With the Academy Awards just days away, we’ve started working on our Oscar pools and that got us to thinking: what is sound design, really? We know that sound is so integral to film. It creates emotion, fills empty space, and adds context and texture to the picture. The problem, of course, is that, like editing, good sound design is almost indiscernible to the uninitiated. And … [Read more...]
Interview with Nick Wiswell, Audio director of Turn 10
The vehicle focused Track Time Audio blog has posted an interview with Turn 10's and ex-Bizarre Creations Creative Audio Director Nick Wiswell, covering the production of Forza Motorsport 4 and the pipeline of recording sessions to finished in-game audio for the car engines. TTA: Could you talk a bit about the process a vehicle goes through between recording session and … [Read more...]
Ideas in Sound Design: Deprivation and Barriers – Part 1
Cross-posting from personal blog. I've had two ideas take obsessive root in my brain recently. They're not new concepts, nor are they new to me. My first introduction to them was 8 years ago now, but I find myself pondering them with the regularity that my dog wants food. [Now? Now?! ...........Nooooow?] They're worth talking about in a public space, because I hope they'll … [Read more...]
On the Unification of the Sound Awards
With Oscar rearing his ugly head, and people again becoming obsessed with little gold statues, I thought it might be a good opportunity to start a discussion on a topic that has been floating around the professional sound community for some time. A few years ago, we began hearing that there was talk within the Academy about the two sound awards, those of Best Sound Mixing and … [Read more...]
Antique Engines, New Library by Rabbit Ears Audio
Rabbit Ears Audio has released Antique Engines, a new library of 192k recordings of 11 different engines, including 9.63GB of sound data. REA_009 is a collection of stationary antique engines (both steam and gas) that were used for DC power generation. At the turn of the century before electricity was widely available, these engines were used to provide energy to water plants, … [Read more...]
All In The Mix – The Importance Of Real-Time Mixing In Video Games
Garry Taylor, the Audio Director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has started a new blog called Blessed Are The Noisemakers where he is posting his various conference talks and presentations. 'All In The Mix - The Importance of Real-Time Mixing In Video Games' is the first fruit of the new blog, alongside an interesting post on loudness standards. An excerpt of … [Read more...]
Randy Thom Interview at VIEW Conference 2011
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-6r9WW5ecI[/youtube] An interview with sound designer Randy Thom at VIEW Conference 2011. Thanks to Matteo for the link! … [Read more...]