Guest Contribution by Michael Hermes Modern cars are boring. They’re safe, practical, and quiet to the point of being uninteresting. A passing sedan glides by with a gentle whoosh of air passing over the car and the tires on the pavement. It makes for a pleasant ride to work but a short article on sound. Cars didn’t start out quiet, though. Decades of engineering and … [Read more...]
All those things that get us around…
I held off on the announce post for a few days, because we had a few articles that spilled over from last month's theme. Now that we're caught up, it's time to dive into this month's theme...Vehicles! Do we really need more of an introduction than that? My guess is no. And sure, there's a rail car at a drag race in the image above, but we're not single-minded. There are … [Read more...]
Silence At Work
For the past few years I have been bothered about the amount of time I spend on a job — not specifically about how busy I am, but rather how much time I spend concentrating on the task that needs getting done. By default, most of us learn to constantly optimise our workflows as our experience grows. This is very important, as successful projects are judged not only on their … [Read more...]
Critical listening, Creativity and Silence?
A number of years ago I took part in a critical listening exercise where participants where given a piece of music and 3 hours to provide a critical assessment of it. The piece of music lasted just over 4 minutes so during those hours I got very familiar with it, but I didn't really get much beyond scratching the surface of it, in terms of critical listening. The point of the … [Read more...]
Interview with Patrick Shen
I've previously talked about the importance of increasing communication between the sound community and our collaborators. This month's topic provided the perfect opportunity to bring an outside voice to the Designing Sound community. Patrick Shen is director of the documentary "In Pursuit of Silence," and I'm happy to be able to bring you his thoughts on the subject! Would … [Read more...]
Designing Silence
"Ideally, for me, the perfect sound film has zero tracks. You try to get the audience to a point, somehow, where they can imagine the sound. They hear the sound in their minds, and it really isn't on the track at all. That's the ideal sound, the one that exists totally in the mind, because it's the most intimate. It deals with each person's experience, and it's obviously of … [Read more...]
Listen Up, Tony (Awards)!: Petitioning for Reinstatement
First, some confessions: I am a sound designer, I have never worked on a Broadway production, and therefore, never expected to win a Tony Award (let alone be a part of a discussion of this nature). I may not be an “insider” of the theatre world, but the decision earlier this month to stop presenting Tony Awards for sound design (of a play and also of a musical) deems a … [Read more...]