Guest Contribution from Randy Thom It was announced that the people who run the Tony Awards have decided to cut two of their awards categories….the two sound design categories. This is a sad piece of news for all of us in sound. It's yet another slap in the face for an important art form that struggles for recognition. The people who run awards shows feel constant … [Read more...]
The Negative Space of Sound
Guest Contribution by Jeff Talman Seong Moy, my drawing professor at City College of New York, had students lightly shade their sketchpads with hand-smeared charcoal to prepare a background for the drawing. This neutral background helped to create an illusory sense of depth in a 2-dimensional medium. The negative space of the drawing was activated by this treatment. Had there … [Read more...]
The Secret World of Foley @ AFI Docs
Hidden within the program of the 2014 AFI Docs festival is a short film that provides a glimpse inside the world of Foley recording, mixing and performance. The Secret World of Foley follows artists Peter Burgis (Edge of Tomorrow, The Monuments Men, Kick-Ass 2) and Sue Harding (The Selfish Giant, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Philomena) as they work their way through a … [Read more...]
SAE Sound Design Contest
The SAE Sounddesign contest has just been announced. Contestants will be asked to create the audio (foley, sound design, atmosphere, no music) for a short monster animation, and the first through third place winners will take home a share of over 5500€ worth of prizes from companies like Rode, Boom Library, iZotope, Avid, SoundBits, Sugar Bytes, Fluid Audio, and … [Read more...]
The Story in Surround – Game narrative and sound
I recently came across the Frictional Games blog and have spent the last few weeks trawling through it’s archive. It provides a wealth of informaiton on game design, and in particular discussions on the point of game narrative. One particular post, 4 Layers, a narrative design approach, written by Thomas Grip, Frictional's creative director, raised the concept of the mental … [Read more...]
A Moment (Month) of Silence
Anechoic chambers aren't necessarily "silent," but what other image can you actually use to represent the subject. The nature of silence, like nearly every other aspect of sound, is truly a subjective idea, because true Silence...the complete absence of sound...is impossible to experience unless one has a medical condition which induces it. [If you want to get solipsistic, we … [Read more...]
Art of Surround
Acousmonium, INA-GRM, 1980. Photo by Laszlo Ruska. Surround (Oxford Dictionary) (verb) [with object] - Be all round (someone or something) (noun) - A thing that forms a border or edging around an object. (adjective) (Surrounding) - All around a particular place or thing. Based merely on a technological approach, one might think that Surround sound is just the … [Read more...]