Robert Booth

Audio Engineer based in Manchester, UK

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Apes Grapes - Overdubs

Despite the recordings taking place in a live studio setup, the decision was made to dedicate a session to overdubs. This adding of parts to the core performance enhanced the original recording, without affecting the feel of the track and not making the live performance impossible to perform! 

(The setups for the overdubs were as close to the original setup where applicable), to get the same sense of space and reflections in the room. Once they were recorded, I edited the takes chosen by the band into the respective tracks and came up with some ideas about how to incorporate different elements. Making sure the overdubs felt like part of the original performance was key.

When all the recording had been completed and edited in, it was down to me to mix it!

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Apes Grapes - Recording

So, the recording went well! James and I set up before the band arrived with time to spare, all being well besides a couple of channel input changes on the Neve for one reason or another. So far, so good!

Daniel, Alex and Jamie loaded in as normal and once everyone was set up, we put mics in place and then got the band back in to start all the usual checks. Level checks, tone checks, phase checks, more phase checks. Move some stuff, more tone checks, more level checks. Done. We were ready to rock (well, jazz).

First up was the heavier of two tunes, slightly rocky yet with chilled sections in between; hints of Rage Against The Machine were evident in places! Their dynamism and chemistry eventually culminated in a couple of stellar takes that everyone was happy with, one down, one to go! 

The second track is a down-tempo take on Once In Royal David’s city, a beautiful one I might add! An adjustment in placement and levels was required for the second track, set for the loudest levels and ride the faders for everything else and we’re good! The band use a variety of pedals, handywork and sandpaper (yes, you heard it right) to create flowing, seamless textures that offer up a taste of what each member has to offer. Capturing every detail and nuance in the highest fidelity was my aim as an engineer and a professional; I felt I carried that role out well.

Clocking in at 16 minutes for both tunes combined, editing and mixing was sure going to provide a challenge with the live studio setup, but first (next), overdubs...

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Apes Grapes - Recording Prep

As previously mentioned, the ‘live studio’ approach to recording this fantastic jazz trio was decided by myself after listening back to and mixing the jam session that took place. Now it was time to plan for the recording itself. 

The only reason the jam session took place in the SSL studio at Futureworks was due to the Neve being temporarily out of action. With the mighty Neve and it’s glorious live room being at my disposal I deemed it necessary to use it! The live room is more suited to a full band and gives everyone a little more space. 

Apes Grapes on Facebook

One of the big positives about the jam session was that the room planning paid off well, with the drums and guitar having great separation from each other. I stuck to that plan for the recording, albeit with a few slight changes in microphone choices. The bass, specifically the amp in the live room, was something to address for the main recording, as spill from the drums and guitar interfered with the bass mics; fortunately the line out of Jamie’s Mark Bass amp was very usable (and great sounding)!  

The only other changes I really made were to provision for a different amp for the guitarist, some ideas about volume levels in the room, tweaks with the foldback mix and dropping a couple of mics from the kit that wouldn’t be needed. Other than that it was let the groove take over!

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Apes Grapes - Jam Session!

For my recording module this year, I thought I’d try something a little different, a little jazzy.. Fortunately, I know a few people! Apes Grapes are a jazz trio from Manchester that consists of Alex Tod, Daniel Brew and Jamie Brewster. Over the past months and I’d checked out some of their material online and loved what I heard. When I got in touch, it was convenient that they just about had enough material to record. Bring it on! 

First things first I gathered as much research material and information from the band as I could and thought it would be a good idea to organise a jam session to get a better idea of how to best record the trio. So I did! With assistance from the wonderful James Walker, we embarked on a full-day session in the SSL at Futureworks where the band laid down some beautiful riffs and I got to hear the new material. 

It was after listening back to and mixing the jam session that I decided that a ‘live studio’ approach would be appropriate to get the absolute best out of Jamie, Alex and Daniel. The chemistry they showed in the live room was palpable and there was no productive reason to shake that up when it came to recording. On to the recording planning we go!

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Nest - An Audio/Visual Art Installation

This project was something a little different for myself, and James Walker, the sound designer. Nest was an abstract art installation that consisted of a tryptich video arrangement with a Foley and atmosphere-based soundscape. Francesca Carr approached James about this project and when I was contacted about being involved, it was something I couldn’t turn down. Since the first time we met about the project I had ideas floating around my head, and just couldn’t wait to get started!

Nest was a personal project for Francesca and the use of items belonging to people in her family, along with her connection to them. This brought about the idea of using some contact mics on some of the props we used to convey that close, intimate sound they provide. This turned out well and acted as a form of percussion at times. The sound effects I was recording was Foley in a sense, the manipulation of props, specifically not in sync, to create rhythm and let the timbre evoke certain emotions.

This project for us was almost a crossover between music and film. There were elements, such as atmospheres and Foley, that brought about a film feel, while the mix and percussive nature of the piece echoed music. We approached the mixing and mastering in a musical direction, while the editing took a more film-style approach.

I was very glad to be involved with this project and have learned a number of things from it. If I had the chance to take part in something similar again, I certainly would!

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Haxxors - Foley

Haxxors is a thesis film by a master’s degree student at Columbia University. It arrived with James Walker for post-production sound through our connections at Futureworks, and he wanted me onboard as a Foley artist/editor. With this being a job where there was no physical contact with the director, the concept of spotting and discussing ideas with the director took a somewhat different format than our usual process. 

The project required a quick turnaround, to the extent where normal preparation time was not afforded to fit around my existing schedule. This came as a nice surprise, however, as it tested my ability to perform and achieve the same outcome on limited time; something more likely to happen in the future no doubt.

As part of Noise Four, we tend to take on projects from the earliest possible stage, whether that be production or post-production; we always like to take on as much as we can. For this project, however, we wouldn’t be performing the dubbing mix as the director had someone in mind a little closer to his neck of the woods. This also tested our skills when it came to premixing, leaving options open but committing to certain decisions.

It was a great project to be involved in, and another country to add to our portfolio of projects!

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DEVU - Beachfire EP - Mastering

First of all, if you haven’t heard this, please go and take a listen here. DEVU is a great composer with a focus on creating a narrative with his music. It’s a refreshing take on ambient electronic music, with vast expanses of atmospheres and powerful choruses to take you through a range of emotions. 

I had the pleasure of mastering this EP for him, and what a fun process it was! DEVU made contact early on in the composition process about the project and I was more than happy to commit to helping him with some of the mix decisions to get the best results from the mastering process. The idea of providing a couple of test masters along the way was a mutual agreement that aided us both; experience for me and an idea of how to go about getting the best results for us both.

A lot of my processing was an attempt to not ruin the mix, they sounded great when the finals arrived from him so my job was to preserve that, and enhance in the places where it made sense. There was a fair amount of consistency in the style of mixes and general frequency content so that made my job a little easier, being able to apply a similar chain across each mix. One of the points we touched on during our discussions was about loudness, and more to the point not crushing the living daylights out of it. The aim was to create a dynamic EP that ebbed and flowed to enhance the sense of being taken on a journey.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable process and one I would be delighted to go through again! Here are some extra links to whichever platform you may choose!

iTunes Spotify Bandcamp Google Play

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Last Man on Earth - Premix

The premix process is where all the work from each department comes together in a glorious aural mess. The aim of this step is to commit to certain mix decisions while leaving options open for the dubbing mix team.

Importing each department’s sessions (via import session data) creates a huge session, often pushing the Pro Tools voices and bus limits. With so much happening in one session it was vital to ensure all routing is correct and the various sub-masters and sums worked as desired. 

Once this had all been set up and tested, it was time to watch through the film with everything in to get a feel for where the premix was heading. The team had obviously spent time on pre-production aligning our ideas, but some areas are covered by more than one department to encourage discussion and explore options later down the line.

The first watch through gave everyone an idea of what needed to happen next; the first step being a general volume balance between departments and their subcategories. An example of this would be that the Foley was too quiet in general, so that sub came up in volume by 3dB to bring it somewhere closer to where the majority should sit.

After the most basic of changes were made it was time to rewatch the film with a more evenly balanced ‘mix’. This is where notes more focussed on the narrative were written down and the premix began in earnest. Clip gain, EQ and compression were used where necessary to make adjustments big or small, in an iterative fashion, over a period of time to begin shaping the project’s sound mix.

At the end of each pre-mix session it was imperative to send a temp-mix to the director; this is needed so that he can ensure we are serving his vision for the story. Any notes for changes we receive will be acted upon in the next session until time runs out and it is time for the dub mix.

Before this can happen, preparation is needed to ensure that options are available to the dubbing mix team, whilst also committing to certain decisions. Generally at this point, each department has their tracks cut down into manageable, logical chunks; this makes for a time-efficient, productive dubbing session. 

Time to hand over to the dubbing team (in this case it’s still our team, it’s just good practice)!

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Last Man on Earth - Editing

During the recording process, the recording engineer rated each recording clip in Pro Tools with a rating between 1 and 5, the higher the better. The highest rated clip per cue was promoted to the appropriate track from the record track; this was a mutual rating between artist and recordist that helped the editor decide which take (and alternate if needed) was to be used.

The editing process consisted of listening to and picking the best takes, both in context and in solo, replacing sections where needed with the next-best rated clip. Essentially this formed the best of everything, in a sonic and sync sense. The process that followed was to then level and smooth against temp stems sent by the dialogue, effects and music editors so as to be as succinct and focussed as possible when it came to the premix. 

Basic EQ, compression, noise reduction and reverb were applied where necessary during the edit to give the Foley at least a temporary impression of how it would feel coming into the next stage. This meant that the premix was more of a tweaking process than a full-scale operation of building from the ground up. 

Below is a picture of the final editing timeline for Foley before it enters the premix session:

The next blog entry will detail the premix process!

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Last Man on Earth - Recording

After the pre-production elements had taken place, it was time to make a start on recording. Below I will describe several elements of the process; the recording environment, microphones and workflow. This should offer some insight into the technical and practical features involved.

Recording Environment

As pictured in my previous blog post about Last Man on Earth, prop testing began in the recording space I was to use - a room in my house. This was the obvious choice for me for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was able to store many props and utilise a number of items already in my possession. secondly, it’s extremely convenient to be able to leave set up, and record for extended periods of time. Lastly, it is fairly isolated from the outside world, besides a few uncontrollable environmental factors; draping duvets and curtains on reflective surfaces helped the absorption.

Recording Equipment

I used a Michael Joly modded Oktava MK 012 in hypercardioid for the majority of recordings, switching to cardioid for some elements and also to a Michael Joly MJE "Hulk 990" where necessary. Either of these mics were running into a Roland Quad-Capture UA-55.

Workflow

Due to several uncontrollable factors during the project, the recording process varied in its execution. To start with, during the footsteps period, the process was a two-man job; an artist and a recordist. This was somewhat convenient and time-efficient, especially when time was needed to swap in and out surfaces and attire. For the movement and specific elements of the recording, the process was undertaken by only myself; to work around this, the pre-roll feature in Pro Tools came in handy to allow me to position and prepare myself each take.

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MQA - Coming to the Fore

Master Quality Authenticated - or MQA for short - is a music delivery format that was launched by Meridian co-founder Bob Stuart in December 2014, more publicly at CES in January 2015. In short, MQA brings high resolution audio to the masses at just-higher than CD bit rates. 

The revolutionary elements of this technology are as follows:

- Every MQA file originates from studio quality master in order to guarantee the consumer hears 'what the artist intended’. In more technical terms, the encoding process clears up ‘time smearing’ caused by analog to digital conversion. The technology is based on studies that prove how temporally sensitive humans are. This concept is expanded on here by the founder.

Image source

- MQA is a universal format that can play at full resolution 192kHz/24 bit or 44.1kHz/24 bit from the same lossless file, depending on the source file and whether an MQA-capable decoder is present; branded as ‘music origami’. Bob Stuart explains how this is possible in this video.

Progress has been made in the past year in terms of increasing the publicity, availability and compatibility of MQA, discussed in greater depth with a panel of industry folk at CES.

In an interesting interview with the MQA founder, Bob touches on how the technology can bring elements of the analog era into digital. In one point he mentions how allowing MQA to be played back at various levels of quality - depending on the presence of a decoder - using one file can replicate the success of the LP; one distribution method. It ultimately falls to the consumer to choose how they listen.

The other advantage mentioned in the same interview is how newer devices such as the HTC mobile phone that Bob mentions, have 192kHz capable DACs inside them. So, equipped with something such as an MQA app, it will be possible to use software decoding of an MQA file to play at the original quality. This could potentially be streamed over a service such as TIDAL, using around only 15% more bandwidth than current CD quality files.

I look forward to seeing (and hearing) how successful MQA will be with labels and consumers alike; interesting times are afoot!

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Last Man on Earth - Pre-Production - Recording Preparation

After the group spotting session took place it was then necessary to spend time cueing up the Foley Pro Tools session. The aim was to identify what sections of the film needed to be filled with Foley; what, when and how.

Before anything could happen inside the Pro Tools session the Foley department decided upon a naming convention to be used for cues, ensuring each item to be recorded has its own unique identifier and was easy and logical to find. For example, for footsteps we used ‘TYPE_CHARACTER_SURFACE_SHOE_SCENE_ITERATION’, in the session itself this appeared as 'FSX_LOUISE_CON_BOOT_SCN01_01′ - External footsteps for Louise on concrete, wearing boots in scene one, the first iteration.

The cueing itself took place in an edit suite (see below) where myself and Nathan (Foley recordist) could ensure we both knew the session as well as each other. I believe it is important for everyone taking part in the recording and editing Foley on a project to know how to navigate the session and how it will be delivered to and from each stage of the process. The screenshot above shows an overview of the Foley session after cueing had been completed. During the cueing session, a Foley props list was created to identify each separate prop and cue combination required for the recording sessions; this in effect allowed me to assemble a ‘shopping list’ for anything I didn’t already have access to.

Before recording was to begin in earnest I felt it was necessary to spend a session trying out some of the props available to us in order to assess the viability of the recording location and setup.

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Last Man on Earth - Pre-Production - Spotting

Once the locked cut came in from the editor we could move forward with pre-production on audio post. First on the list was to give the edit a watch as an audience member so that the next viewing could be purely analytical, as per David Sonnenchein’s book.

The next task as Foley supervisor was to set up the Pro Tools session to be used for cueing, recording and editing. I did this using a template set up as a culmination of previous projects; essentially combining the best elements of each session to ensure the best results could be achieved in the most efficient way.

It was then time to watch through the film and come up with how the story should be told through the use of sound. This is known as spotting. These ideas were collected in an Excel sheet (see above) - referred to as a soundmap - and used as a basis to be discussed during the group spotting session.

The group spotting session took place in the dubbing suite and was an opportunity to contribute ideas to other departments and to bounce ideas off each other. Feedback from everyone, most notably the director, helped to shape the final creative vision. Notes from this session were added to the spotting document and the next stages could begin.

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Last Man on Earth - Introduction

“Last Man on Earth is a short pre-apocalypse sci-fi thriller about a team of virologists searching for a cure to cancer.  It's a film about decisions and their consequences.” This was taken from the film’s crowdfunding page which finished on July 17th 2015 with the production itself being shot the same month.

Noise Four were on set as the location sound guys and it is as part of our company that we are also taking the post-production audio reigns over the next few months right through to the mix. I will be heading up the Foley aspect of post-production, taking on artist and editor roles and I will aim to shed some light on my work in future posts here. There will be pictures from the Foley stage along with a few other snaps so stay tuned!

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Two Girls One Shot - Post Production

This post is a follow up to one covering the production side of the shoot.

With the film being composed entirely of one shot this made the visual edit very short, only some slight reframing, titles and credits were needed. The audio however provided much greater workload. 

The dialogue edit was made up purely from lav mic sources; James made a very clean, consistent dialogue track to work with. Martyn’s job was the sound design, mostly consisting of natural elements as per the director’s request. With everything taking place in one location it was intriguing to see how it all came together. 

My role as the Foley department was to create a very real, believable track to lay under the dialogue. Due to time constraints I committed myself to only using one day to record all the required material; I usually like to record more content to work with in the edit but what I ended up with was pleasantly surprising. 

As a makeshift home setup for footsteps I have my trusty slab of concrete along with some bricks, dirt and some sheets for padding purposes; I always try and get the right tonality and solidity before running a take. The mics I use are an MJE modded Oktava MK 012 along with an MJE Hulk 990. Both mics sound fantastic and are often recorded together to give more options in the edit.

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Two Girls One Shot - Production

This is a bit of a late post as we actually shot this on October 2nd but better late than never, right?

We (Noise Four) were asked by Andy McKee and Aidan Belizaire to be part of a very short film designed to test the technical aspects of location film production. The idea was to shoot an eight minute script in one continuous shot. We were limited in terms of time as there was about a 45-minute window where we were able shoot with the right light; there were no lights on set, just the sun! 

(image by Martyn Ellis)

The challenge for the camera op was to be able to transfer a gimble from inside a car to the outside through the (side-opening) boot while maintaining a smooth shot. There was also the small factor of being able to hold the gimble for 8 minutes.. In the sound department we were fortunate enough to get hold of a couple of lav mics for the two actors so the challenge for the boom op was to stay out of shot, cast no shadows and hit the right cues for about six minutes of the shot! 

As a crew we ran through two or three technical rehearsals earlier in the day to make sure we knew the logistics before undertaking the real thing. We took five real run-throughs to disk - encountering a couple of technical issues along the way - and were all fairly happy with the product at the end of the day. Wildlines of the entire script were taken as a precaution for post-production sound but none were eventually used! All in all a great day working with an experienced crew under some challenging circumstances.

I will follow up this post with one covering the post-production side of this project once the film has been finalised. Stay tuned!

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Barnaby Smyth Discussing Foley on BBC Radio 4

Barnaby Smyth is a Foley artist and editor who’s credits include “Downton Abbey”, “Suffragette” and “Kingsman: The Secret Service” amongst many others; he has also featured a few times as Foley supervisor, notably on “Mr Bean’s Holiday”. Barnaby started out in 2000 as a Foley editor and recordist with his first credited artist role coming in 2006. 

At the beginning of this month he joined Francine Stock on BBC Radio 4′s “The Film Programme” to offer a small insight into the sound of Foley in film and TV. The first port of call was Barnaby’s impressive shoe collection, at least his suitcase full of worn and torn shoes used for his work as a Foley artist (shown below). This contained everything ranging from trainers to sandals to flats with the ends ripped off; it can be sometimes be difficult to find a size 10 female shoe that sounds like a heel (wearing heels as an artist can be painful due to the constant walking)!

Amongst a couple of demonstrations, Francine raised the question about how to make the footsteps sound like the character. As a Foley artist myself it was no surprise that his answer pertained to anticipation, changes in velocity and small nuances. It’s all about serving the narrative and channelling the character’s mindframe.

Also discussed was the principle of reverb and decay. Barnaby explained that it’s all about the control of the source recording to be able to place the foley correctly in the scene by adding artificial reverb later in the process. Ironically he then went on to show a recording used in Suffragette that he and his wife recorded with a couple of crows in the background; it appears it still made it into the film however!

You can listen to the programme here, where Francine also talks to Robert Zemeckis about “The Walk” and Joe Wright about “Pan”.