Great interview at Woody’s Sound Advice with supervising sound editor David Stone.

If you’ve seen any 70′s era Hanna Barbera cartoons or any major motion pictures over the last several decades you’ve heard the craftsmanship of David Stone.  He has worked with some of the most creative and unique directors and producers in Hollywood and picked up an Academy Award along the way for his stunning work with Tom McCarthy on Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula.  Now a full time educator at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), he is currently serving as Chair of Sound Design.  Working along with other stellar professionals such as Peter Damski, those students are getting their money’s worth in Georgia.

Along with his sound career David was also the editor of the Movie Sound Newsletter.  It was a chronicle of audio for film from the trenches of Hollywood.  The Newsletter is long since out of print but David is bringing it back to life on the web.  You can find online versions of the original Newsletter here.  There were numerous notable contributors to the Newsletter including David’s brother, Richard Stone, a composer and multiple Emmy award winner who, among many other projects, composed the scores for Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.

An accomplished visual artist as well as a consummate audio professional, David is truly a man of many gifts.  Probably most key of all is his curiosity, sense of humor and temperament.  David hosted me for a weekend series of workshops at SCAD in the Spring of 2011 and I found him to be an extremely personable, approachable and popular guy.  In an industry filled with nervous and insecure individuals, David is a shining light.  He kindly found time between classes to chat with me about his past, present and future plans.

Continue reading…

Benoit Tigeot is a french sound designer/engineer from France that works on animation films and cartoons, which have inspired him to join the force of the independent SFX libraries, by announcing the release of Glass Squeak, a new library loaded with all kinds of different elements interacting with glass, recorded with Lauriane Capaldi at Talkover Studios, France.

We work almost exclusively on cartoons. Too often the characters are knocking on windows and gliding along the windows. They have lacked of SFX for this type of action that’s why we had the idea to record this type of sound.

We recorded on a glass in the studio; squeaks, slide, wail with sponges, cardboard plate, polystyrene plate, small block of polystyrene and finally fingers.

Recorded sounds are very musical and can be used in many other actions that they originally planned.

Glass Squeak SFX Library – $10 | 89 WAV files | 24-Bit 96kHz

SoundWorks Collection has published a new video about the imagineers team of Walt Disney, including a visit through the amazing sound creations of sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald. A must-watch for any of us.

The vision and showmanship of Walt Disney has touched more corners of the world and hearts through his many films and theme parks. Since opening his first park “Disneyland” on July 18, 1955, Walt and his team of dream makers known as “Imagineers” have created many theme parks around the world.

The SoundWorks Collection pulls back the curtain on the talented Imagineers who are responsible for the sounds and music of the Walt Disney theme park properties. In our exclusive video profile we explore the history and role of the audio team as they share their stories and creative challenges. We also take a visit through the original John James “Jimmy” MacDonald sound effects collection, which explores some of the classic Disney sound effects.

Modern Mechanix re-published an article from 1937 on their blog , featuring fascinating stories about the use of sound in Mickey Mouse cartoons.

MUSIC and noises in the animated cartoon interpret the action of the story. The narrative theme of the music and what is called the “sound effects” punctuates and emphasizes the story.

By playing on the aural nerves with symbolic sounds and noises the psychological reaction of the audience is controlled and varied according to the dramatic and emotional needs of the cartoon story.

If Donald Duck falls, for example, it is not enough for the sound man to hit a drum for the noise, but an additional sound characteristic must be added to convey a certain kind of fall. There are dozens of different “sound effects” for cartoon character falls which vary according to the story. When a sympathetic attitude is desired, the “fall” sound is hollow and devoid of jarring characteristics, while a harsh sound which shocks the aural nerves is created for that effect.

The associative value of sounds is widely used for humor, such as a tearing noise which accompanies the falling of a character. For humorous responses the “sound effect” is often caricatured and distorted. An example of this was the tire skidding noise used in “The Tortoise and the Hare” when the fast moving rabbit slid to a stop.

Through study and experimentation Walt Disney and his engineers have found that by introducing music or various sounds and noise frequencies into the cartoon, the response of the audience is varied and controlled. By combining noises of certain pitches or tempos the psychological values of the cartoon music is emphasized in keeping with the story requirements.

Continue reading…

Via: U.S.O Project.

This is the end of the Ben Burtt Special. In the Extras of the DVD of Wall-E there are an amazing documentary called “Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds From The Sound Up”. You have to see it! Don’t worry if you don’t have the original DVD, I found that video on YouTube. The embed was disabled but you can see it through this links: Part 1 | Part 2.

Finally, let’s check another interview with Ben Burtt at Time Out London:

Does a sound designer have to be as much librarian as artist?

‘Absolutely. The elements and resources that a sound designer works with are collected from the world around us, and I’ve been collecting sounds for years. Putting in sounds from the real world creates the illusion that these fantasies are credible. So I was always gathering sounds. Animals at the zoo, going out on an aircraft carrier to do motors and airplanes. Travelling around the world, I would always have my recorder with me. If there was a thunderstorm I’d record the thunder. If I got a flat tire I could get a good sound of the rubber slapping the road. I’ve found that almost every sound I’ve recorded, I’ve found a way to use.’

Did you actually invent the term sound designer?

‘Some people think I did. I was one of the first, I may not have been absolutely the first. The film industry in sound was originally divided quite sharply between those that recorded sounds, sound editors that synchronised the sounds and sound mixers who were blending everything together. And what George Lucas wanted me to do was record, do the sound edit and then be around to supervise the mixing, so there was one vision throughout. Because the problem with the process was that it wasn’t coordinated properly.’

How was it making the switch to digital?

‘There are many good things about switching from analogue to digital, mainly the fact that an individual with a collection of desktop equipment can record, edit and do a lot of elaborate mixing. It’s much more artist friendly. The negative things about it? There are some, because you can do things so quickly. Almost anybody can assemble a noise, pile things into a track without much thought. I say, let’s be careful about what we do here, let’s have a plan, let’s be simple if we can. Pick the right sound. Keep your objectivity, discipline yourself.’

How did you become involved with ‘Wall•E’?

‘When I finished “Revenge of the Sith”, I was pretty worn out with science fiction and laser guns and robots. I said to my wife, no more robots. But Jim Morris, the producer of “Wall-E”, called me up and invited me over to Pixar to meet Andrew Stanton who was going to pitch his idea. And I said, ‘What’s it about?’ And he said, ‘It’s a robot movie!’ So driving over there I had my doubts. I love Pixar, I had respect for their work, but I wanted to work on something that’d be new territory. But he sold me on the idea, I thought it was charming. The whole idea that the sound design would include developing lots of vocals, languages, be key material in a film which had relatively little conventional dialogue was a real attraction creatively. [...]

Do you see yourself as a figurehead for the latest generation of sound technicians?

‘Well, I think “Star Wars” had a big impact. It made producers put more time and energy into their soundtracks. I’m proud of it, but it wasn’t just me, I wasn’t the only one who did the sound work on those films, there was always a team of people. I’m not capable of doing it all myself. But I think my calling has always been as the principal inventor. Somebody says, I’ve got a robot, or I’ve got a spaceship, or I’ve got an exploding volcano, get me something that’ll sound good. And that’s probably where I’m the happiest. Inventing something.’

Full Interview here.