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Chelsea Body – Foley Mixer & Editor

 

Chelsea Body is a freelance Foley Mixer and Editor, working primarily with Footsteps Foley and Formosa Group (Toronto). Chelsea has been working in Foley for seven years and became a freelance engineer five years ago. Currently, she can be found working among the Foley teams on critically acclaimed productions such as ‘Dune (2021)’, ‘Women Talking (2022)’, and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale (2018)’.

Chelsea grew up taking classical piano lessons from age 10 and worked her way through the Royal Conservatory rudiments to a Grade 10 level. She now considers the bass as her main instrument, which she enjoys. She loved listening to music and going to concerts as a teenager and always admired the tech crew at live shows and thought that would be a really fun job. She attended Mohawk College and Fanshawe College, both in Ontario, Canada, and graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Applied Music from Mohawk College (2012), Diploma in Music Industry Arts from Fanshawe College (2014), and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Audio Post Production from Fanshawe (2015).

 

Career Start

How did you get your start?

At the end of college, I was offered a contract at Urban Post in Toronto doing Closed Captioning work. While it wasn’t specifically in my field, it was my first foot in the door and I took that opportunity to connect with the staff there and show my interest in audio. After a few months, they were looking for a new Foley recordist and they thought of me for the job. It was a night gig and a position I didn’t have much experience in but I jumped at it. I had such wonderful, supportive mentors there and I learned so much from everyone. After about two years, the time came for me to explore other studios and network with the broader Toronto community, and from there I went freelance as a Foley mixer and editor.

What did you learn interning, or on your early gigs?

I especially enjoyed my time working in a post house as I was able to jump between roles and projects. If Foley wasn’t busy, I would be editing a reality tv show or was able to take the time and sit in with a re-recording mixer, or an ADR session. Being in that environment, I was able to gain knowledge in many aspects of the post field which really helped me understand the wider process and how to better communicate with other colleagues along the pipeline of a project.

Career Now

What is a typical day like?

Footsteps is about an hour’s drive each way from home which isn’t ideal but I enjoy being in the city and having that escape to the countryside for work. We work a typical 8-hour day, though I often work longer to tidy things or finish up emails and scheduling. While my main role is Foley mixer and editor, I also manage the scheduling at Footsteps. We work as a team so I find time throughout the day when I can step aside to answer client emails and update our work schedule. We have a small, tight-knit crew there that’s extremely collaborative and I enjoy working in a team like that.

How do you stay organized and focused?

I guess I am somewhat organised even if it doesn’t feel that way sometimes! I do enjoy finding new tools to help me keep track of everything but it can be difficult to find software geared toward our field that does exactly what we need it to do. I still keep an old-school handwritten planner because I find it faster to jot things down than to open an app on my phone. Finding what works for you is important and planners that I can put stickers in make organising things more fun too!

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

Being able to work on a variety of projects is a real pleasure. One week we’ll have a drama, the next, a horror, and then a comedy. All of those genres require a different set of aesthetic and creative mindsets and I love the variability and challenge of jumping between them. Sound editors typically work on a job for weeks or months at a time while our timeline is much shorter in Foley, so we have the opportunity to create sounds for many different projects throughout the year.

What do you like least?

Sometimes the budgets we have to work with can be challenging. We always focus on the high quality of our work and that can be tough to manage when we’re on a tight timeline.

What is your favorite day off activity?

On my off days, I enjoy focusing on my hobbies which include yoga, sewing/crocheting, and playing bass in my band.

What are your long-term goals?

I still have a lot to learn and I’m looking forward to being able to do that. I would like to spend some time in different roles in the post field to have an even better, well-rounded knowledge of the work my colleagues do. I know that no matter what, so long as my work is in audio, I will be happy so I’m looking forward to a long career playing with sound.

What, if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I feel very fortunate and acknowledge the privileges I’ve had in my career so far. I think a big thing for me has been having the ability to say ‘yes’ to pretty well every opportunity that has come my way. I am so grateful for the mentors I’ve had who have helped guide me and I hope to extend that to the next generation of folks coming into the industry.

Advice you have for women and young women who wish to enter the field?

Say yes to those opportunities. Even if you doubt your ability, say yes and figure out how you’re going to manage it after. Apply for those jobs where you don’t think you quite qualify because you never know, you could be the best candidate. Don’t sell yourself short and be sure to ask for what you deserve. My golden rule is always “don’t be a dick”, that goes for everyone. If you’ve got a personality that people want to be around, that’s worth more than how much you know about compressors or the frequency response of every microphone.

Must have skills?

Unfortunately, you have to know ProTools for post-audio work. Every studio uses it – though some editors work with other DAWs, so long as you’re able to output what your supervisor or client needs from you.

For Foley recording, a good knowledge of different microphones is useful as well as recording techniques including compression and EQ.

Favorite gear?

Hardware:
TLM103
My ’92 Lake Placid Blue PBass

Software:
FabFilter Pro Q3 – I put that on EVERYTHING
Whatever the most current Izotope RX Suite is at the time (de-click gets the most use in my work)

*Huge thanks to my parents for sending me to piano lessons and listening to my sometimes painful practicing; for not getting upset when I said I wanted to go to music school; and for generally being super awesome and supportive.*

 

Fei Yu – Award-Winning Music Producer, Music Supervisor & Editor, and Recording Engineer

Fei Yu is a Chinese award-winning music producer, music supervisor, music editor, and recording engineer. Fei’s ability to seek education ahead of trends has helped her become a one-of-a-kind (in the world!) music & film industry professional. Fei has worked with elite Western artists and composers (Andrea Bocelli, Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, Matthew Margerson, Tyler Bates, Rupert Gregson-Williams) and popular Chinese artists (Lu Han, Li Yifeng).

Fei grew up playing piano and went to Beijing Film Academy to study composition and music recording. When she graduated in 2010, she was recruited by the China Film Group. “I was really lucky because 2010 was a big, big Chinese movie year. China Film Group is a national company, and so all of the big movies at the time that they invested in were doing the post-production in our company at that time. From that year, the Chinese box office started booming – double, triple numbers,” she says.

Fei says of the three years she worked there, “I met with so many directors, so that’s how I started to build relationships with them. They used to work with me as their music editor.” But, Fei noticed communication problems between the directors and composers she worked with. Sometimes the directors would ask for creative music changes after the composer was done working, which meant it all had to be done with music editing. Fei recalls, “The director would tell me, I want this music shorter. Or, I don’t like this music. Or, could you change it a little bit? Or sometimes they told me, could you put some of the song here rather than the background music? Then it turns out, the score is not linked really well with the background music. So I noticed there were so many problems during this time. Maybe the communication is not very good, or maybe some of the industry process is not going really well.”

She recognized if a filmmaker could choose background music first (licensed music), the composer could write music that fit. But, they weren’t used to dealing with music licenses. “Everybody started to become aware how important publishing is, and to clear the license for the copyright. There were still not professional music industry people in China doing this kind of thing, so that’s why I started to see myself as a music supervisor.”

During her years at China Film Group, Dolby launched Dolby Atmos, which Fei also saw as an opportunity. She says, “Nobody knew how to record music for Atmos at the time, so that’s why I quit my job and went to McGill University (for a Masters Degree in Sound Recording). I’m trying to see how to make my career path a little bit longer, and trying to be a little bit ahead of the time.” 

While she was at McGill, she became friends with Western composers. “I started thinking about how some of my composer friends were really, really, really good. They’ve been composing for more than 20 years, so they have experience, and their rate is reasonable as well.” She started recommending Western composers for Chinese work, starting with video games. “Games are a little bit easier because a composer doesn’t need to understand the dialogue. It’s not like you have to write your music to fit the dialogue unless you’re writing for in-game animation. Writing for game music – it’s actually easier. You have more freedom. And also their budget is really good. You have the budget for recording a real orchestra, a big orchestra as well. So that’s how I started with a lot of game composers first.”

Fei’s film career was able to pick up even with her time away because she had built relationships with the filmmakers. “Some of the directors I worked with at China Film Group heard I just graduated. They knew me before, and they trusted me. They came back to me for their future movies. That’s how I built my career, as well,” Fei says.

A year after graduating from McGill, she was asked to work on a Disney film, Born in China. Fei was a natural fit because she was bilingual, had experience as a music editor, and knew the director. “They needed a Chinese expert to work on it, so they got a Chinese director. The Chinese director couldn’t communicate really well with the Disney system, so that’s why he brought me on board because I used to work with him in China Film Group.”

Fei later spent some time working in Los Angeles, where she continued pairing Western composers with Chinese filmmakers. She says of the time, “the really famous composers in China were piled up with work. At the same time, when I lived in LA, so many composers approached me and they had a really good attitude – they wanted to know more about Chinese culture, and they wanted to be involved with Chinese projects. That’s why I started thinking maybe it’s a good opportunity and started to collaborate with foreign composers.”

Fei started her company, Dream Studios, to bridge the gap between the two cultures. “Music is a universal language, so we want to use music to bridge the gap in-between. I’m having full control of the quality of the music, so I provide a really good service for the director. After one or two times trying this method, all of the directors felt comfortable. They don’t feel the language barrier because I’m speaking Chinese, and they also feel like the Western composers put in the effort. The Chinese composers were super busy, having 10 or 20 movies every year. That’s a lot. They’re working really hard and they just don’t have time,” she says.

Fei sees her ability to speak both languages as an advantage, as well as her music and audio background. “I’ve learned composition, sound editing, and all of these things that gave me more knowledge than my peers.”

There are challenges working with cultural differences. “I seldom do comedy with Western composers because I do notice they can’t understand why people are laughing here,” Fei says. “Or, sometimes suddenly, we’re having traditional Chinese music, and they don’t understand why people are laughing at that. Most of our movies are romantic movies or big action movies. The Chinese composers could understand more about the laughing points. With Western composers, there is a little bit of a language barrier, there’s a little bit of a culture difference. But especially for me, because I’m working with Western composers, we need to have a lot of communication with each other. I have to explain what a director really wants. So that’s why, for comedy, I will definitely put in more energy and more time to communicate with them.”

She says of her demeanor working with composers and filmmakers, “I’m never having a really bad attitude towards them. I’m always trying to be patient, trying to be nice, but also solving problems. I’m still trying to learn it because sometimes I’m really frustrated and sometimes you don’t get the respect that you should get. I’m still trying to keep calm, and I’m still trying to be nicer.” 

One of the challenges of her job is when a composer or filmmaker is unhappy, and she is responsible for the communication between them. “We are under pressure for work because they have deadlines approaching, especially at the very end when they need to deal with the picture changing. Sometimes directors just say, just copy the temp music, just do exactly what the temp music is doing. So the director doesn’t give the composer enough space to have freedom for the creative side.” She says of working through these situations, “They have made me get stronger. I know next time if I am working with a new composer and they are having the same reaction, I know how to deal with a situation.”

For Fei, completing the job is important even in a difficult situation. She says of quitting, “Maybe I’m also destroying my personal relationship with a director, so that’s why I like to at least finish the project. Then next time, I will have my own choice if I still want to work with them or not.”

Fei has found pros and cons to being a woman in the industry. She believes some clients show better manners towards her because of her gender. As a con, Fei says, “In this industry, especially in China, there are so many who are more experienced than me. At the very beginning, they may hesitate or have some questions from what they see of me just as a female, but once we work together, we build trust.”

Tips on being a music editor

“First of all, if you want to be a music editor, you have to have a really good music collection with many different kinds of music. Whenever you watch movies or whatever, you have to know how to classify all of the music. Like, this is funny music, or this is romantic music, or this is quirky music. You need to be really organized, and listen to as much music as you can. 

When you’re working with composers, you need to have a really positive and a good attitude and need to be super-efficient at everything.

As a music editor, you need to have a really good memory for the picture. You need to know where to put the music, you need to know where they change the music because you are helping to conform the music to picture changes. Also, you need to have a really good understanding of the music, so you could crossfade or do edits really well, like a composer.”

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

 

Glossary of Sound Effects (Part 2)

Our first Glossary of Sound Effects post was so popular we decided it would be fun to expand on it. This time around we not only included more specific search terms, but also a handful of modifiers. These terms, such as ‘by’ ‘up’ or ‘quick’ speak to the characteristics of the sound choice you are looking for. Try adding them to other terms (i.e. ‘zip quick’ or ‘violin up’)  to further narrow down your search.


Ambiance – Atmospheric sounds to build the space of a scene. Also look up: background, amb, environment

Beam – A steady synthetic sound. Also, look up: glow, ray, phaser

Beep – The tonal sound of a button press. Also, look up blip

Bork – A cartoonish sound that conveys disappointment.

Brush – The sound of leaves or foliage. Also, look up: leaves, bush, foliage, twig

By – This modifier should be added to searches for moving objects like Jet or Car, characterized by an increase and decrease in volume as the object passes by.

Chatter – A repetitive sound that conveys shaking, commonly associated with cartoonish teeth movement. Also, look up: shake, rattle

Chitter – small animal noise, repetitive and often cute sounding. Think squirrel or hamster.

Doppler – A sound that changes pitch as it passes by. Think truck horn starting from a distance and dropping in pitch as it crosses your path.

Drop – The sound of something falling to the ground.

Electricity – The sound of an electrical current, often wavering in volume and intensity. Also, look up: arc, crackle, spark

Flutter – Any sound with a very fast cycle of volume from low to high. Think of a humming bird’s wings or pod racers from Star Wars.

Ghost – Ethereal, often melodic and scary in nature. Also, look up: spirit, whisper

Hydraulic – The very distinct sound of something propelled by liquid moving in a confined space. Think forklift or fancy door hinges. Also, look up servo

Impact – The sound of a collision, be it small or large. Also, look up: hit, crash, smash

Debris – A cacophonous sound, usually starting thick and eventually settling. Can be used as the aftermath of an event as big as an explosion or as small as kicking up dirt.

Konk – A hollow hit, usually tonal in nature. Also, look up: bonk, coconut, hollow

Laser – The sound of a synthetic weapon. Also, look up: ray gun, pulse, beam

Movement – This modifier can be added to any search requiring both material and motion. Also, look up in short form: mvmt

Old – A modifier for sounds that are typically somewhat poor in quality, as though they were recorded a long time ago. This term is about looking for a specific character in your sound. Also, look up: old, classic, antique

Poink – A short, pointy sound. Also, look up: pluck, doink

Quick – Use this modifier when looking for sounds with very short duration. Also, look up: fast, short, sharp

Ratchet – A repetitive clicking sound Also, look up: crank, pulley, latch, turnstile

Ricco – This shorthand for Ricochet is the sound of a bullet bouncing. Can be used in cartoony moments when a character zips off screen very quickly.

Ruckle – The repetitive, throaty warble character of a sound. Typically emanating from the depths of a large animal or monster. Think of the T-Rex growl from Jurassic Park.

Rummage – Quickly digging through various materials. Also, look up junk

Servo – Short for servomechanism, this is the sound you would typically associate with the moments of a robot or other motorized electronics. Also, look up robot

Slide – This modifier signifies a changing in pitch; a character often associated with violin recordings or whistles to convey emotion in cartoony moments.

Splinter – The sound of small breaking or cracking wood. Also, look up: twist, stress, crack, wood break

Stinger – A musical sweetener that helps place emphasis on a dramatic moment. Also, look up: trailer hit, action

Telemetry – Rhythmic and somewhat repetitive beeps. The sound of calculating technology. Also, look up: computer, scan, beeps, tech, process

Up/Down – Add these modifiers to your search to convey the pitch motion of your sound. Slide whistle Up, for example, would start at a low pitch and end on a high pitch.

Valoop – The sound of something squeezing out of a small space.

Wobble – A repetitive, quick pitching sound used for moments of shakiness. Also, look up: warble, hypno, flutter

Zip – Any fast movement, often with some sort of musical character. Also, look up zing

See the original post here.

 

Glossary of Sound Effects (Part 1)

One of the major hurdles of becoming a sound effects editor is learning your library.  This means knowing what keywords to search in a given situation as well as building up a mental catalog of “go-to” sounds.

While it is always a good idea to start by looking at the picture and then thinking of descriptive words to search, it helps if you know which words will yield the best results.  This is where onomatopoeia enters the scene.  Onomatopoeia is defined as the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo, sizzle).  Following is a beginner’s guide to onomatopoeic sound effects search words.  Some of these terms can be found in any dictionary, and some are unique to sound effect library naming conventions.


crackle – a sound made up of a rapid succession of slight cracking sounds. Also, look up: sizzle, fizz, hiss, crack, snap, fuse, fuze, burn, fire

crash – a sudden loud noise as of something breaking or hitting another object. Also, look up: bang, smash, crack, bump, thud, clatter, clunk, clang, hit

body fall – a sound made by a body falling onto a hard surface. Also, look up: body hit, land

boing – the noise representing the sound of a compressed spring suddenly released. Also look up: bounce, bouncing, bonk, jaw harp

boom – a loud, deep, resonant sound. Also look up: explosion, slam, crash, drum, taiko, rumble

buzz – a humming or murmuring sound made by or similar to that made by an insect. Also look up: hum, drone, insect, neon, fluorescent

chomp – munch or chew vigorously and noisily.  Also, look up: munch, crunch, chew, bite

click – a short, sharp sound as of a switch being operated or of two hard objects coming quickly into contact. Also, look up: clack, snap, pop, tick, clink, switch, button

creak – a harsh scraping or squeaking sound. Also look up: squeak, grate

flutter – the sound of flying unsteadily or hovering by flapping the wings quickly and lightly.  Also look up: beat, flap, quiver, wing

glug – the sound of drinking or pouring (liquid) with a hollow gurgling sound. Also look up: pour, drain

groan – a low creaking or moaning sound when pressure or weight is applied to an object OR an inarticulate sound in response to pain or despair. Also, look up: creak, squeak; moan, cry, whimper

honk – the cry of a wild goose. Also look up: gander, goose

ahoogah – the sound of a particular type of horn.  Also look up: model a, model t, antique horn, bulb horn

jingle – a light ringing sound such as that made by metal objects being shaken together.  Also, look up: clink, chink, tinkle, jangle, chime, sleigh bells

neigh – a characteristic high-pitched sound uttered by a horse. Also, look up: whinny, bray, knicker

poof – used to convey the suddenness with which someone or something disappears.  Also look up: puff

pop – a light explosive sound. Also look up: bubble, cork, jug, thunk

puff – a short, explosive burst of breath or wind.  Also, look up: poof, gust, blast, waft, breeze, breath

rattle – a rapid succession of short, sharp, hard sounds.  Also look up: clatter, clank, clink, clang

ribbit – the characteristic croaking sound of a frog. Also look up: frog, toad, croak

quack – the characteristic harsh sound made by a duck. Also look up: duck, mallard

rustle – a soft, muffled crackling sound like that made by the movement of dry leaves, paper, cloth, or similar material.  Also look up: swish, whisper, movement, mvmt

rumble – a continuous deep, resonant sound.  Also look up: boom, sub, earthquake

scream – a long, loud, piercing cry expressing extreme emotion or pain.  Also, look up: shriek, screech, yell, howl, shout, bellow, bawl, cry, yelp, squeal, wail, squawk

screech – a loud, harsh, piercing cry.  Also, look up: shriek, scream, squeal

skid – an act of skidding or sliding.  Also look up: slide, drag

slurp – a loud sucking sound made while eating or drinking.  Also, look up: suck, drink, straw, lick

splash – a sound made by something striking or falling into liquid.  Also, look up: spatter, bespatter, splatter, bodyfall water

splat – a sound made by a wet object hitting a hard surface.  Also, look up: squish

splatter – splash with a sticky or viscous liquid.  Also, look up: splash, squish, splat, spray

squawk – a loud, harsh, or discordant noise made by a bird or a person.  Also, look up: screech, squeal, shriek, scream, croak, crow, caw, cluck, cackle, hoot, cry, call

squeak – a short, high-pitched sound or cry.   Also, look up: peep, cheep, pipe, squeal, tweet, yelp, whimper, creak

squish – a soft squelching sound. Also look up: splat, splatter

swish – a light sound of an object moving through the air.  Also look up: whoosh, swoosh

swoosh – the sound produced by a sudden rush of air. Also look up: swish, whoosh

thunk – the sound of a cork being pulled out of or placed into a bottle or jug.  Also, look up: pop, cork, jug

twang – a strong ringing sound such as that made by the plucked string of a musical instrument, a released bowstring, or a ruler held steady on one end and plucked from the other.  Also, look up: ruler twang, boing twang, ripple, pluck, violin, guitar

whip crack – the loud and sudden sound of a whip moving faster than the speed of sound, creating a small sonic boom. Also look up: bullwhip, whip, swish, whoosh, swoosh

whoosh – a heavy sound of an object moving through the air. Also look up: swish, swoosh

woof – the sound made by a barking dog.  Also look up: bark, howl, yelp, whimper, dog

yelp – a short sharp cry, especially of pain or alarm.  Also, look up: squeal, shriek, howl, yowl, yell, cry, shout

zap – a sudden burst of energy or sound.  Also look up laser, beam, synth, sci-fi

See the original post here.

 

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