#aus230

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Individual/Freelance Project

Intro

In my freelance project, I decided to step a little out of my comfort zone of synths and MIDI and into the world of instruments. As most people that know me, I can’t play any instruments and am more able to program synths along with working with MIDI tracks.

I was working with a guitarist, a bassist and a vocalist for my freelance project and spent most of my time working behind the desk. Even though the project was to capture the sound of an external client, they did allow me to input some of my own ideas which resulted in the tracks having some synths and MIDI added on to it. Nothing too electronic was added though as I did want their instruments to shine more than anything else in the tracks, but we’ve manage to add some Rhodes/organs, along with some piano and pads.

Recording Sessions

I had the pleasure of working with these guys before in my previous trimester, and was able to use one of the tracks I helped record for an electronic remix. Which went rather well as they approved and enjoyed what I did to their track, even though they preferred the acoustic copy that I recorded.

Because of us having familiarity with each other, we had a rather good creative space in the studio of us being able to throw ideas back and forth until we came to an idea we could all agree on. Before we started recording anything, I also thought that this was a good time to go through my plug-ins, instruments and anything I had in my arsenal. Familiarizing myself with what I have, so that I was able to pull up anything if the clients demands it. This worked in our favor as we didn’t waste any time going through, and experimenting with plugins that wouldn’t work during the recording sessions. 

After getting the approval of adding some MIDI elements to it, I also went through my MIDI instruments. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time going through my samples or sounds, as I wanted to be able to bring up a sample or sound whenever the client requested something. This definitely saved a lot of time in the studio as we were able to bring everything together quicker, it would definitely help for my own and for future recordings as well. Although, it did take a while going through Native Instrument’s Komplete library considering it was jam packed with content.

I reckon that having familiarity over my own workstation also definitely gave my client confidence that I am able to produce their tracks to their desires, and didn’t have anything to worry about the final product.

Communication

“Communication is key.”

Having communication definitely help with the process of my freelance project, as we planned each session before even stepping into the studio. We communicated any plans or ideas, and set a goal before we started our sessions in the studio. 

This process made sure that we were focused on what we had to get done during the session(s), and that we weren’t wasting our time decided on what had to be done while the session(s) were already running. We made it simple to communicate, creating a group chat and communicated there whenever we had something to discuss about future session(s) or song ideas, structure, feedback, etc.

Having communication also made sure that each of us knows our role for this project, and what dates we would be available for recordings. This made it easy for me to book sessions in advanced, given that I know that my clients would be available on certain dates and time.

Working With A Client

Although this project was to focus on getting my client’s sound, we worked together even though they were the main stars. I was able to add some MIDI instruments into their tracks adding more layers and dynamics into their songs.

Even though I was the engineer, I also contributed some of my creativity onto their tracks by adding sounds and samples whenever I could. We worked together more as a team rather than having a boundary where I was strictly sticking to the engineering side of things, while they were strictly responsible for all the musical content. 

We were able to get creative with the tracks as we were all able to see eye-to-eye, and were all open to suggestions and ideas to add into the tracks that my client’s had in mind.

I also believe that knowing my client’s instruments and playing style definitely help with the production of this project. Since I don’t possess very good microphone skills and techniques, I was able to do some research in advanced to the instruments that they had and learn a few techniques before taking them into a studio session. This prevented any unwanted mistakes or re-recording of certain tracks because of a poorly selected microphone.

Outcome/Conclusion

I personally am quite happy of the product outcome, although there are certain things that I could definitely improve on. Improving my knowledge on microphones and the usage of studio space is definitely one of the few things that I could improve on, music theory also needs improvement just so I am able to point out wrong notes quicker than I’m able to at the moment. 

My client’s were very professional throughout the entire production and it made everything run easier and smoother. Having plans for our sessions in advanced also definitely made it significantly simpler, and less time consuming.

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Post Production Project

Intro

Post production is a part of the many processes that exist in audio and film productions. Since I am an audio student, it mainly involves creating music, foley or ADR for a film. However, post production also exist in the making of radio programs, advertisements (that include audio visual content), digital art, etc. It basically includes everything that needs to be done after filming or recording. Hence, “Post” Production.

During the last 4 weeks of AUS230, we shifted our focus to sound design and post production. We managed to get our hands on the S6 studio, learning the signal flow of it and how it operated. There were a few videos given to our class, which was then distributed to different smaller sub groups. The videos were part of the “Fantastic Fiction” series by the film students on our campus.

Foley

Foley is one of the few things I’ve mentioned that goes into film making. It is the production (or reproduction) of sound effects, that are added to film, video and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. This gives the film’s sounds clarity and realism, as having an on set camera might not exactly be able to capture an isolated sound without background noise. 

We re-produced sounds such as glassware clinking, footsteps, punches, etc. Aside from re-creations of sounds, we also needed to generate ideas to figure out what sounds we needed to achieve the desired sounds and results. For example, we couldn’t exactly record a horse galloping so we improvised and used hallow plastic paper cups, along with some bottles to recreate the sounds. Obviously, this required a bit of editing within Pro Tools to make them sound a bit more realistic.

ADR

ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) is also something that’s used in film making. It involves dubbing certain dialogues in scenes that were either inaudible, sounding weird or out of sync with the film. This is done by having the actors/actresses re-recording their lines in an acoustically treated studio, and just having them reading their lines according to the film. 

Although, we didn’t need to do any ADR for the film that we were given.

Our Project

During our project, we set different roles to everyone on day one. As it would be easier for us to individually work on certain aspects of this project, taking our strengths and weaknesses into consideration. We had 3 people working on sound effects, 1 on the desk and 2 for the music production. This not only made our time more efficient in the studio, but this also prevented one of us just standing around not really doing much.

I was part of the sound effects sub group, so I will be talking more in depth about that. We decided to source some of our sounds from sound packs online and combining it with our own sounds, as there were some sounds that we were unable to produce by ourselves. For example, children laughing, large bushfire sounds, etc. By doing this we were also able to do some sound stacking, like adding empty cup sounds to field recordings of horses galloping gave it the low end that it lacked. 

Having a good eye and ear to spot for sounds are also a good skill to have when doing sound design for film. We didn’t want to jam pack our film with different sounds shooting out everywhere, but we didn’t want it to lack any essential sounds either. Being able to spot where sounds are needed and where it isn’t definitely helped the process.

There is also a fair difference in mixing music and mixing sound effects. As audio people, we would always try not to distort or change anything we’ve recorded drastically (well, unless it’s intentional and wanted anyway). In sound effects, most of the time we found ourselves drastically changing the sounds we’ve put into the film. Whether it be sounds we’ve sourced or sounds that we’ve recorded by ourselves, we tried anything that made it fit better with the film basically. Even if it meant putting a ridiculously amount of reverb in it.

Outcome

At the end of the post production project, I believe that we were able to create something worth while in just 4 weeks time. The music track that was created for it, fit well with the film and made it more comedic that it already is; and the effects added to the feel and realism of the film.

Although, there are always areas to improve on, I am genuinely happy with the outcome of this project and we’ve all learned a few things that could be put into our own practices for any future projects.

Conclusion

I’d say that everyone in our group really contributed to the film, and we all had great and interested ideas that were great additions. Although I’d definitely agree that we could have done better on this film, if given more time. However, part of the learning curve was to able to create an effective project on such a short time period.

This project was really interesting and gave me an insight on what post production had to offer, and it has definitely peaked my interest for future opportunities. 

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Mastering

Intro

Before even getting into the details, what exactly is a mastering engineer and what do they do?

A mastering engineer is someone that bridges between an audio engineer and the end of a project (release of the product). They are exceptionally skilled at making audio content that has been previously mixed by an audio engineer, and preparing it for it’s distribution. The distribution can be a physical copy, or a digital copy.

They are usually the final person (or people! sometimes more than one) which the tracks go through before being released for the general public.

Their Role

Being a mastering engineer requires an obsessive amount of knowledge of outboard gear, plugins, acoustics and physics.

They essentially take recording studio quality music, and transform them into the “everyday listener” quality music. I’ll expand on that.

Let’s say for example, an audio engineer or a mix engineer just finished mixing a band’s album/EP in a professional studio on a pair of, I don’t know, $20,000 set of studio monitors. It sounds great, however most people can’t afford a pair of studio monitors for that amount of money. This is where the mastering engineer steps in.

They take the mixes, and make them “everyday listener” friendly. So they can be played on laptop speakers or a car stereo system, without it sounding horrible. The mastering engineer has to think about the acoustics and logistics of these things.

Their Job 

Aside from the above, they also have to make the music “stand out” amongst the crowd of other musicians. The mastering engineer has to make the music sound better in audio quality, making it clearer, louder and more vibrant than anything else out in the market. Rendering the song/s competitive in the marketplace.

Having an album or a single that is horribly mastered could make the listener lose interest in the song; and a perfectly mastered track would capture the attention of the listener. So they need to make the tracks sound good, whether if it’s in someone’s headphones or on the radio at a shopping mall.

The Price That Comes With

Hiring a mastering engineer, as you’ve guessed, does not come cheap. A professional mastering engineer could cost $500/hr, which isn’t very affordable at all unless if you’re already charting the billboards.

There are some other alternatives, however they do come at a price. (Well, two prices if you could the price tag as well)

LANDR

I remember when I first found out about LANDR, was just browsing through the internet and I somehow bumped into it. 

For those of you who don’t know what LANDR is. It is a mastering program which allows users to upload their well mixed track/s online, and the tracks get mastered for them instantly. From just a $9/mth subscription, this does sound quite tempting for the musicians who can’t afford to fork out $500. 

Aside from the price tag, it also does come with a cost. It is a computer algorithm that masters the tracks online via submission, not a real life mastering engineer. Even though it’s tempting, I don’t exactly feel comfortable knowing my track/s is in the hands of a computer algorithm.

I feel that mastering requires a living breathing human being, someone that has experience and/or taste, someone that knows what the artist/band is trying to achieve. Sending it to a computer algorithm is like sending a recording to a computer algorithm based mix engineer, sure the amplitude might be fine but how would it know which elements to turn down? It could end up turning the drums all the way down just because it’s louder than everything else, rendering the final mix horrible.

Plus, music doesn’t really have a straight forward formula to it. For example, having MIDI drums and having a recording of a drummer playing the exact same thing would sound completely different. Because MIDI drums does not take into account how hard the drummer might hit the snare drum, toms, kick drum, etc.

Funnily enough as an electronic music producer, I tend to move my MIDI drums around and sometimes move it out of the grids where it’s supposed to be at just to have a human-like feel and/or rhythm to it.

References

Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. (2017). Ir.lib.uwo.ca. Retrieved 26 April 2017, from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1709&context=etd

The Dark Art of Mastering Music | Pitchfork. (2017). Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017, from http://pitchfork.com/features/article/9894-the-dark-art-of-mastering-music/

Understanding Mastering. (2017). Musicmasteringonline.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017, from http://musicmasteringonline.com/understanding-mastering/

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Recording to Tape Project

Introduction

During week 5 of this Trimester in AUS230, we had a chance to get together in groups and spend an entire day at Soundpark Studios in Northcote. The goal was to finish recording a track with a band called Palmerslum on tape within 7 hours on the day.

Palmerslum

The band consisted of a guitarist/vocalist, another guitarist, a bassist along with a drummer. They’ve sent over a demo with a song called, Grey Street for us to listen to and analyze the sound they were going for.

The track can be found by clicking here.

Difference between Soundpark & SAE Recordings

Before I continue this blog, I would say the signal flow did throw me off a little bit compared to the usual signal flow at the studios in SAE. There was a huge amount of outboard gear which is candy land for any gear head out there, along with that we also didn’t use the console as we normally do at SAE. Instead we only used the console’s preamps, along with some Neve preamps and the API preamps. The workflow was definitely a change of scenery, as not all of the microphones were connected to the desk allowing gain/pad/phase changes in one place. The Neve and API preamps were located underneath the desk, so at least we didn’t have to run across the room whenever the gain needed to be lowered. Along with that, the patchbay also went full on spaghetti town since signal was going everywhere.

Although the work flow was different, after a little bit of guidance and understanding, things did work the same as any other studio sessions I’ve had. There definitely were a bunch of changes compared to the studio at SAE, but the signal flow did make sense after understanding how things were done there. As someone that mixes primarily in the box, it was a little difficult to follow with signal outputting everywhere on the patchbay, and it did take me a while to get used to it.

Adding on to that, Soundpark Studios also had multiple acoustically treated recording rooms built into one studio, while the studios at SAE had one recording space for one console/studio. It allows flexibility and recording different sources of instruments at once without bleeding. The different recording rooms also provided different sounds, so instead of completely switching studio rooms, the studio room remained the same while different recording rooms could be used simultaneously. 

It was definitely a good change of scenery, I feel that having the chance to record at Soundpark Studios definitely did teach us that not all studios are the same and as straight forward. 

The Tape Machine

The tape machine was the main part of this recording (as seen on the title of this blog), it was definitely bigger than I expected it to be. It also looked rather old, even though it was in pristine condition, it didn’t look like something you’ll see lying around in a music store these days, there were also lots of moving parts on the machine which I’d say given time they’d slowly wear themselves out. 

To my knowledge, no big manufacturer has built new machines for years, which is fair considering most studio setups consist of audio interfaces which allows you to record straight to Pro Tools. Along with that, there are also multiple tape machine emulator plug-ins out there for that analogue warm tape sound.

It had big bulky fast forward, rewind, play, stop and record buttons on the top of the machine. Along with around 15 VU metres (if I remember correctly), to show signal coming into the tape machine for recording. The tape itself was also rather heavy weighing around 2.5~5kg at least, which loads onto the machine.

Surprisingly it didn’t look out of place at all at the studio, but it did look like something you’ll find as an easter egg onboard the millennium falcon in the Star Wars franchise. 

During the session, we routed signal from our preamps to the tape machine and then send it back to Pro Tools for digital recording.

The Session 

To begin with, the band arrived an entire hour early to setup which threw us off schedule for a bit. Considering it was our first time at Soundpark Studios, we didn’t exactly have much time to go over signal flow and outboard gear so it was a bit hectic at the beginning. 

That being said, we were all quite professional about it and stuck to our roles, setting up anything that we knew how to setup. The teamwork that day was amazing, even though we were all under time pressure and didn’t want the band to dawdle around waiting for too long. We did what we could and made sure the band was comfortable and getting ready to record as soon as possible. Surprisingly, the breaks taken were very minimal as well to ensure the session ran as smoothly as possible.

Keeping a calm and cool head also did help with the session, asking for assistance when needed instead of guessing and slowing everything down. 

As said earlier, there were very minimal breaks taken. Everyone in the group contributed on the day, taking turns on setting up microphones, working the patchbay, and taking turns at the desk operating Pro Tools. 

Needless to say, the session went quite smoothly aside from a few bumps in the first hour.

Conclusion

It was a rather fun experience being able to work with tape, although it was only our first time and I’m not completely masterful at it, it’s nice to say at least I know the basics of it and how it works. It was also great being able to record at a different studio, learning how the signal flow works there, and recording at the massive recording space that Soundpark Studios have.

It also gave a bit of a real life feel to it, challenging us to work under time pressure, making sure the band feels welcome and being professional in a studio environment.

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The Song Exploder Project

Introduction

Throughout the last four weeks, I’ve been closely studying a certain music producer’s technique and the uniqueness of their work. In order to satisfy my song exploder project, it was essential that I pay close attention to the production techniques of the producer that I chose to study.

Firstly, before going into the juicy details of what I’ve been working on, what is a music producer?

What is a Music Producer?

A music producer or also known as record producer plays multiple roles during the production of a song. They oversee along with manage the sound recording and production of a band or a performer’s musical creation. 

The roles of a record producer is and not limited to:

Gathering musical ideas for the project

Collaborate with the artist on the production of the record

Work with different artists in order to achieve results or to improve their songs

He/she might also be asked to assist in the song’s lyrics or arrangement

All in all, the producer helps the artist/band to polish their performances to get the desired sound/tone that a specific genre or style of music requires. They guide and supervise the recording sessions, all through the mastering stage.

Chosen Producer

The record producer that I have chosen to study would be Thomas Wesley Pentz, or better known by his stage name Diplo. Diplo founded and manages his record company Mad Decent, along with co-founding Jack Ü and Major Lazer. I’ve decided to study his techniques and producing style in his electronic dancehall project, Major Lazer.

Major Lazer’s music spans numerous genres, mixing reggae with dancehall, reggaeton, house and moombahton. I’ve always admired the records that Major Lazer has been banging out since 2010. In the last four weeks I’ve had my attention on “Come On to Me” which is from their 2014 extended play of the album “Apocalypse Soon”, produced by Major Lazer and Boaz van de Beatz, and features the vocals of Sean Paul.

Diplo has always been known to pull samples to incorporate into his work, “Come On to Me” features a sample from Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe’s La Murga. The sample appears at 1:53 in the record. Although I’ve decided not to sample any melodies or vocals throughout my project as it would be a pain to get them cleared for public release, so I didn’t heavily research his techniques about sampling.

Diplo’s Production Techniques

From multiple interviews, Diplo has revealed what type of synths he uses. Primarily using soft synths. Diplo has a rather old style when it comes to producing records, he would manipulate and resample the synths over and over until the original sound is unrecognisable but not unusable. Rather than a specific VST MIDI instrument, he would use multiple at the same time for a certain sound. 

Diplo’s go to synths are (and not limited to):

Native Instrument’s Komplete

Lennar Digital’s Sylenth1

Native Instrument’s Battery

Native Instrument’s Massive

In an interview with UA Audio, when asked how he recreated Reggae and Dancehall’s tape and tape delay sound, he stated that there was lots of the Galaxy Tape Echo Plug-In, FATSO Jr./Sr. Tape sim and a Compressor plug-in analog squashing going on within his Major Lazer records.

Diplo also utilises the Roland RE-201 Space Echo in his track “Get Free”. The choppy vocals near the end was processed using the Roland RE-201 amongst numerous layers of compression and resampling.

Diplo’s producing technique is definitely different from the usual go to techniques, it’s definitely more open-ended and not prescriptive. From most web articles, both primary sources and secondary sources would always state that he would always try producing in weird and unusual ways, it’s been a rather interesting few weeks closely studying his techniques. It definitely has been an eye opener as it re-confirms to me that, a producer doesn’t necessarily need to know every part of producing perfectly when it comes to putting together a crafty and creative sounding record.

The Song Exploder Project

Throughout this project, I can safely say it is now easier if I were to satisfy a client brief that is open ended and not prescriptive. Most bands and artists that I have worked with typically have a very narrowed view to what they want their records to sound like, and are quite specific as well. I’ve always enjoyed working with an artist that is more open minded and easy going when it comes to producing a record, mainly having a handful of artists and songs in mind and drawing inspiration/techniques from them, allowing room for creativity and craftsmanship.

Within this project, I’ve crafted a record from scratch drawing inspiration and techniques from Major Lazer. Although I wasn’t lucky enough to be able to use all of the plug-ins and VST’s that Major Lazer utilises, but I’ve managed to get my hands on a few that matter.

The Sounds of The Song Exploder Project

Most of the instruments were crafted using Native Instrument’s Massive and Komplete. 

Brass and Trumpets

The brass and trumpet sounds came from digging through the massive library of Komplete. Originally I did not plan on having any type of trumpet sounds in there, however in most Major Lazer records they would always have their signature trumpet/brass sounds. So naturally, I decided that brass and trumpets were a good idea. 

The first few tries on creating a good sounding trumpet was a failure, as it sounded too thin and bright compared to the thickness in Major Lazer’s records. It only pieced together after I decided to have two layers of each, one of the layers playing the chords I originally want; and the second layer playing the exact same thing but an octave higher. Which created a solid sounding brass and trumpet.

Drums

The drums that I had in the track were both sampled and created from scratch, the few samples that I had came from Splice in the Reggaeton section. The majority of it came from a Roland TR-8 which is a rhythm machine that melds the sound and vice of the 808 and the 909, I also used the portable Korg Volca Beats to craft a few of the elements. 

The drums took longer than I expecting, naturally a house track would be an easy Kick, Hat, Snare, Hat pattern. However, Major Lazer would usually spice things up with their drum beats and patterns. Implementing as much percussion and beats they can fit, tucked in nicely under the kick and snare. It took a while to get the hang of having a few tracks just for a beat, however it was smooth sailing after I got the groove of it.

Synths

For synths, as stated above I primarily used Massive for them. I didn’t go crazy with the layering for them, only having 3 layers for the lead and 5 layers for the drop. Major Lazer always had catchy melodies and minimal musical work going when it comes to a lead or melody, which plays to my disadvantage. I’m absolutely horrible with music theory and even a simple chord progression would take me longer to bang out than the average producer, however I am rather efficient at building synth sounds. Thankfully, Peter hopped in and played a rather catchy melody after I told him what I wanted it to sound like, and it just went from there. With him planning the melodies while I worked on the synths.

The “drop” of the track I produced consisted of single notes, with different layers of synth sounds to thicken and drive the melody. 

5 different layers to be exact:

Main Lead

Secondary Lead with a higher release to add thickness and “bounciness” to the track

Square Saw wave with a few tweaks to add more mids as the main lead contributed more highs

Bass Lead which follows the Main Lead’s notes, but it was a wobble bass which adds to the groove of it

Bass Track which was the only track that utilises Komplete’s FM8 to accompany the drums

Vocals

Lastly, the vocals. We didn’t record in a vocal booth but rather in the console room where I was sitting, we used the AKG C414 microphone with a pop filter. The vocals were done within 2 hours, the artist, David Sawang and I agreed on the freedom of the lyrics. There weren’t any plans or ideas when he first stepped into the studio, we just played the track on loop and randomly chanting out words that would go well in a certain section. The ideas didn’t come fast and easy, but eventually they pieced together and we got a few good takes of him.

After reading countless articles about how Diplo spends his time at the studio, and how he gets inspired. I decided it’d be a good idea to try it for myself with the vocals, and have a general idea but nothing certain when we first started working on this together. I’d say it was easier the way things went, the only idea we had was to make it catchy.

Conclusion

All in all, it has been a rather fun few weeks. I’ve definitely learned more about being a good producer and engineer, not just production techniques from the producer that I have chosen, but also about many different ways of making a track. Throughout the project I’ve also picked up a few learnings that I would incorporate into my own practices, synth work, microphone placement and vocal mixing techniques to name a few.

[artoffilmsounddesign-blog]

AUS230 Post Mortem Blog

This trimester I have pushed myself greatly for my AUS230 major project. My goal was to recreate the sound in a full length movie trailer, improving my post production skills. This included, ADR recording, foley and location sound recording, editing, and mixing, music producing, and surround sound mixing. I almost doubled my work load as I worked solo on the project, and attempted new skills.

I attempted proper ADR recording this trimester as there was lots of dialogue throughout the trailer I chose. I decided to do a over head microphone set up to act like a boom aiming at the persons chest, and used a pop filter for plosives. I decided to use the NTG3 Shotgun microphone because I've found it has a nice warm sound. My mistake with this was not keeping the microphone consistent as I forgot to book it our for two of the characters and even though it sounded okay whilst recording, those voices sound different next to the others. Next trimester I will try to keep the same microphone throughout and really check the recordings as we go. I also outsourced people that I knew to voice the characters as I knew they would be more reliable. The person who voiced the main character 'Alan' is an actor and you can really see the difference in his performance compared to the others. Therefore when I do professional mixes I will make sure to cast people with experience as it really improves performance.

This trailer really allowed for some creativity with sound design. I had to think outside the box for most sounds I did not have access too. Using everyday materials to make big sounds allowed me to experiment with different effects. I also had to go off campus to record a lot of the sounds so this gave me a chance to learn a lot more about location recording. This will be very useful next trimester when I do location sound for our short film. I was very happy with the recordings I ended up with, they were very clean and the sound quality was good. Next time I want to record them a little louder though so that I'm not using so much gain. Below is the layers of sounds video which shows what sounds I used for the powering down of the machine. 

I produced my own music this trimester for the first time, and even though it turned out okay I found I liked playing around with the sound design of certain parts of the music rather than playing with the notes and the score. I do have a musical background and have played the flute, however I definitely prefer the editing and mixing part of post production and therefore will focus on this more next trimester and outsource a composer for the music instead.

This trimester I also tackled 5.1 Mixing, which proved easier than I thought. I used buses to group all of my main sounds, such as Music, Foley and Vocals, and therefore this made it much easier to send bulk tracks to certain channels. If I wanted to experiment with a single track I would change it on the channel alone and this worked very well. I decided to include at least one main melody from each part of the trailer in the surround channels at it was very immersive and really added to the trailers emotion. I found it hard to get the reverbs in the surround channels however and am not sure if that worked, next time I attempt that I will do a little research before hand. Below is the final 5.1 mix waveform and the set up of my buses which made the session much more organised.

As I worked alone for this project I was not collaborating with another person, however I did work with voice actors this trimester and I helped others out with their projects. I felt like I was able to communicate really well with my voice actors and made them feel comfortable. I made sure they were prepared for their recording days by sending a copy of the script and video to them in advance. Next time I work with voice actors I want to make sure that I go through each line with them after to make sure we got the take, and therefore would decrease the chance of having a bad recording I can't use. During the semester I also did some voice acting myself, I performed the voice over for Terri Bellem's PCH video which was an interesting experience to be the one behind the microphone. I also helped Matt Cato record his glockenspiel samples as the engineer while Matt played the instrument. It was very important that I made sure Matt was playing consistent and the sound was clear.

Next trimester while I'm working on my CIU330 project, I definitely have some areas I would like to improve on. I need to do some extra study on recording levels as I have difficulty setting them to a consistent level and trying not to record them too hot. This will be very important when I am recording on set and trying to capture clear dialogue. I also want to improve on my mixing skills as I found it difficult to make my project sound good on different speakers and all mediums. I ended up mixing it multiple times trying to find a happy medium so that it sounds good on everything. I would also like to extend my knowledge of effects plugins as I always find myself going back to the same ones as I know how to use them well. Hopefully I can do some searching and find new plugins which will add to the quality of my mixes.

Overall I am pretty happy with how my project went this trimester. I definitely pushed myself and am pleased with the tasks I set for myself, as I really got to practice a lot of different skills and discover certain passions. The project also helped me realise what I really need to focus on and improve on for next trimester, and therefore I am excited to put these things into action. 

[artoffilmsounddesign-blog]

AUS230 Week 10

The Loudness War refers to the process of increasing audio levels in music to achieve an overall perception of loudness. It is usually done by heavy compression which lessens the dynamic range between the loudest and quietest parts, and is argued to reduce the quality of the sound as necessary range and peaks are cut off. This practice was very popular during the 1990's and has slowly decreased in popularity as certain regularities come into practice and music producers learn the value and beauty of dynamic range in a mix. When you boost the quiet parts and attenuate the loud sections it causes the wave form become 'squished' and the peaks of the wave form are cut off, therefore when the volume is turned down later by the listener, they lose the peaks and clarity in the mix.

It is often hard for amateur soundies to know what levels are the 'right' levels. Every one will tell you different opinions and every google search comes up with a new term or idea. I found a good website which explains all the terms, such as LUFS, LU, DbFS, RMS, in a detailed way HERE. It is often best to research what you are producing, the standards it needs to meet and what are typical levels used for that medium and find a happy ground that suits you work. For example, during the mixing phase of my major project I have been researching the levels I should be reaching with my mix, and as I stated before a lot say different things. For my dialogue level I found that between -12 and -18 dBS was a good point for the levels to sit. From there it is ideal to have the rest of your soundtrack, including music, foley and sound effects, sitting around that with peaks hitting no higher than -2 dBS and a large dynamic range in film is always best. As my project is a trailer the dynamic range is smaller than the films because there is much more happening in the scene to make it dramatic and eye catching.

It is always a good idea to play your audio through different speakers and environments to make sure it works in all spaces. As I have been working on my project I have had trouble making the mix work on both speakers and in headphones, working on one always seems to upset the other. This is where it is good to trust your ears and find a happy medium between the two. As this was my first time recording ADR I have been learning different techniques and what microphones work best. Most of my dialogue is perfect when I used the NTG3 Shotgun microphone, but two of the characters which I used the Senheisser shot gun microphone on sounded flat or two hot. In this case, when figuring out your levels, it might be better to have a softer mix to make the dialogue sound better as having them boosted high in the mix makes the distortion more prominent. What I should have done was have a test of the microphones to see which was best and then proceed with my recordings so that the levels were just right.

I personally do not think that the loudness war will end. People will always have the desire to make their mixes stand out over everyone else's, however, I do think that engineers will become better at retaining the quality of mixes and the dynamic range while still keeping them at a good level for commercial release.

I just LUFS sound mixing ;)

[artoffilmsounddesign-blog]

AUS230 Week 8 Blog

In the history of surround sound, the commencement dates back to during World War two. Walt Disney's Fantasia in 1941, was considered the very first surround sound feature, with Disney developing a right centre, front centre, left centre, right rear, and left rear channel system called Fantasound. This technology was too expensive for most companies and therefore didn't progress until the 1950's when multiple channel stereo was adopted. To fit in with the new widescreen film formats a 'wall of sound' was created which employed four to six audio channels spread across the front of theatre. Unfortunately this technology faded out at the end of the decade due to high costs.

Dolby Stereo sound brought surround sound back in the 1970's which included a four channel setup. The release of Star Wars in 1977 was a huge success for surround sound as it included a swooping affect in the rear channels. This encouraged other cinema owners to upgrade to this new sound technology. In 1983, George Lucas introduced THX certification which was a set of technical standards designed to ensure a high-quality playback of film soundtracks. In 1987, Dolby introduced Dolby SR, an optical four-channel system that offered wider dynamic range and a broader frequency response than the previous Dolby Stereo system.

Today we work with Dolby Digital Surround which was introduced in 1992 and included the 5.1 Channel system. This includes right centre, front centre, left centre, right surround, and left surround, and a LFE channel for low frequency effects. Sony developed a 7.1 channel configuration in 1993 which was arranged as five front channels, left, left centre, centre, right centre, right, left and right surrounds, and the low frequency effects subwoofer channel. In 1999, Dolby created Dolby Digital Surround EX which included a 6.1 Channel arrangement which adds a centre rear to the existing Dolby set up.

When discussing the history of surround sound it would appear that the future of sound would continue to adopt more channels. Dolby has already started this with the idea of Dolby Atmos, which includes an array of speakers across the ceiling for an even wider and immersed sound effect. Many other companies are also trying to develop similar systems and the most successful will most likely set new standards for surround sound. This will change how films are mixed as each sound will have to be mixed and thought of individually and on a cinema speaker system.

From this research my own conclusion is that surround sound will continue to increase the amount of channels used in it's set up to try and create an effect like there is an infinite number of speakers around the viewer. I believe it will be just like the binaural headphone set up, where sounds appear from any direction, but now in the cinema or in an at home set up. Another idea that could progress would be the idea of 3D sound where sounds could appear to right next to you on your seat or coming from the floor. As larger screens and wrap around cinema screens like Vmax are being introduced this may allow for such developments in surround sound to occur. I definitely can not wait to work on this development in the years to come!

References:

May, S. (2015). Is Dolby Atmos the future of cinema sound? techradar. Retrieved from http://www.techradar.com/au/news/audio/is-dolby-atmos-the-future-of-cinema-sound-1088428

Miller, M. (2004). The History of Surround Sound. Retrieved from Que publishing, http://www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=337317