Sounddogs.com recently updated their website. It’s not a complete overhaul, but it’s a bit cleaner and a little less kludge for users to get around. If you haven’t heard of them or been to this site, they offer a pretty good sound effects library for your production needs.
Visit: Sounddogs.com
+Continue ReadingThe content creation community is embracing this new audio format, and more than 25 feature films have been announced or already mixed in 7.1—and a majority of them are in 3D. Discover how 7.1 brings a more exciting sensory experience to 2D and gives content creators even more control over audio placement for 3D movies. Also learn from experts in the cinema industry how they envision the future of surround sound.
Panelists
Kinson Tsang, supervising sound designer, Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen and The Lost Bladesman
Rohan Sippy, director, Dum Maaro Dum
Erik Aadahl, supervising sound editor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Megamind
Michael Semanick, rerecording mixer, Cars 2 and Toy Story 3
Eric Brevig, director, Yogi Bear and Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Cinema Audio Society has put together a fantastic seminar for anyone who wants to learn the newest rules, procedures and techniques in film and TV workflows. The days events and selected speakers are listed below. Be sure to RSVP if you can!
THE DIGITAL GAMEPLAN
Successful Workflow Approaches on Set thru Post!
What: CAS Seminar Event
When: Saturday, January 8, 2011 – Free admission
Where: Sony Studios, 10202 W. Washington, Culver City- Cary Grant Theatre
Parking: Enter at Madison Gate
Who Is Invited: ALL CAS MEMBERS, MPSE, SMPTE, AES, IA LOCALS 700 EDITORS, 695 SOUND, 600 CAMERA, DGA, PRODUCERS, FACILITIES, MANUFACTURERS, FILM STUDENTS and those involved in the motion picture film and television industry.
RSVP: To CASseminars@cinemaaudiosociety.org (You may still attend without an RSVP)
SEMINAR # 1: 10 am – 11:45 am
Workflow Procedures for Getting the Most out of Digital Cameras.
Speakers will discuss proper workflows for using Panavison (Mike Kovacevich), Arri Alexa (Stephan Ukas-Bradley), RED (Michael Cioni) & Panasonic (Tommy Mack), Production Audio (Robert Kennedy) Reality (Josh Rizzo) on thru the Pro Tools and Avid (Scott Wood).
A “Workflow White Paper for the Pros” will be handed out to the audiences at both seminars
SEMINAR #2: 12:00 noon – 1:45pm
Digital Workflow Approaches from Production thru the Post Process.
Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools experts, including Scott Wood from Avid Professional Services, will discuss standard workflows for HD projects from production through post.
Navigating the digital highway: (Moderator, John Coffey)
These two seminars offer a basic end to end understanding, which will allow people to more clearly see how their decisions affect the rest of the workflow pipeline. It is for all those along the entire chain of Camera, Production Sound & the Post Production Picture and Sound Departments. Hear it from the experts! Be prepared for the higher expectations as the technology continues to evolve.
Current camera, sound and editorial equipment will be on display in the lobby for your hands-on experience. You may attend one or both seminars. Other topics may include how to stay in total sync throughout your production with a focus on 3D and HD issues, dual system sound, proper codecs, bit depth, file formats, metadata, cross resolving, sample rates, track naming, polyphonic, monophonic, audio to the camera, impedance, signal quality, tri-level sync, off-sets, new media, deliverables, commercial compliance, a wireless spectrum update and more!
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When S&P spoke with supervising sound editors Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (dialogue, ADR) and Addison Teague (sound effects) about the sound of TRON: Legacy, they were in the final stages of the film’s massive 7.1 Dolby Surround print master.
The sound design process began almost two years before the movie was even greenlit. TRON: Legacy’s visionary director, Joe Kosinski, had the idea to piece together a sequence, now known as the “Light Cycle” teaser, to show the studio (Disney). With the help of sound designer, Steve Boeddeker, and mixer Chris Boyes, the teaser debuted to a crowd at Comic Con in 2008, unaware of what they were going to see. The response was overwhelmingly positive. The studio realized they had the right team for the project and gave Kosinski his first feature film to direct. This teaser and a longer one at 2009’s Comic Con, made it clear that Kosinski embraced sound as an integral part of his workflow. “He worked with sound in the beginning of those projects, so he wanted sound involved for the whole production of the film, which isn’t typical,” says Teague.”
In March 2010, Kosinski started spotting the film with Teague, Boyes and Whittle. “Kosinski is very hands on and loved to play and experiment with sound. Since we were brought in from the beginning, Boeddeker already had a library of sound effects in place that normally represents what a film ends with, instead of what you begin with,” mentions Teague. Working with Kosinski early, they got a feel how he wanted to do things – lots of experimentation, and try to save as much production dialogue as possible. During this phase of the editing, Joe would work with Addison, changing some sounds, enhancing others, honing in on the sound design of the film.
It was unusual that the music score was available to work against from the beginning; there were no temp music placeholders. “Daft Punk had the music done before the script was locked – usually it’s last,” mentions Whittle. Teague and Whittle explained how helpful it was to have the final score of the movie to work against. Since the music wasn’t going to change, they knew what timbre of sound effects and dialogue would flow with the mood set by Daft Punk. “If there was a thing called music casting, Daft Punk was perfectly cast. I can’t imagine anything else in this film,” says Whittle.
Certainly, there was no shortage of sound challenges in this film, between the abundance of action sequences and the contrast between the Tron world and the real world. Kosinksi wanted the sound effects in the Tron world to be reality based, not too Sci-fi. He wanted the audience to feel grounded in the unreal world with the help of real world sounds.
For instance, the life cycle visually resembles a motorcycle, so the sound effect is based on a Ducati. Once Joe was happy with the base effect, the team would then process and manipulate the sound. In one scene, they needed to create a vintage arcade environment, so Addison went out to an old arcade in Glendale, CA and recorded the sounds they wanted instead of relying on an effects library. “It’s all about creating a world that sounds real,” says Teague.
Dialogue presented another set of obstacles. The suits in the movie had real lights on them during filming. The lights created a whine which changed as the actors got closer to one another. At first listen, this made the production dialogue seem unusable. Marie Ebbing was brought in to surgically remove all the whines without affecting the quality of the voice, in a process called Nova. Then Gary Rizzo, the dialogue mixer, did another EQ and clean up pass during the pre-mix and again during the final. “In the dinner scene, it was a miracle the production audio was usable at all,” says Whittle. There are scenes that portray huge crowds of people in a stadium, so the team came up with the idea to record the Tron fans at Comic Con. They set up a multitude of mics and had recordists in catwalks while Kosinksi directed the crowd to chant and react in specific ways– “Comic Con Crowd – Hall H” is even credited in the movie.
The 7.1 mix allowed them an extra set of speakers to move around in, but the Tron world itself gave them the opportunity to try effects they normally wouldn’t even think about doing. When playing with the processing of the audio, there is a point during the deconstructing of a sound where it begins to fall apart and create digital artifacts. Since the Tron world is computerized, they found these artifacts and characteristics appropriate, and tried to push to find even more ways of producing the most interesting sounds possible.
Through all the editing, pre-mixes, and final mix the entire sound team at Skywalker was very supportive of each other, a very united front, which made working the intense hours possible. They kept each other sane. Whittle says, “Joe put in a lot of hours, but we were right there with him, striving to give him every option and nuance he asked for.”
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