In case you've been under a rock, and somehow haven't noticed yet, Tim Prebble's Hiss and a Roar sound effects label is having a birthday sale...and it's BIG ONE! Through August 31st, you can get 50% off by using the discount code BOING at checkout. He's also got a new library out too, SD020 Wind Instruments. You're still here reading?! … [Read more...]
Just Listen
Back around the time I was first starting out, I remember opening up a demo of Cubase VST (on my trusty PowerMac 6400) and taking a look through the various menus. Everything seemed pretty standard, but something in particular caught my eye, a menu item labeled “Ears Only”. Curious, I clicked on it, only to have my monitor go completely blank. After a few seconds of panic … [Read more...]
Watson Wu on Listening
Let's start out with what to listen for in a recording location. Naturally, we're always going to be looking for a space that isn't going to introduce too many environmental and human generated artifacts into the recording, but the physical layout and acoustic properties of a location can contribute as much character to your recordings as microphone selection...sometimes even … [Read more...]
Yes, but how do you LISTEN?
There's a short and interesting post on the Sound Reflections blog by La Cosa Preziosa, and it ties nicely into our theme this month: One of the benefits of our tight-knit recording community is the availability of dialogue and exchange on the subject and techniques of recording. What do you use and how you use it? What tips have you got? Any questions? There is certainly no … [Read more...]
Designing GuitarMonics for Kontakt
Guest Contribution by Rodney Gates Greetings! Welcome, and thanks for checking out this (TL;DR) article on the creation of the virtual instrument sample library, GuitarMonics, designed for Native Instruments’ Kontakt software. It was a long road from concept to completion, and I thought it might be a good idea to discuss some of the processes and discoveries I learned along … [Read more...]
Vehicle Engine design – Project CARS, Forza Motorsport 5 and REV
With this article I really wanted to find out about the nuts and bots of vehicle engine sound design and implementation. So I contacted a few people and got some great responses and a fascinating insight into the process. My thanks to Stephen Baysted, Audio Director and Composer at Slightly Mad Studios, Greg Hill, Sound Designer at Soundwave Concepts, Adam Boyd, Sound Designer … [Read more...]
Film Sound Tips by Glenn Kiser, Director of the Dolby Institute
Indiewire has published a guest post by Dolby Institute's director Glenn Kiser in which he talks to filmmakers about the importance of sound design from the beginning of production. Making a movie is a never-ending series of compromises, and nothing is as good as the original concept you had in mind. But if you're really lucky, there's a moment of alchemy that can happen in … [Read more...]