Guest Contriubtion by Randy Thom Acoustic Authenticity Versus Entertainment Value When designing a set for a film, the art director tries to use what is good about the real world place where the scene will be shot, but also tries to avoid being straight jacketed by what is there. The cinematographer usually has a similar approach in deciding what to shoot and how to shoot … [Read more...]
Film Music and Sound Design Brought Closer Together With New Sundance Partnership
Where does a film's score end and sound design begin? A new partnership between the Sundance Institute and Skywalker Sound will seek to bring these two components of the film soundtrack closer together, with the aim of fostering a more integrated dialogue between filmmakers, sound designers and score composers. Composers Lab, Sundance's annual mentoring scheme for aspiring … [Read more...]
A Little Overdue Thank You
I've been a bit remiss in my duty lately, and there are several people who need to be thanked for their contributions on the site. To begin, let me thank two gentlemen who contributed in May: Randy Thom - for his thoughts on "Time" as both an element in sound design, and a work-flow issue Jeremy Peirson - for taking the time to discuss his work on the film Looper … [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...]
Please Thank our March Contributors
March was kind of a banner month for us wasn't it?! There was a lot of enthusiasm about exploring the intersection of sound design and music. So please check out all of the excellent contributions from the community, and leave a comment to thank those people who donated their time to the subject. Karen Collins - who kicked the month off by taking us straight into the gray … [Read more...]
Sonic Centaurs: An Exploration of the Common Grounds Between Music and Sound Design
Guest Contribution by Carlos Alberto Manrique Clavijo "The vocation of the sound film is to redeem us from the chaos of shapeless noise by accepting it as expression, as significance, as meaning. . . ."[0A] "(…) When does sound become music? Above all, in the supreme states of pleasure and displeasure experienced by the will, as a will which rejoices or a will … [Read more...]
Sound Design and Music: Diluting the Distinctions, Strengthening the Art Form
Guest Contribution by Doron Reizes Traditionally, the concepts of music composition and sound design have been viewed as distinctly separate creative audio disciplines. Karen Collins points out in her article, “The Sound of Music, or the Music of Sound?” that, "What is often referred to as “non-musical sound”, or sound effects (including percussion) wasn’t used in Western … [Read more...]