Harper W Harris

This is my blog for my exploits as an audio engineer, filmmaker, and podcaster. Enjoy!

[harperwharris]

The Thing Minute Launches!

Since my last update, I’ve done a couple things:

Continued work each weekend on the Spin the Bottle short film shoots

Ran audio for a TV pilot which was filmed with multicam and a video switcher, a bit of a new experience for me to be in a control room!

Helped out with a buddy’s short film one day last weekend

Been doing lots of edits/mixes for ALTA Language Services

But maybe the biggest piece of news is that my new podcast, THE THING MINUTE, finally has a launch date! The first official episode will come out next Monday (8/7) and from that day on will come out every Monday through Friday at 8am! I’ve got 30 episodes recorded, with another ten scheduled in the next few days. I’m really excited to share this project with the world!

[harperwharris]

48HFP, New Short, and More

This last weekend, I started shooting a short film with a new crew that I’ll be working on for the next month or so. I really love the script–it’s a pretty funny take on the heist movie that shares some DNA with Bottle Rocket.

I also spent a big chunk of the weekend working on a film for the 48-Hour Film Project with a fantastic group of creators. Our film, about an evil therapist who pits couples against each other in a trippy psychological loop, will screen in the D-block on next Tuesday night. I did all the production audio and was able to mix a bit of it before I had to get some sleep for the next day’s shoot.

Next week I’ll be assisting with the 5.1 mix for one of the shorts I’ve been editing and doing the premix on for the last few weeks, so that’s pretty exciting, and I’m prepping for the possibility of working on a pilot for a cooking show. Always something new!

[harperwharris]

Updates!

I’ve been really neglecting the blog lately, but I promise it’s been for a good reason: I’ve been really busy with work! I’ve had so many new developments in the last couple weeks, so I figured I ought to post an update here, and I’m going to attempt to do weekly updates here at the very least.

New Gigs

I’ve been working with several new clients and a few recurring ones. These have been INCREDIBLY exciting and are really putting me where I want to be!

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on two fantastic short films through Moonshine Post that I’m really excited about. There’s a 12-minute dark comedy exploring the after effects of assault in a really clever way, and a 23-minute drama about a seedy world of dealers and addicts fighting for the big score. These are both very high quality films that I’m very proud to be a part of! Both are nearing the end of the pre-mix stage, at which point I’ll be assisting the mixer at Moonshine to finish it up.

I recently got to work on a reality TV segment for a major network show which was quite the experience! It was a little more chaotic than I expected, but I was definitely happy to have the opportunity. I also used it as a chance to rent and try out some Lectrosonics stuff, which was pretty damn awesome.

Just last weekend I finished up working on my first feature film, called Mattie: The Discovery! It was a great experience getting to work with a fantastic crew over an extended period of time–I ended up being involved for 9 days of shooting. Really looking forward to seeing (and hearing) the finished film!

New Regular Gigs

I’ve picked up a couple new recurring gigs, which every freelancer knows are the foundation of doing what we do (The Freelancer’s Bible calls them “Blue Chip” clients). Here’s a quick rundown:

On top of continuing to edit the Fitness Business Podcast, I’m now converting JT’s weekly FaceBook live video show into audio podcasts and setting up video versions of the FBP show to go up on YouTube, starting with the newest episodes and working our way backwards.

Thanks to a recommendation from a friend (thanks Hannah!!), I’m now doing some language edits for ALTA Language Services. It’s fun, interesting work, and if I’m lucky maybe I’ll pick up a thing or two in another language!

I’m now mixing a new biweekly podcast, the Atlanta-based photography podcast Studio C41 On Air. Given my wife’s occupation in photography, it’s been fun to work on!

Not sure if I ever posted about this, but since February I’ve been doing several videos a week for ScreenPrism’s excellent YouTube channel. I love these kinds of video essays on movies and TV, so getting to work on them has been really rewarding.

Also, because I’m insane and thought I didn’t have enough to do, I decided to start up a daily podcast, The Thing Minute! It’s been a super fun project so far, and I’m aiming to start releasing regular episodes late this month. I’ve pre-recorded 20 episodes and am about halfway done with editing them.

That’s it for now! I’m hoping to start doing updates like these on a smaller scale more frequently, so be on the lookout!

[harperwharris]

Updates: Lots of Awesome Stuff!

As I’m wrapping up my first month of freelancing full time, I can safely say that this is what I was born to do! I’ve been really enjoying having the time to focus on doing the work that I love, learning new skills, and meeting new people.

I’ve been doing some really fun work too, from mixing an episode of the upcoming IVACAIN TV series (which I ran location sound on back in March), mixing a short film for New Puppet Order, and running sound on some acting reels and the feature film MATTIE: THE DISCOVERY.

I’ve also got some very exciting stuff coming up, including doing some behind the scenes work for a new short film by one of my favorite local directors, Brian Lonano, and running sound on sci-fi action short film with a fantastic script!

More news as it comes!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Harvey Milk - COURTESY AND GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN

If you’ve never listened to the extraordinarily heavy albums of Athens-based Harvey Milk, I highly recommend it. Over the last 20 years, they have put out some of the most interesting bits of avant garde noise rock, spanning from rockin’ as hell to the borderline unlistenable.

First in that conversation is arguably their masterpiece, COURTESY AND GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN, their sophomore album. It really runs the gambit of what Harvey Milk does best, and alternates between songs like the experimentally tempo changing heaviness of “Pinocchio’s Example” and the incredibly sad and melodic “One of Us Cannot be Wrong” or “I Feel Miserable”. There’s an astonishing sadness to the whole affair; no band or album has ever captured the feeling of depression as this does. “Plastic Eggs” is a great starter song for those interested–it begins with what sounds like an outtake of a drum solo, then moves into their signature brand of down tempo metal, then finishes with one of their best heavy grooves. One of my all time favorites!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: The Orb - COW (Chill Out World)

This was given to me by a friend a few months back and is my first album by The Orb, though I’ve been interested in them for some time. This ambient album has quickly become one of my go to picks for working, driving, reading, sleeping–it pretty much fits anything. It’s full of beautiful atmospheres and subtle moments that are as easy to get sucked into as they are to let them fade into the background. “First, Consider the Lillies” opens the album with peaceful pads that slowly give way to a growing array of chill rhythms. “4AM Exhale (Chill Out, World!)” relies a bit more on a beat, but it’s still one that flows in and out of the ambient background that lulls you into a sense of calm. It’s one of the best ‘chill’ albums I’ve listened to, and I really dig it’s unique blend of pads, sampling, and nature recordings.

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Jamiroquai - SYNKRONIZED

I’ve been a fan of Jamiroquai for a long time, but the album I return to most often is definitely SYNKRONIZED. This is arguably where the band abandoned their environmentally conscious themes and fully embraced the dance and disco world. (It’s also where a million Jamiroquai fans were born due to “Canned Heat” being in the cult hit Napoleon Dynamite.)

There are ten songs on the album, and I could just as easily recommend any of them over any of the others. From the electric piano grooves of “Black Capricorn Day” to the deeply soul bass lines of “Butterfly” to the exceptionally fun uptempo feel of “Where Do We Go From Here,” the album is bursting with classics. It’s also excellently mixed and manages to bridge the gap perfectly between the more acoustic elements and the more purely electronic tracks like “Planet Home.”

Definitely worth a listen!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Seemless - SEEMLESS

Back in the heyday of my metal days, Seemless seemed like a no brainer: a pseudo-supergroup with former members of Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall going in a very different direction than those bands. Seemless took a stoner rock approach more in the vein of bands like Fu Manchu and Kylesa. The song “Lay My Burden Down” hit me hard when I first heard it, and I became a big fan before their self-titled debut even released. That song follows the traditional Black Sabbath song structure, or perhaps its reverse: groovy rock rhythms for the main part of the song with a truly killer slow, stoner rock outro. Other highlights on the album include “Something’s Got to Give” which opens the album with a heavy riff that leaves plenty of space for the head bang upswing at a smooth 140 bpm tempo. Still one of my favorite stoner rock albums to revisit!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: John Zorn/Bar Kokhba Sextet - LUCIFER: BOOK OF ANGELS, VOL 10

The years I discovered John Zorn were among the most exciting moments in music in my young adult life. The man is a bona fide genius–I mean that literally, he’s received the MacArthur Genius Grant–and has put out hundreds of albums over the last 30 years with dozens of different groups and projects. More often than not, his projects are innovative and excellent, and very few are alike. The Book of Angels project is a long running one–this album is volume ten of the second Masada book–but Lucifer is certainly my favorite. 

The album pulls together some fantastic jazz and classical musicians and creates something that combines the feel of traditional Jewish, contemporary classical, and surf music, and the results are nothing short of revelatory. Itunes tells me I’ve listened to the phenomenal opening track “Sother” at least 72 times over the last few years, and I’m not surprised; its violin solo is blisteringly fun, and the uptempo rhythms find themselves into my head in any and all situations. My other personal favorite track is “Gediel,” which is essentially a composition for extended drum and percussion solos, and it features some of the finest drumming of any kind I’ve heard.

This album transcends classical music, and creates a kind of universal music that its hard to imagine anyone not liking!

[harperwharris]

Foley Closet

Back in college, my last semester I took a class that would change my life: Sound for Film. I had never really considered sound as a career path in the movie business, and the discovery that I could combine my audio background with my interest in film was a pretty important one for me. Our final project was to recreate all the sound from a movie scene of our choosing, and I chose Harry Dean Stanton’s death scene in Alien. It was a blast and very eye opening, and gave me the opportunity to create some gross foley sounds with a watermelon, clinking chains, and more.

The watermelon was pretty memorable, but today’s memory is actually about doing some ADR and foley footsteps. I used a pair of dress shoes and a metal baking pan, and I had to do it in the quietest place I could find: my apartment’s teeny tiny closet. Recording myself calling for Jonesy the cat and making footsteps with kitchenware in a cramped closet, I remember thinking how ludicrous and yet totally awesome it all was.

Being a sound man often involves doing some things that feel pretty ridiculous (and certainly look that way from the outside). It’s all about doing whatever it takes to get the sound you need, and that unabashed determination is one of the things I admire about those working in this industry, and something to aspire to!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Rubberbullet - OPEN

I was introduced to Rubberbullet by a friend of mine pretty recently, and I’ve been blown away by their unique brand of hard, angry art rock. Open is their second and final full length album, and my favorite at this point. Beth Clardy’s aggressive vocal stylings really tie together the rumbling bass, noisy guitar, and heavy rhythmic drums by band founder Earl Harvin. “A Curse to Be Cheated” opens the album with a constant flurry of 16th notes and chanting vocals. “Grinning Bitches,” the single from the album, takes a similar approach but relies on the fiercely distorted vocals with lyrics that feel pushed out of empty lungs. The slower tempo “Killing is Kind” is another excellent track that gradually builds with repetitive triplets to a really killer climax. This album is definitely worth checking out!

[harperwharris]

Audio Tip: Poster Putty on Hidden Lav Mics

When I first started reading up on wiring techniques for hiding a lavalier mic on talent, I really enjoyed learning of all the interesting and unconventional tools that those before me have discovered–get used to ordering lots of varieties of medical tape! One of the things I was most surprised by was the use of something all of us probably used back in our college days to hang up a cool movie poster: poster putty!

That white putty that you can buy at any grocery store or pharmacy for a couple bucks is one of those unique materials that does not make a sound when something rubs against it. This means you can use it to easily separate a mic from almost any kind of clothing. I’ve started using a small ring of it in addition to Moleskin and Joe’s Sticky Stuff to isolate the very top of the mic capsule, and it works wonders.

Just another super affordable and maybe surprising way to make your hidden lavs sound better!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Rush - A FAREWELL TO KINGS

I’ve long felt like a person born 20 years late in my obsessive fandom with classic progressive rock in the vein of Genesis, Yes, and Rush, and this may be my favorite overall album by the Canadian trio.

In a sudden death contest between all Rush’s early masterpieces, this one throws a heavy opening punch with one of their best songs, “A Farewell to Kings” which checks off all the boxes of a great Rush song: classical guitar intro, check; rockin’ mid tempo verses, check; memorable hook, check; uber progressive bridge, check; corny-but-somehow-incredibly-relevant lyrics, check.

It continues with the oft-laughed at “Xanadu,” which for my money is one of their finest recordings, the classic radio single “Closer to the Heart,” and the maybe less memorable (but still pretty excellent) “Cinderella Man” and “Madrigal”. The album closes with one of the best examples of progressive rock in its purest form, the sci-fi epic “Cygnus X-1”. From the cosmic pads and distorted narrative intro, to the spacey bass grooves that slowly bring in the rest of the band, to the eerie bridge that suddenly explodes with progressive rhythms, it’s one of the best songs the band ever wrote. (Apparently, they agreed, since they continued it on their next album, Hemispheres.)

I love this album unabashedly, and it continues to find its way into my regular rotation!

[harperwharris]

Rainy Shoot at Stone Mountain

A couple years back I was involved with a shoot at Stone Mountain for one of their outdoor shows. It was a really fun, simple shoot that was mostly some guys in cowboy outfits doling out safety information and silly jokes. At the time, I did not have the location audio rig that I do now: all I had was my Zoom H4n and some wireless lavs that were tied to rack receivers. Because I couldn’t walk around with the rack receivers, I was booming with the H4n and recording the lavs with my laptop and Saffire Pro40 that was set up nearby.

We had shot this way the day before and all went well, so I set it up the same way for day two. I had noticed that the laptop and Saffire had gotten pretty hot (this was the middle of Georgia Summer), so I had brought an umbrella to set up over it to keep it in the shade. On that day, however, it started to get a little overcast to our surprise–the weather report only had a 10% chance of rain. There wasn’t anywhere I could set up my laptop that was covered and had power for everything, so I tried to set up the umbrella and a poncho I happened to have in my trunk to cover everything in case we got a little afternoon sprinkling.

A thunderclap rang out as we were setting up for a shot, and suddenly the sky just fell onto us. I’m talking a huge downpour. I threw my boom and H4n under the covered area and ran to my laptop. By that time, the poncho and umbrella had water streaming off of them, and I was afraid that if I tried to adjust them to cover it better I might accidentally send a stream of puddled water straight into my new laptop and interface. In the circumstances, the best I could do was anxiously watch from the sidelines while rain continued to pour down on my livelihood for about 10 minutes.

Just as quickly as it started, the rain stopped and the sun came back in full force. By the grace of some higher being, all of my gear was dry as a bone, safe and sound. This could’ve been a lesson to always have a tarp (probably not a bad idea), but instead I took it as a sign that I had to go mobile with my gear. No more setting up a laptop hidden away!

[harperwharris]

Music Review Monday: Wayne Shorter’s JUJU

I’m still on a bit of a jazz kick after reading the excellent biography of John Coltrane (Coltrane: The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratliff), and this was one of the albums I added to my wishlist after reading that book. I’ve been a fan of Wayne Shorter from an early age–I grew up listening to Weather Report’s Black Market and Heavy Weather–so when I read that 1965’s JuJu was Shorter doing his best Coltrane impression, I was immediately intrigued. The album absolutely delivers on that front, not surprisingly due to the fact that outside of Shorter, the band is Coltrane’s: the incredible McCoy Tyner on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and the legendary Elvin Jones on drums. It’s full of upbeat, beautiful moments that are very reminiscent of Coltrane’s Atlantic recordings just five years prior (some of my favorites: My Favorite Things and Giant Steps). After a few listens, JuJu is definitely joining the list of my favorite jazz albums!

[harperwharris]

Audio Tip: An Apple A Day Keeps the Crackle Away

If you’ve ever recorded voice over, ADR, podcasts, or audiobooks, you’ve run into the dreaded mouth noise. It’s caused by sticky spit getting caught in the corners of the mouth and tongue (I know, gross, right?). Back in the days when I was regularly tracking audiobooks, I learned a trick from one of the other engineers: have the talent eat a bite of an apple. I’m not sure if it’s the acid in the apple or of the fiber of the fruit absorbs the stickiness or what, but it works! Usually just one bite will do the trick, and it can save the editor from lots of De-Crackling later.

[harperwharris]

I decided to take a cue from The Tonebenders Podcast (one of my favorite audio resources!) and bring along some recording equipment to the Women’s March on Washington last weekend. Using a really pared down setup (my old Zoom H4n, a MOVO LV4-O2 wired lav, and a Rycote Overcover).

It was an interesting experience. I was able to capture a lot of what I’d hoped–I think a lot of the power, anger, but also camaraderie of the massive group really comes through in the recordings. Take a listen and let me know what you think!