Michael Raphael has released ”Brooks Streams Waterfalls“, the announced new library of Rabbit Ears Audio.

REA 007 is a celebration of moving water in nature. From small trickles to rushing torrents, Brooks Streams Waterfalls is for those who need a variety of water movement in their library.

Locations were chosen based on their variety of elements. Water sounds most unique when it has something to pass through that changes its flow. The brooks and streams in this collection feature currents that are shaped by rocks, boulders, and downed trees. The waterfalls chosen range from small falls fed by babbling mountain brooks to large rushing waterfalls fed by strong relentless currents.

This collection of sounds features 45 files that clock in at 68 minutes. It was tracked on a Sound Devices 744T with a Cooper CS-104 as the front end. Both Schoeps (MK4/MK8) and Sennheiser MKH (30/40) Mid-Side pairs were used. The Schoeps were the “go to” pair, but the MKH’s got a workout as well. Only one human back was slightly damaged during a river crossing and one Rycote back-cap was lost to a waterfall.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brooks Streams Waterfalls is available at $50. Use this code to get $5 off: WATERSHIPDOWN

Rabbit Ears Audio

New article of Mix Magazine featuring sound designers Craig Berkey and Erik Aadahl talking about his work on “The Tree of Life“.

Pity the poor journalist who has to write an article about a Terrence Malick film before it’s released. The notoriously publicity-shy director isn’t talking, the official synopsis is tantalizing but sketchy, the actors are purposefully vague in interviews and the one authorized trailer is frustratingly enigmatic. When we reach supervising sound editor/sound designer/mixer Craig Berkey and co-supervising sound editor/sound designer Erik Aadahl in late April to talk about The Tree of Life, they’re both extremely careful not to reveal any plot points. So we sort of talk around the story and instead get into some of the particulars of how the film’s soundtrack was put together and Malick’s always intriguing work methods.

Continue reading…

Sound and Music has a fantastic section called Sound on Film, where you can find several interesting articles already published. On of the lasts is a great interview with sound designer Akritchalerm Kalayanmitr, talking about his work on “Uncle Boonmee”.

The predominant sound in the film is that of the natural world: insects, birds, water and weather. While this is in the background of many films, in Uncle Boonmee it is brought to the foreground. Do you have a fascination with nature?

Yes, I do really like to listen to natural sound, it’s such a relief and mysterious at the same time. It is a very subconscious element for me.

For the sound of this film, the first thing was to make it be realistic, then tweak later. I like to make the sound either hidden or abrupt, depending on the feeling and rhythm. Sometimes I just throw the sound in there just to see what happens. It’s like, expect the unexpected! I think the sound of birds, crickets, or even water are loud in the real life – although colder countries don’t have as many crickets as warmer countries. Some people like to mix the nature sound low because it could disrupt the dialogue; I just feel that the loud ambience might make it more realistic. It’s all about people’s perception: it [nature] is around you, but you do not recognize it.

Also, there is one cricket sound which is hidden in the film somewhere and is also in most of Apichatpong’s films since Tropical Malady. That’s a small thing that I like to do on his films.

The remote location in which Uncle Boonmee is shot has a very unique visual and sonic character – was it important to you to capture the sound of this place, and what was the process like of recording it?

A lot of the ambient sounds that were used in this film were recorded on or nearby our location. They were done by my assistant sound editor who was the production sound recordist, Chalermrat Kaweewattana. Normally the sound was recorded by stereo microphone on a digital recorder. Chalermrat told me that some of the sound which he recorded from the location, he didn’t even monitor while recording because when he did it, everyone had left, it was very dark with no light at all and something was moving behind the bush…so he decided to place the microphone where he wanted and then waited inside the van with his boom operator!

I think it’s quite important to have the sound from the real location, but not always necessary. Most of the sound from the jungle scene is from Ratchaburi, in the west of Thailand. The long cricket sound from the cave to the temple scene was accidentally captured. It was the first take of recording on that day. I was very lucky to capture a very clean and clear sound of that kind of cricket. After that, for the second or the third take, the cricket had gone somewhere else and was not that close anymore.

Read more: In the mix: Uncle Boonmee

Via Music of Sound

New Avatar Sound Profile, this time by SoundWorks Collection, with great information about the sound of the film, given by Chris Boyes from Skywalker Sound.

The groundbreaking technical and directorial abilities of Director James Cameron can be experienced in his breathtaking visual world of Pandora in “Avatar”. This never before seen world is filled with landscapes, creatures, and civilizations that have also never been heard before by audiences.

Bringing to life the sounds of Pandora include the talent of Skywalker Sound’s Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Re-recording Mixer, and Sound Designer Chris Boyes in this SoundWorks Collection sound for film.

Avatar @ Designing Sound