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Film Score Mixing with a Team

I was recently at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada to supervise the film score mix of a three-part documentary series (by filmmaker Niobe Thompson and music by composer Darren Fung). We needed to mix over 100 minutes of music – nearly 200 tracks of audio – in about a week. Luckily, we had a large crew available (over ten people and three mix rooms), so we decided to work in an unusual fashion: mixing all three episodes at the same time.

Normally you have one mixer doing the whole score working in the same mix room. Even if he/she mixes on different days (or has assistants doing some of the work), chances are the sound will be pretty similar. It’s a challenge when you have ten mixers with different tastes and ears working in different rooms with different monitors, consoles, control surfaces, etc. What we decided to do was work together for part of the mix to get our general sound then let each group finish independently.

The tracks included orchestra, choir, organ, Taiko drums, percussion, miscellaneous overdubbed instruments and electronic/synth elements. It was recorded/overdubbed the week prior at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. The Pro Tools session came to us mostly edited, so the best performances were already selected, and wrong notes/unwanted noises were edited out (as much as possible). Our first task was to take the edited session and prepare it to be a film score mix session.

When mixing a film score, the final music mix is delivered to a mix stage with tracks summed into groups (called “stems”). For this project, we had stems for orchestra, choir, organ, taiko, percussion, and a couple of others. Each stem needs its own auxes/routing, reverb (isolated from other stems), and record tracks (to sum each of the stems to a new file). I talk about working with stems more in this blog: Why We Don’t Use Buss Compression.

Once the routing and tech were set, we worked on the basic mix. We balanced each of the mics (tackling a group at a time – orchestra, choir, organ, etc.), set pans, reverbs, sends to the subwoofer (since it’s a 5.1 mix for film). In film score mixing, it’s important to keep the center channel as clear as possible. Some tv networks don’t want the center channel used for music at all (if you’re not sure, ask the re-recording mixer who’s doing the final mix). From there, our strategy was to polish a couple of cues that could be used as a reference for mixing the rest. Once our composer gave notes and approved those cues, we made multiple copies of the session file – one for each team to focus on their assigned portion of the music.

Every project has its unique challenges even if it’s recorded really well. When you’re on a tight time schedule, it helps to identify early on what will take extra time or what problems need to be solved. Some parts needed more editing to tighten up against the orchestra (which is very normal when you have overdubs). When the brass played, it bled into most of the orchestra mics (a very common occurrence with orchestral recording). There are usually some spot mics that are problematic – either placed too close or far, pick up unwanted instrument noise, or too much bleed from neighboring instruments. Most of the time you can work around it (masking it with other mics), but it may take more time to mix if you need to feature that mic at some point.

What really makes a film score mix effective is bringing out important musical lines. So, the bulk of the mix work is focused on balance. I think of it like giving an instrument a chance to be the soloist then go back to blending with the ensemble when the solo line is done. Sometimes it’s as easy as bringing a spot mic up a few dB (like a solo part within the orchestra). Sometimes it takes panning the instrument closer to the center or adding a bit of reverb (to make it feel like a soloist in front of the orchestra). Mix choices are more exaggerated in a film score mix because ultimately the score isn’t going to be played alone. There’s dialog sound fx, Foley, and voice-over all competing in the final mix. On top of everything else, it has to work with the picture.

Film score mixing is sort of like mixing an instrumental of a song. The dialog is the equivalent of a lead vocal. I encourage listening in context because what sounds balanced when listening to the score alone may be different than when you listen to your mixdown 10 dB and with dialog. Some instruments are going to stick out too much or conflict with dialog. Other instruments disappear underneath sound fx. Sometimes the re-recording mixer can send you a temp mix to work with, but often all you have is a guide track with rough mics or temp voice-over. Even with that, you can get a general idea how your mix is going to sound and can adjust accordingly.

One unique part of this project was the mix crew was composed of 50% women! Our composer, Darren Fung, put it well when he said, “This is amazing – but it should just be normal.”

Equus: Story of the Horse will debut in Canada in September 2018 on CBC TV “The Nature of Things.” In the US, Equus will air on PBS “Nature” and “Nova” in February 2019. It will also air worldwide in early 2019.

Score Mixers: Matthew Manifould, Alex Bohn, Joaquin Gomez, Esther Gadd, Kseniya Degtyareva, Mariana Hutten, Luisa Pinzon, Jonathan Kaspy, Aleksandra Landsmann, Lilita Dunska

Supervising mixers: James Clemens-Seely and April Tucker

Karol Urban – Sound and Storytelling

Finishing the Mix

Karol Urban CAS MPSE (Grey’s Anatomy, New Girl, Station 19, Band Aid, Breaking 2, #Realityhigh) re-recording mixer, has built a diverse list of mix credits spanning work on feature films, TV series (scripted and unscripted), TV movies, and documentaries over the last 18 years. Describing herself as “part tech geek and creative film nerd” she enjoys using her language skills to work in both English and Spanish.

Karol holds a BS from James Madison University in Audio Post Production from the School of Media Arts and Design, is on the Board of Directors for the Cinema Audio Society (CAS), is co-editor of the CAS Quarterly Magazine, and serves on the Governor’s Peer Group for Audio Mixing for the Television Academy.

While she is incredibly passionate about telling stories through sound, technology, and the art of the craft, her favorite aspect of her position is “the team sport of filmmaking and television production.”

Her enthusiasm and energy for the job help her retain a high work ethic. She is known for being a hard worker in and out of the studio.

What was your path getting into sound?

I was sight impaired as a child and benefited greatly from surgery. I still, however, have problems with depth perception and naturally gravitate toward sound as my primary sense of distance and spatial location.

I studied dance, piano, and voice as a child and went to the Governor’s School for the Performing Arts for high school. It is a public, county-supported, audition-based high school with a focused curriculum on the arts.  I was fortunate to compose and record in my first recording studio there for the first time at the age of 13. I have been hanging out at one studio or another ever since.

Truthfully, I never wanted to perform. But sound and storytelling always fascinated me and held my attention steadfast.  And I have always obsessed over the movies and loved narrative television. When I discovered you could work in sound, not necessarily music, and in sound for picture, I knew what I was going to do with my life.  Every big move in my life I have made since has been to earn the next opportunity to tell a story through sound for picture.

I graduated high school a year early and went on to Virginia Tech at 17 where I took a lot of audio engineering classes. I transferred to James Madison University and majored in the School of Media Arts and Design with an audio concentration and minored in the music industry.  I left school with the clear goal of becoming a re-recording mixer.

If you had to pick your favorite type of content, role or project what would it be and why?

Personal Sound Assistant Sync

The collaborative aspect of what we do is to me the most precious, as a result, I love to be a part of larger teams as the dialog and music re-recording mixer. While it can be fun to do a single-person mix, especially if you have a very creative and collaborative producer or director, I am truly in heaven when I have a creative team behind me.  Bring in the party. I love to craft the story as a collective.

I don’t really have a favorite genre. I love action and sci-fi, and I adore thrillers. Police procedurals are fun. But comedy and drama can be amazing too. I really enjoy the diversity of genres. It widens my toolset. Basically whatever genre I haven’t mixed in a while is my current favorite. I really do love it all.

The creative problem solving and technical aspect of cleaning and repairing dialogue is enjoyable, but I also love the subtle use of dynamics, reflections, and frequency details in dialogue mixing which can help you feel as if you are eavesdropping on a secret or hearing someone lose their composure. It is sneaky in that good dialogue mixing is rarely noticed while it is being most effective.

I also studied classical piano, voice, and composition for many years. I love music. Being able to craft the music into the final mix is a real honor and joy.

That’s why the dialogue/music re-recording chair feels like home.

A lot of people in post-production sound specialize in a single role (like dialog mixer, sound designer, etc.). How has it helped your career to not focus on one particular niche? Or, do you think there is an expectation now to be versatile?

I began my career in the mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast.  There are people who work in post sound are often asked to perform all the roles (Foley recording, narration/ADR recording, Foley/ADR cueing, dialogue editorial, sfx editorial, and re-recording mix).  Even if you were not working on a project as a single person, you and your team would often change roles to suit the schedule or client preferences. It is a different market for sure.

But, when I first got to Los Angeles, folks would advise that being a jack of all trades does not make you qualified to be a master of anyone. When I looked inside myself, I found that I was truly a dialogue-centered individual and macro thinker. I am an extrovert.  I also love the subjective discussions and explorations that occur on the dub stage. All these aspects helped me excel as a dialogue and music re-recording mixer.

But, over the last eight years, I’ve noticed that the ability to diversify is becoming more valued in LA. In this way, I may have chosen the perfect time to come to LA, with a clear, specific goal on what I prefer to center my focus on, but enough diverse experience and knowledge in multiple fields of post sound to be usefully skilled. I gladly switch roles when needed; a change is often good for perspective.

Can you talk about transitioning from working in DC to Los Angeles? Since you didn’t have a job lined up in LA, how did you decide it was time to move?

I am a true believer in the concept that knowledge is power. I had reached a point in DC where I was feeling a little stagnant.  I wasn’t learning as much, wasn’t experimenting as much, and wasn’t challenged enough. I was struggling to find opportunities where I could make myself wonderfully uncomfortable with a challenge. I was searching for mentors.

I found a short, small contract in LA and left a job of 10 years with crazy benefits, paid vacation, and a very decent salary to seek out the challenge. Finding a gig, even one as short as a 3-month contract, while on the other side of the country seemed like a sign.

At the time I was frightened that I wouldn’t be capable of competing in such a large and complex market.  But I knew I would never stop wondering “what if.” Once a few months passed, and I took a couple of professional punches to the face, I recognized I had learned a ton and began noticing a difference in my work. I got excited. There is no other option other than success. Moving to LA has proven to be the most wonderful adventure I have ever had in my life. I love it here. I love the market, the challenges, and the ever-changing, seemingly endless possibilities. There is so much to learn and grow from here. I am grateful.

Can you walk us through an average work week for you? How many hours are you working, spending outside the studio on other work-related demands, etc.?

The amount I actually mix depends on the projects I am on. Sometimes it is 16 hour days and six-day weeks other times it might be two days a week for 9 hours a day. Production schedules move erratically and the day is not over when it is scheduled to end or when you are done… it is over when the client feels whole, and they are done.  My life is a continual game of scheduling Jenga. The terrain is insane. It is awesome and exhausting.

When I am not in the chair mixing, I am still working. Mixing is only part of the job.  I try to be a resource for others as much as possible. I give back to my community through volunteer service in the MPSE, CAS, & TV Academy, edit the CAS Quarterly publication, meet with industry folks new to town, and of course, establish new relationships in the community.  It is a rare day off when I don’t meet up with someone, watch a tutorial on new technology, or volunteer on a project. I keep an ear open for any industry positions available and try to recommend people in my network that I know can tackle the duties and forward their careers.  It is all-encompassing, but I love what I do and I simply never tire of the hustle. Don’t get me wrong, there are days or weeks where I am truly exhausted, but I never dream of doing anything else. I want to be the best I can be, and I feel like I have incredible joy ahead of me in that I have much more growing to do. I am not even close to done.

What are the differences between mixing documentary/reality and scripted?

Depends on your project and your client.

There are certainly workflow and logistical differences, and there also tends to generally be a larger expectation of detail and desire for the school of perspective mixing in scripted media. But the core of what I do is really only made different by the client’s desires and the needs of the film/project.

I certainly will repair, clean, and fit the spec. But the true value in having a re-recording mixer is that you have a professional who is a life-listener and skilled craftsperson. We study and develop sound as a storytelling tool that can steer the minds of the viewers. I certainly have had projects of all genres that demand and expect narrative storytelling in their mix.  I have also had many projects of all genres that look to me for technical audio triage and to emulate their temp track. It is less genre-specific than project-specific.

Can you explain how a 2-person mix works?

 

Karol and Steve Urban on the movie BFFs

There are many ways to work. It depends on the team, the technology, and the project’s scheduled mix time. In the end, however, the goal is to make sound decisions and become four hands and two minds working with the singular focus of intensifying the story through sound. It really is a wonderful way to work.

On a 2-person mix, what are the challenges of working with a mixer you haven’t mixed with before?

Sometimes you don’t know the perspective or tastes of your partner when you are newly paired or the tempo at which they need to work. You have to learn the sensibility of your partner as soon as possible.  Luckily most folks who mix in multiple-seat dub stages are very collaborative and have the ability to morph to the style that works with the team and serves the director or producer. I have certainly been made aware of other ways of looking at things that ended up being the right choice for the project and client at the end of the day.  This difference of perspective can be a complexity and/or a gift.

You’ve mixed over 100 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. What are the challenges?

We suffer from a lot of set noise as there is a lot of busy scenes with lots of background action…IV stands, gurneys, and of course, paper medical gowns.

You have a reputation for having an incredible work ethic, drive, and energy level. How do you maintain that level of focus? How do you not burn out?

Wow.  That’s a crazy question.  It blows me away that I have a reputation at all. I just keep swimming.

I have had a very specific and pointed goal for a very long time to be a re-recording mixer. It started as soon as I knew the job existed. I knew it was what I was supposed to do. I never took a lot of electives in school or tried a lot of different things professionally because this goal was what I knew I wanted specifically.  I knew it was competitive and I knew I wouldn’t generally look like or come from the same places that a lot of my peers would. I grew up in a town that simply doesn’t have a substantial market for this craft. I knew it was a different world and I was going to have to break in.

Practically every extracurricular activity, club, or group I have participated in has been focused on trying to be in this world. Sound makes sense to me and communicating by putting people in sound spaces is pretty amazing and evocative. I am always trying to make myself worthy and valuable to the opportunity in front of me.

What skills are necessary to do your job?

You have to be at least mildly obsessed with detail, technology, and storytelling. Our jobs are not sprints; they are marathons. You will watch a reel or episode over and over and over again for days, sometimes weeks.  You must remain present and have the ability to fall back into the perspective of a first-time viewer but also switch quickly to the mind of a mixer. You have to be able to see (and feel and hear) the effect of what you are doing while also seeing possibilities.

It is also very helpful to like people and have no ego. It can be hard sometimes because you have to emotionally experience something in order to create and having that emotional response rejected can feel personal. But in the end, you are completing the vision of your director or producer and creating their film/show. You should understand that a person may be inspired by your suggestion at times but may also feel something completely different. Notes are not criticism. They are opportunities.

What are your favorite plugins?

I am loving the Pro Fabfilter Q2 and De-esser right now.  I also love my McDSP SA-2 and NF575. I am still a sucker for Audio Ease’s Speakerphone, and PhoenixVerb is pretty amazing.

What technology are you excited about right now?

I love the new immersive formats. I really feel a naturalness when I hear an environment in Atmos.  And I love the panning precision and full-range reproduction.

What have been the challenges for you as a woman in the field?

It is getting so much better. I have definitely found myself in moments of overt creepiness and absolute inappropriateness. But as the years have gone on whether it be because we as a society are becoming more progressive, other women have paved the way, or because I have become more established, it has gotten much, much better. I just keep forging ahead. I don’t give that crazy a lot of focus. The best thing I can do for equality is to be successful as a woman and be a force for equality by treating everyone around me the way I would want to be treated.  I try to lift others up who share the love of what we do, and I take no mind in their gender, race, or creed.

I still have to discuss my gender as an anomaly from time to time, almost always on a new job and have to occasionally educate people on my knowledge and fandom of a diverse range of genres such as action, horror, and sci-fi. Because as a woman I am often thought of as a strictly romantic comedy or drama person.

But I do have to take care to go out of my way to get to know my co-workers and let them know they can be comfortable around me and that they can be confident that I am an assertive individual. People don’t walk on eggshells around me because I will let someone know if I am uncomfortable or disagree. I hold no grudges and pull no punches. I have been set straight once or twice in my life when I have said something I thought was harmless that had no presumptions behind it that accidentally affected someone in a negative way. We all need to be open to learning from one another without fear or pride. I do believe most people are intrinsically good.

It is paramount to respect your coworkers (male and female alike). While I am aware of situations through the years where I have not been hired because I am a woman or where criticism has been very blatantly gender-biased, I know I am also here in my dream job because of all the wonderful folks, the majority of whom are male, who have given me a shot, had confidence in my abilities and welcomed me into the fold.

It is a weird landscape, ladies.

What advice would you give women in our field?

Be assertive, persistent, and consistent. Respect the contributions of everyone around you from the valet service to reception to account management to your engineer. Show respect and act respectfully. Expect the same in return.  Be humble but also speak and act with confidence and kindness. Some folks really do not recognize what they are saying. Some are uncomfortable or culturally insensitive without knowledge of their actions. Ignorance does still exist. Some folks lack perspective and understanding without intending ill will.  Many people who are considered notoriously challenging that I have worked with were not an issue with me at all because if I had an issue, I stated the issue, explained my issue, asked for a change in behavior, and then dropped it from my memory and became a friend and advocate to them. And while I am not so ignorant or smug as to say it doesn’t matter what others think or do (There is real malice in the world.), I do believe social transformation happens individual by individual. We can be seeds of change by keeping our decisions untarnished by the poor actions of a few and giving each new individual in our world the opportunity to be wonderful.

I believe in equality.  I can’t wait to work in a world where we don’t have to support each other as minorities but we can just support competent, talented artists and craft people and diversity will naturally take place.

If you were to guide someone trying to get into post-production today what advice would you give? What would you advise to find work and build a career?

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to do what you want to do.  Even if it is for little or no money, get in there. Until you have a professional-level skill to offer, you need to be doing what you can to acquire it. Participate in your community, seek mentors, seek other folks coming up, collaborate, create, rise, and lift up others. Remain open to life lessons. The universe has a lot more opportunities to reward you with when you put yourself out there and participate.

 

Three Ways to Ruin the Call

In my opinion as an experienced hiring manager, there are three ways someone could quickly ruin their chance for work with an organization.  Someone could even ruin their chances before the event start. So, as you may be looking to get a new gig or join a new crew, I advise not making these three mistakes.

No call, no show

If you no call, no show – it is a clear sign to a hiring manager that you cannot balance your schedule and you’ve proven to be unreliable. You won’t be hired back. Plus now you’ve just left the team in a lurch, one person down.  If you can’t fulfill your commitment, let your contact know immediately. Also, make sure that you communicate in advance if you know early enough and even consider providing contact names of others who might be able to fill your spot. Most of all, if it is short notice when you’re unable to get to the shift, make sure to have a strong reason as to why.  The hiring manager could consider you again in the future if you have a valid reason and are apologetic regarding the situation. If they never hear from you, you’ll never hear from them again.

Negative attitude

If you arrive at a first gig with a company or group and immediately are negative, you are stepping out on the wrong foot right away. It takes a lot of energy to create a crew and negative energy even from one person can bring everyone down. Being negative is a way to not get invited back. We all know events and production is tough work, and the schedule rarely allows for enough time to get it done reasonably. Adding a negative air to the situation does not help.  Approach a new environment with a positive go-getter attitude. Take a minute to analyze how the crew works together and see how you fit into the program. This will help you connect with the crew as well as be remembered as a positive force and someone the crew would love to work with again.

Don’t act like a know-it-all

Acting like a know, it all can also ruin the call. Face it – no one likes a know-it-all, so don’t be that person.  If you can offer advice or experience to help with problem-solving a situation, by all means, contribute your ideas. However, as a new person to the crew, you are not going to know it all, and these actions can be off-putting to the existing crew.  Offer advice where you can and make sure to ask questions along the way. Each crew will do things slightly differently, so if you aren’t sure, there is no harm in asking. Especially if it is going to save you and the crew time in redoing something later.  You’ll also develop relationships with the crew faster by communicating and working with them, then trying to prove you know everything.

Each person has earned their spot on the crew, work with them to earn yours as well. Make sure to show up on time, be ready for what the day will give you, and ask questions along the way.

 

 

Vocal Production 101

When I listen to my older productions, some of my first recordings on Logic, one thing that sticks out a lot to me is the vocal. This happens a lot when I listen to “young producers”—people interested in making records and being in charge of the record making process, as opposed to those that make demos and want to find a producer to collaborate with. The vocal rarely sounds as good as it could, and it often goes unnoticed.

Before continuing, I want to mention a few things, even if they seem obvious to some. First, not all music is vocal-centered. There is music with no use of voice at all. There is music with the use of vocal samples which are treated as a riff similar to how one might treat a guitar part. There is music where the voice and instrumentation are treated as two parts with equal status which weave in and out of each other.

I would also like to acknowledge that the approach to recording vocals varies greatly according to the style of music and production. One would approach recording the featured soloist of a choir very differently from how they would approach recording a singer and her acoustic guitar, and differently still is the approach one would take to recording the vocal for a pop song…and even in pop, there is a big difference between a Selena Gomez vocal and an Adele vocal. When I say “recording” here I am referring to both the engineering process (type of microphone(s), mic placement, use of compression and EQ) as well as the vocal production process (type of performance from the vocalist/s, approach to comping, approach to tuning*, approach to layering, i.e., how many Selenas are we really listening to in the verse versus the chorus; are they singing the same notes or are they harmonizing; are they all natural or are they effected in different ways and playing more autonomous roles? etc.)

I have yet to come across any reading or class that goes into depth about these styles and processes, which is surprising because it is something all listeners of music experience. We know quality when we hear it, and I think most musicians are genuinely interested in the record making process. Even if they would rather be playing, they understand it is to their advantage to know something about making records. I’m sure there are Tape Op articles about people who specialize in vocal production, and there may be a class in a university somewhere that touches on vocal production in all of its complexity (let me know! I’m curious to learn how they cover the topic!) Mostly though, I think many producers and engineers learn it by way of doing, which is fine. But what about those of us who aren’t assistant engineering (yet)? Can we study this as a subject and not as a specific recipe?

Here is a basic overview of vocal production. Depending on your level of experience, it may be worth watching a few YouTube tutorials on comping and tuning in your specific software. Vocal production is super fun, but it’s also tedious. It’s not for everyone, and it takes lots of practice. I hope with this jump start you are encouraged to give it a shot, dig in deeper, get some new skills under your belt and create dope vocals!

Step 0 is basically, decide what kind of vocal you are going to make. If you are recording a group of vocalists, decide if you want to record them together or separately, ask yourself why (sometimes the answer will be obvious). If you are recording a solo singer with some layers and/or background singing, it helps to do a little research and have a few existing recordings to use as a reference for the sound you are going for. It rarely works to have only one reference; it is more useful to have a few and create something from a place of cross-pollination. I’ve noticed that after years of being inspired by others’ vocal production techniques, I often don’t need to listen to be using something as a reference in order for it to be playing that role—it is just part of my tool belt.

Step 1. Use the best mic and preamp possible.

Step 2. Listen to who you are recording.

What is interesting about their voice, from a sound perspective? Is it booming and loud? Does it crackle on certain vowels? Adjust your EQ and compression settings to best capture these elements you want to emphasize.

Step 3. Now listen to them again from a performance perspective.

Does the way they inhale before this one phrase feel intentional and emotionally compelling, or is it sloppy and distracting? Do you believe what they are singing? Is there consistency in their intonation/pronunciation, and how much consistency do you want there to be, AND WHY?

Step 4. Record the parts you need in a space that sounds good.

Get as many takes as you need to composite a solid main vocal. Do the same thing for a double of that main. It’s nice to have a quality double on hand for when you might decide you want to use it. Grab an octave down or octave up from the main if possible. If it’s not possible for the singer, but you want the option, grab another double. You can use a pitch shifter in your DAW to fake an octave up or down (or to play with and effect in other ways, such as a vocoder sound tucked away behind the main vocal for some added texture). Grab any background vocals you want, and remember that sometimes its fun to record these with the vocalist/s further away from the mic than they were for the other parts. Grab any harmonies you want. Record harmonies until you have too many harmonies recorded. You can take some away later. If you want, record your vocalist singing ad libs through the entirety of the song, at least one time through (three is the magic number here).

Step 5. Make good comps.

A good comp contains the best moments from all of the takes. It checks all the boxes of a good vocal recording—quality in fidelity, quality in performance, a lens into the singer and their ability to use their voice as an instrument and/or story-teller.

Step 6. Tune with integrity.

Don’t knock it ’til you try it!! Tuning with integrity adds a beautiful glistening sheen to a vocal, and is absolutely necessary if you want to make pop records. Yes, even the best singers of today are tuned, but with integrity. What does this mean? It means we use tuning to emphasize the things we worked on in steps 2 and 3. If a vocalist sang a word in a way that was so amazing that you want to use it, but is off-pitch in a distracting way, you can adjust that specific word. Take care of those instances, and then treat the rest with a light setting.

Step 7. Create a rough mix (or a real mix if you are a mix engineer too!)

Your references will come in handy here as you will want to communicate the desired final result to whoever is mixing your record.

Get your relative volumes in order. How loud do you want your harmonies to be in relation to your main? Get your textures in order. Are there any effects like reverb or delay that you would like to add? Are there some harmonies that you thought you liked, but you realize now the song sounds better without them? Compare yours to your references. What work do you still have to do to make it stand up next to them? Do what you can. Push yourself. Then save up for your next piece of gear so you can make even more music!!

*There is quite a bit of literature on the history of Autotune, it’s relation to the vocoder, and how artists like oft-cited Cher and Kanye have used extreme settings for specific effects. What we don’t see as much of is a practical, reasonable description of the role tuning plays in the record making process for many, many producers who do NOT use it in extreme ways. I guess the latter isn’t all that interesting for people who don’t work in music…

GIRLSCHOOL New York 2018

With a production crew of all-women sound engineers, production managers, and lighting designers GIRLSCHOOL challenges the status quo.

GIRLSCHOOL is a music festival and creative community-based in Los Angeles, whose mission is to celebrate, connect, and lift women-identified artists, leaders, and voices. GIRLSCHOOL LA 2018 is where the viral video of Fiona Apple performing alongside Shirley Manson in a homemade “KNEEL, PORTNOW” shirt took place.

GIRLSCHOOL is coming to New York City. October 6-7 and will take place at, Industry City Courtyard 1/2 (274 36th Street) in Brooklyn. Founded by Anna Bulbrook in response to how few women she saw onstage in the alternative rock and festival worlds, GIRLSCHOOL has grown into a vibrant network of women-identified artists, leaders, and voices who have formed an empowering and visible community for one another while supporting women and girls.

SoundGirls supports GIRLSCHOOL and has staffed the last two Los Angeles festivals with women in production roles and sound engineering. SoundGirls has also worked with GIRLSCHOOL to provide women just starting out the opportunity to work alongside veterans in internship roles at the festival.

SoundGirls will once again be staffing and providing internship opportunties for GIRLSCHOOL New York.

If you would like to be involved – please email soundgirls@soundgirls.org with GIRLSCHOOL NY in the subject line and provide a cover letter, resume, and position you would like to apply for. We look forward to working with Anna and GIRLSCHOOL to make this Festival a success.

 

 

 

 

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

July Feature Profile

Catherine Vericolli – Owner, Operator, and Manager of Fivethirteen

The Blogs

The Sound of Steampunk

The Perfect Moment

Leyla Kumble – Founder of Girls are Loud

SoundGirls News

Seeking SoundGirls For Music Expo – Nashville

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Shadowing Opportunity w/Guit Tech Claire Murphy

Shadowing Opportunity w/ FOH Engineer Kevin Madigan

Shadowing Opportunity w/ ME Aaron Foye

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

https://soundgirls.org/scholarships-18/

Shadowing Opportunities

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-smaart-overview/?instance_id=1316

https://soundgirls.org/event/bay-area-soundgirls-sept-meeting/?instance_id=1317

Round Up From the Internet

Why I Fought the Sexist Gear Community (And Won)

 

 

Engineer, Producer and Writer Steph Marziano

 

SoundGirls Resources

Directory of Women in Professional Audio and Production

This directory provides a listing of women in disciplines industry-wide for networking and hiring. It’s free – add your name, upload your resume, and share with your colleagues across the industry.

Women-Owned Businesses

SoundGirls Scholarships 2021 Now Open

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Seeking SoundGirls For Music Expo – Nashville

“A female presence at these events isn’t just symbolic; it also sends an important message to the audience.”At these events, there are people who are called upon to speak, to take up space, to say ‘here are the experiences that got me here,'” “It’s about who shows up and who speaks and who can project authority.” Radhika Parameswaren, professor at the Indiana University Media School.

SoundGirls has been working to make sure we are represented across the industry. We have been working in partnership with Music Expo to make sure women are featured on their panels, masterclasses, and educational sessions.

We need SoundGirls members to step up for the upcoming Music Expo – Nashville event. The event is on September 22 and we want to make sure women are featured and represented. If you would like to be involved with the event, please get in touch with us at soundgirls@soundgirls.org.

We are also seeking a volunteers to run a SoundGirls booth.

SoundGirls Members receive free admission email us for a coupon code.

 

The Sound of Steampunk

Creating a Flying Machine for an Audio Drama

One of the things which I love most about sound design for audio drama is the opportunity it can bring to create entirely new, fantastic sounds. Sounds for creations or beings that don’t exist in our world.

Having worked in sound design and mixing both for short films and voice-based productions, I’ve always thought that creating the sound of imaginary beings or machines for audio drama is both more freeing and more challenging than for visual media. You’re not tied to a physical representation and the obligation to be able to hear everything you see, but you only have audio to “sell” the creation to the listener. Using a processed version of a crocodile combined with your pitch-shifted voice might work brilliantly as the roar massive bear creature in a game, but in an audio drama, the listener may find it hard to believe that sound came from a bear.

I’ve just finished sound designing and mixing the second season of a steampunk audio drama. The writer/director had included several imaginary beings, creatures, and machines in the script, so from the get-go, I knew I would need to dedicate some time to breathing aural life into these creations.

One of these, and probably my favourite to work on, was the fixed-wing flivver. The writer described it like this:

“The flivver is a homage to an early fictional airplane, from H.G. Wells’ ‘The War in the Air.’ It’s more or less like a biplane but powered by different technology – in this case, probably including an aetheric battery – so its turbine whine would sound different. It might also be in some ways less and in other ways more advanced in terms of the aeronauticals.”

This description gave me a starting point for research and sourcing of raw material. I’d be looking at early 20th century biplanes and whatever an aetheric battery was – more on that in a minute.

I also knew that I’d have to consider how the flivver sounded from different perspectives. Reviewing the scripts, I noted that I needed six different variations:

– distant perspective, external (heard in the distance from a rooftop)

– close perspective, flying flat, internal (seated in the aircraft)

– close perspective, steep climb, internal (seated in the aircraft)

– close perspective, circling, internal (seated in the aircraft)

– close perspective, leveling out, internal (seated in the aircraft)

– medium perspective, departing, external (heard from the perspective of outside the aircraft as it departs)

My first piece of research was the sound of early 20th century biplanes. The purchase of high-quality sound library recordings was beyond the budget of the production, so I turned to YouTube as the most likely place to find any recordings of this kind of aircraft. As you’d expect, most videos were from airshows, which meant additional wind noise, crowd walla and applause and occasional commentary.

The amount of noise present in the videos wasn’t too much of an issue. I didn’t want a modern(-ish) biplane sound to be too present in the final sound as the technology didn’t match the steampunk aesthetic. But, I did need enough of it so that the flivver was easily aurally identifiable as a flying machine. It took a combination of finding enough of the right sound, and some careful editing and noise reduction.

After a lot of listening, decided that the sound of the Bleriot XI was the best fit for the base layer of the flivver sound:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkJymMK33Zk

 

Next, I needed to add a core engine sound – an engine powered by an aetheric battery, no less. Aetheric energy, as I discovered, is based on a theory developed in the late 1800s by Nikola Tesla, which proposed that the human race could harness the power of the ether (a space-filling medium present all around us) as a source of energy. Ether theories lost popularity as modern physics advanced, so the sound of an aetheric battery is now as speculative as the original theory.

However, there is an invention of Tesla’s that’s still used today to demonstrate principles of electricity and whenever you want to do impressive high voltage displays: the Tesla coil. In the absence of any concrete idea of what aetheric energy might sound like, this seemed a reasonable, and suitably steampunk, alternative. I ended up using a pitched sound of a medium-sized Tesla coil, with an ascending version for when the flivver is climbing. To suggest the kind of mechanics that we associate with steampunk technology, I finally added the sound of a vintage sewing machine.

When I sent the first draft of the flivver to the writer, he felt something was missing – “a sort of insect-like aspect described by Wells, where he talks about the craft’s resemblance to a dragonfly:

“Parts of the apparatus were spinning very rapidly, and gave one a hazy effect of transparent wings.”

I tried various insect whines and flutters and eventually settled on adding the sound of dragonfly wings.

Here’s the finished sound

And in the context of the drama

My next audio drama design and mixing project take me to medieval Europe, which is quite a change of pace! But I hope I’ll be revisiting the world of steampunk audio drama, and its fascinating design opportunities, again soon.

The Perfect Moment

In the last couple of weeks, I have had some really good and interesting conversations with sound engineers, musicians, family & friends about waiting for the right moment. It seems that no matter what career path we have taken in life, we seem to have one thing in common.

We think that we one day will feel like we are ready, but the truth is; we never will feel like we are. There always seems to be an excuse to why we should not do something because we do not feel confident enough.

I would never have gotten to where I am today if I was waiting for the perfect moment, that moment when I would feel ready. Even now, I still feel like I am not ready, but I now also know that I probably never will be! Because how else will we learn if we do not challenge ourselves and throw ourselves into the deep end?

I have done FOH sound at so many gigs where I just felt like I was not competent enough. However, I said yes, I went for it because I knew that I otherwise would not learn and get to where I wanted to be, and I wanted it so badly. And in the end, I was competent enough, because otherwise I would not have been offered the job in the first place. I think we all know a little bit more than we give ourselves credit for.

Being confident is a struggle. Especially when you are young. But at some point, you have to start trusting yourself and your abilities, because if you do not trust yourself, well then, who will? The only trust that I carry with me every day is that I know that no matter what happens, I will come up with a solution. It does not matter how, but what does matter is that at the end of the day, I do my job and I make it happen.

Let us start making excuses for why we should do things and not wait for the ‘right’ moment. Take a leap, trust your knowledge and admit your flaws. Know what you need to work on, put yourself out there. Take that chance and make it happen. If you feel insecure, that is OK, we all feel insecure at times. But that does not mean that you do not know what you are doing. That does not mean that you do not have the ability to make something happen. Do not wait around for that perfect moment, just do it.

 

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