Happy New Year from all of us here at Designing Sound! This month is going to be devoted to a lighter, slightly braoder topic of discussion...Plug-ins. This won't be an open-ended, catch-all, "any and every" discussion, though. We'll be focusing on the novel, weird and wacky side of these tools we all use in sound design. Plug-ins that create strange, esoteric and exotic … [Read more...]
Welcome to Reverb Month
Sound occupies space. Actually, sound is a wave (or set of waves) that travels through a medium. So, it's not so much that it occupies a space, but is trapped within it. Sound interacts with that space, fills it, bounces around inside it and, if it causes enough vibrations, can bleed out into adjacent spaces. The interaction between sound and the space it occupies can tell us a … [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...]
Changes to the Site
We (the editors) sat down recently to talk about the site…how it's been over the past few months, what its strengths are, where it's weak, and what we need to do keep the site at its full potential. So, we're going to be rolling out some changes, and I want to give you an idea of where we're going…because this is, first and foremost, a community site. First, allow me to … [Read more...]
The Sound Design Challenge is Going on Hiatus
This wasn't an easy decision, but growing responsibilities and demands on my time dictate that something has to come off of my plate. Despite reducing its frequency (several months ago) the Sound Design Challenge remains a large time investment, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to apply the appropriate amount of effort it deserves. I'd rather end it than run it in a … [Read more...]
Info Regarding the Finalists for SDC013
I have reviewed Andre Albino’s entry after continued comments and have decided that it should indeed be disquailified. One of the rules for this challenge stated that all of the original audio needed to be replaced. This was an oversight on my part. It was not one of my picks, I did not inform the other judges properly of the entry's status, or catch it when it was nominated in … [Read more...]
All About the Sound of "The Hurt Locker"
As you may already know, Paul N.J. Ottosson has won the academy award for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing with Ray Beckett. Need to know why "The Hurt Locker" won the two prizes? Here are some links to the posts previously published, all with info about the sound of this amazing film: “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar”, Two Different Paths on Sound Editing Thoughts of … [Read more...]