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2020: A Sound Designer’s Year In Review 

 

Today is November 7, 2020.  I always like to do a “year in review” for my last blog of the year, and I had every intention of starting that blog yesterday, but I couldn’t.  Think back to that week, and I’ll bet you can remember why.  It’s been a very hard year, friends.  The weight of yesterday had me only thinking of the past year in terms of the pandemic, unemployment, racism, division, violence, and lies, but today is November 7, and I’m feeling a sense of renewal.  A weight has been lifted, and I can look at the past year from a different perspective.  A more positive perspective.  Ok, I’m not trying to brush anything that has happened aside and put a Mary Tyler Moore spin on the year.  It’s been rough, and we still have much work to get done.  I just think that, for the sake of all of our mental health, it’s important to recognize some of the good that has come out of this chaos.  For me, many of those moments exist in my professional life.

EDI TRAINING

Probably the most impactful part of this year for me, professionally, has been all of the training in equity, diversity, and inclusion that has come about in the wake of the BLM movement.  This type of work may have always existed in some kind of generic HR packaging, but this year it became specific, meaningful, and blunt.  I’ve been involved with many of these discussions through the TSDCA, SoundGirls, and USITT to name a few, but organizations worldwide are doing their part as well.  I’ve met so many great people through these discussions and I’ve been turned on to new ideas and concepts that will help me be an ally, an advocate, and an accomplice.  Theatres around the country have been doing this work and publishing their promises.  They want to be held accountable by the public, and I’m hoping that all of this training and other efforts will launch us into a more equitable community that continues to call out and call in its members to keep the conversation, and more importantly, keep the positive momentum going.

REMOTE COLLABORATION

If nothing else, we have all learned some new skills that allow us to continue working together when we cannot be physically together.  The TSDCA annual meeting was one of the first examples of this for me.  For a whole week in June, the TSDCA held seminars, training sessions, EDI discussions, and collaboration projects over Zoom, a process that would generally be done live.  I collaborated with two Sound Designers I had never worked with before, one in Chicago, one in the DC area, and I’m in California.  For our TSDCA creative challenge, we worked together on building some really fun and interactive tools to help teach and explain Sound Design.  After the challenge was complete and our presentation was given, we still decided to stick together and continue developing this project, truly an experience I would not have had in a “normal times” situation.  I have also taught classes remotely, introducing new concepts about how to improve factors like latency, audio quality, and bandwidth.  The generation that is training or in school during this time is going to be so well equipped with a new bundle of information and skills that many of us have probably never even considered before the pandemic hit.

COMMUNITY

This has been a big one for us.  Collectively and literally around the world, entertainment industry workers were forced to a screeching halt.  For me, it’s been 8 months without steady work.  The worst part is trying to explain this position to the “just get another job” crowd.  Many of us are unemployment for the first time, and navigating this jam-packed and difficult-to-understand resource is a source of much anxiety for me.  Not knowing where my next dollar is coming from and not being able to commiserate about it with like-minded people was, frankly, just really depressing.  Then came the hangouts, happy hours, and other social Zoom Rooms.  If you would have asked me a year ago to sit in front of my computer while other folks stare back at me on their computers, I gotta be honest and say that would be a hard pass, but out of necessity, I tried it.  I liked it.  And sometimes I really need it.  Fellowship during dark times is so important, and not only have I met so many new people that I can honestly call my friends now, I’ve added some really great contacts to my professional network.  It’s really possible that some of these people would not have been in my network otherwise, and I’m just really grateful for those connections.

All in all, 2020 has been one of the most emotional, confusing, and trying years of my, and probably all of our lives, but one thing I know is that pain brings courage, necessity breeds creativity, and to quote my favorite lady of country music, Dolly Parton, “Storms make trees take deeper roots.”  I don’t know if that last part is scientifically true, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same.  The most important thing is that we’ve made it this far, and we will help each other through to the other side.  Remember to rest when you are tired, and reach out when you are lonely.  I hope the holidays treat everyone well, and I hope we all arrive in 2021 rejuvenated, renewed, and reenergized.  I’ll see you there.

 

Ballad to the North Wind Project

To Inspire and Empower more Women in Music.

The Ballad to the North Wind multi-media package brings unity, empowerment, story tell and women in music together for a glorious celebration!

Ballad to the North Wind is a duel project spearheaded by Israelian composer, guitarist, music producer, audio engineer, and author Liz Barak. With the pursuit and goal of telling stories through music and helping bring more equality in the music industry, Liz set out to make the Ballad to the North Wind project to inspire and empower more women in music.

The project is creative and expansive, consisting of a fictional book and a music album with 7 covers of songs with the collaboration of over 40 different female musicians around the globe and one original song (“Ballad to the North Wind” which was composed by Barak). Ballad to the North Wind carries intrigue, artistic flavors, and exotic tastes going from covering Eric Clapton’s ‘Layla’ (which consists of 10 virtuoso female e-guitarist from all over the world) to a cover ‘Hallelujah’ (which features Grammy-nominated singer Nicole Zuraitis) as well as a cover of the ‘Little Mermaid’ (featuring world-renown opera singer Wallis Giunta). The book portion is the fictional story of Layla Nueman. An Israeli singer-songwriter-guitarist who moved to London during the late ’90s to pursue her dreams and escape her past. She meets at a festival a Scottish man, Erik, who is 20 years older than her and falls madly in love with him. 25 years later she walks into a restaurant in east London with her husband and daughter and runs into him there. It’s a story about music, writing music, festivals, juggling, fire and regret.

Ballad to the North Wind is the perfect example of what artists of today’s climate should be striving and reaching for. Creating music and art that’s meaningful, thoughtful and more than musicians standing on stage playing their music in ripped jeans and a t-shirt. In this day and age, an artist must be visionary, brand minded as well as bring people together from everywhere for great causes and give out uplifting messages.

Ballad to the North Wind The album is available for download on all platforms and the book is now available on all Amazon stores.

Learn and read more about the project and the participants here: www.lizbaraksproject.com

Liz currently works as a Producer at her home studio and resides in Kfar Vradim, an artist village in the Galilee mountains where she teaches music and music production at a local college. She also was FOH for Germany’s biggest circus, Circus Roncalli, and has a Composition/Music Production bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston and a Contemporary Composition degree from the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem.

Guest Blog By Vanessa Silberman is an international touring singer, guitarist, songwriter and record producer from Brooklyn, NY (via Los Angeles, CA). She also runs an artist development label called A Diamond Heart Production (adiamondheartproduction.com) and is the East Coast A&R Director for New High Recordings.

Vanessa’s live shows and music has been compared to the raw bare bones rock ‘n roll of Nirvana along with the appeal of Liz Phair and Chrissie Hynde, authenticity of classic artists such as Patti Smith and Neil Young mixed with the pop sensibilities of commercial radio artists such as Green Day and Metric.

Widely known for having a very strong DIY ethic and wearing many different hats in the music business —is the past Vanessa has worked for heavy hitter’s in the music business such as Producer / Songwriter Dr.Luke as well as for many companies and places ranging from the Foo Fighter’s Studio 606 to Epitaph Records.

Audiofemme.com named the touring singer and guitarist one of the hardest working bands of 2019, 2018 as well as 2017 (as she managed to play over 200 shows that year alone). Vanessa has done over 20 tours between 2015-2020 and played over 800 shows across the U.S. as well as in the UK and Europe supporting 2 EP’s (Brighter in Bloom & self-titled) and various singles released through her label, a 7” through Resurrection Records / ADHP as well as a cassette released by ADHP.

Frankenbass

 

Several years ago my husband was stationed in Afghanistan.  He rescued a sad, abandoned bass tagged with a stencil of his unit and brought it home to me, disassembled.   To the best of my abilities, I attached the neck to the body and checked it for signs of neglect.  Its pickups were not secured to the body of the bass at all, and shaking the bass caused the worst maraca sound.  I was afraid to even plug it into an amp.  Besides the electronics, it was in decent shape and was playable.  I decided that this bass would be my “frankenbass.”  A monster I would experiment with, and hopefully bring it inner peace.

When I finally gathered the courage to plug into the amp, it sounded muddy, but not broken.  A slight hum from unshielded electronics only became annoying when using the tone knob.  Still, I decided that the way forward was through shielding the cavity and pickguard and replacing the pickups.  The design of this Silvertone, serial number-less instrument was influenced by the Fender Precision Bass, and my musical style often intersects with Motown, therefore I opted for 60’s replica P-bass split pickups.  More specifically, a demo model to fit my budget.

Before shielding the bass, I cleaned the electronics with rubbing alcohol.  Fortunately, the routing within the cavity was not so rough that it needed much sanding.  I started with the back of the pickguard to warm up.  Applying the copper shielding reminded me of middle school, peeling the foil off of gum wrappers to cover folders and using an eraser to buff out the wrinkles.  Side note:  I was not much of a gum chewer in middle school.  Per some internet advice, I had an Exacto knife and a rubber bouncy ball to help me with cutting and buffing the shielding.  I also used a good portion of my vocabulary while peeling the backing off the copper, as it loves to curl on itself.  Good thing I started with the shielding because that was the hardest part.

Compared with shielding, replacing the pickups was a breeze.  I clipped the wires of the old pickups (yellow for hot, black for ground), then soldered the new wires (white for hot, black for ground) in their place.  The new pickup covers did not match the pickguard cutouts, so I kept the old ones (which means I didn’t bother to get a pic of everything assembled, as it looks the same as the before photo).  Slap on some new strings and get to slapping.  When I plugged in the frankenbass, I heard a beautiful sound:  silence!  No hum!  The shielding worked.  After turning up the volume, I was greeted by the warm tone that I wanted.  Bright and clear, warm and round.  It’s alive!  It’s alive!  It’s ALIVE!  Best feeling ever.

Overview of Music and Audio Software Programs

 

The coronavirus pandemic has brought new ways of working and creating remotely, with many music and audio companies offering free or reduced prices for their products. Whether you’re looking to experiment, diversify your software knowledge, or get started with a new DAW, here are some of the best free and professional standard programs on the market.

Best for music and audio production beginners

GarageBand is a fantastic Mac program that is great for both dialogue and music production beginners to learn how to start working in a DAW as it’s user-friendly, intuitive and clear. The layout for tracks, instruments, and plugins ensure that users can easily see and follow their audio or instrument tracks, effects rack and project layout without any complicated navigation. Recording and editing audio files are straightforward and pleasant thanks to the simplicity of the program – all of your commands take just a few clicks.

Another element that makes GarageBand great for beginners is the sample library of loops, software instrument sounds, and features like the virtual “Drummer”, which is a way of creating original beats for those who are unfamiliar with the conventions of the instrument or music theory rules. GarageBand is free for Mac users and is the perfect gateway DAW for those getting started in the worlds of audio and music production and editing.

The pros: It’s free, super easy to get started and is a great foundation for learning music and audio production.

The cons: It’s hard to find many downsides, although for professional music production users will eventually outgrow GarageBand and need to upgrade to a DAW capable of more.

Best for music and audio production at the next level

Logic the natural progression after mastering GarageBand as it’s the perfect stepping stone to understanding this Mac-based software. The standard of Logic is professional, yet the layout and features are similar to GarageBand, so it makes moving to Logic rather nice and not too overwhelming when learning the differences between the two. Music and audio recording and editing is intuitive and user-friendly, and the latest update of Logic has a tonne of improvements including more realistic MIDI articulations and expression settings, a better Sampler, and even more in the updated sound library. Although Logic is not a music notation program, the score function works remarkably well with MIDI instruments and can be easily edited to a simple standard.

Logic Pro X costs 200 GBP or USD and there’s the option to trial the software for 90 days, which is a nice touch to try before you buy! Apple has even provided a guide for those transitioning from GarageBand to Logic here: https://www.apple.com/uk/logic-pro/garageband-to-logic/

The pros: The free trial and reasonable price tag makes Logic an attractive option for music production and audio editing in general. It’s accessible and versatile, whether composing, arranging, recording, mixing and mastering, Logic can do it all.

The cons: The main con of Logic Pro is that many professionals and job studios cite Pro Tools as their preferred DAW of choice. If you can master Logic, then adding Pro Tools to your skillset should be a long-term but realistic goal of where to aim next.

Best for dialogue beginners

Audacity is a free multi-track audio editing program that is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux. The main benefit of using Audacity is that it’s a simple workstation that allows for easy destructive editing of audio files and easy conversion, which is a bonus for most. The spectral display is a visual godsend for any dialogue editor, and this feature alone boosts the credibility of Audacity as a free program.

The pros: Audacity is free and capable of holding its own when it comes to an audio editing program for beginners and beyond. This software is fine for basic editing and is an excellent option for podcasts or simple audio editing to a decent standard.

The cons: The only option of destructive editing could be limiting in the long term, however, if this is the method that users learn to work with then it can be utilised.

Best for professional quality dialogue

Adobe Audition is a program for audio editing to broadcast standards for film, television, or radio. It’s intuitive enough for absolute beginners to work with quickly and easily with no prior knowledge of DAW’s. The quality of Audition makes cuts and editing tasks seamless and takes care of crossfades without any fuss.

The spectral display is of very high quality and highlights even the tiniest detail to assist the editing process. While this program could be used for music, personally I would opt for Logic or Pro Tools for music, and stick to dialogue editing with Audition. The effects racks can be used in much the same way as with most traditional music editing software, or effects and changes can be made to entire audio files or snippets depending on your preference and needs.

The pros: Audition makes audio editing unbelievably quick and easy, and brings this to users in an accessible way, whether seasoned professionals or just starting out.

The cons: With a professional-quality program comes a price tag – Adobe Audition is available on a subscription basis, which works out at just under £240 annually. Depending on whether you use other Adobe products, this can be combined for a better deal.

Best for music notation beginners

MuseScore is a free music notation scoring program that works on both Mac and Windows. It’s remarkably well-rounded for free software and doesn’t feel like it lacks any features of a pricier option. It’s built to meet the needs of composers, arrangers, hobbyists, professionals and teachers, and can handle different instruments, clefs and directions, and also has decent playback quality. MIDI and MusicXML export options are notable highlights, as is the option for keyboard MIDI input.

The pros: MuseScore has everything that users need when working with music notation. This program could be used from beginner to pro, and everything in between. For usability, MuseScore is on a par with other programs and is very similar in terms of what they offer. If there’s no urgency to upgrade, MuseScore would be the notation software of choice to see you through.

The cons: The playback sounds for some instruments aren’t the best, but if you can get over this and hear the notes over the sounds, there really aren’t many drawbacks to using MuseScore.

Best for professional quality music notation and scoring

Finale is the standout for industry-standard music notation software. It is the professional’s choice for taking care of everything from creation to publishing when it comes to sheet music. The playback sounds are as high as you would expect, though the price tag reflects all the elements Finale offers: the full version costs $600, while there are streamlined versions with fewer features for $120 on Windows. The full version as well as the 30-day free trial are compatible on both Windows and Mac.

The pros: The quality really is across the board with Finale, and as with some of the other software programs previously mentioned, there’s an expectation that professionals will be adept with the industry standard.

The cons: The price tag is the steepest in terms of bulk one-time payments, however, the 30-day trial can be fully utilised before you take the plunge and commit.

Goodbye for now!

 

This will sadly be my final blog. Thank you to anyone that has read, responded, or contacted me through my radio channels and email. I have written for many different publications throughout my time at school, uni and now working life. I’ve always wanted to blog but knew I would never keep it up if I ventured it on my own, ie. starting my own site or YouTube channel for that matter. Being held accountable to such an inspiring team has made it easy to feel motivated and willing to write for readers each month as well as everyone else that contributes. I am proud to have been part of such a fun project!

I have always incorporated music and blogging into my academic life. My dissertation included lots of audio interviews and links out to my Soundcloud and Mixcloud pages. I also still have my BBC recording equipment ready for when I next feel inspired to create a podcast. We are all probably looking forward to listening to more music as the nights get cooler and cozy nights in are the way forward. Even blogging as a whole in the industry has been making a relative comeback, across beauty, music, tech and everything in-between! We are also seeing a new podcast launch every minute which can only be a good thing.

The lack of live music at the moment can at least be replaced creatively by musicians going live on Instagram or YouTube, interacting with viewers, and making sure their music lives on. I was lucky enough to attend the outdoor venue in Newcastle earlier in the year to see ABBA and Beatles tribute acts which was so much fun. I do hope outdoor, spaced-out, less crowded venues are the way forward. The industry now needs to look at new ways to be seen, whether that be on social media platforms or back to old school via newspapers and magazines, it will always be an area that is growing as people look for more forms of entertainment.

I know I currently have endless lists of TV shows and films to watch as well as classic albums and new podcasts. As long as we keep creating, we keep listening! Best of luck to everyone for 2021, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you on another blog somewhere in the future most likely.

We Need Help

It is now October 28th, 2020. Aside from unemployment benefits, I have had no income at all since my last show on March 7th, 2020. The amount I get from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance has fallen to $235 a week before taxes – not even enough to cover my rent, let alone food and other living expenses, and it looks like no further economic stimulus is on the way. Many of my old coworkers have taken grocery store jobs or are driving for delivery services to make ends meet. I myself am about to start a temporary part-time job. It barely covers my expenses, but after eight months of nonstop job applications, I have to take what I can get. Some of the event workers, especially those of us who are less established, are starting to doubt whether we will be able to return to our jobs when live performances finally return.

Full-time audio engineering is something I have worked eight years for. Finally finished with my electrical engineering degree, I had planned to spend this year pursuing audio engineering full-time and prove to myself that I really could make a living with it. Until the pandemic hit, it looked like I would succeed.

Unfortunately, when discussing my situation with people, the reactions I have gotten are not exactly sensitive. Variations of “Wow, must be nice, I wish I could be on vacation like that” and “Well, now you can go and get a ‘real’ job instead of chasing your hobbies” have been a constant refrain since the pandemic began. I’d like to give these statements some perspective.

To start: we have not been on vacation. We have not been coasting. Sure, having the time off was a welcome change for a couple of weeks, but nobody I know has been treating eight months of unemployment and an unknown return-to-work date that moves farther back every day as a vacation. We have been worrying about how to pay our rents, mortgages, utilities, find health insurance, protect ourselves and our loved ones, and still put food on the table somehow. We have been grieving the sudden loss of the careers we have spent years and maybe even decades in. We have been applying to jobs for months without success or have had heavy discussions with our family and roommates weighing making money against the risk of catching and bringing home COVID-19.

More importantly, our jobs are not hobbies. We are highly skilled professionals who have worked hard to get where we are, and most of our jobs cannot be done seriously on the side. Working days that tend to fall anywhere between 10 and 18 hours, usually in a row, is not a hobby. Living with minimal health insurance, or none at all is not a hobby. Managing mental health on the road is not a hobby.

A career in the arts is a legitimate career

Many of my music-loving friends are itching to go to concerts again. But I think what they don’t realize is the extent of the damage that the pandemic is doing to the entire entertainment industry. It’s not just independent music venues that are at risk of closing – they are just one small part. It’s the whole ecosystem that inspires people to get onstage and allows artists to go from playing house shows to playing local, regional, national, and international stages that are about to collapse. This includes the production companies that rent audio and lighting equipment out for tours and festivals. This includes the bus companies and drivers that make bigger tours literally go. This includes the bookers, promoters, and artist management organizations that set touring schedules and keep talent circulating. The small amount of economic stimulus that was doled out to these sectors at the beginning of the pandemic ran out long ago, and the entire event ecosystem is struggling. Many closures have already happened.

Refusing to value the arts not only damages the culture and identity of a city, but it also removes revenue from the industries that are interlocked with the events industry like tourism, hospitality, nightlife and restaurants.

One of the last shows I worked on came at the end of February. It was a sold-out three-night run of Death Cab For Cutie hosted by The Showbox, one of Seattle’s most iconic music venues. It was incredibly impactful to see a homegrown Pacific Northwest band come back to play three intimate shows in a city that has gentrified immensely since they first shot to fame. It felt like a piece of old Seattle had been resurrected, if only for a few hours. But it also felt bittersweet. The land the Showbox sits on was recently sold to a developer intent on replacing it with luxury apartments. The possibility that this kind of homecoming might never happen again in that venue, that maybe six months later the Showbox might just be another construction site downtown, hung over the room. This is the same future many venues around the country now find themselves trying to avoid. Without help, the structure that allowed a night like this to happen and the pathways that led this band full circle will no longer exist.

This is where you come in. Write your local, state, and federal officials demanding relief for the arts, and keep writing. Participate in social media campaigns and use whatever platforms you have to speak out. If you know a band or artist that might use their platform to speak out, ask them! Buy music and merch from bands — with shows gone, that is the only source of income for a lot of musicians right now. If you have the means, donate to relief funds and the organizations that are fighting to keep our stages lit. We need you.

Get Involved:

National:

We Make Events – www.wemakeevents.org

National Independent Venue Association – www.nivassoc.org

Live Events Coalition – www.liveeventscoalition.org

MusiCares – www.grammy.com/musicares

Extend PUA — www.extendpua.org

Washington State:

Keep Music Live Washington – www.keepmusiclivewa.com

Washington Nightlife Music Association – www.wanma.info

Save the Showbox – www.savetheshowbox.com

 

 

How to Use iPhone Synth Apps in Logic Pro X

 

Synths are one of my favourite things to use when creating a track or soundscape and they can help you experiment with different sounds. However, the downfalls are they’re not cheap and can often take up a lot of space in your studio. Luckily I have found a solution after experimenting with different synth apps designed for smartphones.

When I started playing around with the Minimoog Model D I loved the idea of a Moog Synth being able to fit in the palm of my hand. However, I wanted to record it into the tracks I was making but wasn’t sure how. But, I believe I have found the solution.

For this, I used my iPhone, the lightning to USB charging Cable, and my iMac running Logic.

To start off with I plugged my iPhone into the iMac using the lightning to USB charging cable. I then went into the Audio/Midi settings on the iMac and Enabled my iPhone to be recognised as a device.

I then opened the Minimoog app on the iPhone and configured the input and output settings to IDAM MIDI Host.

I then opened Logic and created an external MIDI track and made sure the Use External Instrument Plug-In was checked and the Audio Input device selected was ‘iPhone’. You also want the MIDI Destination to be the iPhone as well. Then hit Create.

You should now be able to hear and play your iPhone Synth app in Logic.

Using this is a great way to experiment with Synth sounds and is a fantastic solution if you want a portable Synth in your pocket. Happy creating.

 

 

Lunch and Learn: Phasing

The latest gear and hottest plugins are regularly trendy topics of discussion in the sound community. But for this week’s blog post, I’m going old-school and throwing it all the way back to good ol’ PHASING! (Hold for applause)

Now, I bet you are thinking to yourself, “What is phasing exactly?” or perhaps “How does it apply in the real world?”, and most importantly “Do I even need to know this?!” Well, you’re about to find out…

WHAT IS PHASING?

Phasing is timing differences when combining identical audio signals and is usually the result of delay between multiple signals. Phasing can have a noticeable effect on the sound quality of your audio, and it comes up in all kinds of productions like recording, sampling, and live shows. Phasing has the potential to leave your tracks sounding thin and “not quite right”. However, you can also use phasing to your advantage, and you can utilize it in a handful of interesting ways!

WHEN IS PHASING BAD?

The most common scenario where phasing can be a nuisance is when it comes to phase cancellation. In the real world, we hardly ever hear pure sine waves, but to make understanding phase cancellation easy, I am going to use sine waves as an example.

The basic description of phase cancellation is when you have the waves of two or more signals out of phase with each other. When the wave on one signal is at its peak, the other is simultaneously in a trough. Because the peaks and troughs are out of sync, they work against each other rather than supporting each other. The frequencies are cancelled out and, acoustically, it causes a weak sound.

In Phase

In Phase

Out of Phase

Out of Phase

The place you’ll most likely to run into the nuisance of phasing is in a recording environment, especially one with multiple microphones. For the sake of example, I’m going to focus our attention on recording a drum kit. Consider even a single snare drum, miced from both above and below. Since the top and bottom heads of the drum are usually moving in opposing motions, the two mics can record signals that are directly out of phase. Now factor in a mic on the bass drum, hi-hat, and multiple overheads, and you have a set up ripe for phase issues.

When recording with multiple mics, a quick and easy solution is the 3:1 Rule of Mic Placement. When using two microphones to record a source, try placing the second mic three times the distance from the first mic, as the first mic is from the source. So if the first mic is one foot from a source, the second mic should be placed three feet from the second mic. Using this simple 3:1 rule can minimize phase problems created by the time delay between mics.

Sometimes, the problem doesn’t show itself until you’re mixing. In that case, you can usually pull the tracks up in your DAW, zoom in close on their waveforms, and slightly nudge one track just a bit. You’d be amazed what a difference just moving a track by one or two milliseconds can make. Check out this detailed video tutorial to learn how to align waveforms in Protools:

 

 

There are also some very effective phase alignment plug-ins on the market that can clean things up. You can check out ones that I find helpful below:

Waves InPhase captures audio enabling users to time-align clips quickly with a phase correlation meter making it easier to use. InPhase does exactly what it says it does, but some skill is required to get the most out of it as the controls are comprehensive.

Eventide Precision Time Align can be used with mono and stereo formats and includes phase invert and control over volume. There is also a neat distance control, meaning users can enter actual measurements in feet or meters.

You can also try inverting phase using Protools built-in invert. This plugin’s only purpose is to invert audio waveforms. You can find it built into your Protools Audio Suite.

You can see in the examples below a before and after of the waveforms. The first picture the waveforms are in phase. In the second image, the bottom track’s waveforms have been inverted:

Screen Shot 2020-11-03 at 11.39.10 AM.png
Screen Shot 2020-11-03 at 11.39.38 AM.png

WHEN CAN PHASING BE USED TO YOUR ADVANTAGE?

Aside from fixing phase issues, you can occasionally use phasing to your advantage! There are a handful of fun audio tricks out there to try, but here are two that, although simple, I think are pretty neat!

The “Out Of Speaker” Trick
This trick is incredibly simple — All you need to do is invert the phase of either the left or right channel of a stereo file! On speakers, the sound will appear to come from somewhere outside the speakers and envelop the listener. However, there are a couple of downsides to this trick. First, it only works on speakers and is most pronounced only when the listener is centered in the speaker’s “sweet spot”. You will not have the same effect if wearing headphones. The second downside is that if your stereo track is summed to mono, it will completely disappear due to the left and right channel cancelling each other out……which is the perfect segway to my next phasing trick!

Phase Cancellation Tricks
The first example is if you have a film or television mix and you want to create an M&E only track. If you have the isolated dialogue track, you can invert it and play it against your full mix. The inverted dialogue track will cancel out the dialogue in the full mix, and you will be left with a mix that includes only your music and effects. The second example is similar but with a music mix. If you ever want to make an instrumental track from a full mix, you can take the isolated vocals and invert. When played against the full mix, you’ll be left with an instrumental track!

WRITTEN BY BRAD MEYER

SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR, BOOM BOX POST

If you liked this blog you should also check out:
LUNCH AND LEARN: HOVER VEHICLE DESIGN
CREATING ALIEN VOCALS
FAULT BY UNFILTERED AUDIO: USING A SPECTRAL SHIFTER FOR SOUND DESIGN

 

Pittsburgh SoundGirls Present a Webinar on Freelancing

Please join our Pittsburgh SoundGirls Chapter for a Freelancing Webinar on Nov. 11th.

Learn how to manage your finances, networking and creating your own career.

Moderated by Carolyn Slothour and Laura Moeller

Panelists Include:

Devyn Caraballo:  Operates her own sound company & custom cables

Deborra Peelor: Lighting designer & lighting professor

Angela Baughman:  Sound designer & engineer

Elizabeth Andrews: Theatrical lighting designer

November 11 at 7 PM EST

Register Here

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