Suenram Productions

Adventures in Sound Design and Audio Engineering

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A Vinyl State of Mind

Over the course of this year, I have been changing directions in my musical path...further proof that life paths are winding things indeed.

Recording and mixing haven't been shown the door, but they are currently taking a backseat to my new occupation as a mastering engineer. 

It might be awhile before I start posting new projects again, but I will get back into it.

That said, my mastering work is going really well.  One year ago, I would never have believed my name would be on a record.  And now, I've already got a few.  It's all very exciting to be involved in so many diverse projects.  

This has only been possible with my mentor believing in me.  I am forever grateful to him.

So for now, the vast majority of my efforts will be spent editing/EQing/etc. audio, making master CDs, and cutting lacquer master discs.  That last part is my favorite. ^_^

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This is a compilation of the recording I made of the Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra on 8 March 2014. As with my two previous recordings, I made a 5.1 surround sound recording. This time I placed the omnidirectional Schoeps mics in the front on extra tall boom stands and my AKG C214s in the rear facing the audience. I kept the Blue Reactor as my center channel. Honestly, I prefer my last setup, but this was all for experimentation's sake. I found that the Schoeps were a bit too dark to be the front mics and I had to compensate for that in the mixing stage. All recording, editing, mixing, and mastering was done by me. I recorded the concert using Pro Tools 11 (which I don't recommend due to its bugginess) and did everything else in Logic Pro X. Enjoy! ____Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 (Quinto Maganini (1897-1974), arr.) ____Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Étude No. 11, Douze études ____Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992): Selections from "Histoire du Tango" I. Bordel 1900 ____Kurt Weill (1900-1950): Threepenny Opera Suite (Karl Kramer, arr.) IV. Cannon-song ____Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer (1789-1878): Three Little Pieces for Brass Quintet (Robert Nagel (1924-), arr.) III. Allegro grazioso ____Richard Strauss (1864-1941): Metamorphosen (Rudolf Leopold, arr.)

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I intended to get this recording out months ago, but I wasn't able to do it until now due to various and sundry reasons. In any case, enjoy!

This is a compilation of a selection of pieces performed by the Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra on 9 Nov 2013 at the First Baptist Church in Palo Alto. Like my first orchestral recording, I used a 5.1 surround sound mic placement. My mic set up consisted of 2 AKG C214s in the front, 1 Blue Reactor in the center, and 2 omnidirectional Schoeps in the rear. 

All recording, editing, mixing, and mastering was done by me. I recorded in Pro Tools 11 and did the rest in Logic Pro X. ___ John Palmer (1954-): Suite for Brass Quintet 1. I. Announcement 2. II. Meditation 3. III. Dance ___Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): String Quartet, Op. 51, No. 1 in C Minor 4. I. Allegro 5. II. Romanze: Poco adagio ___Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Gran Partita (Serenade in B-Flat Major) for Winds, K. 361 6. I. Largo-Molto allegro 7. IV. Menuetto-Allegretto 8. VII. Finale. Molto allegro

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I chose the adorable animated short "La Luna" as my final project for my sound design class at Foothill College.  I edited the video using Final Cut Pro X and incorporated credits for the first time.  This is the longest film clip I've ever made and it was definitely the most complicated.  That said, I really enjoyed working on this film!

I recorded the dialogue and input that in place of the original dialogue.  My voice is used for the Bambino (child) while the voices for the Papà and Nonno were played by another individual who chose not to be named.  

I recorded sounds I couldn't find in a sound library and made new ones out of lots of other pre-existing sounds.  The stars were created with MIDI using the Balinese gamelan bells from Native Instrument's Kontakt 5 plug-in!

The music was arranged and played by me.  The introductory song is the Sicilian folk piece "Motivo di Cantastorie" (Theme of the Storyteller), the following piece is the children's song "Stella, Stellina" (Star, Little Star), and the final song is the Sicilian folk song "Serenata Amalfitana."

Enjoy!

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This is my very first film editing and sound design project.  My film of choice is the visually stunning and adorable story of "Le fabeleux destin d'Amélie." As it was my first attempt at sound design for film, I chose only scenes without dialogue.  The film editing was done in Final Cut Pro X while the audio was edited in Pro Tools 10.  

Enjoy!

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This is a study in soundscapes that I submitted as my sound design project for the Fall 2013 quarter Sound Design for Film and Games class taught by Eric Kuehnl. The story: Deep in the forest, a wolf cries in the distance. Suddenly, other wolves answer its call. A kid, who somehow happens to be stuck in the aforementioned forest, realizes there is clear and present danger. He runs desperately through the woods as he tries to get away from the wolves. A storm brews overhead. Running out of breath, energy, and time, he trips through foliage as the wolves gain on him. Eventually, the wolves lose interest and the kid thinks he's okay. Suddenly, he is startled by owls. One in particular has a peculiar sound. The alarm rings and he wakes up. It was only a nightmare. The end.

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Points North Last Notes

This past weekend was my first solo flight as THE engineer of a recording.  A few weeks ago, I was asked to engineer the final song of an album that was being recorded at Foothill College.  It was important that a student engineer work on this as it is a college-recorded project, and I just happened to be the only student engineer available for the whole weekend.  Lucky me!  

Which brings me to the following video:

I found a video of some of the engineering I did this past weekend for prog rock band Points North. This was day #3 of the session, day #2 of recording. This was also the last day to record. We were working on the ending of the song in the bass line.  

Uriah Duffy nailed it and it was awesomeness!!  :D

UPDATE as of 7 May 2014:  Sadly, the video has since been deleted by the owner and will no longer play.  :'(  In other news, the album will be released by the Magna Carta label some time this year.  

Check here for updates from Points North: 

http://www.pointsnorthband.com/news.html

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My SFSU Advanced Audio Production class, taught by Michael S. Rosen, recorded the Jesse Levit Trio at Fantasy Studios in Berkley one weekend in October 2013. Not too long after that, I was asked to mix this song for the trio. Enjoy!

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I composed this short piece of background music for a Foothill College sound design project. While the main bulk of the project was done using Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools, I ended up using Logic for composing to keep the music and sound effects separate. This piece used both the Logic MIDI library and Kontakt 5 MIDI libraries for this instrumental. My inspiration came from two traditional Welsh folk songs that I felt would suit the project: "Dacw 'Nghariad" (There's My Love) and "Sosban Fach" (Little Saucepan.) So what was the project? A very small 1 minute video comprised of clips from the Hayao Miyazaki film "Howl's Moving Castle". As I have read the Diana Wynne Jones novel that was the basis of the film, I knew that one of the main characters came from Wales. Hence, my Welsh musical influence. Enjoy!

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This is a just a snippet of four pieces from the Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra's Baroque Chamber Concert I recorded earlier this month at the Palo Alto First Baptist Church. I used a 5.1 surround sound mic placement to get the fullest sound possible. All recording, mixing, and mastering was done by me. Enjoy! 1. Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612): Canzon Septimi Toni, No. 2 2. George Frederic Handel (1685-1759): Trio Sonata, Op. 2 No. 5, HWV 390: II. Allegro 3. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741): Piccolo Concerto in C Major, RV 443: I. Allegro 4. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major, BWV 1046: IV. Menuetto-Trio I-Polacca-Trio II

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I have successfully found a video to this song and managed to sync my mix with it!  Mwahahaha!!!!!  Video evidence that I do post-production!

MerryGold - Mother Lode (live @ Tri Studios) remixed by amsrie (by Suenram Productions)

Watch the original video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJNDDmpJITk

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This was really fun to mix! I had lots of great acoustic instruments to work with: most exciting to play with were the banjo and accordion. :) I used Logic X and mostly UAD Teletronix and Pultec plug-ins to make this mix come alive. Enjoy! I got these tracks from Telefunken's website. This band beat out loads of other bands for the opportunity to record at TRI Studios in San Rafael, CA. Fair play to them and congratulations! Please support the band at http://merrygoldband.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/merrygoldband.

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This mix was more of a challenge than I anticipated.  On the plus side, I did learn how to use Two-Stage Compression on the vocals, that bass frequencies can really mess up a mix, and that my car's speakers tell me the truth. During the remixing process, I earned my certification in Logic Pro 9 and learned to adapt to Logic Pro X.   Mixed from the multi-tracks provided by Cristina Vane via www.cambridge-mt.com. Please support the artist at https://soundcloud.com/cristinavane and https://www.facebook.com/cristina.vane.music

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I am very excited to attend my first conference!  More on that in a moment.

On July 13, I attended the seminar Girl Power: Women Working in the Music Industry put on by Fiero Flair in San Francisco, CA.  It was a fantastic experience learning about women's perspectives on various aspects of the music industry.  Lots of great stories, personal experiences on breaking into the industry, and advice were shared.  There was good representation from almost all aspects of the industry...except audio engineering.  I knew the numbers were small, but it was disappointing that there was no representation of women in that field.

So this leads me back to the upcoming conference.  My foray into the BAPC is to see what the story is with women in audio engineering.  My interests are primarily in mixing and post-production, but I'm game for just about anything, so long as it gets me in the door. 

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This is my first mix with UAD plug-ins! I think it makes a world of difference in the overall sound. Mixed from the multitracks provided by The Brew via cambridge-mt.com. This song is available on their 2012 album "Light From Below." Please support the band at http://www.thebrew.biz/ and http://www.facebook.com/TheBrewMusic.

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This is an example of some of my mixing work.  The raw multitracks were provided by Fergessen via cambridge-mt.com.

Fergessen's upcoming album "Far Est" will be out 21 October 2013.

Please support the band at their website: www.fergessen.fr/

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Welcome to Suenram Productions!

It’s an ambitious name, isn’t it?  However, one has to start somewhere.  

This blog is my sharing center where my work can be shared either directly or indirectly.  It’s a work in progress, and more than likely the progress will be slow, but I am going to make this blogging project happen.

Upcoming projects that will be posted are:

1.) The sound design for very basic games and encompasses Foley, dialogue, background music, and sound effects.

 2.) My SoundCloud mixes of other people’s music…of which that number is quite small, but will grow in time.  I’m working on different genres in an effort to diversify my mixing skills.

3.) My own music.  This last stage will be the most complex.  I have several projects in various stages of completion.  These will take the longest to finish, but they will be finished.  Because I said so.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to check in for future updates!

Anne-Marie