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...]
Should It Make A Sound?
Guest Contribution by Rob Bridgett For the past 14 years I've been a proponent of sound as a deeply integral part of the video game development process, getting audio involved earlier, allowing it to become a part of decision making and concepting, allowing sound's early presence, excitement and enthusiasm to influence the other disciplines involved in the … [Read more...]
Silence is the Sound of Listening
"One can look at seeing but one can't hear hearing" - Marcel Duchamp As you may know, silence is the topic chosen for this month here at Designing Sound. One may think silence is not existent if we value it as an absolute sonic absence, but here I'm going to examine its role and possibility towards the act of listening to sound, silencing, not as that state of complete sonic … [Read more...]
The Negative Space of Sound
Guest Contribution by Jeff Talman Seong Moy, my drawing professor at City College of New York, had students lightly shade their sketchpads with hand-smeared charcoal to prepare a background for the drawing. This neutral background helped to create an illusory sense of depth in a 2-dimensional medium. The negative space of the drawing was activated by this treatment. Had there … [Read more...]