allow me to retain ownership and I reward them a sound library worth far more than they paid for it.

Q: How you choose the sounds to record? If you need a bird chirp, how do you select it?

A: A sound is selected based on quality of performance and that is generally quantified by how a sound makes us feel or what it makes us think of. Typically a good sound has: dynamics, changes in pitch over time, length in time, interesting reverb or reflections, and is generally isolated or as we like to say “clean.” Sounds that are short, un-dynamic, and lacking changes in pitch or level over time are generally static and boring. With this in mind I try to find a good sound to record and then do my best to isolate it with microphone selection, placement, and technique. Sound selection is about 70% of the job followed by 20% for microphone technique and 10% mastering.

Q: How are sounds recorded? Location or studio?

A: Sounds can be recorded on location (field recording) or in a studio. Usually studio recording is performed by Foley Artists, and field recording by SFX Recordists. Both have similar skill sets but I would say Foley Artists / Recordists have to be inventive in their use of props and microphone technique to create a natural sound in a controlled studio environment. SFX Recordists work in uncontrolled environments with varied obstacles that require quick problem solving and superb microphone technique. Also SFX Recordists interact with many people that are foreign to movies and sound work therefore communication with lay people with simple instructions is crucial.

Q: Who does the recording?

A: The SFX Recordist generally does the recording but in some cases you have a layperson help record something, that’s pretty rare though. An example might be an airplane pilot checking and modifying levels in flight.

Q: If the sound must be recorded in a studio, what is the set up?

A: Foley Artists have a prop room that contains thousands of different objects of all sizes, makes, shapes, and generally anything that is absolutely common to everyday life like bicycles, shoes, bells, telephones, doors, spray bottles, rakes, shovels, etc. The Foley Artist may record a typical sound or invent an atypical sound by combining similar elements from the prop room. For example celery snaps for bones breaks or a shammy on Plexiglas for a car brake screech.

Q: What’s the gear generally used on field recording?

A: A stereo MS microphone and a digital recorder will always do the trick. The important the shoot, the larger the recording rig. For example, with guns you want to record as many perspectives as possible, from extreme close up to distant. You want to sample the sounds as many times as possible during the same instant so you can mix the best elements from each perspective into one channel. Multi-track recording allows you more options and the ability to experiment where as when you only have a two-channel recorder you had best pick the best sound being made and record it cleanly. Good headphones are a must they should not distort and should have good isolation from background sounds.

Q: What are the difficulties for getting a good sound on field recording?

A: The hardest thing is to find a good sound to record. Then you need to record it as isolated from background noises as possible. Background noises generally are comprised of the elements wind and water, and nature, but the most difficult thing to avoid is people and their machines. I have been in remote parts of Canada, Kazakhstan, Norway, and The Cook Island and you still hear planes or cars in the background. I was logging recordings for Imax when I first started out in the business and was appalled to hear distant chain saws in the rain forests of Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Q: What kind of sound is hardest to get?

A: Animals. They are so unpredictable in their performance and movements. Keeping an animal on microphone while it makes a good sound requires incredible patience. That’s why good animal libraries are so rare and not very extensive. Even if you have an animal in a studio it does not mean that it will make a good sound, a natural sound, or even make a sound at all.

I try to record animals in their home environments with the advice of a naturalist or animal trainer. When I’m with the animal I study its body language and try to act in a way that is least offensive to the animal. This could mean a boom pole, staying low to the ground, or pointing the microphone up below the animal’s chin. You really need to feel out each animal and record as much as possible and hope for the best.

Q: Was there any situation where you couldn’t get the sound?

A: It happens all the time. If you go out to record a vehicle in the desert but the distant coyotes are too loud you might think the day is wasted but it’s not. Simply record the distant coyotes and wait for them to leave. If the crickets are too loud record the crickets. Take a negative and make it a positive. You may have to come back at a better time to record but that’s part of the experience of learning how our environments’ work. If you learn a specific location that is quiet you will start to learn when the best times to go are so that you can avoid such adverse situations.

Q: What’s the most problematic part, recording or mastering? Why?

A: Mastering is not a problem it is just time consuming. If you have spent an entire day recording it will take anywhere from one to five days to master the recordings. It takes fortitude and concentration to carefully listen and master recordings.

The thing about mastering is that when it is done it is done, it is done for every Editor that ever has to use that sound. If there is a microphone bump in a recording and it was used ten times by four hundred editors then that microphone bump would have had to have been removed 4,000 times. It’s best to remove it the first time so that Editors can focus on being creative and not cleaning technical faults in recording. Recording is fun it is easy compared to mastering.

Q: How do you get a certain technical pattern between all sounds you record for a movie?

A: A Supervising Sound Editor, Director, or Film Editor on a movie will ask for specific sounds and ask for situational sounds. A specific sound may be LAV-25 (light armored vehicle) and a situational sound may be Las Vegas casinos. I research the specific sounds and situations and then figure out where I can find the best places to record those sounds. Sometimes authorizations, rentals, and permissions are needed and sometimes not. I go out and record as many good sounds as possible at those locations, master them and then deliver them to the people working on the movie.

Q: How did Sounddogs.com get started? How many people work with you and where are they based?

A: Sounddogs.com’s roots started in early 1992, at Sound Dogs Toronto we recorded, mastered, and cataloged a sound library for our own use. We imagined one day that we could publish it but we felt that Sound Ideas was doing such a good job at that we did not want to enter that same market. After Sound Dogs USA was formed in 1995 we quickly vaulted to doing A-list Hollywood movies.

Our library continued to grow and the Internet was just getting started, Amazon was launched in 1995-1996 an it occurred to me that we could launch Sounddogs.com to generate more interest for our feature film sound design work, increase the size of our sound library, and overtime become a sound effects publisher like Sound Ideas. The early years for Sounddogs.com were all about library growth and building the Sound Dogs brand name so that people in Hollywood knew who we were and knew we had a great sound library.

Sound Dogs USA became very successful in the late 90’s and our partnership was strained due to the divergent interests. We parted company amicably in November 2001, they continued with Sound Dogs USA, and I went on with Sounddogs.com. Gradually Sounddogs.com began more and more successful, but those early years were tough!

Q: Does Sounddogs.com accept recordings from other sound editors? And how does this partnership work?

A: Sounddogs.com distributes sound effects recordings and production music libraries for people, copyright owners, musicians, and publishers. We like libraries that have that have good sounds, are well recorded, have unique sounds, a good volume of sounds, and are well cataloged. We also buy libraries outright and provide a synchronization license to the seller so that they can continue to use their library, but we take over the publishing. Sometimes people want the big cash up front and don’t want to wait for money to come in over time.

The distribution agreement (partnership) is non-exclusive with one-year auto-renewals, and we pay 40% of the gross sales on a quarterly basis with a full sales .pdf report. We went with a simple gross sales model in order to minimize administration and accounting costs. A publishing partner gets their own FTP space on our site and can upload their sound effects or production music tracks or if they like they can send us DVD-R’s or a hard drive.

Jayson Napolitano, from Original Sound Version has created a new section on the site called “Blast from the Past”, which will include interviews made previously in the Music4Games site (offline several months ago). He started with a great interview he had with composer Kenji Yamamoto and Retro Studios sound supervisor Scott Petersen talking about their work on “Metroid Prime 3″.

Petersen: Right from the start of pre-production design on Prime 3, we knew that this had to be the most impactful Prime yet. To help focus on this goal I spent a lot of time thinking about how the sound design and music could support this idea of the best Prime ever.

For the sound design, I identified that the core of our audio aesthetic is that everything Metroid should be highly stylized and/or synthetic. To push this further and to help carve out some new sonic territory, I wanted all of our stylized and synthetic sounds to have very little midrange content; I really wanted our world sounds to mainly be just highs and lows. This would ideally leave the middle range for creatures and weapons and music. While we didn’t slavishly follow this guideline for everything, it really helped all of our sound designers focus on a concrete aesthetic and sonic palette. It also came with a catchy description: “Sci-fu.”

A parallel consideration was that we knew from the outset that were going have Phazon everywhere and integrated into the entire game. This meant that we had to come up with a greater depth and variety of Phazon sounds (lovingly referred to as blue goo) than we had in the first two Primes. To do this, we sketched out a whole mess of loops based on what Phazon might sound like. We even had the opportunity to persuade our audio engineer Jim Gage to build a couple of Tesla coils, just so we could record the sounds in the hopes that it would be the secret element for our new Phazon. (It was pure bliss recording the sound of 30” arcs of high voltage electricity). We ended up taking the Tesla source and a variety of other sounds and digitally mangling them together to form the root of our new Phazon. This root sound was given to each sound designer who was to be creating anything remotely related to Phazon or Corruption for them to reference, use and abuse. The funny thing is that as a result of this you never really hear Phazon directly; it is much more about how Phazon corrupts and affects things than what it is in and of itself. This was not something I expected at the outset and was really part of the evolving concept of what it means to do sounds for video games.

Full interview