Guest contribution by Chris Didlick We are Box of Toys Audio, a music and sound design company with studios in London and Stockholm. We provide audio services for commercials, branding, trailers and all manner of projects. With the ongoing innovation and expansion of digital media we are sometimes offered new and uncharted avenues for creativity, which is why when we were … [Read more...]
Room Tone = Emotional Tone: The Importance of Hearing Ambience
am·bi·ence noun /ˈambēəns/ ambiances, plural; ambiences, plural The character and atmosphere of a place - the relaxed ambience of the cocktail lounge is popular with guests Background noise added to a musical recording to give the impression that it was recorded live Wherever you may be reading this article, stop whatever you are doing, and … [Read more...]
Ariel Gross Guest Post: ‘I Feel Like a Fraud and So Can You!’
This is a guest article written by Ariel Gross, Audio Director of game development studio Volition Inc, which produces such PC and console titles as the Saint's Row and Red Faction series. You can view Ariel's introduction post here. I Feel Like a Fraud and So Can You! Every now and then I feel like a fraud. Every now and then I feel like I'm merely masquerading as a … [Read more...]
My Impressions of Dolby Atmos
One of the hot topics at AES this year...and by “hot,” I mean a subject that had multiple conference sessions devoted to it...was the concept of adding height to the spatial information presented by multi-channel surround formats. I’m sure a fair bit of the enthusiasm for this subject is caused by the announcement and release of Dolby Atmos earlier this year. My experience … [Read more...]
Using a Zoom H4n in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Guest Contribution by Chris Groegler [vimeo]https://vimeo.com/51064318[/vimeo] Hi, my name is Chris Groegler and I am a Senior Sound Designer at Ubisoft-Red Storm Entertainment. Our latest project was Ghost Recon: Future Soldier where I was audio lead for Multiplayer. We have an audio team of five people and basically all of us have a Zoom H4n audio recorder. We have our Zooms … [Read more...]
And November’s Theme Is…
Welcome to Ambiences month here on Designing Sound. Often referred to as Atmospheres or Backgrounds as well, this element of a program mix deserves more attention than it commonly receives. Though not as present as dialog or hard-synced sound effects, their contribution to the tone "in-the-moment" narrative is no less important. Look for the first featured article in a few … [Read more...]
What’s Happening in November
There are a few interesting things coming up in the month of November. David Sonnenschein is once again running his Sound Design for Pros webinar series. It begins Monday, November 5th. Full details and registration links can be found here. Bernie Krause will be presenting at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on Tuesday, November 13th at 7PM. Tickets can be … [Read more...]