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ADR - Additional Dialogue Recording

We had a session on re-recording dialogue. Unfortunately the session was hampered with some technical issues, but I got the gist of it. Essentially I learnt that ADR isn't really something to be afraid of and it's pretty simple. My  main revelation is that you have the person who're re-saying the dialogue listen to the line over and over and eventually they can reel it off in almost the exact same way.

Syncing it with the image once this is done is fairly simple. Especially if you plan ahead.
Last year I did sound for the Drama project and even though it was sync sound with no ADR I had a big task with syncing the dialogue due to the edit being very fast paced and using lots of different takes. This meant matching up the dialogue was a creative exercise in trying to find parts of takes that would match up.
Using ADR could have perhaps alleviated this slightly.

Using Logic Pro

We spent a session looking at a piece of software for adding musical elements (though it also has other uses) to sound design called Logic Pro. As someone who is extremely interested in bringing my music writing into my sound design I found this session pretty interesting.

Logic Pro's interface

Logic Pro itself is a little confusing to me. I think it is a good bit of software, but as someone who is very used to using another piece of software called Reason I find some elements to be confusing. Once I got into it though I was using it pretty effectively I feel.

Reason's interface

As someone who likes to input every note manually and precisely I like how easy to use the piano roll is. The synthesizer and instrument selection almost feels a little limited to me as someone who's used to Reason, but I think there's everything you need. All the synths are fully programmable which means the sound possibilities are pretty much endless.

I think overall I prefer using Reason. Partly because I'm used to it and partly because I prefer how the synths act and look. However the thing that sets Logic apart from Reason in terms of working with film is that you can import video very easily and then add sound frame by frame. This is invaluable to someone like me who really wants to create soundtracks that flow with the image.

Feedback from Pi

I feel like my redesigned sound for Pi got a pretty good reception. People seemed to be quite impressed with my attention to detail such as clothes noises. Also the buzzing sound I created for the chip which takes over the sound at the end of the piece.
I felt especially good about this as I felt that the tone I used for the ending was like putting my own personal stamp on the piece. It's a very me think to do and it gives me a sense of ownership over the sound design.

All my sounds were received well in that they were well recorded and well implemented. I did spend a lot of time making everything sound right in the mix so this was encouraging.

The main complaint seemed to be that I could have gone further. Especially with the atmos. It was said to bee almost too "sterile" as the character's mind and life are kind of a mess. My interpretation was more of a sort of loneliness and isolation, but looking back on it this criticism about the overall sterility seems pretty apt. I think I could have gone further and made that room sound much more chaotic.

If I was to go back that would be the main stuff I would change. I would just add more layers to the atmos and give the room some life.

Overall though I was very encouraged by the feedback and proud of what I'd done.

Sound Recording for Pi

Sound recording is definitely a struggle for me. It's the part about working with sound that I find the least appealing. It's fiddly and temperamental and everything can always go wrong all the time without you even knowing. However I've definitely been learning to enjoy it more with this project even though I feel I could have done a much better job actually collecting the sounds that I ended up with.

I did have some issues with the Marantz. Or perhaps they were issues with the cables. I'm not sure. There was just a LOT of crackling whenever I turned the recording volume up to a comfortable level. This meant I had to record all my sounds very, very quietly to avoid that which made the editing process a little more difficult. I also was not able to record in spaces with no background noise and so that was a bit of a problem on some recordings. I managed to get rid of some sound with EQ and because I was recording so quietly most background noise didn't actually appear on the recording unless you turned it up way too loud so that ended up okay. Still, next time I want to use the studios more.

The latex glove was probably my favourite sound to get and then add

Possibly the most fun part of sound recording is just the scope of what you can do. I like to just look around a room and try to find anything that might come close to sounding like the effect that I want to get. Some things are more specific in terms of how you need them to sound like a keyboard press or a latex glove, but other things are much more open. I was surprised by how versatile some things I recorded could be. I could use a lot of sounds in ways I hadn't really considered and when it matched up with the action onscreen it sounded right.

Something like a popped balloon ends up being incredibly useful to a sound designer. I used it for both the latex gloves (stretching the balloon) and the sticky mess (squeezing it when crumpled up). I used old CD cases that I didn't care about and more for the part where he smashes the computer parts on the floor. I used a soldering iron on a wet sponge to get the sizzling sound effect. I just rubbed my hands on bedsheets to get all the clothing movement noises used throughout the clip. I definitely enjoy the imagination and creativity that can be used when trying to obtain sounds. It's just the part where you have to record it that can be a real pain. At least I didn't have to record any dialogue.

Pi Editing

So...I think I chose the hardest clip. It was my original intention to pick the clip I found the most interesting and the fact that I had chosen one from a film that I hadn't seen was also a plus (as I didn't want the original film influencing my sound design too much). I think I underestimated exactly what was needed for this clip however. There are some pretty odd things in there that are a little more difficult to design the sound for.

However I really did have a good time on this project and feel like I've learnt a lot. While my recordings have not been perfect I feel like they've gotten a lot better and I have a much better idea of how to record and then edit sounds. Especially elements like EQ and stereo panning.

I started my project by marking the whole video clip with every sound cue that I could see. This took a long time, but was pretty invaluable when I came to edit.

Yeah the markers become pretty meaningless at this level of zoom

I found that being able to stick all the sound effects that I recorded in and match them up to these markers was extremely helpful. Not only that, but going through and marking every sound effect helped me to compile the list of recordings that I needed to get. Though when I did go round my boyfriend's house to record my sounds I managed to forget that list and so had to record a lot from memory. Luckily I had left myself enough time to record the things I either could't get or forgot to get at a later date.

I named each individual marker so that later I could add the sounds with ease

The first thing I did when I came to add actual sound to the edit was lay down some atmos tracks. I ended up with two different sections of the film with completely separate atmos, but that was all. For the first clip of the film I used a mechanical drone and also a sound from the sound library on the server called "adding machine". I thought that this first section of the film could sound like it took place in a totally separate room that had more mechanical stuff going on. So the adding machine sounds much more analogue than the computer hum I used as an atmos for the rest of the clip. I wanted to keep my atmos tracks pretty simple and not fill the room with noises as I anted to get this feeling of loneliness and almost an emptiness. The computer hum I used for most of the clip was a contact microphone recording of a large computer tower and I think it works quite well.

Sticking the 20 second atmos track next to each other was as simple as overlapping them slightly in Soundtrack Pro

I struggled slightly with what volume to put the atmos, but settled on something that's quite loud and always present, but hopefully not overbearing. I think when you spend a long time editing sound (especially atmos tracks) you can slightly lose sight of what is actually a good level as you're hearing it over and over. I probably should have made an effort to get a second opinion on the atmos.

I used a fair amount of equalization throughout editing, especially on recorded sounds that had a little background noise (I think next time I'll try to use the studios to get more of my sounds). I found this to be pretty easy and natural to me which was a nice surprise as it had previously been something I'd worried about getting good at. There were also cases where I used the EQ to make a sound more like what I wanted. Such as making a thudding sound more heavy and more effective by cutting off some of the high end.

For a couple of shots where there was a close up inside the glass case I used a low pass filter on the atmos to make it sound more like it was outside the case. This ended up being a little redundant as I added a buzzing sound to the inside of the case that drowned out this effect, but I think it works in a subtle, subliminal sort of way.

Here you can see the POV shifting from outside to inside the case

I also used some stereo panning when adding foley to the mix. Mostly quite subtle uses, but a couple of times I was more obvious. The main point at which I used a panning effect is the close up inside the case where he is looking at the computer ship. I decided I would have him breathing audibly at this point as it is a close up and since he moves his head from right to left and so on I though having the breath pan across would be pretty effective.

This is generally how I like to do the automation. I add markers and precisely edit the envelopes rather than recording it manually. This is a simple example, but I like to get extremely precise sometimes.

I also used the envelope tool to make crescendos in the volume. Especially with the synth tone that I use to drown out the sound at the end of the clip.

I used Logic Pro to get that pretty simple square wave tone that I use first as a buzzing sound effect for inside the glass case and then as more of a musical bit of soundtrack at the end of the clip. I spent some time in Logic looking through the synthesizer patches trying to find the right sound and eventually settled on the square wave. I fiddled with the cut off, drive and resonance to make sure that when it was turned up it was pretty intense as I knew I wanted o end the clip with some kind of harsh tone invading the sound.

The main thing I struggled with throughout editing was getting the levels correct. My recordings were all extremely quiet and this meant I had to push the volume down on anything that was at a more normal volume when I added it. I then increased the master level by what is probably way too much so that when played through speakers it could be listened to without having to turn the speakers way up. I noticed that when I did play it through speakers a few sounds were not quite at the right level from when I was editing with headphones, but generally I actually felt I'd done a pretty good job. Everything sounded right (to me at least) and it'll be interesting to see where I've gone wrong as I really want to get good at this stuff.

Number Stations and Short-Wave Radio Weirdness

"These stations, they shout at you. They draw attention to themselves. They say "look at me! Listen to me!" I'm not the sort of person who can just sit down, come across something like number stations, which are completely counter-intuitive, and let it slide by." - Akim Fernandez

http://soundcloud.com/the-conet-project/sets/the-conet-project

I've had a fascination with number stations for quite a while now, but tonight I decided to really dive into them and see what they're all about. It's the kind of thing that is fascinating and exhilarating to research, but the more you do it the more crazy you start to feel. It's as if I can feel my mind actually slipping away as I listen to these recordings. I get tense and feel like someone might be sneaking up on me. It's a fantastic feeling.

This effect that these recordings can have on people is created by a lot of different things in my opinion. Most obvious is just how bizarre they are. The background of these number stations is shrouded in mystery and speculation and this also creates some of the paranoid fascination, but I think it's how they actually sound that  creates the effect on the listener.

This is my favourite one that I've listened to so far. It has all the elements that make an interesting to listen to numbers station. Bizarre, creepy music, numbers read mechanically and even evidence of the tape the recording is being played from having stretched over time. It gives me chills. Achtung!

The background noise inherent to listening to these things on short-wave radio and not knowing what is background noise or interference and what is part of some hidden coded message. The mechanically human voice reading out these numbers, repeating themselves very obviously giving that just "slightly off" feeling from something that doesn't sound quite right. Then there are the ones that actually have music as part of them such as the Lincolnshire Poacher or the Swedish Rhapsody. These can be the most creepy of all with their jaunty tunes repeated over and over before a disembodied voice reads out seemingly random numbers. They all create this bizarre, impenetrable world and an uncomfortable atmosphere. I love it and it terrifies me at the same time.

The band Wilco used elements from "The Conet Project" in their songs on the album "yankee hotel foxtrot" to great effect.

I listened to a great documentary from the Radio 4 archives called "Tracking the Lincolnshire Poacher". It spoke with the people obsessively tuning into these frequencies, discovering and recording the number stations and also some people with slightly privileged knowledge that might know something about their origins and purpose. The documentary itself was inconclusive on what they were, but the general consensus seemed to be that the stations were for sending coded messages to people "in the field". Spies and such. The most interesting thing is that no one really knows.

It was a well produced documentary that used the sounds of these number stations in the backgrounds of conversations and often snippets of them could be heard in between bits of dialogue. I thought it was a pretty great effect and the part where they did a live recording of someone obsessed with number stations actually finding a new one that he hadn't heard before was extremely exciting.

The short-wave radio weirdness doesn't stop at number stations either. There are many odd transmission coming out of places like Russia. A particularly fascinating one is UVB-76 which features a short monotonous buzz-tone repeating at a rate of 25 times per minute 24 hours a day. It has been observed doing this since 1982. And what's more incredible is that a few times (only a handful of times) there has been voices heard on the station. These include a woman reading out numbers and names in Russian much like on a numbers station and overheard conversations in the background since these monotonous tones are actually broadcast using a microphone. The whole thing is crazy!

I think the main reason I like number stations so much is because it is so difficult for anything to scare me or creep me out these days. I enjoy the tension and atmosphere of horror films and the like, but they don't really scare me. They rarely get under my skin. Stuff like this, though, does and I love it. I see a lot of potential there. If I could find some way to create the feeling of unease I get from listening to these number stations through my own recordings and sound designs I would be very happy with myself. It's quite an ambition of mine.

Also just the concept of number stations is pretty rad.

Les Lazarowitz - Sound Designer

Since I watched Taxi Driver last night I decided to look up the sound designer for the film. Turns out he's been nominated for two oscars for best sound for Raging Bull (which does have fantastic sound) and Tootsie (which I have't seen, but I think is set in New York like Taxi Driver).

Also found out some interesting stuff, like he was an apparently uncredited boom operator for the first Godfather film and worked as a sound designer on notable films such as Saturday Night Fever, Carlito's Way and Groundhog Day...also The Muppets Take Manhattan.

Great stuff!

Taxi Driver

Wow. That movie was pretty intense. When it started I was paying attention to the sound and got a little worried that I wouldn't have much to say about it. By the end I knew I'd have plenty. The film is actually very clever in how it uses sound, particularly atmos recordings of New York.

At the start of the film Travis is relatively well adjusted and normal and the traffic noise and general atmosphere we hear is fairly standard for this type of film. Being New York everything is a little louder and more hectic, but nothing too noticeable. However as the film progressed I found myself noticing how loud the background noise was more and more. Sometimes to the point where it almost drowned out the dialogue. As Travis unravels the noise becomes almost unbearable and we empathize with him living in this loud, crazy place.

There are a few stand-out moments in terms of sound. A couple that stood out to me are a scene where Travis is talking to other cab drivers in a café. He makes a glass of alka-seltzer and the fizzing of the glass starts to drown everything else out until all we can hear is that and some muffled voices. A clear metaphor for the way travis' instability is bubbling up to the surface and drowning everything else out. Another moment is when he takes Iris up into a sleazy hotel to talk to her. A siren that is part of the background noise gets louder and louder as the camera pans up this building. It's a horrific, piercing sound and just makes you uneasy. It feels almost as if this is what's happening in his head.

Overall I really, really enjoyed the film and thought it's use of sound (as well as just about everything else) was pretty astounding. The recordings of traffic noise in particular are very well done and suit the atmosphere of the film perfectly. The musical soundtrack is also quite interesting. Simultaneously invoking New York and the jazz music that we might associate with the city and also a darker, less stable underbelly.

Sound Safari

We were given microphones and we went out and RECORDED. Something I should do far more often. I tend to think too much and not get my hands dirty. It's always been a problem of mine.

Either way, we chose from a variety of microphones such as a stereo mic (the RODE NT) or a tie-clip mic. I chose a hydrophone/contact mic because I have a fascination with recording things that we don't normally hear. In hindsight I probably should have chosen one of the other microphones since I had actually played with the contact mic a few times before, but I do just love it so.

In the end I didn't actually manage to get many good recordings. The good ones that I did get where of the underwater pools at the Peace Gardens. Moving closer to the waterfalls showed how different locations in the water really provide a very different sound. My favourite recording (before I was annoyingly told to move on by the gallery staff) was of the escalator at the Millennium Galleries with the contact microphone. It created a fantastic rhythmic sound that I can actually imagine a million uses for. From music to atmos.

Another interesting recording I made was of a power supply box near the crucible. It was a great example of how there are all kinds of interesting sounds hidden away that we don't normally hear. When I placed the contact mic against certain parts of the big green metal box I could hear the buzzing and rumbling inside. It was like a secret world I've never entered before.

Equalization

Learning about equalization was definitely a useful boost to my skills as a sound designer. I had certainly attempted to teach myself some the the necessary techniques in order to do the sound for the drama project last year, but really I wish I had had this tutorial before then.

Learning simple things such as the curve to put on the equalizer before even starting to mess with the sound in order to make the sound less noisy was something I didn't know about. As was boosting frequencies in order to isolate unwanted hisses or hums and then remove them.

We looked at some pretty interesting clips that served as good examples of the importance of equalization. The one I particularly enjoyed was Lost Highway (which I desperately need to see now) due to its more surreal approach. I loved the way the music cut out in order to focus on the strange conversation between a character and what I can only assume is the Devil. Looking at the way the music changes between rooms and analysing what background noise is used and how its used is a great way to look at movies and hone my senses for that kind of thing.

I am very much looking forward to actually exploring the range of effects that equalization can offer. We merely scratched the surface in the session and I'm itching to push it further with my first project.

Sound in Video Games

The more I work with sound recording and editing for visual media, the more attuned my ears become, listening out for these things in the media that I consume and perhaps trying to consider how well those sounds fit in their places and how they might have been made. An area which I have been particularly fascinated with lately is videogames.

I consider making sound perfect in a film to be a very involved and, sometimes, difficult process and so when I think of what it must be like to implement sound in an interactive environment my head starts to spin a little. How can you get the perfect sound for a sword clashing, or a gun going off that can be viewed from any angle in a hundred different contexts? How do you create an aurally living and breathing world for the player to explore and believe? Elements such as when music cues are triggered and the repetition of sound effects in the games that I play are things that I occasionally obsess over and it is mind-boggling how much work must go into this stuff.

I have been playing a game called Assassin's Creed III lately. An interesting element of this game is it's period setting: The American War of Independence. The game tries to faithfully recreate cities and battles and even wilderness areas from the era. Visually I believe they do a good job, but this is perhaps easier (though no less time consuming) as they do have art and records to go from. However the sound that they are trying to re-create has no record. How do you really know what the timbre of 18th century Boston was like? You can't. This is extremely interesting. It is fascinating to walk around and just listen to the layers upon layers of effects that the sound designers have decided to put in there. It certainly feels like the 18th century ought to, to someone who has, obviously, never visited that time period. And each sound has it's own place in the world. I walk towards something and it gets louder. The sound of that wolf growling in the bushes alerts me to its presence. I can find where it is by following the sound, just like in real life. Making this stuff feel authentic is quite a staggering feat and they do an extremely good job.

But there are also issues. The sound designers are limited by a number of factors such as time, space on the disc and what is realistically possible with the technology. If you walk around a town long enough you will hear the same lines of dialogue repeated. Same when you get into fights. Sometimes I will stand still and just listen to the sounds my character makes when he wields his weapon. I can hear the same exact sound effect play again and again and it can be slightly distracting. The sound of the crunching snow as I wade through it is fantastic, but if I listen really carefully I can hear that repetition. These are issues you don't necessarily have when making a film. You won't have someone exploring beyond what is deliberately shown on screen. The level of control is so much higher.

The idea of working on video games certainly appeals to me. I think the potential for innovation and sheer scope of everything can be way beyond film. However, there are these large issues of a lack of control over what the player actually can see and hear that are very hard issues to address. These issues do make it much more difficult to create a fully believable world like the ones we maybe see much more in well made films.

Soundwalkers - Raquel Castro

Soundwalkers was not quite what I expected. Rather than a documentary about sound recording it was a documentary simply about sound and noise. I found this pretty refreshing and parts were definitely eye (or ear) opening. It was essentially a collection of clips from interviews with people involved with sound. Some of them involved in fairly expected ways (sound artists or recordists) and some in more abstract ways (sound physicists and a sound advisor for the Mayor of London). I definitely found the more abstract interviews to be more interesting simply because I had not thought about these people and what they might have to say on the subject of sound before. The man who acts as a sort of noise pollution advisor for the Mayor of London was particularly interesting. What he had to say wasn't perhaps the most interesting, but I found his perspective and job title to be wonderful. He essentially works to attempt to make the constant flow of noise generated in the city more "harmonious" to the inhabitants.

The documentary was not perfect. To me it felt a little over the top in places. Particularly its use of sound effects. I understand that it's a documentary about sound and opening our ears a little more, but the use of sound recordings was excessive and bordered on parody to me. I get that sound recordists want to show off these wonderful recordings they've made, but in a lot of cases they felt out of context with the images on screen and it didn't create a desirable effect to me as a viewer. I also thought some of the excessive editing was a little silly. Random colour changes and quick cuts. That said a few sequences in the film were extremely effective. There's a section around the middle where a man is describing how society and its sound is becoming more machine-like and as he speaks faster and faster the images and sounds build up in a really interesting way that I thought was very effective.

In the end though it is what these people actually had to say that left the biggest impression on me. I am definitely a person who sometimes just loves to stop and listen to the world and produce sounds, but perhaps I don't do it or think about it enough. I particularly liked one man's statement: "Sound is everything I hear. Noise is also everything I hear, but a bit more disorganized. Silence is everything I want to hear, but I can't."

Pi

For my first project I've decided to add sound to a clip from Darren Aronofsky's 1998 film "Pi". I have yet to see this film, but I am a huge fan of Aronofsky's having seen Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Black Swan and I adored all three of them.

The reason I chose this scene out of the five available is that I saw it as the most interesting sonically. I can see masses of potential with this man alone in his weird room full of odd equipment fiddling with screws and computers. A major reason for me selecting this scene is that my boyfriend recently bought an expensive mechanical keyboard and it just makes the most amazing keyboard sound I have ever heard. There are shots of a man hitting keys on a keyboard over and over again and I think that I can get an excellent recording to go along with this.

I also think it will be fairly challenging. Deciding what atmos to use and adding chair squeaks and machinery fiddling sounds will not necessarily be easy, but I love the look of the scene and I'm thinking it'll be a lot of fun.

Diego Stocco

Diego Stocco is an Italian composer who has worked on TV, movies and video games (the three main areas that I am interested in working on).
I find him particularly interesting because he likes to create his own instruments and then use them in interesting ways.

Having a look at his work and how he goes about this stuff definitely applies to what I'm hoping to get out of doing sound at uni. I'm very interested in soundtracks as I love composing music, but also just seeing the different sounds he creates by re purposing instruments or even bins and trees is pretty inspiring.