User noisejockey - Social Sound Design

Answer by NoiseJockey for How can a sound designer best use it's knowledge in the preproduction?

2011-12-16T16:10:46Z

Develop thoughtful discussions around the emotional content of the moment and the creative intent of the director (or the emotional descriptors of the brand, if a corporate or non-narrative project), for both the whole project as well as moment/scene to moment/scene. The higher up the chain you can take these discussions, the better, but spreading the fact that you're thinking at that higher level will absolutely get noticed by insightful folks. Taking a holistic, narrative approach opens up avenues for specific relationships with other departments and collaborators, and shows a willingness to help identify where sound design needs to step aside for other components, or should take center stage, while keeping the discussion less about your role and more about the final product. Everything is just implementation and execution.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Recording City Ambiance

2011-12-16T16:03:37Z

Record in layers, so that you have flexibility when mixing. I've recorded urban ambiences at street level, on a 3rd story, and on an 8th story rooftop, mics pointing down and up, and it all sounds incredibly different. A mix of perspectives, times of day, and amount of traffic (vehicular and/or human) will all make a huge difference. To get really usable layers, it's harder and takes more time than you'd think.

If you do it right, IMO, recording urban ambiences is pretty much the same as shooting natural ambiences: Scout locations, listen keenly, think about final use, record longer than you'll need by a factor of 2x-3x, and determine per location if a spot sound or the broader scene is what you want to capture. Biggest difference, though, is that you don't really need to worry about mic self-noise in a city the way you do for rural recording.

I like ORTF for the widest and most enveloping ambiences, but truth be told, for portability and convenience I usually roll with an M/S rig. This has saved my bacon loads of times as I try out a location ambience session and find that actually that truck/streetsweeper/car/motorcycle/crazyman is a far more interesting spot source, so I switch focus in the field and then break it down as a mono layer in post.

I often just run experiments where I build urban ambiences in post against specific emotion keywords: Stressful, intimidating, bucolic, etc. Good practice to see where the holes in your library exist!

Answer by NoiseJockey for Adobe Dropping Flash

2011-11-17T05:27:01Z

My take is from the authorship standpoint: Write-once, deploy-many is a really sexy workflow, which you don't get with HTML, JS, and its derivative technologies, mostly because browsers all interpret HTML, CSS, and JS differently, despite all efforts towards web standards. The QA cycle for Flash is streamlined compared to the multi-variant array of browsers, processors, RAM, and OS's that exist out there for both desktop and mobile. Testing HTML and its variants is a QA nightmare, always has been, and still is, unless you're targeting one browser on one OS.

That said, Flash on devices has been challenged from its early-2000's start. Implementing a subset of Flash will always hobble someone's attempt to port desktop Flash apps to mobile. The processor speed variance between mobile and desktop has also always been a concern.

In terms of audio, AFAIK, HTML5 is not at all finessed. Flash wasn't exactly audio rocket science either, but at least there were streaming, event, and compression parameters you could customize...

Jecklin Stereo with Lavs?

2011-10-25T23:58:00Z

Has anyone ever set up a semi-Jecklin-Disc-style stereo rig with two omni lavalieres with sound-absorbing material in between?

I suspect that a lot of us are perfectly aware of binaural recording with two lavs, often worn in or near the ears, or with a Neumann Fritz head. But I'm mulling a semi-stealth rig for stereo ambiences that captures stereo, not binaural, via a Jecklin-Disc-style baffle between the omni lavs, housed in a Rycote windjammer or even baby ball gag, if the Jecklin-esque absorber would fit. (Not unlike many remote-capsule-mic rigs set up in windjammers or blimps, but those are cardioid small-condenser mics set up for ORTF, not omni lavs.)

Have you ever tried this, or seen/read accounts of something similar?

Answer by NoiseJockey for Examples Of The Anempathetic Effect

2011-10-16T18:58:23Z

The death of Harry Dean Stanton in Alien. Stupid cat.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Building Blocks of "Technology" Sounds

2011-10-14T21:55:59Z

Rene's list is bomber; lots of familiar techniques there. I've designed a lot of actual interface sounds for real-world interfaces...of course, there's a difference between real-world GUI sounds and FUI (fantasy UI) sounds that need a lot more cinematic oomph, but each influences the other. Some other ones that I've employed, to expand the great lists already in this thread:

Good ol' FM synthesis. Works wonders, and is as complex as you make it, and sounds less cheesy sci-fi than pure analog synthesis methods.
Any synthesized sound that changes in pitch or filter cutoff quickly can really cut through background noise and help the user take notice; good for alarms, notifications, etc.
Anything short, metallic, with sharp transients is good. Heck, some of the better UI clicks and twips I've designed are from microsamples of mishandled mics, rattling mic suspensions, and the striking of contact mic cables. One man's trash, as they say...
The sound of telephone dialing sped up a lot has a very Matrix-y sound.
Snippets of shortwave whistlers, tweaks, swishes and tone dives.
Sometimes melodic sounds from actual instruments is the best approach. XBox's UI is a nice example. Depends on the emotional needs for the interface, whether real or imagined. - Digital sounds for real interfaces can be alienating and annoying to hear over and over again.
RF and EM interference recordings with telephone coil pickups; Jean-Edouard Miclot has done a lot of this!

I've found that, generally, if it's harmonically rich enough, almost anything edited to be incredibly short could serve as the basis for an interface sound!

Answer by NoiseJockey for POV Bicycle Recording?

2011-10-14T20:32:33Z

I wasn't after ambiences, but rather bike sounds themselves, so here's one approach using a small condenser mic, a SD 702, and a mafer clamp. Can be applied to mounting a PCM-D50 or similar behind your backside for wind reduction (as per Justin's second bullet point), or for rigging external mics with proper wind and shock protection that are hard to rig up with handheld recorders. FWIW, just might help reframe the challenge, although I realize your recording hardware is different.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Mixing Cinematics for Iphone APP

2011-10-10T14:17:19Z

You have a rare opportunity: You're mixing for a known platform, and even better, a known device (well, two, if you count iPhone and iPad). No errant theatrical calibration woes, no home-TV-setting guesswork, no network affiliate variables. Mix, test, refine, repeat. Iteration is the best way to let your ears anticipate what wil happen. Don't guess at the solutions when you can render out mixes and try them on the device itself!

Answer by NoiseJockey for Share your audio jokes.

2011-10-07T02:44:38Z

Damn. All I've got is a dubstep joke.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Who's there?

BOB.

Bob who?

BOB WOB WOB WOB WOB

Answer by NoiseJockey for Theory of incorporating bone conduction (sound through solids) in sound design

2011-10-07T02:10:20Z

Interesting idea. If you play back a sound recorded from a solid, thereby rendering an inaudible sound audible, and it re-enters our bodies through our ears, I doubt that it'd be perceived in the same way as if we'd truly felt it through our guts, bones, hair, what have you. That's not to say that your idea isn't valid for sound design and as an effective layer, but we'd be exposing the listener's ear to something they'd normally not get through the good ol' pinnae. This sensory transposition might be effective, or not...I'd think it would be really dependent on the sound source itself, the context of its use, and the emotional message one was going for.

Answer by NoiseJockey for What sampler do you use?

2011-10-06T15:25:19Z

I started on an EMU-32 hardware sampler, then an Emu E5000 (ooh, with those gigantic Iomega Zip disks), then moved to Logic's EXS24 once I went nearly all-virtual with my instruments, which I find very fast for setting up patches and having pretty good routing options...good balance of complexity vs. immediacy. However, now I'm probably going to move to Kontakt in the next year or two, as that seems to be one of the most popular cross-DAW samplers with oodles of routing and filtering options. Many, or most, sample pack releases tend to be targeting Kontakt as a release platform these days anyway...

What are the small bits in your field recording bag?

2010-03-10T03:09:11Z

Yes, yes, we've all got preamps and recorders and mics and cables and hoary marmots in our field recording sound bags. But what else is in your bag? What are the little bits and bobs you really shouldn't leave home without? (Don't include what you can't carry, or all the extras you leave in the car just in case...we'll save "What's in your Grip Truck?" for another day! :-p)

My list includes:

Gaffer's, medical, electrical and paper tape in various colors (rerolled on small 1/2" PVC pipe segments and hung on shock cord attached to a carabiner, or wrapped around pens)
Sharpie and regular pens
At least one extra battery
At least one extra memory card
One spare cable in every length I bring (usually just 1-2 lengths per outing)
Variable In-Line Attenuation Pad
In-Line Phase Inverter
Extra o-rings and mic clips for windscreen/zeppelin/blimp
Comb for fuzzy windscreen cover
Shower Cap (for rain, in case my weather covers don't fit or wet out)
Lav mounting kit, if applicable (blue tacky gunk, medical tape, topstick strips, self-adhesive moleskin, and standard lav mounts)
Black twist-ties
Black zip ties
Bongo Cords
2 pairs of latex or nitrile gloves
Sometimes a small folding tripod stool

For extra credit: What do you keep all this stuff in while in the field? (For me, it's a LowePro Magnum 200 AW and a PortaBrace field recorder bag with RM pouch.)

Answer by NoiseJockey for Do any SD 722 owners have tips they could share?

2011-10-05T03:34:12Z

I think you'll find that it's really simple to operate. As powerful as it is, the routings and settings are supremely straightforward. Probably the biggest key concept to remember is that INPUTS can be mapped to TRACKS, and it's not always input L to track 1 and input R to track 2, but front LEDs indicate the track mapping, so again, it's pretty easy.

I never use the HPF in the field myself, but I always keep the limiter on, just because it's really good and I'm pretty conservative when it comes to headroom as I set levels. Default to normal gain on the pre's unless otherwise needed.

I like recording raw mid-side but listening decoded, and then decoding in post.

I use a hypercardioid instead of a cardioid in my mid-side rig, and it works fine, slightly pronounced center to the stereo image: Not always ideal, but an MKH40 wasn't in the budget this year. It'd be most educational for you to record a steady-state sound with both the ME66 and the MKH40 and see what the center of the stereo is like. I've not tried a MKH-based mid-side with a shotgun, so I can't comment. Just watch that the noise levels of the mics are well-matched, as I'd bet the ME66 is a fair bit noisier than the MKH series.

Be sure to download the manual and study it before you get the unit, and while you're fiddling with it, and you'll find the learning curve quite short.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Jack Of All Trades, Master of...Some?

2011-10-03T20:32:39Z

The great science fiction master Robert Heinlein once said, "Specialization is for insects." :-) But clearly there are pros and cons to specialization and generalism alike, and I for one don't believe the two are completely mutually exclusive.

Generalism tends to be part of how many schools train you, since it's pretty much up to the student where their own interests lie. Some love field work, some love post, some love the intimacy of studio work and foley, and so forth.

I think that many people vacillate between specializing and generalism throughout their careers as their interests change, and I think that is a Good And Natural Thing, to hell with what standard employers might say. Steve, you found this out yourself in your initial question! :-)

I think there is a great benefit to being a generalist, even if/as you ultimately become a specialist: It allows you to understand the challenges of other specialists and use the same language to communicate. This can be true outside of just audio. If you've ever edited picture, you'll be your next editor's best friend when you anticipate his or her needs beforehand. If you've ever done VFX, you might know to ask for certain work-in-progress deliverables so you can get an early start. If you've ever developed software, you might know enough from an interaction design deliverable or use case to start your creative process. If you've ever directed, you might have better production audio suggestions on the day. Heck, if you're an audio guy, why NOT try directing a stage play, editing a video, building a web page or iOS app on the side? Generalization breeds sensitivity and awareness of the greater media creation pipeline as a whole, and leads towards a shared vocabulary in framing and addressing challenging problems.

In many places, though, being a specialist is what's needed, and that often (but not always) is tied to the size of the facility and the number of concurrent projects underway. Robust workflow pipelines can't always be supported by an army of generalists. Finally, the geographical jobs market also determines the kinds of work that's available; that's why being a generalist in a smaller market might be just as competitive as being a specialist in a larger, more crowded market.

In a competitive field, it can be hard talking about your work if you're a generalist. If you're a specialist, you can have a better chance of saying that you're the best at [FOO] in your market. Maybe you specialize in something that's not a traditional audio role: Maybe you're the only person who does end-to-end audio for thing [FOO] or project type/style [BAR], be that insect recording or documentaries or heavy industrial sounds or urban ambiences.

My take on this whole thing is that generalism is incredibly rewarding but that specializations can be cultivated at the same time...as Rene said, it's not easy and is a huge investment in time and energy, but it allows maximum flexibility in the competitive marketplace while building greater appreciation for collaboration. If you are really honestly amazing at some vertical slice of audio, though, I think you'd be a fool to not make that your life's work!

Answer by NoiseJockey for Advice on my newly researched sound recording kit?

2011-09-28T17:38:53Z

Value-wise, this seems like a smart series of buys. It's also modular, as you get better mics and preamps in the future. Besides headphones, though, you'll also want cabling and a stand or boom; for lightweight portability and cost, I use Manfrotto 001B Nano light stands with 1/4" to 3/8" adapters for pistol grips. You can always use a painter's pole or make a DIY boom until you can afford to buy one. You can also look for surplus army first aid pouches as alternatives to PortaBrace or Petrol bags if money's tight.

The NTG-3 is an amazing shottie for the money, but don't overlook tight-patterned hypercardioids. They can be way more forgiving indoors than shotguns, and I've found I use my hypers far more frequently than probably any other pattern. But that also depends on what-all you intend to record, so your mileage may vary! Just something to think over, if you've not so far.

Smart choices so far!

Answer by NoiseJockey for Anybody else waiting anxiously for the Sennheiser 8030?

2011-09-09T15:52:37Z

"Waiting anxiously for the Sennheiser 8030?" Do bears produce stereophonic post-digestive activity in the woods?

No idea why Sennheiser keeps being so catty with their plans, but they've never announced any plans to even make an 8030 AFAIK. When they do, they'd better make enough of 'em, as we'll all be knocking down their doors to get one!

Answer by NoiseJockey for Encoding LR to MS - which plug-in?

2011-09-09T15:50:25Z

There's also the free +Matrix plugin from Tom "Soundhack" Erbe.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Misinterpreting sounds

2011-09-03T01:56:05Z

The song of the Phainopepla, most common in the desert, sounds EXACTLY like a human doing a single whistle, rising in pitch, as if calling for a dog. They're neat-looking, too, like all-black cardinals. Three days later, I was embarrassed to learn that I WASN'T being followed by an OCD-addled, dog-toting hobo.

Shortwave Radio as a Sound Source

2010-10-17T19:01:30Z

Shortwave radio has a reputation of being a good source of squelches, static, snippets of audio from all over the world, and other sorts of real-world, long-distance radio wave sound effects. Radio wave phenomena such as whistlers, tweaks, and swishes can also purportedly be picked up via shortwave. There are many kinds of shortwave radio, from HAM/Amateur radios that costs hundreds of dollars (minus antennae!), to hand-cranked emergency radios.

Does anyone have experience using shortwave radio as a sound source, and if so, what kinds of hardware did you use to record interesting effects from the real airwaves?

Answer by NoiseJockey for Hurricane Preparedness

2011-08-25T23:22:10Z

All I have to say is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale.

Answer by NoiseJockey for International Partnerships

2011-08-25T14:40:41Z

You'll need to retain a business lawyer to do this right.

Even if there are two founders, most LLC's and corporations MUST be incorporated in one place...and it needn't be where either of you are located. This is why many companies are "Delaware Corporations," regardless of where they're based...I forget if that's a liability or tax loophole that causes many to do so. Wherever you incorporate is usually where all legal disputes will be settled, so that will be a major factor...the considerations are as much legal as they are economical. Payment and taxation will vary based on if you're both equity shareholders, or if one is an employee and the other the owner (happens often if one supplies more initial funding than the other). Joint ventures can work but make no mistake: It's truly like making a brand new third firm/company.

I'm positive you can make it work, but only a business attorney will help you navigate these waters and ensure success.

Answer by NoiseJockey for how to record wind?

2011-08-25T14:34:06Z

Look at objects as woodwind instruments (or stringed instruments in the case of tensioned wires). Sometimes really small holes and gaps that are vertical can sound cool when the wind comes right through them (like the hatchback of my car), but just like a flute, sometimes rounder or larger gaps sound best when the wind is coming at more of a perpendicular 90-degree angle (like knot holes in the side of a rickety old barn).

Another trick is to hold a sheet of foam over an air conditioning unit. You can "play" howling wind sounds by opening and closing gaps in the foam sheet. With a tool like iZotope RX you can even remove most of the machinery noise easily (what you can't remove can be easily masked by the whistling or other sound layers). Totally works!

If you want to get the sound of wind in a natural environment without overloading your mic capsules, use your eyes. Wind flows around objects and creates eddies, like water. You can often spot small areas where the wind is lessened or even still, even on the most blustery of days, if you have the patience. This is easiest to spot in areas with good plant coverage like lawns or long grass.

Answer by NoiseJockey for DIY Zeppelin/Blimp

2011-08-22T22:50:21Z

This classic site (and this, and this, and this) will give you DIY ideas galore.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Upgrading my gear - would love some input! Mics, field recorders and wind protection.

2011-08-18T22:31:08Z

The NT4 is a great point-and-shoot, fire-and-forget kind of mic. Its width is good, which is what you get with XY coincident, but it's not that quiet if you want to get quiet natural ambiences. For urban, SFX, and really active/loud ambiences, it's great. Extremely low price and fiddle factor are its strengths. Try not to power it with a 9V if you can help it, the noise level improves if you can use phantom power.

Quick devil's advocate question, though: Why not get a single pair of small condenser mics with remote capsules (like the NT6's) and just have one ORTF system? You can set 'em up inside one Rode blimp, pull 'em out to use 'em just like NT5's...you'd have a more flexible system with variable stereo width and fewer overall components for a lower cost.

Oh,and BTW, really sorry to hear about the theft. Heartbreaking.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Non metal wire/rope/string tension

2011-08-18T06:26:09Z

To build on Shaun's excellent advice, rubber bands are a common and not that unusual alternative to steel strings or metal wires. Rubber Therabands, used in physical therapy, are also strummable, pluckable...not sure about playability with a bow. Anything rubber can have its pitch changed by varying its tension, i.e., the distance between what's holding each end in place.

Classical guitar strings are nylon, not steel, so stringing one/some between some wooden posts or other objects might yield interesting results, or across resonant bodies.

I've had little to no positive results using fibrous strings and twines. Very little signal from very low tension prior to breaking.

What's the wackiest software filter out there?

2011-08-12T14:05:54Z

For pure filtering mayhem, what are people grooving on these days? Is there anything approaching, or surpassing, devices like the Sherman Filterbank for extreme filter-based processing? There are a lot of choices but few seem really good at signal routing.

[It's OK to suggest apps or plug-ins that have great filtering functions, such as Absynth]

Sigh, I'm even starting to miss the filters in my ancient E-Mu E5000 hardware sampler, even those were more expressive than many software filters today... :-)

Matrixing LR as MS?

2011-07-28T14:28:16Z

As I've become more comfortable with mid-side stereo recording and matrixing it as LR in post, rather than at capture time, I'm wondering about the ability in various plug-ins to encode LR into MS. Has anyone found this to have practical use?

Managing Machine Noise in the Home Studio

2010-12-17T02:30:43Z

Does anyone here have strategies, or more specifically successes, in limiting machine noise (computers and hard drives) in your home studio? There are people who build their own acoustic isolation boxes, others who go all solid state with hard drives, others who pay US$2000+ for commercial sound-dampening rack units, others who pay more to put machines in closets or in other rooms...it seems like there are many variations, and tradeoffs, between cost, and heat management, and convenience.

What have you found to be successful, or good values in terms of price:performance?

Answer by NoiseJockey for Good Resources for Voice Actors?

2011-07-27T23:40:43Z

Pro talent agencies or full-on interviewin/auditioning people in person are, IMO, the best ways to get solid talent with positive outlooks and solid work ethics. I've worked with STARS Agency here in SF, and had great success: All supremely professional, and a good talent base (i.e., voice styles to choose from). Not sure how far they extend in terms of geographical reach.

Knowing, networking, and hanging with actors, as Utopia said, also can land you with your own killer network of vocal talents that you can push a bit farther and rely upon more readily.

Answer by NoiseJockey for Engineering Sounds

2011-07-26T04:19:36Z

I'd argue that sound design for appliances and devices has, in some cases, obviated the need for equivalent interface or user feedback elements. The Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner happens to be a good example. Its audible tones, major ascending melodies or minor descending melodies, indicate all manner of machine state: Malfunction while cleaning, startup malfunction, job completed, low battery, and more. Just by having those audible tones, the top of the Roomba has gotten simpler and simpler since its introduction, and it's never had the kinds of status bars that clutter our mobile devices or the notification patterns that pop up on our computer desktops. In real-world terms, this saves on manufacturing costs by simply having an audio output device and doing all the notifications and messaging in firmware with audio files (or their MIDI-esque equivalents).

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-12-08T21:46:39Z

Yet Another Plus One for OWC.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-11-17T05:34:29Z

There is also a Stylophone beatbox. It, too, totally rocks.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-11-17T05:15:05Z

+1 and a "Hells yes."

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-11-03T15:42:46Z

Firewire card reader and FW cable will allow a 702 to write to both simultaneously. No backup out of the box, but it's possible.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-26T13:35:12Z

An important question, Mikkel. Thanks for starting this thread.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-26T13:33:40Z

Great question, Mark. The diameter of the windscreen would be the limiting factor as to disc size, and I was hypothesizing that this would be OK given how small the mic capsules would be. Separation shouldn't be too hard in a normal windscreen, assuming the middle of the tube is presented to the sound source, not an end. Parabolic curvature is a neat idea I'd not considered! :)

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-14T22:00:50Z

You'd still need wind protection, but this is one of the better HH recorder mounts out there!

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-14T21:59:23Z

If your rear cluster is loud, yeah, back-facing recording would be less ideal. Really the best solution is to jam your D50 into a Rode Blimp or a Rycote Windjammer, and mount the pistol grip to your handlebars or top tube. The suspension in the pistol grip will give you some cushioning from vibration. Also, run your tires at LOWER PRESSURE than you normally would, as low as you can without risking a pinch flat or harming your rims. That'll help cushion the mic mount, too.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-11T17:24:30Z

Ooh, that one is classic.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-07T03:29:13Z

To follow up with Shaun's comment (which I also agree with), I think that recordings via conductive solids can add a lot to a mix or recording, no argument there. But you'll be recontextualizing that sound unless you choose to reproduce it in a custom way. That doesn't make it bad! Recontextualizing is what makes Ben Burtt's recordings of the real world sound like sci fi. Making the inaudible audible would, I'd argue, make a sounds expressionistic, not representative (or, in your words, realistic). And that's also not bad. Just...different! :-)

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-07T02:04:44Z

For an example of bone conduction in art, check the third piece down at markuskison.de. Brilliant stuff.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-04T20:33:09Z

I'm with Luca on this: It had the standard hallmarks of generally good action film sound design, sometimes being great, but the Terminator effects were over-processed. Really took you out of the fiction by calling attention to the craft.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-04T15:51:14Z

I'd just love to have someone go find or buy the real hardware and record it; I'm dying to know if the sound we hear in films is really what those units sound like, or if it's a cliche or composite like gunfire.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-04T15:37:58Z

Gah! Suckered in and I took the bait! :-) Humbled to say the least, gents, but thanks goes to Steve for starting a very important discussion on a challenging topic.

Comment by NoiseJockey

2011-10-04T15:36:41Z

Jay, I've recently experimented using c-clamps with closed-cell foam pads on the inner grips. This isn't always foolproof, given the cylindrical shape of the H2a, but it can sometimes be a tighter fit than with gaffer's tape.