Herbert Goldberg has an interesting article up about compressors and the though process behind designing their inner workings. That fits nicely into this month's theme, don't you think? Technically speaking the same principles are used in audio signal limiting and compression processors but just the transfer curves and envelope follower settings are different. Ultra fast … [Read more...]
Dynamics…What’s Your Range?
For June, we've chosen to focus on the theme of "Dynamics." As the title of this post implies, we don't think of this topic as narrow or specific. There are two obvious directions this theme can go. We could start a discussion about the use of dynamics processing: compressors, limiters, expanders, or transient enhancers. How do we use these in the design phase to mold a … [Read more...]
The Sound of Looper – Interview with Jeremy Peirson
I contacted Jeremy Peirson, the sound designer for Looper (2012), to talk about his role in the best received time travel movie in a very long time. What follows is a transcription of our phone conversation. Enjoy! DS: For our theme on the site this month we're talking about "time," and I though it would be interesting to talk about Looper (2012) as a time travel movie and … [Read more...]
SFX Independence – Late May 2013
There's a whole heap of stuff going on in the independent SFX community that's worth making note of. So, here goes... New Libraries Available Now... New Sound Lab's Optical Drives This library features recordings of computer optical disc drives (two internal desktop CD/DVD-R and one internal laptop slim CD/DVD-R slot-load). Two induction coil pickups were used … [Read more...]
Sonic/Temporal Ambiguity as Evidence of Psychosis in Martha Marcy May Marlene
"Where are we?" "Connecticut." "No. How far are we?" "From what?" "Yesterday." Directed by Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) centers around the damaged psyche of Martha, portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen. Martha is a young woman who, through the time spent living as part of a small farm commune, has lost nearly all sense of boundaries...from social through temporal. … [Read more...]
Time
Guest Contribution by Randy Thom I'm on a plane from San Francisco to New York, May 3, and I see that the Designing Sound theme for May is time. Two notions relating to time and sound design come to mind. One is that fiddling with time in storytelling is always a playground for sound. Jumps to the past or the future in a movie swing the door wide open to using sound in … [Read more...]
Blastwave FX Give Away
Blastwave FX is giving away 10 copies of the new Noizz library on Facebook this month. The winners are being selected from fans of the Facebook page. So if you want to be entered to win a copy of the new library of digital glitches, head over to the Blastwave FX Facebook page and click "Like". … [Read more...]