sound-design Questions - Social Sound Design

Online - Master Degree In Sound Design (or) Audio Production

2012-02-07T19:00:59Z

Hi Audio Pros,

I would like to know if there are any online college that offer a Masters degree in Sound Design (or) Audio Production.

The reason that im asking this is because i have no formal education in audio & i would like to work abroad, but looking at the VISA requirements i guess a degree is a must, But Im am a sound guy completely experience based & i have 6 years of experience in audio feild as a Sound Editor/Game Audio Artist.

Kindly advice me on this,

Best Regards,

I created an audio-focused puzzle game, and you should give it a shot. :)

2012-02-06T03:38:00Z

Not so much a question, but rather a personal project which I believe the audio community could certainly appreciate! ...well, actually it's a project only the audio community could appreciate... :D

www.phonopath.com

Phonopath is free-to-play, and the gameplay is as follows: Download a sound clip, manipulate it to find your password, and advance to the next stage. Puzzle concepts span basic processing, spectrograms, cryptography, music, etc...

It was released last month, and received a ton of solid feedback from sound geeks all over. Check it out if you got some time - it's pretty fresh stuff. :)

New Sound Design Samples...Junebugs, Trams and Icemakers Oh My!

2011-12-08T15:58:19Z

Here's a sample of some stuff I've designed recently. I just wanted to get more ears and speakers on these.

Mostly recorded with my Sony PCM D-50 while traveling. Made from junebugs recorded on my front porch, the DFW Tram, icemaker on my fridge, some street traffic and buses from Nashville in there, thunder, lightbulb going bad, windscreen being rubbed on acoustic tiles in my studio, and on-and-on-and on. Obviously a lot of processing and playing around.

Let me know what y'all think.

BEC-Sound Design Samples 120811 by BEC Sound Design

Sound Design for Cinematic Feedback

2012-01-20T17:09:26Z

Hi all, Just finished a design replacement for this short extract of the Dragon Age 2 cinematic. I'm looking to spread my scope beyond the film world and would be great to get some feedback. I've only used designed atmos and no music.. was wondering if I could of done more with the backgrounds?

http://vimeo.com/35246979

thanks,

Phil

i want learn about sound mixing when shooting film, can anyone suggest me a good DVD or book to get start?

2012-01-19T10:29:19Z

i want learn mixing for film. i know the boom pool connect to audio mixer and it connect to a recording device when you shooting. i don't know even basic thing about how to separate 2 different audio coming from different mic or mix that together in shooting, its just basic but i don't even know that. can u guys please recommend me any good book or DVD to get start??

Sound Design on Tribes: Ascend - Part 2

2011-08-12T21:02:51Z

Hey Everyone,

Here are some updated gameplay videos from QuakeCon2011. I would love any and all feedback that you guys have on my sound design for this game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlEJESgTEZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8w9XggeRD4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nj1J3YOfnw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXAJN_jY0k

Thanks,

Benjie Freund

Who is using the W735EQ plugin?

2011-12-06T17:39:11Z

hi guys,

i downloaded the demo and need to say, it's special but very nice!

there are so many choices out there, what kind of equalizer do you prefer for sound-design?

Washington Post covers sound design in film:

2010-10-25T05:06:26Z

There's a nice piece by Ann Hornaday with a video in today's Washington Post here.

NEW Sound Design Contest Website Launching in February - Quick Interest Survey

2011-12-18T06:35:50Z

Disclaimer This Sound Design Contest is in no way affiliated with that put on by Designing Sound.

As a quick percursor, I'm currently an audio student/professional, working in film and sound design. I'm pursuing a Masters in Audio ("Recording Arts", to be specific), primarily to continue challenging myself in my skills.

As a way to give back to the community, I'll be starting a set of Sound Design Challenges beginning in February! We already have corporate sponsorship and top-billed judges (one is past-president of the MPSE). I love the challenges at Designing Sound and don't wish to simply copy those guys...they do an amazing job and I wouldn't try to improve their style! But I want to provide an alternative challenge with a unique twist to provide another avenue for sound designers to reflect their work. I'll be keeping the details of the challenges a secret until the site is officially launched (and the theme behind the entire site is very unique, to say the least), but until then, I have just one simple question...

For all Sound Designers out there:

What elements (if any) would you like to see in a Sound Design Challenge, how would you improve upon existing challenges, and what would entice you the most to participate in a sound design challenge long-term?

It's not my goal to "steal" your ideas, so you may feel free to be vague if you feel this question steps on your toes. However, I'm trying to gauge potential interest in such a unique Sound Design Challenge, gathering input before launch so that the first release is an absolute hit.

I am also welcoming anybody interested in partnerships or sponsorships, as this isn't going to be a one-man show. If this interests you and you feel that you are qualified, please feel free to reply as such.

Thank you for your time and comments!
CBSD

Managing "scenes".....specifically, Pro Tools workflow

2012-01-28T17:49:04Z

I'm currently working on a throwback radio drama (no image involved). It's not long, however, production value is going to be very high. There is a fairly significant amount of foley/sound design being applied throughout.

Curious, what can you tell me about track management and scene management in Pro Tools. I'm working the project scene by scene - learning the workflow as I go. For tracks, I currently have 4-5 foley tracks per character, 10-15 stereo and mono tracks for layering fx, and 5-8 tracks dedicated to layering the scene ambiance (all this is in addition to the primary and secondary dialog tracks). I don't have a specific issue with the track workflow, I'm quite interested to get your input on timeline management.

Region groups? Track Groups? Aux sends? Edit/Timecode Lock?

What can I learn....

Getting into business after 25? .)

2011-08-19T21:29:25Z

Guys, hi there! How do you think, what is the probability of successful getting into industry if I'm a bit late? .)))

The fact is that I'm a PhD in robotics, which means that I've got a decent background in math, both analog and digital signal processing, physics (acoustics included) — and if I don't know something, I can always read — but I don't have that magical "Graduated from * in Sound Engineering/Sound Design" in my CV.

Moreover. I think sounds. I feel sounds, I smell sounds and I see sounds. (Well, I'm hyperbolizing a bit :D) What I want to say is that I'm crazy about them. (That's not limited to sound design, of course, but that's not the subject to dicuss on this board.)

After I realised that, from educational standpoint, I don't miss much, I started practical self-training: programming synth sounds from scratch, studying DAW workflow, and all those basic things of operating with sounds "in the box", recording and mixing techniques.

I can't say that I'm supercool, not at all, and there's always room for improvement, but I feel confident about my practical skills now. So, I've started to think, is it even possible for me to move to more serious things, like contributing to real projects, but without college education in this field?

Especially given the fact that the best thing you get in college is a professional network, and I've got none.

So, any thoughts? (Discouraging comments are Ok too .))))

Thanks!

As a sound designer/Location Audio Recordist, what would you like a Director to know before production?

2010-10-10T18:17:28Z

Hi guys,

This Tuesday, I will be attending a filmmaker's meetup group to talk about sound. The current speaker had a conflict arise and had to bail. I was asked to do the presentation. I have my own ideas as to what I wish other filmmakers knew as they start preparing for a film shoot. I just wanted to get a feel for what you guys wish your colleagues in film-making would know about sound before production and post-production begins on a project.

Conceptualising possessed double-voice dialogue

2012-01-20T11:32:36Z

I'm hitting a brick wall on a key bit of sound design on a show I'm working on. It's set in a magical fantasy world and the moment I'm having trouble with is when a mind control spell is cast on one of the characters. The script calls for having both the voice of the magician and the characters audible. So I've already got two dialogue tracks - one of the character and one of the magician in sync, but the tricky part is combining those voices in a believable way where each voice is recognisable, but it's clear that the magician is exerting his will here. I'm having difficulty with both coming up with creative solutions that work and technically achieving this effect.

A few of my early brainstorms and tests included thinking along the lines of David Bowie's Space Oddity, where Bowie sings and octave higher and and double tracks and octave lower - so the result is this beautiful, eerie harmony. But with two voices that idea goes nowhere. Playing around with the usual EQs, reverbs, delays just muddies the clarity of the dialogue and it still sounds like two voices stacked on top of one another. A bit of reverse pre-delay is nice, but that's the only element I've liked so far.

I should also add that the magician ADR was recorded to exactly match the delivery of the possessed character. Perhaps this was a mistake and I should have tried to have gotten some variations, say having the magician whisper his lines, like he's whispering a suggestion in their ear...hmmmm. Some second opinions would be most excellent. Thanks in advance!

Films to Study for Excellence in Sound Design

2010-07-17T00:16:17Z

Dear All,

What films are good examples of Sound Design to study and take note of?

I'm particularly looking for films which sound was used to forward the story with excellent results. Not just using sound for the sake of using sound. Ideally these films would be both of good technical quality as well as artistic in it's sound design. They could be of any genre, and preferably made within the last 3 years, however, I know there are definitely good classic films out there with superb sound design.

Please put at least some information about the film's sound and why you consider the sound well executed.

Thanks - Ryan

Large Bodies Of Water?

2012-01-19T14:55:14Z

Hi there,

Wanted to know if you have any tips for making sea & ocean sounds? I live too far from the sea to actually go and record there.

I've played around with filtering noise and got some fairly ok results but I need to layer a few more things on top.

I've heard pouring carbonated drink out on concrete sounds quite good?

Thanks!

edit- realise I've been very vague. I am re-making the sound for this video, so need everything to sound quite colossal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ72d8xYqqQ

another edit- Just out of interest how do you think the sound at the start of this video was made? http://vimeo.com/31373936 That freezing effect sounds really nice.

Sound Design - Sound Replacement Exercise Feedback

2012-01-18T21:52:54Z

Hey guys,

So I've been working on this sound replacement exercise for practice, would it be too much trouble to ask for some feedback/constructive criticism?

Would be much appreciated!

Video is here: http://vimeo.com/35278747

Thanks in advance, Joe

Abstract videos for sound design practice

2012-01-13T18:27:28Z

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some video content (preferably short abstract pieces) to put some sound/music to for my portfolio and for practice. Does anyone know of any on-line resources where one might find free video content (royalty-free)?

Thanks!

Worldizing (background noise, TV on a film.)

2012-01-07T07:44:59Z

I am totally clueless. We made a film, which takes place in a waste bag, I mean, it gives the feeling of the picture. A total, where a guy lying on a bed about 3m away from the camera, surrounded by black bag is paved with the environment. it looks good.:)

I recorded the atmosphere with Neumann M-S michrophone on the shooting. The actor is lying on the left and eating potato chips, he moved on the bag and it rattle. The right side of the bed a TV screen is flashing with no sound, you can not see the contents)

So we have an atmosphere, the sound field, and i have to put in the TV sound. Not facing the viewer, 3m from us, and the best fit to the recorded atmosphere.

I have used, eq, speakerphone, altiverb, but I could not reach the effect, no matter how twisted the parameters. I know that there are no rules, but I really hope that you can say something sensible, especially since I started out by many.

The sound is dropped from the picture, it is very difficult ..:)

I can write many things, but I think to begin to talk about it, and asked if perhaps, answer, or when you need i can place a link here from the short part from the movie.

Phaser/Flanger/Frequency Shifter - helicopter propeller

2011-06-19T19:09:57Z

So, it has been a recurring sound design question/challenge I've quite often come back to. Today I can say I'm the closest I've ever been from creating this sound using noise and plugins.

I run pink noise through the AIR Frequency Shifter plugin that comes with PT8. In Up & Down mode (the third position of the selector), with a feedback between 70 and 100% and mixing the output between 50 and 100% I managed to get the base with a frequency between 5 and 10Hz. Then, using flanger I added some "turbulence" to it (haven't managed to get an actual flutter yet) and finally some AIR Enhancer to generate some whistling highs and accentuate the cyclical thump.

Have you guys ever tried this? Would you like to share your experiences here? Any techniques/plugins that might give me a better result? The AIR Filter Gate plugin has Attack, Hold and Release controls that gave me superb control over the character of the propeller, but then it only has a stepped rate so you can't vary the modulation speed (I haven't tried automating the tempo of the session that is).

[soundcloud]justin-huss/helicopter-propeller-sound[/soundcloud]

http://soundcloud.com/justin-huss/helicopter-propeller-sound

Using Pro Tools MIDI and tempo tools for sound design

2012-01-03T18:11:41Z

Who is using the various Tempo and MIDI functions in Pro Tools for sound design creation, and how?

How do you tell people what your profession is?

2011-12-31T07:32:39Z

A flight attendant, a neighbor, an acquaintance on a train,

How do you tell people what you do for a living when they ask what it is?

I find it difficult to answer what a Sound Designer does in 3 sentences or less - it usually goes into the history of Apocalypse Now through Star Wars and into Hurt Locker or No Country for Old Men and I spend about 30 minutes (at least) explaining the field.

What do you tell people?

Best use of Silence in a film?

2010-03-03T22:07:30Z

In my opinion some of the best film sound is not loud or overt, and I've used silence many times in film soundtracks myself but I am interested to know what your favorite use of silence or near-silence is in a film?

Year end sonic-mash!

2011-12-26T19:00:43Z

Hello Everyone!

I guess most of you might have seen this post on Designing Sound. This is just a reminder to contribute a sound if you can!

If you don't know what I'm talking about:

I’ve been developing a generative sound-scape app in Max/MSP – drop in a bunch of files, specify a few values and it will spit out a sound scape which can run for……ever…..

Since it is that time of the year when most people are going to be celebrating/holidaying/having-a-good-time in some form or the other, I thought it would a good idea if we could create a sonic-mash of these sounds by getting everyone to contribute.

How? Record anything – voices, ambience, fireworks, bottle opening, shouts of joy, sounds of calm, carols, the local pub, a fireplace – anything that you might experience from now till the 5th of January. It could be recordings off a mobile phone, handheld recorder or the new microphone you gifted yourself for Christmas/end of the year. I will close all upload channels on January 5th and on the 9th I’ll post a few of these generative soundscapes made up off all the sounds we’ve recorded.

More info here: http://designingsound.org/2011/12/year-end-sonic-mash/

Happy Holidays and have a blast!

-Varun

Free VSTs for manipulating sound?

2011-12-10T04:22:49Z

Hello Everyone,

I'm a novice sound designer with a bare bones setup. I have only been building it for a couple of weeks and on a strict budget.

So far everything I have is 100% legit and paid for though, so I take some pride in that. It seems like everyone that's learning just pirates everything but I feel the funnest part is getting gigs and using the money to slowly build a studio.

Anyways, I have a good enough PC, a copy of Reaper, Reason 4, Komplete Elements, Cut my samples and such with Audacity, do my field recording with my Tascam DR-05, Compose/perform sounds with an M-Audio Ozone. Still saving for proper monitors so for now I'm learning on a pair of Skullcandy cans and a pair of JVC's not amazing I know but so far I've only spent like 300.

Anyways, I have found about a billion and 3 free Synths but not a ton of things for manipulating my samples. I will be buying VST's as I need them for jobs or as I can afford them, but until then I would like to know if there is anything I'm missing.

I currently use:

Alchemy Player, Ambiance by Mangus, EQII for EQ, Round Pan for auto panning, Waterverb for under watery kinds of effects, Dblue Glitch for various effects, mostly electronic

I think that's about all off the ones that I use the most.

A few things I would like to find: (If possible)

HQ Doppler Effect, Something like Scapes could be fun, Something to slow down or speed audio up, Something to pitch audio up or down, Something like the GRM stuff, Something similar to the full version of Alchemy, Anything else for HQ effects/shaping

I know that's a lot to ask for out of Free VST's so I'm not expecting to find a replacement for every high end tool out there. Mainly just tools to learn on/placeholders until I can afford to expand.

I'm exited to try any plugins you guys know about even if they are just better versions of what I have.

Thanks in advance!

GRM tools equivalent AU plugin set?

2011-12-20T08:36:11Z

Can anyone recommend me a AU equivalent for Pro Tools GRM tools plugin pack? I´ve swiched from pro tools to logic and would like to have similar FX plugins in my productions.

What is the sound equivalent of 'mise en scene'?

2011-12-18T19:31:48Z

Fairly straightforward question, really!

Is there an equivalent (I don't think it's a particularly controversial point) and what do you call it?

How can a sound designer best use it's knowledge in the preproduction?

2011-12-16T11:09:01Z

Fortunately, I've had the chance to work as a sound designer already in the preproduction stage of most productions I've worked on.

My way of working usually comes down to reading the screnario, making comments on possible options for sound and writing a sound design concept including some musical choices. I have the idea that this way of working is pretty good but not optimal for the use of sound in film. More than often, your concept is being read, commented on (also in positive ways) and then forgotten.

So I wonder, in what ways do other sound designers use their influence in the preproduction and scenario development stage? Hoe do you use your knowledge? And how do you keep the entire crew aware of your ideas?

What is the best sound you've created by mistake?

2011-11-29T17:37:34Z

I remember reading somewhere about someone creating a stone door closing when they were packing up for the day and scraped a box along the ground that was covered in salt and I'm sure there's many other examples. So what's the best thing you've made by mistake?

Where can I find some theory about rhythm in Sound Design?

2011-12-12T21:53:53Z

For a while I've been looking for some good paperwork and overvieuws to gain my knowledge on rhythm in sound design. Few books I found have something to say about it and I'm wondering if there's any therminology written about it at all? I find this all very strange since rhythm is such an important element in Sound Design. Does anyone knows any literature for this?

Questionnaire for all levels of game sound designers!!

2011-11-11T11:55:05Z

Hi. My name is Calum and i'm studying a Ba hons degree in Music production.

As part of my course I have chosen to study sound design for video games,

I'd love the opportunity to conduct a Quick Open Questionnaire to anyone willing as this will be greatly appreciated ,thanks.

1.how long have you been in the video games industry and how did you get started?

2.what equipment do you use in the studio and for foley recordings? and what computer programmes and Middlware used?

3.what is involved with your job role, and how does this differ between companies you have worked for?

4.specifically how much computer programming is involved in your job, and how does this differ between companies you have worked for? and what is expected of you in terms of this?

5.What is your favourite aspect as being a sound designer? and what is the hardest part of the role?

Thanks for your time regardless

thanks a lot, Calum Grant