User utopia - Social Sound Design

Best mic to record wind with.

2012-02-03T07:22:09Z

Tomorrow I'll be going out to a stretch of highway and coasting a pickup truck down a hill with the engine off and placing things with holes (plywood, old fridges, big empty bottles and containers, etc. etc. etc., anything that whistles when wind passes them) and I wanted to see in this last minute if any of you have done this sort of thing or recorded in high high high wind scenarios and have a golden tip I might be overlooking.

I've got my W5Ds and baskets and rycotes for my stereo pair of omni MK5s, and I'm bringing a stereo pair of Senn 421s and of course, the good ol' SM58s.

Is there anything you encountered that caused a face-palm moment for you on the day? Something ridiculous like "Bring a piece of plexiglass to put in front of your mic stands and mic to deflect some of the air because going 60 miles an hour or more makes your mic fall over", or "bring a miniature sandbag to keep your hat on", or "look out for cops because putting your truck into neutral with the engine off coasting down a hill is extremely illegal".

Thanks, Ryan

Examples of Exciting Mixes

2012-02-02T00:16:10Z

What are some examples of exciting mixes you've heard? Very dynamic, powerful, knock you out of your chair but are still very pleasant to listen to?

I'm interested in studying further how mixers use dynamics and mixing to really create excitement and suspense and exhilaration in the soundtrack.

Answer by Utopia for Mixers: What are your Dialogue Editing Preferences?

2012-02-03T06:48:33Z

Since I started out as an ADR mixer and dialogue editor and did this for quite a while, I have a few guidelines I make sure are known if I have someone cutting for me, and these are:

Never consolidate an edit. I like all edits to be on the track and easily fixable if there is something I hear that is not quite right (I have an ear for the slightest over-fade or glitchy edit)
Use as much original material as possible when editing ADR. If a whole line is picked up, either use the first few syllables from the production track or just replace what is needed (word change, word clarification, etc.)
Never print EQ or noise-reduction. Add it as a plug-in non-destructively, but never print it so that what I have on the faders is original tonality.
Depending on the amount of ADR and if it matches well, editing them in on the same track is okay - if they are extremely different tonalities, keep them on separate tracks.
Anything you're unsure about (sync, etc.) place an alt take or whatever other takes there may be on another track directly below the line in question.
Mute (but don't delete) the bleed of different mics of the scene so I can see I have these in case I need them (something I learned from music mixing - bleed from other mics can help meld the scene and sound more convincing - to a degree. Use judgement)
I personally like to region group an edit (not consolidate) after it's been edited so it's easier to see the levels and arcs of delivery of lines while riding the faders in the mix.
Depending on the source tracks and how big the session is and if I've heard the tracks in rushes or in a spotting session already, I may ask for the session to be "Save Copy As"ed so that any extraneous audio files are dispensed with by the time I get the session.
You ask about hard cuts and if they should be 4 frames or 2 frames. I say use your ears - I have never heard of a hard rule about this sort of thing. If it sounds good, then do it. It really depends on the ambient noise and if it sounds good to fade it out gradually with an S-curve or a straight fade or maybe even sometimes a scooped fade to get rid of some noise.
Don't take out every single tiny little click of the actor's performance. I have had some of the hottest, most talented editors rip a performance to shreds thinking it was noise and they took out every little nuance and lip-click the actor delivered - which turned out to be detrimental to his performance and in the end looked unnatural because every time the actor stopped talking he didn't make any noise with his mouth even though he was opening and closing his mouth. Use good judgement on what is distracting and what is okay to leave in - for example, The King's Speech, if they edited out all of his little noises he made, it wouldn't make sense because his character stuttered and stammered.
I personally despise playlists when editing dialogue because as soon as a picture edit comes in and you update it on your most recent edit, all the playlists below are out of sync. I also hate hidden tracks. If you have to hide a track make sure there is a note or else it is sometimes never seen and thus used by the mixer on the stage.
Please cut in wild-track under the clean ADR if you need to and label this accordingly and keep the tracks directly under one another so that it doesn't get lost and thus nudged out of sync.

If I think of any other peculiarities I'll edit my answer but keep in mind these are my own little quirks and may be completely different than those you work for. I suggest just meeting with them and have them show you examples in a session (not just talk about them because misunderstandings and misinterpretations may arise and you don't want those at the beginning of an expensive mixing day).

Answer by Utopia for Negative Space / Figure-Ground Perception in Sound

2012-02-03T07:09:12Z

Pretty deep.

I think you'd have to set the listeners up with a way to alter the way they hear a sound - like on hi-fi 20Hz-20K speakers and let them hear something rumbly and the sound sound on computer speakers and all of a sudden you hear something else in the track because the rumble is gone - because the viewers of those optical illusions are shifting how they are viewing it..

Perhaps you can have 2 sounds so similarly balanced and similar tonality that one listen you might hear one sound out of the two, and then next listen you'll hear the other one.

I personally like how in The Grey, there is a character who falls asleep at night and the rest of the characters are looking out for wolves and the sleeper awakes violently from a dream and makes a wolf-like sound and it scared the sh&* out of me in the theater (makes me wonder if the sound designer meant it to sound like a wolf) - something like this might be up your alley.

Answer by Utopia for Snowman icy voice

2012-02-02T18:52:09Z

It may sound horrible, but try toying with using a reverb with an IR of glass or ice breaking/cracking.

You can also do a lot with breath. When I create special voices like these I spend a lot of time augmenting or even replacing the breaths and exhales of the actor with custom effects depending on the character and his mock-up, in your case you could use cold icy wind instead of the actor's breath, or cold whistles, crackling ice mixed in with it, etc. etc. etc.

I would also check out the movie "Thor" because I specifically remember the Ice God or whatever the bad guy was sounded really cool.

Answer by Utopia for Examples of non-overt mixes

2012-02-02T17:57:21Z

Forrest Gump and The Thin Red Line left me speechless the most. (I didn't see Forrest Gump in theaters because I was too young to see PG-13, but I left my living room speechless!....)

Social Network was superb as well.

Also, Benjamin Button was extremely well done and I was thinking about that movie for days afterwards.

REQUEST: WWII Airplane Bys

2012-02-01T23:32:06Z

I need some extremely close, exciting P-51 or similar deep, throaty, exciting airplane bys. Preferably extremely close, high quality recordings with lots of punchy low-end.

Willing to trade or buy.

Thanks, Ryan

Answer by Utopia for best mac keyboard for sound editing

2012-01-30T02:47:14Z

My two cents is that you find a keyboard you can use for a long time. It can be detrimental to switch keyboards. Switching keyboards can slow production down a lot - I have seen it many times. I get mad when someone changes my mouse acceleration speed... Editing for 12 hours a day gets you comfortable with computer lag and keyboard sensitivity. It's important!!!

I find that for me, the grooves of the older Mac keyboards that still had grooves in the keys for your fingers make my sound editing go way faster than the newer flatter keyboards. So much so that when I broke my old one, I bought a new standard issue one and took off all the keys and replaced them with the colorful pro tools keyboard shortcut keys and I've done this twice now since 2005. I find my sense memory of what key is where is dependent upon the grooves and the feel of the older keys and the new ones slow me down a lot!!!

UPDATE: The keyboard I use and love is an oldschool (from around 2002-2003) Macally iKey with the Pro Tools colored keys. It works like a charm for me and can get around shortcuts pretty fast. It's fairly silent and I've recorded it many times for generic typing SFX as well!

Answer by Utopia for What is the future of recording technologies?

2012-01-24T22:59:08Z

I really think wireless power and wireless signal will be the future.

Imagine loading in for a show or gig and not having to do those 300+ foot cable runs...

Imagine a boom mic that has no cable.

I keep dreaming of my little hovering boom mic much like the practice droid Luke Skywalker used to drill with on the Millennium Falcon, thus not having to use your arms but instead, an iPad app or remote control to move it around, but I digress...

Maybe someone will invent sunglasses that can see wireless frequencies so wireless management is way easier.

Answer by Utopia for what is the different between field mixer and studio mixer?

2012-01-24T22:52:07Z

Not necessarily the same purpose.

In a nutshell,

Studio mixers are used to sum together the final soundtrack of a film or specific sections of it (foley, gunshots, explosions, sweeteners, loop group, etc.). They could also be used for recording ADR. They could also be used to create sound effects.

Field mixers are used generally to mix down two or more mics being used on set to a useful track that the film editors can use in their editing process - i.e. the film editors will not load all iso tracks recorded on the day, but a simple stereo mixdown of the mics via this mixer. You could also use them to solely record the iso mics via custom EQs or filters or level adjustments.

This is in my opinion, the most common uses of these pieces of equipment. I know for a fact that it all depends on workflow and what your project calls for that determines how you are going to use these. There are infinite variations and ways of using them it would take more than it's worth to try to describe them all.

Answer by Utopia for how many inch maximum to place microphone overhead to get quality/clean dialogue. i know there is no rules for this, but just lets share how many inch roughly, so we know what each of us have in our mind too..

2012-01-24T22:41:38Z

Who says the mic always has to be on a boom? On medium shots, I've hidden mics in planters, taped them onto the shoulder of actors facing the camera to pick up someone speaking behind them, mounted an MK41 on the front of someone who's back is to the camera to pick up the main character's lines who is speaking to him, hidden them in hats, placed them behind chess pieces, cups, books, anything in the frame big enough to cover it, the list goes on and on. It sometimes takes a lot of creativity to get good sound on medium shots but it can be done with a little bit of thought and cleverness, but never do it to the detriment of the shooting schedule, sometimes it's just easier and cheaper to ADR it, but I will add this to the rest of the great advice given on this topic:

Even if you tell yourself and the director you are going to just record ADR in post, ALWAYS get a guidetrack with even a far mic. It makes recording ADR much easier.

It seems like a no-brainer piece of advice, but you'd be surprised some of the projects that did not have any audio recorded at all "because it would be recorded later" and they expect it to be ADRed perfectly.

Best software or hardware for playing back SFX in a live broadcast environment.

2011-12-31T07:42:21Z

For example, a morning show that requires instant playback of samples or sound effects on triggers such as a keyboard or other device.

I was checking out Playback Pro - anyone have any experience with this software and it's reliability in a live situation?

Does anyone know what kind of software or things used in a morning radio talk show or late night television talk show by chance?

Answer by Utopia for Conceptualising possessed double-voice dialogue

2012-01-20T13:57:34Z

Your reference here is the Two Towers (LOTR) special features where they discuss how they created the doubling effect between Sauramon and Gandalf when Gandalf reappears as Gandalf the White. This should give you some inspiration.

Also, if the wizard is supposed to have the dominant voice, I would re-record the other characters lines whispered so the wizard's voice has more cut. Whispering takes all of the low-end out of a voice and this will help to separate and not muddy up the sound, but add a nice timbre.

If this is not possible, high-pass the actor's voice at about 1K or higher and send it through a reverb unit of your choice (perhaps a room or shorter reverb, not something longer than 3 seconds) and ONLY mix in the return of the reverb with the wizard's voice, and have NO reverb on the wizard's voice, so in effect, the reverb return is from the actor's voice and the main signal is from the wizard's.

I also find AVOX Throat to be a good plugin for this type of scenario.

In the end there is no right or wrong way. Just as long as you provide what the director envisioned!

Good luck!

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

Answer by Utopia for SFX hunt for a particular cymbal

2012-01-19T16:05:54Z

take a regular cymbal swell, roll it off at 2K (which is what it sounds like in the sample you sent me) and pitch it so it's the same pitch and tell the producer you found it. I can't believe they are that attached to a cymbal swell...

It sounds like any of the cymbal swells of the Vienna Symph Library would do... If I had time I'd try to duplicate it.

Answer by Utopia for Large Bodies Of Water?

2012-01-19T15:06:16Z

Seagulls always help sell the ocean.

What is important is what perspective you want to portray. Do you want intimate wave lappings on a lake shore? Or do you want large waves of an ocean as if you're standing on the beach? Or do you want distant waves as if you're standing in an alley near the ocean? I think your answer is a tad bit general because there is a vast difference in approach if you want any of those 3 and there are infinite variations of the above.

As an easy way out, you can search for boutique ocean libraries. Tim Prebble over at Hiss and a Roar released a great one with ocean sounds.

Answer by Utopia for Sound Design - Sound Replacement Exercise Feedback

2012-01-19T06:17:50Z

Here's my humble notes from my opinion. Take it with a grain of Tatooine salt.

Foley is missing slightly for the guy's armor @ :07 after the cocks his weapon.

I'd preempt the flybys a bit sooner with a far-off rumble first and then the fly by when it happens on screen. I would go so far as to automate a low-pass from low to high to create this effect.

A little bird is heard after 3 huge spaceships buzzed a forest. I don't think the little birdy would have the guts to chirp for at least 30 seconds.

Verify sync of the lady who lands with a jetpack and walks with the rest of the marching. Would like to hear more low-end of the march and her jetpack.

The stormtroopers have too much of a jingly sound rather than an "I have bad-ass white plastic armor on" sound. The gun cock sounded too much like a modern 9 millimeter to my ear (apologies if this is incorrect). I like the beep of the switch he hits in his hand. The gun holster had too much cloth in it. I'd put more of a plastic slide or something - even though he might have a cloth holster, the camera doesn't show it and I think it might be a little confusing as a timbre added in when all that's seen is cool white armor.

I'd like to hear more of the walking droid @ 46 seconds

On the battle sequence, some really good stuff in there. However, the way it was mixed and flushed out made me think I was listening to just a footstep and hard FX stem. I believe there can be more and more detail to put into the track. In the mixing, I noticed that a few things that my instinct would turn up and have in your face were lacking while background noises were above them, specifically the light sabers being twirled right in front of the camera. This could be a good chance to really make them punchy and preempt hits and further developments of the foley/explosions. A great explanation of this is from Ratatoullie (can't spell it) if you watch the Soundworks Collection special on it, Randy Thom talks about not having walls of sound in these types of scenes but having very specific things the camera has focused on come up and doing it very quickly, one right after the other, so the audience subliminally feels they've heard a bunch of things all at once when really you just made them listen to specific things one right after the other (i.e. you don't need to mix a battle scene by turning up all the sound effects to full volume to make the audience feel like they're in the middle of a battle.)

Another note about the mix leading up to the battle. The forest foley doesn't have forest reverb on it. If you put a couple twig snaps where people step, or other transient sounds that seem appropriate to you, put a forest / grove slap-back echo on it. The effects all seemed pretty dry and "adrish" to my ears. A lot of times, even adding just a few specific effects with forest reverb can create that 3 dimensional space and environment convincing as to what we are seeing on screen.

The 1:20 fade to silence I think could be played more and all other sounds faded out. It takes judgment though - maybe you tried that and it just sounded lame. Hard to tell without trying it.

Good job - when will we see more?

Ryan

Where can I buy SSD merchandise?

2012-01-17T04:08:32Z

C'mon Andrew. I would rock an SSD t-shirt at a trade show any day.

Answer by Utopia for Strange sounds heard worldwide...any SSD comments?

2012-01-18T06:33:17Z

I was just in Mexico City on a gig and I must say this question made me realize that I have been collecting recordings of the crosswalk beeps and noises they have in city street crosswalks for the blind because they are all different and sound awesome. Sydney's beeps sounded like a storm trooper blast and the ones here sound way different, like a pitch bended oscillator, and the ones in London are different, etc. etc.

Maybe someone should release a boutique library "crosswalk beeps of the world"

Sorry. The title of this question just made me think of that.

Answer by Utopia for NTG-3 Shotgun Mic for Indoor Studio to remove ambient noise

2012-01-15T04:30:01Z

Mic placement with a lapel mic is the most important thing. I haven't even begun to learn how to place one correctly or where the best positions are but if you're new at it as I was you probably placed the mic halfway down the person's shirt. Get it closer to the person's mouth (tie or collar) and this should reduce your signal/noise ratio and level quite drastically.

I've never been a fan of an interference tube mic indoors unless you're in an anechoic chamber or you have a very quiet sound source. A voice is not quiet unless you're whispering or doing "in a world" voice overs and even then I hear the room reflection clouding up those highs by comb filtering off the tube slits..

I think a better choice would be a hypercardioid condenser or possibly even a dynamic mic like the AKG C5. The AKG C5 I have found to be able to get rid of a waterfall quite nicely and produce a useable result, depending on what sound you're running into.

Is it just traffic or air conditioning noise or computer whines or what? Most local noises can be strategically turned off (fridges, A/C, HVAC, computers, etc.) You just have to be creative with mic placement, silence all those things and you should be good.

Besides...

I've heard it said by many people here and Stavro as well that who cares if you have a bit of noise in your foley or dialogue - it adds to the flavor of the soundtrack. Just as long as it doesn't impede the message, a tiny bit of ambient noise floor or traffic in a dialogue scene inside a living room is OK in my books to an extent. Who says we live in a quiet world where dialogue is recorded in sound proof booths?

Does the quality of picture affect the timbre of foley you record?

2012-01-13T18:49:48Z

I have a question for you foley artists out there.

Let's say you received 2 films to shoot foley on.

One is a beautifully shot film, let us say for example it's "War Horse". Great cinematography, rich colors, sharp images and vast detail of the set and colors. It's got the mega-budget look.

The second one is a movie shot very gritty and handheld and more documentary-like. Let's say an action movie much like Hurt Locker or maybe even something like REC, where the image quality isn't as pristine as something like Avatar for instance.

Would the styles of shooting and cinematography of these 2 films affect the mic choices, placement, recording styles and your approach to the overall timbre of foley you were going to create for the soundtrack?

For me, it would absolutely effect how I recorded. I'd go for a more warm, rich tonal quality for the first example and for the second, I'd choose sharper, more "in your face" raw and gritty.

How would you go about it?

Best Condenser for <$100?

2012-01-12T06:39:06Z

I'm setting up a pretty dangerous field recording and I need a few expendable mics which I expect to be expended (read: burnt and demolished).

Can anyone recommend a decent sounding cardioid condenser for less than $100? Preferably less than $50?

Thanks!

Social Sound Design Meetup?

2011-08-23T04:12:05Z

I've been a member here for a little over a year and I've made some great friends so far.

I live and work in Los Angeles..

I'm sure a lot of other people who frequent this site do, too...

We can also meet halfway in Las Vegas...

And I might be going to the East Coast soon.. Florida for sure, at least.

Or we could all buy plane tickets to New Zealand and surprise Tim. heh. And from there, ya'all can hop in my G6 and we can fly over to South Africa and see Andrew.

But, I was also thinking, the studio I work at has about 25 Mac laptops. I could set them up all in a circle in my studio and skype everyone and we can see/talk to each other. Hah! (joke)

Anyone thought of a meet up before? Would be nice to meet some of you.

Underwater Worldizing

2012-01-09T00:33:59Z

Just for fun, are there any die-hard audiophiles out there that have tested and experimented with underwater worldizing?

I was clacking together large rocks at the bottom of the ocean a while back and thought the echo it created down there sounded pretty cool and wondered if it was possible to experiment with some underwater speakers and mics to create some nifty SFX via water instead of air.

It seems to me that something like this could possibly yield some great results, but it could also be a large waste of time. Has anyone heard of anyone doing something like this before?

What sort of frequency range does a submerged mic pick up?

Could be a fun summer project of mine. I could imagine an elephant roar might sound pretty cool if it's sent via water... Or some sub harmonic info if it's possible... Or it could sound just plain lame. That's why I'm asking - I have no experience with underwater speakers or what is possible to recreate frequency-wise underwater. Has anyone got any experience or info with recording underwater?

Acoustic treatment for glass

2010-08-12T23:45:03Z

I have searched for a bit but haven't found much on this but maybe some of you have fixed a similar problem in the past:

Can I put something over glass to make it anechoic?

It's a long shot, but I figured I'd ask you guys since most of you do a lot of recording in studios.

My studio has a large glass sliding door to get into it and it's about 60% of one of the walls. I can position the talents to face away from it but is there anything I can put over the glass and lessen it's echo with still being able to see through it?

Let me know if I'm crazy for asking/trying.

What was the job you were most proud of doing in 2011?

2011-12-31T07:35:04Z

What project did you complete in 2011 that you were most proud of and really did a smoking job on?

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?

Answer by Utopia for Christmas day = dead quiet city. what to record?

2011-12-27T05:33:23Z

So tell us what happened - what did you record?

For those of you who mix live sound:

2011-12-24T23:53:24Z

Have you ever had complaints that your live mix was too loud?

My last gig I had replies of "best ever, sounds awesome, the sound was amazing"

and one person (that I know of - who knows, I could have made 50% of them deaf) wrote how loud and unprofessional the gig was...

Has anyone had experience in this area and how to feel better again?

p.s. Merry Christmas!

Answer by Utopia for Microphone safety....things like, when sticking your microphone in a pipe always...what?

2011-12-22T04:00:28Z

I think my answer will have to be "use common sense".

It's a skill acquired where you know what will happen if you do "so and so".

Meaning: You can sort of predict that your microphone will get soaked if you drop it in water.

I personally never let my mikes get exposed to extreme wind even if the manufacturer says they can be. I also make sure I turn off phantom power or the pre if I can't otherwise turn it off before I plug in or unplug my mic. I also make sure to place my mikes in their boxes or safe compartments or cabinets at night and I never leave them out on a stand overnight or for long periods of time in the studio. This is something I've learned from Bruce Swedien and I used to scoff at people who told me to do these types of things before I held his mint condition U-47 he bought 20+ years go.. It looks brand new. And the quality of sound from mikes I've found to be directly proportionate to their care.

Throw up a brand new MK41 against a used rental model that's been beat up and that will dispel any facts to the contrary, I think.

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-04T01:25:37Z

@Dominic Wonder if someone could make a living as a windjammer hairdresser ;)

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-04T01:25:11Z

Thanks J - The driver had it all under control. Can't wait to show you all the results.

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-04T01:24:38Z

Thanks! I'll try to post something up tonight to show and tell

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-04T01:24:23Z

Just got back and yes thanks for that. The friend driving worked it all out - I thought we were going to turn the car off but when the car is coasting it's not very noticeable anyway with the high SPL of wind coming at the mics!

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-03T07:38:52Z

Thanks for the wishes and the tip - I'm combing my windjammers as I type!!! Big day tomorrow.

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-03T07:27:07Z

@Stavro What are X Tracks?

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-03T06:49:27Z

we seem to be answering at the same exact times...

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-02T01:20:25Z

Out of those three, which one had the most emotional impact on you?

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-02T01:19:04Z

@Jay Thanks for correcting. I googled it before asking, and it turns out that's an extremely common mistake.

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-02T01:10:17Z

WOW How did I not find this in my searches? Thanks a lot!!

Comment by Utopia

2012-02-02T00:21:52Z

@Stavrosound Wish I could sit in on one of your sessions one of these days to see how you match it in! Sounds really awesome.

Comment by Utopia

2012-01-26T03:38:06Z

PFX = Production Sound FX - sound effects recorded on set during filming.

Comment by Utopia

2012-01-23T05:19:46Z

Copied and pasted for later reference.

Comment by Utopia

2012-01-22T05:36:26Z

@Stavrosound Was just up there from Jan 1st to the 7th. You have family there, too?

Comment by Utopia

2012-01-21T01:24:07Z

This answer has been tagged AWESOME.