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Post-Production Mid-Pandemic – Boom Box Post

We recently received a request to write a post on how we’ve been dealing with the global pandemic. While I am a bit worried our audience may be exhausted by COVID-19 coverage, I think it’s important to share our experience at this time with one another. With that in mind, I hope this post brings some information your way about work from home workflows as well as our unique perspective as a boutique post-production studio dealing with the crisis. I’m also hoping it may spark some new conversation about how we are all working in a creative, collaborative field while isolated from one another. So let’s dive in!

Since starting the studio, Kate and I have tried to have as many editors work in-house as possible. We love having our team interacting with one another every day. Great for creativity, tough in this crisis. We had a challenge on our hands sending everyone home.

When it became very apparent that the COVID-19 crisis was getting serious (around mid-March) Kate and I started to formulate a plan to transform Boom Box Post into a remote studio over multiple phases; each phase triggered by differing levels of danger. Preparing for the worst (full stay at home orders) just in case. Oh what a simpler time!

CREATING A REMOTE STUDIO

Phase 1 – Sending our Editors HOME

I started by visiting every editor to audit what kind of equipment each had at home. Results ranged for fully able to work from home to having no gear at all. With this information, I was able to create an individual checklist for each staff member, down to the cables, of what they would be taking home from the studio.

At this point we decided to send all non-client-facing staff home for their own safety. It was a bit chaotic loading up cars with gear but everyone was in remarkably good spirits.

Phase 2 – Sending Our Client-Facing Staff HOME

Very quickly it became obvious that our clients were no longer going to be able to come by the studio for in-person reviews. In the span of 24 hours, we heard from all the major studios that staff would either be sent home or isolated to only their corporate workspaces. It was at this point we decided to send Brad Meyer, Lead Sound Editor and Tess Fournier, Supervising Sound Editor home as well. We also worked out a VPN remote control system for media management and were able to send Sam Busekrus our Assistant Editor/Office Manager home.

Phase 3 – Everybody Goes Home

On March 19th, California issued the “Safer at Home” order and it was time to send home the last holdouts (myself included). Having been over a decade since I worked from home, I needed to set up shop from scratch. My kids moved together into one room, my son’s former bedroom becoming my home studio. I packed up every piece of gear into my car, even a desk, and chair! The studio was officially empty as of Friday, March 20th.

After almost six years of building Boom Box Post from the ground up, this is something completely different.

Re-Recording mixer Jacob Cook and I still go in about once a week to mix alone on our stage. I have to be honest, going into an empty studio that was so vibrant only a month prior is very odd. With each room stripped of all gear, devoid of our amazing staff, it’s a shell of what it once was. Will we be able to bounce back just a quickly as we sent everyone home? For sure! But for now, it’s still very sad for me.

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS

Getting everyone working at home was a challenge but even more importantly, we needed solutions that would work well for our clients. After all, we needed to show we could continue to do great work with client direction even in this new setting. After extensive testing, here are some of the strategies and tools we settled on. Note: we are in no way paid to endorse any products.

SyncSketch

The big hero of the pandemic for us has been the remote review platform SyncSketch. With this web-based program, we are able to upload client videos which can then be reviewed either individually or in sync as a team, leaving timecode specific notes tagged with the reviewer’s name. Once complete, notes can be downloaded as a PDF with thumbnails of the shots being referenced. It’s as simple as watching back a Quicktime but without the mess of typing out timecode and organizing them into an email thread. This alternative to attempting ‘live’ reviews over a video conferencing solution has proven to be the most effective since the quality and playback remain rock solid. All it requires is rendering our mixes to quicktime and setting up review timelines and deadlines with our clients. We have used SyncSketch for spotting and previewing sessions, ADR calling and final mix reviews. Best of all, SyncSketch employs the highest level of security, so clients know their data is safe. After introducing SyncSketch to our clients, a number of them implemented it internally for their own production use.

UPS Battery Backups

In the early days of the California “Safer at Home” declaration, I didn’t know what kind of access we would have to the office. Our server is the heart of our business, all media coming and going from this central location. I ran out to Best Buy and bought the two largest battery back up units in stock. Advertised as giving us about two full hours of power backup, I figured this could buy us some time in a power outage for this critical part of our infrastructure.

ETHERNET CABLE

Building CAT-5 cable is a very specific skill. Lucky for me, I wired multiple houses in college with ethernet (it was the early 2ooo’s and rental homes in Bloomington, Indiana weren’t coming pre-wired back then). As it turns out, home wifi isn’t necessarily going to cut it when our editors need the ability to download very large files in short time frames. I spent quite some time on the floor of my office creating very long custom cables (the biggest was 40 feet!) so that our team could wire up directly to their routers.

Zoom Conferencing

Zoom seems to have gotten the lock on conferencing for this crisis. And it’s no wonder why. In my testing, it’s clearly the most stable. When a session has required ‘face to face’ interaction, we’ve turned to Zoom.

Security

While we have the majority of our staff in the office, we did already have a few editors working from home. This proved very beneficial as we had already put in place stringent remote work security protocols which we simply had to apply to our new work from home staff.

In the midst of all our work from home prep, I was so proud of our team’s resilience that I tweeted about it. This caught the attention of Teresa Morrow, co-host of the Tonebenders podcast. They reached out to ask if we could participate in a roundtable discussion on how we were handling the crisis. You can listen to Kate and I recount our experience in detail in this surprisingly fun (given the subject matter) conversation.

COVID-19 has stretched the very idea of adversity in business for us. That said, I’m doing my best to focus on the positive here. Who knows what kind of efficiency changes will come out of this crisis? I’ve been keeping a running list of post-COVID to-dos, a lot of which are going to be improvements. I try very hard to be grateful, but I think this change of pace has still shown me how much we have in this studio and this incredibly talented team of sound pros. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day operations and lose sight of the amazing work happening around us. I know that when we return to the office, things are going to be quite different. It’s my hope that I’ll appreciate our shared creativity even more once Boom Box Post is under one roof again.

Stay safe out there.

JEFF SHIFFMAN, CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST

Post-Production Mid-Pandemic Part 2: Staying Connected

A couple of weeks ago, Jeff wrote a great post about our journey from an in-studio editorial and mix facility to an entirely work-from-home team with remote client services. He talked about all of the challenges of quickly pivoting our entire business model in the face of COVID, which was no small order. You can also hear more about that time if you listen to the Tonebenders COVID & the Sound Community Round Table that we took part of. They caught us mid-transition, and we were tired, overwhelmed, but so appreciative of our team’s ability to rise to any challenge.

But, now we’ve all moved on to a whole different phase of the pandemic: one where we’re fairly settled into our new normal and just waiting to see how long we stay here.

Our Business During COVID-19

We, at Boom Box Post, are among the lucky ones. Because we work in animation and our clients aren’t on set, our entire Los Angeles client-base was able to transition very quickly to work-from-home, thus keeping our operations alive and well. That is far from the case for our live-action counterparts. But, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t also seen changes in the amount and type of work that has come through our now-virtual door.

Unlike live-action, animation is often done overseas and then shipped back to an LA-based production company. A number of our television series are animated in China, India, Israel, and other countries that have undergone various degrees of government-mandated quarantines. Some of these companies were able to set up part of their staff to work effectively from home. But in most cases, workers do have the means to work from home, and schedules were delayed for as long as those closures persisted. In this way, our business is being greatly affected not just by US legislation, but by health concerns and political action across the world.

Additionally, on our series, all dialogue is recorded in a voice-over booth here in LA. With Safer at Home in place, currently, all sessions have been canceled. Some productions were able to quickly gear up to get all of their talent recording effectively at home–a very tall order considering that some of that talent consists of child actors who are not as tech-savvy as an adult professional voice actor. But others are making do with sub-par home recordings done in whatever fashion is possible, considering them scratch, and planning to record the real lines when we are all allowed back in the studio again (whenever that may be). Some series are mixing with scratch in place and planning to punch in at a later date. Others are holding off on mixing all together until all materials are available to avoid confusion in the post-COVID aftermath.

Whatever each crew has decided, none of it is simple, and none of it is consistent from series to series. So while we have been able to adapt amazingly well and continue our business in a way that few are lucky enough to do, it has been a struggle to keep up with all of the different needs, demands, and concerns depending on each unique client situation.

Great Things that Have Happened

On the upside, some amazing things have happened. Number one, I’m typing this blog post while sitting in my backyard, sipping iced tea, on a beautiful Los Angeles day. So really, how could I possibly complain about this? We’ve all had more time with family lately (um…. for better or worse. You know what I mean, fellow parents!!!). I haven’t eaten this many home-cooked meals for at least ten years. Maybe twenty, if we’re honest.

And we’ve proven yet again that we, at Boom Box Post, have the best staff in the biz. We have not received one single complaint through this whole transition–even a good-natured gripe during one of our Zoom Tipsy Tuesdays! So while I’m sure that everyone is tired of learning all this new technology (I feel like my head will explode if I’m asked to figure out one more remote playback solution or video conferencing platform), I think we’ve also learned so much in a very short time that will benefit our workflow in the future.

How We Are Staying Connected

Meet Roger, Tess’s new pup!

It’s hard to feel like we’re all part of a cohesive team while working in isolation. So, we’ve been trying hard to continue our usual team-building and social engagements. But, we’ve had to get creative in order to keep things fun!

We’re still organizing virtual team lunches from time to time when we watch each other slurp spaghetti and spoon leftover chili into our mouths while oohing and ahhing over how cute everyone’s cats and dogs are. I have to admit, the pets are a great addition.

We started a #recipes channel on Slack so we can share easy recipes that require few or very easily modified ingredient lists since grocery shopping can be hit or miss these days.

We goaded Tess into adopting a dog. The pressure was real. But she’s going to be an awesome dog mom, and I think we can all agree that those dog walks are clutch right now.

And, we’re still doing our Lunch & Learns and Tipsy Tuesdays via Zoom! They’re incredibly chaotic, but it’s cool to see everyone in their natural habitat. And it always reminds me how much I miss having a big, vibrant, talented team surrounding me all day.

Tips from Our Team in a Time of Turmoil

 

Because, as I mentioned, our team has been so amazing about not saying a peep about how COVID is affecting them, I decided to reach out to ask what their experience has been so far and if they have any tips on how to stay sane during this tough time. Here’s what they had to say!

What do you miss the most about the office?

Tim: I feel like everyone is going to say the thing they miss most about the office are the people. Which is true, I do miss seeing everyone’s face every day. But I think what I miss the most is our server. At-home internet just isn’t it and I miss being able to download large sessions in 2 seconds. I also miss the act of actually going into the office. My commute always turns into a karaoke session…

Jacob: I miss seeing my coworkers and eating lunch with them. I miss hearing about what is happening in all my friends’ lives and taking a relaxing break with them during the day.

Brad: I miss my full 5.1 rig. I currently only have the capabilities for stereo. However, I’m no stranger to cutting shows that get mixed in 5.1 in stereo, so it hasn’t been too hard to adapt.

Tess: I miss seeing everyone every day and catching up! Both coworkers and clients.

Sam: I would just say being around the whole team. Working at home can get lonely and boring not having others to talk to. I would say being able to socialize and going to other people’s rooms for a question or for whatever reason makes the time go by a lot faster. Another aspect is that it’s a change of scenery. Working from home is just the same thing over and over again. I hardly even know what day of the week it is anymore.

For you, what’s the best part of working from home? 

Kirsty: For me, the best part of WFH is I don’t need to deal with traffic anymore. It’s great that there are only 20 feet from my working desk to my couch. But I also miss being able to communicate with people in the office. Now we have to type in Slack. I’d love to congratulate people in person for their promotion or pet adoption.

Natalia: Being able to have home-cooked meals! I like to cook so that’s a good thing about working from home, also I’m fostering so I get to spend much more time with the dog!

Tim: I adopted a cat a few months ago, so it’s been nice to spend all day with her. She is almost always on my lap or by my feet while I work. It’s also nice to be able to keep an eye on her and tell her to STOP SCRATCHING THE COUCH!

Tess: Honestly, not a huge fan of working from home. But I’m glad we’re all being safe!

Jacob: It is awesome to lose my commute. While I enjoy listening to my podcasts on the way to work, I enjoy using the extra time to cook breakfast and tidy up the house before I start working in the morning, not to mention the extra time with my wife after work.

Brad: Having my wife as a coworker!

Sam: There are a few major pros of working from home that I love. The first one being that I get to be around my dog all day so he does keep me somewhat entertained. The second one is not having to drive to work. Everyone knows LA traffic sucks so not having to deal with that is amazing. One other bonus is being able to wake up later. All I have to do is walk from my bed to the computer!

Do you have any hot WFH tips? 

Natalia: Be organized, especially if you have different work projects going on. And also, have a dedicated space for work and don’t bring it into your personal space of the house. You need to create boundaries between work and downtime within the same home. Also, set a strict schedule for when to work, pretty much keep the same schedule as if you were going into the studio. If not, you’ll end up losing track of time that way. But also, don’t forget to stand up and take breaks from time to time!

Tim: I have made multiple quarantine playlists. Jamming out while I work helps keep my mind off the fact that I haven’t left the house in weeks. So if you’re someone who can focus while listening to music, I definitely recommend putting on some tunes!

Jacob: I like to set hourly benchmarks for myself when editing sound effects. I sort of did that before WFH, but I find it to be extra important now that I have all the distractions of my home close at hand. This way I always know where I am and where I should be in my work, and I’m never surprised if I am running behind at the end of the day.

Tess: Best WFH tip I have is to keep your regular schedule! I’ve found that to be tricky, but if I drift out for a day I’m much less productive than when I’m strict about my schedule.

Brad: Be conscious of the work time/home time divide. When there’s no clear cut end to your workday and you don’t have to leave work to go home, it’s hard to know when to stop for the day, which can lead to fatigue on your ears, eyes, and mind.

Sam: I think the most important thing for me is taking breaks away from the computer to not lose sanity. Exercising on my lunch break and going outside for a few minutes at a time throughout the day really does help me personally.

Do you want to share any fun internet time-wasters to brighten everyone’s day?

Greg: I play sudoku, solitaire, Tripeaks solitaire, and wordscapes. For websites, addictinggames.com is a classic for a multitude of quickplay games, mix.com is the updated version of stumbleupon. It’s now a browser add-on that you can just click the button and it takes you to a random page of your selected interests. Everything from games to photography, science and technology articles, comedic/satiric articles, etc. etc.

Also there’s this classic for a good throwback game every once in a while https://gold-miner-games.com/classic-gold-miner.htm

Tim: My friends and I have been playing skribbl.io over Facetime a lot. It’s basically Pictionary without the teams. I don’t like to share my wins.

Kate: If you’re having a hard time with the utter silence of working from home, you can use this office noise generator! Move the sliders to make just the right mix of chatty colleagues, aggressive typer next door, room tone, and that solidly 90’s printer technology that can screech louder than any banshee.

Jacob: I love the Youtube Channel Kittisaurus. Watching the cats get up to shenanigans is always a good laugh.

 

Part One of this Blog was written by JEFF SHIFFMAN, CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST

 

Women in Audio Engineering

During the first week of November, my alma mater, the DePaul University School of Music, held an 11-day music festival with numerous masterclasses, panel discussions, and concerts to commemorate the unveiling of its new Holtschneider Performance Center.  I was asked to take part in the panel discussion sponsored by the Sound Recording Technology department titled Women in Audio Engineering. The panel sought to bring to light the fact that although women are a minority in music production and audio engineering (according to Women’s Audio Mission, women make up five percent of all audio professions), there are many notable women contributing in these fields. In addition to highlighting the professional hurdles and triumphs faced by the all-female panel, the moderator, Tom Miller, Director of Sound Recording Technology at DePaul, also posed several important questions regarding how we, as an audio community, can strive to achieve parity in the future.

Highlighting a Few Amazing Women

Although women from every generation continue to forge ahead in our field, the hard reality of being only five percent of the industry means that women rarely have the privilege of meeting one another.  My hope with this post is that the accomplishments of the women I recently met at this panel can inspire and invigorate fellow female (as well as male and non-binary!) audio professionals from afar.

The women listed below are not affiliated with Boom Box Post or the opinions expressed in this blog post. The following bios were supplied to DePaul University by the panelists themselves:

Christine Schyvinck

Chris Schyvinck is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer at Shure Incorporated, the world’s leading manufacturer of microphones and audio electronics. As the highest-ranking officer at the Company, she is one of a few women to hold an executive position in the pro audio industry. Her leadership has been integral to the steady growth and profitability of Shure.

During her tenure, Chris has led critical initiatives for the Company, including reducing material costs without sacrificing product quality, dramatically improving on-time delivery, and globalizing manufacturing operations. She joined Shure in 1989 as Quality Control Engineer. After several promotions, she moved into Process Engineering, becoming manager in 1997. In 1998, she was made Vice President of Corporate Quality.

Two years later, Chris was named Vice President of Operations, responsible for Corporate Quality, Procurement, Supply Chain, and the Company’s manufacturing facilities in Mexico and China. She was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2004 and directed the opening of Shure’s first manufacturing facility in China one year later.

In 2006, Chris was tapped to head the Global Marketing and Sales Division, assuming management of the Company’s Business Units in the Americas, Europe, Middle East/Africa, and Asia/Pacific regions as well as the strategic integration, marketing, sales, artist and public relations, technical support, and customer service functions. Sales increased by more than 78 percent during her ten-year period as Executive Vice President of GMS.

In 2015, she was designated Chief Operating Officer, and, in 2016, was appointed Shure President and CEO, becoming only the fourth such officer in the Company’s 90-year history.

Currently, Chris leads the Company’s eight divisions: Administration, Finance, Global Legal Services, Global Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Information Technology, Operations, and Product Development.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the former Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board for the School of Mechanical Engineering at UW-Madison. Chris recognized Shure as the perfect blend of her two passions (music and engineering) and rejected employment offers from larger manufacturers. While working at Shure, she completed her Master’s degree in Engineering Management from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University and is currently seated on the Board of Industrial Advisors for that program.

Mary Mazurek

Mary Mazurek is an audio engineer, interdisciplinary artist, educator, and PhD candidate. Her audio broadcasts and recordings are regularly heard on WFMT, Chicago. She has worked with: the European Broadcast Union, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Steward Copland of the Police, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to name a few. She is a practicing media artist whose works have been exhibited in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. She is also a sought-after educator and is currently writing her Ph.D. dissertation, which concerns developing an epistemology of noise in music and art.

You may also read more about Mary’s journey in this adaptation of a speech she gave on September 12, 2018 at the Recording Academy Task Force On Diversity and Inclusion at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Marina Killion

Marina Killion is an accomplished audio engineer based in Chicago. She is currently the Senior Audio Engineer at Optimus, where she has worked since 2009. She does everything from sound design, dialog editing, Foley, ADR, to final mix. Marina has a background in classical music performance, and studied Sound Recording Technology at DePaul University. She has worked on many notable campaigns such as Chicago Blackhawks, UPS, Reebok, Always, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Invesco, and Olive Garden. She is currently mixing her third feature length independent film, and has previously mixed three documentaries, two web series, a television pilot, and many short films in addition to her commercial projects. Her work has been shown at the Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago Comedy Festival, Midwest Independent Film Festival, and many more. She also won a Silver Addy Award in 2014 for her work with the Eastern Board of Cherokee Indians.

Kate Finan

You all know me!  But, if you don’t, feel free to check out my bio here on our website.

Starting the Conversation

Because I found the panel’s questions to be incredibly thought-provoking, I wanted to share them with all of you so that you might think about your own answers and possibly engage with your peers on this important topic:

What can we do to attract women to the audio profession?

How can we support women in our industry?

What can we do to break down the “good old boy” perception of recording?

Resources

Finally, I am supplying a list of my favorite resources for women in the audio industry or for those who would like to support their female or non-binary peers.  Most of my suggestions are geared toward women in STEM, post-production, or animation since those are the areas in which I work. So please feel free to comment with any of your own suggestions for other areas of the audio industry.  Here they are in no particular order.

And don’t forget to join your professional organizations so that your voice can be heard at the highest levels of our industry!

 

Shadow Re-Recording Mixer Stacey Hempel

Post Audio/Re-Recording Mixer & Editor Stacey Hempel has invited SoundGirls who are working in post-production audio or wish to work in post-production to shadow her.

Stacey has worked in the industry since 1993 and has an extensive client list. She is well versed in Pro Tools 12 Ultimate, Dolby Atmos Mixing, Experience on a wide variety of control surfaces, Soundminer, FTP, Network Servers, Dropbox, Media Shuttle, Aspera.

 

Whose Job is It? When Plug-in Effects are Sound Design vs. Mix Choices.

We’ve reached out to our blog readership several times to ask for blog post suggestions.  And surprisingly, this blog suggestion has come up every single time. It seems that there’s a lot of confusion about who should be processing what.  So, I’m going to attempt to break it down for you.  Keep in mind that these are my thoughts on the subject as someone with 12 years of experience as a sound effects editor and supervising sound editor.  In writing this, I’m hoping to clarify the general thought process behind making the distinction between who should process what.  However, if you ever have a specific question on this topic, I would highly encourage you to reach out to your mixer.

Before we get into the specifics of who should process what, I think the first step to understanding this issue is understanding the role of mixer versus sound designer.

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES

THE MIXER

If we overly simplify the role of the re-recording mixer, I would say that they have three main objectives when it comes to mixing sound effects.  First, they must balance all of the elements together so that everything is clear and the narrative is dynamic.  Second, they must place everything into the stereo or surround space by panning the elements appropriately.  Third, they must place everything into the acoustic space shown on screen by adding reverb, delay, and EQ.

Obviously, there are many other things accomplished in a mix, but these are the absolute bullet points and the most important for you to understand in this particular scenario.

THE SOUND DESIGNER

The sound designer’s job is to create, edit, and sync sound effects to the picture.

BREAKING IT DOWN

EQ

It is the mixer’s job to EQ effects if they are coming from behind a door, are on a television screen, etc.  Basically, anything where all elements should be futzed for any reason.  If this is the case, do your mixer a favor and ask ahead of time if he/she would like you to split those FX out onto “Futz FX” tracks. You’ll totally win brownie points just for asking.  It is important not to do the actual processing in the SFX editorial, as the mixer may want to alter the amount of “futz” that is applied to achieve maximum clarity, depending on what is happening in the rest of the mix.

It is the sound designer’s job to EQ SFX if any particular elements have too much/too little of any frequency to be appropriate for what’s happening on screen.  Do not ever assume that your mixer is going to listen to every single element you cut in a build, and then individually EQ them to make them sound better.  That’s your job!  Or, better yet, don’t choose crappy SFX in the first place!

REVERB/DELAY

It is the mixer’s job to add reverb or delay to all sound effects when appropriate in order to help them to sit within the physical space shown on screen.  For example, he or she may add a bit of reverb to all sound effects which occur while the characters on screen are walking through an underground cave.  Or, he or she may add a bit of reverb and delay to all sound effects when we’re in a narrow but tall canyon.  The mixer would probably choose not to add reverb or delay to any sound effects that occur while a scene plays out in a small closet.

As a sound designer, you should be extremely wary of adding reverb to almost any sound effect.  If you are doing so to help sell that it is occurring in the physical space, check with your mixer first.  Chances are, he or she would rather have full control by adding the reverb themselves.

Sound designers should also use delay fairly sparingly.  This is only a good choice if it is truly a design choice, not a spatial one.  For example, if you are designing a futuristic laser gun blast, you may want to add a very short delay to the sound you’re designing purely for design purposes.

When deciding whether or not to add reverb or delay, always ask yourself whether it is a design choice or a spatial choice.  As long as the reverb/delay has absolutely nothing to do with where the sound effect is occurring, you’re probably in the clear.  But, you may still want to supply a muted version without the effect in the track below, just in case, your mixer finds that the affected one does not play well in the mix.

COMPRESSORS/LIMITERS

Adding compressors or limiters should be the mixer’s job 99% of the time.

The only instance in which I have ever used dynamics processing in my editorial was when a client asked to trigger a pulsing sound effect whenever a particular character spoke (there was a visual pulsing to match).  I used a side chain and gate to do this, but first I had an extensive conversation with my mixer about if he would rather I did this and gave him the tracks, or if he would prefer to set it up himself.  If you are gating any sound effects purely to clean them up, then my recommendation would be to just find a better sound.

PITCH SHIFTING

A mixer does not often pitch shift sound effects unless a client specifically asks that he or she do so.

Thus, pitch shifting almost always falls on the shoulders of the sound designer.  This is because when it comes to sound effects, changing the pitch is almost always a design choice rather than a balance/spatial choice.

MODULATION

A mixer will use modulation effects when processing dialogue sometimes, but it is very uncommon for them to dig into sound effects to use this type of processing.

Most often this type of processing is done purely for design purposes, and thus lands in the wheelhouse of the sound designer.  You should never design something with unprocessed elements, assuming that your mixer will go in and process everything so that it sounds cooler.  It’s the designer’s job to make all of the elements as appropriate as possible to what is on the screen.  So, go ahead and modulate away!

NOISE REDUCTION

Mixers will often employ noise reduction plugins to clean up noisy sounds.  But, this should never be the case with sound effects, since you should be cutting pristine SFX in the first place.

In short, neither of you should be using noise reduction plugins.  If you find yourself reaching for RX while editing sound effects, you should instead reach for a better sound! If you’re dead set on using something that, say, you recorded yourself and is just too perfect to pass up but incredibly noisy, then by all means process it with noise reduction software.  Never assume that your mixer will do this for you.  There’s a much better chance that the offending sound effect will simply be muted in the mix.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

INSERTS VS AUDIOSUITE

I have one final note about inserts versus AudioSuite plug-in use.  Summed up, it’s this: don’t use inserts as an FX editor/sound designer.  Always assume that your mixer is going to grab all of the regions from your tracks and drag them into his or her own tracks within the mix template.  There’s a great chance that your mixer will never even notice that you added an insert.  If you want an effect to play in the mix, then make sure that it’s been printed to your sound files.

AUTOMATION AS EFFECTS

In the same vein, it’s a risky business to create audio effects with automation, such as zany panning or square-wave volume automation.  These may sound really cool, but always give your mixer a heads up ahead of time if you plan to do something like this.  Some mixers automatically delete all of your automation so that they can start fresh.  If there’s any automation that you believe is crucial to the design of a sound, then make sure to mention it before your work gets dragged into the mix template.

The History of Sound Design

 

Although the term “sound design” has been around for nearly four decades–and the practice has been pursued much longer–its use has only recently become nearly ubiquitous.  A day cannot go by that I do not see #sounddesign appended onto the end of a multitude of tweets from around the world.  We now have the invaluable website DesigningSound.org, which distributes information about our community’s adventures, musings, and technical inquiries.  And our Boom Box Post blog often touts titles such as Creature Speech Sound Design Challenge or Smoke and Mirrors: Unexpected Sound Design Sources.

Why this sudden renaissance of the term “sound design”?  This week, I decided to take a closer look at the history of the term, the differences in how it is used across the film and television, interactive and immersive media, and theater industries, and its use and abuse.

Sound Design: A History

The term “sound designer” was used for the first time in film in 1979.  Francis Ford Coppola granted Walter Murch the title of Sound Designer for his work on Apocalypse Now, marking the first use of the term as a credit in film.  Until that point in time, the usual credit, Supervising Sound Editor or Sound Editor, was generally accepted as a purely technical role on a film crew. Coppola felt that this new title encompassed his feeling that Murch had been a key creative team member who added to the artistry and overall creative intention of the film.  It was also to be understood that Murch oversaw the overall sound concept of the film, including dialogue, sound effects, foley, and the final mix, just as a supervising sound editor would normally do.

Walter Murch’s creative storytelling through sound and his integration into the Apocalypse Now team as early as pre-production surely earned him this extra accolade.  I would love to wax poetic about the sound of Apocalypse Now, but that certainly deserves its very own blog post.  Instead, please read this interview with Murch himself regarding the sound of the film.

Surely, the sound design on Apocalypse Now was of the highest quality and extremely innovative for its time.  However, it is important to note that this was not the first time that an inventive sound editor played a critical role in a film’s sound.  Instead, this was the first time that the title Sound Designer was used to describe that work, thereby expressing the beginning of a shift in the industry’s attitude toward sound editorial.  The same job would have previously been listed as Supervising Sound Editor or Re-Recording Mixer.  Case in point: we can all agree that Ben Burtt’s work in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, released in 1977, was sound design. Afterall, he designed the sound of the lightsaber! Yet, he was originally credited with Special Dialogue and Sound Effects.  In the 1997 and 2004 re-released editions, his credit was changed to Sound Designer.

Sound Design Across Industries

One of the aspects that makes the title Sound Designer so interesting is that it is not controlled by any labor unions or industry organizations except in the arena of theater.  So, unlike many other roles which have been established and then held to the same set of standards over the years, the idea of what makes someone a sound designer is free to evolve.  Thus, every industry has taken this idea and slowly crafted a meaning that fits its own needs, resulting in a varied and sometimes confusing use of the term.

Film & Television

In the television and film industry, the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild, MPEG (local IATSE chapter 700) controls the titles which are used within union sound houses.  Each particular role on a sound team is segmented into specific job titles such as supervising sound editor (the person who oversees all other members of the team and advances an overall creative concept for the project’s sound), dialogue editor, sound effects editor, foley editor, foley mixer, foley walker, recordist, etc.  Ordinarily, a person’s film/TV credit will match his or her job title on a project.  However, there are several reasons why the title Sound Designer may be used in credits in lieu of these standard union titles.

One reason may be the traditional use of the term as it was established by Coppola and Murch: the individual has overseen all sound team members and has had an active, creative role in concepts that contributed to the storytelling of the film.  In this way, someone is given special commendation by the use of the title Sound Designer rather than Supervising Sound Editor.  In essence, they mean the same thing in terms of responsibility.  But, Sound Designer has a connotation of creative respect.  Another reason would be that the individual played multiple roles in the project (such as supervising sound editor and mixer), and as the term sound designer is outside the purview of the union, this can a convenient way to credit such a person. Keep in mind that in any large studio or union house, an individual may be credited as Sound Designer, but his or her official job title will be one of the union-specified roles.  Thus, sound designer is a colloquial term of respect and reverence toward the creative aspect of the work, but it is not an actual job.

Video Games

In interactive and immersive media (video games, VR, etc.), the title of Sound Designer is often used as a catch-all title for each member on the sound team.  In general, there will be a bevy of sound designers on each project, who are lead by the Audio Lead.  This person, in turn, is supervised by the Audio Director who works closely with the game design department.  On large projects, sound designers may be specialized in different areas such as technical sound designers who work closely with programmers, or integrators who specialize in fitting sound into the pipeline of the game.  They may also specialize in foley, dialogue, or sound effects.  However, on small projects, a sound designer may be required to cover all sound jobs as well as understand its technical integration into the media.  This use of the term as a broad descriptor of all sound personnel differs greatly from the use in television and film.

Theater

Theater sound design is a very different animal, indeed, and for that reason, I have left its history to this section.  Sound design for theater refers to the choice of music and sounds for a stage production, and the subsequent choice, setup, and use of live audio technology to play those sounds during a performance.  This implies an intimate familiarity with the work, and a close alliance with the director and possibly playwright to create an overall soundscape that enhances the work.

The first use of the term Sound Designer was in the 1968-1969 theatrical season of the American Conservatory Theater and was bestowed upon Dan Dugan who worked three stereo tape decks routed to ten loudspeakers.  As technology has advanced over the years and directors have become more accustomed to lush sound design in film and television, this role has become increasingly complex, and in many ways is linked to the role of Sound Artist within the fine arts community.

 

Troubleshooting (and Avoiding!) Common Problems in ProTools

We all have technical difficulties from time to time, especially when using software as intricate as ProTools.  But, after years of making what seems like every mistake in the book, hanging out on Avid DUC, and stalking Gearslutz.com, I pride myself in my ability to overhear frantic technical freakouts and supply solid advice on the best course of action. Here are a few of the problems I see most often, and how to get through them while salvaging as much of your work and sanity as possible.

 

Problem: My Session Is Missing Audio Files

This happens all the time.  And as a supervisor, nothing is more annoying to than sitting down to review work and then finding that not everything links up.

How to Solve It

When you open a session with this issue, a dialogue box will pop up tell you that you have missing files.  Always choose “Manually Find & Relink.” Letting your computer automatically do so will take forever. Select the files you wish to relink (hopefully, all of them), and check out the path.  This will tell you where the session believes that the files live. Most likely, this will be on another drive or another computer. Once you see where the files are, you have a few options:

  1. Plug in the drive that contains the files, select that drive in the area to search, and choose find links and then commit links once the files have been found.  At that point, any files which were missing will still be missing from your audio files folder. They will only be linked to the session when the drive is plugged in.  So, you will then need to “Save Session Copy In” to save a session which does include all audio files.
  2. If you know that the files also live somewhere else on your local computer (such as a library drive), relink to that drive. Again, you will need to Save Session Copy In if you would like the files to be saved into your audio files folder where they belong.
  3. Find all of the missing files manually, and then drop them into your session’s audio files folder.  Then, relink to that folder. You may need to choose to relink the file name only if it does not work to use file name and ID.  There is no need to Save Session Copy In.
  4. If the files ARE in fact in your audio files folder, but ProTools isn’t recognizing them, you may need to search your audio files folder and relink by file name only instead of file name and ID.  Every once in a while, the file IDs become corrupt, and ProTools mistakenly can’t use them to locate your audio files.

How to Avoid It In the Future

When saving your work to give to another person or to take to another computer, always use either Save Session Copy In or Export Selected Tracks as New Session.  Doing so gathers all audio files that are linked to your session from locations other than your audio files folder (like if you didn’t have “copy on import” selected or chose to import tracks by linking to files instead of copying) and copies them into the new session’s audio files folder so that they live in one place.  If you simply click and drag your working session’s folder, any files which are linked from other locations will not be copied and will be missing once the session has been moved.

Problem: My Session Keeps Crashing While Saving

This is one of the most aggravating things that can happen and always seems to occur at the end of a really long day. But there’s hope!

How to Solve It

In my experience, the most likely culprit is that your drive is near capacity.  Check the drive to which you are attempting to save, and make sure to clear off enough space.  Even if you technically have just barely enough space, this can cause the bits to be written in every tiny nook and cranny on your drive, which makes it take forever to process the request.

If drive space isn’t the issue, then you’re probably dealing with a corrupt file.  Here are your options:

  1. Close your session, open the most recent backup in your Session File Backups folder and save it off with the correct name (if you can). Then, you’ll need to redo any work between that backup and where you ended.
  2. If the above does not work, then there is probably a corrupt file somewhere in your session.  The next thing to try is to close your session, create a whole new session (checking that all of your settings such as frame rate, sample rate, etc. are the same), and then import all of your tracks through the Import Session Data file menu.  Make sure to copy all audio files instead of linking.

How to Avoid It In the Future

Keep track of your available drive space at all times.  Have a system in place for archiving old work onto separate drives to make sure that your project drive always has space.

Problem: Whenever I try to use the function keys to change tools or modes, nothing happens, or another application opens.

If you’re working on a mac, you will need to disable the function key features in order to select your tools/modes with the keyboard function keys.

How to Solve It

Open System Preferences, and click on Keyboard. Then, check the box that says, “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.”

How to Avoid it in the Future

Once you check this setting, you won’t have to think about it again until you purchase a new computer or reinstall your operating system.

Problem: All of the waveforms appear to have the audio zoomed in to different degrees.  Quiet-sounding files have waveforms that look huge and vice versa.

This is the result of using the audio zoom in function when you are not showing all tracks.  Clicking on the audio zoom in/out button only affects clips which are visible in your current display of tracks.  When you show all tracks, the newly displayed tracks will have non-zoomed waveforms. Yet, the audio which was visible when you zoomed in/out will continue to display the new size.

How to Solve It

To reset all waveforms to their actual size, use the quick key Control+Option+Command+[ on a mac.

How to Avoid It In the Future

If you want to avoid this issue altogether, only zoom your waveforms while all tracks are visible. Otherwise, the key command is a very quick fix.

Problem: I keep spotting my video into place, but when I re-open my session, the first frame of the video is off by a frame or more.

This is most likely the result of having your session set at an incorrect frame rate.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  This will display the video’s frame rate.
  2. In ProTools, open your Session Setup window and choose the corresponding frame rate.
  3. Re-spot your video into place.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I keep spotting my video into place, but the ProTools timecode display gets further and further away from the timecode burned into the video.

This issue is known as drift and is the result of having your session set to an incorrect frame rate.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  This will display the video’s frame rate.
  2. In ProTools, open your Session Setup window and choose the corresponding frame rate.
  3. Re-spot your video into place.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I accidentally worked on a project at the wrong frame rate.  When I was done, I set the frame rate to the correct one in the Session Setup window, but now everything is out of sync.

If you have already begun working on a project with your session set to the wrong frame rate, you cannot fix the problem by simply setting your session to the correct frame rate.  You must perform a sample rate conversion to re-sync your work.

How to Solve It

  1. Open your video in QuickTime and hit Command+i to get info.  Check the correct frame rate of the video.
  2. Open a new ProTools session with the correct sample rate and bit depth.
  3. Open the Session Setup window and choose the new (correct) frame rate to match your video.
  4. Go to File > Import Session Data, and navigate to your project, which was done at the wrong frame rate.
  5. Select all of your tracks, and make sure you are copying all audio (not linking).  Click the Apply SRC checkbox, and choose the correct pull-up/pull down from the Source Sample Rate dropdown menu. To do this, choose your sample rate from the bottom of the list and then choose which direction you need to adjust.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Import your video, and re-sync it to your session.
  8. Check that the timecode burn-in matches the ProTools timecode window.  Your audio should be in sync.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Always check the frame rate of your video in Quicktime before importing into ProTools. If you prefer not to do this, your video track in ProTools displays the frame rate below the track name. If your video’s frame rate does not match your session’s frame rate, the number will appear red. Change the frame rate in your Session Setup window to match the video.

Problem: I was working in ProTools, and now my computer is displaying the “spinning beachball.” I can’t click on anything.  What should I do?

Your session has crashed.  You will need to force quit and open one of your backups (and pray that it was set to back up fairly recently).

How to Solve It

  1. Use the key command Control+Option+Command+Esc to bring up the force quit window.
  2. Force quit ProTools and any other applications that are listed as not responding.  If you still cannot click on anything, you may want to force quit the Finder as well.
  3. If that does not work, you will need to “hard restart” your computer by holding down the on/off button on the computer until you hear it restart.
  4. Once you are able to use your mouse again, navigate to your Session File Backups folder and choose the most recent version. You will need to redo any work that was accomplished after that copy was saved.
  5. Re-save this as your original file name and it will replace your previously saved session.

How to Avoid It in the Future

Crashes are unavoidable. But, you can usually get used to which actions in ProTools are most likely to bog down your system. Take note of what you were doing each time this happens, and try to avoid it in the future. If a particular file is causing the crash, try to save a new copy of the file, or revert to an old version which doesn’t cause the issue.

Creative Self-Marketing Ideas for the Audio Professional

As studio owners, Jeff and I get tons of requests for advice regarding how audio professionals can either kick start or amp up their careers. In an industry that doesn’t necessarily post jobs on a website, use recruiters, or have a standard interviewing process, how are talented creative people supposed to get their foot in the door? There are so many different ways to answer these questions, but at least one large chunk of this is personal marketing.

I read a lot in my spare time, and I love to get my brain working with business books of all kinds. Unfortunately, I’ve found personal marketing books tend to be, in my opinion, relatively useless for those of us in the sound field. They seem to be full of tips either so obvious that they’re painful (Make a website! Write an amazing resume!) or filled to the brim with antiquated business advice (Make sure you have professional business cards!).

So, I thought that I would put together a few interesting ideas that I’ve seen people use to creatively market themselves in the field of audio. Here they are!

Offer to write member interviews for your industry guild’s publication.

I know a mixer who did this years ago when she still lived on the east coast and was attempting to jump-start her career. She interviewed tons of top mixers in a thoughtful and engaging way. Then, when she decided to take the plunge and move to Los Angeles, she already had a bevy of contacts who had personally interacted with her. She never would have gotten to know all of those top industry professionals if she hadn’t volunteered her time for her industry magazine. To this day, whenever I’ve heard her name mentioned in passing, everyone is always quick to say, “Oh, you know her, too? Everyone knows so-and-so! She’s so amazing!” She put in the hard work upfront and it paid out tenfold in the long run.

Offer to write articles for an online professional magazine.

In this case, you can really present yourself as an industry influencer and/or technical expert. I mean, how amazing would it be if a potential employer googled your name, and fifteen plugin reviews from a top online audio magazine came up with your headshot and byline? You would definitely appear to be a cut above the rest. This is a great way to absolutely crush your SEO. If you go this route, you may want to prepare a spec piece to give them a sample of the kinds of things you would like to produce. Also (added bonus!), don’t be surprised if writing interesting product reviews also results in offers to try out new plugins for free! This is a great way to build your audio arsenal and your online brand.

Engage with your community on social media.

Follow sound professionals you admire on Twitter and comment on their tweets. Join some audio Facebook pages (I love Game Audio Denizens, Sound Girls Private, and Professional Freelance Sound Mixers) and comment on posts. Like your favorite studios’ Instagram pics. People love to feel connected, and it’s easier than you might imagine to feel like you “know” someone after you’ve interacted a few times on social media. This is the virtual version of hanging out in the right room. If you’re there long enough and you make your presence known (in a non-annoying way), you will inherently be seen as belonging. I would caution you to start small with commenting and liking, then move on to posting when you’re more confident. Definitely, don’t just jump in and post every day. That’s like crashing a wedding and then hopping on stage to give a speech.

Volunteer at a non-profit that involves your prospective clients or co-workers.

I’m a member of the non-profit group Women in Animation whose mission is to advance women in the field of animation. Their current goal is to reach 50/50 (men-to-women ratio) by the year 2020, which is absolutely amazing! You might ask why I’m into Women in Animation rather than SoundGirls, which has a similar goal but for the audio field. I’m actually in both, but the distinction is extremely important: I’m involved in the animation group for my personal/business marketing and the sound group for my own enjoyment.

That’s because when your aim is personal marketing, you want to put yourself in the “right room.” And that means a room with the people who can get you work, which is very different than a room filled with your peers. Boom Box Post does sound for animation, and we’re hired by animation studios. So that means that the main place I need to network is with animation professionals. For freelance sound editors, that might mean going to guild events to connect with new supervising sound editors. For mixers, it might mean attending a charity golf tournament sponsored by the post department of one of the big studios. The most important thing is to write down the top three people/job titles that could help you to find work, and then brainstorm places that those people might be.

Start your own professional networking group.

I know a few people who have done this. This can mean putting together speakers for a quarterly professional panel discussion, or maybe just setting up drinks at a local bar for like-minded audio professionals.  Whatever it is, you can put yourself on the map and meet a lot of amazing people along the way. If you’re facilitating networking and/or learning opportunities for others, chances are that one day they will want to reciprocate the investment you made and help you out. Plus, you’ll get to have a fantastic time along the way!

Start a Lunch & Learn club.

Jeff and I came up with the idea of holding monthly “Lunch and Learn” sessions a few years back, and we’ve been blogging about it ever since! Every month, we get our team together for lunch, and then one person gives a demonstration of anything at all at which they consider themselves an expert. This can mean using a certain plugin, cutting a slo-mo sequence properly, using Soundminer to the max, etc. It’s a great way to keep everyone both learning and teaching, and also gives the team a go-to person should they ever have questions on the topic in the future.

Since beginning to blog about this, we’ve had numerous people tell us that they’ve started their own Lunch and Learn at work. We absolutely love this! Keep the good karma going and share your knowledge.  Lunch and Learns not only show everyone involved in the best light as creative professionals, but they also give everyone a chance to invest their time and energy in helping those around them. And an investment in others is always something that can pay dividends down the line when those same people are in a place to hire you, recommend you, or even just walk your dog when you’re on vacation!

Start a virtual freelancers club.

If I had to guess, I would say that the number one group of people Googling “self-marketing” are freelancers. It’s hard to know where to start in making connections and positioning yourself correctly for a fab career in the future when you work from home and rarely interact with others. If you don’t get a lot of time with peers, starting a freelancers club is a great jumping-off point in marketing yourself!

For most professions, a freelancers club usually means meeting up once a week with other freelancers at someone’s home or a coffee shop and working in the same space so that you can be a little more accountable regarding how you spend your time and also get to feel like you have co-workers. Obviously, the need for a desk full of audio gear doesn’t exactly make this practical, at least in its usual incarnation.

But, I love the idea of starting a Slack channel or using other e-workplace software to create a virtual freelancers’ club. We all need other people to bounce ideas off of, get tech support from, bullshit with, and (most importantly) share stupid .gifs about things like our bad lunch habits and Golden Girls obsession. So go ahead a get e-out there! Having a set small group that you always interact with will make your workday much more enjoyable, eventful, and help you to bond with others who could help to vouch for you in the future.

Five Things I’ve Learned About Editing from Mixing

I have been a sound effects editor and supervising sound editor for a long time now.  But, I have recently begun mixing a television series here at Boom Box Post.  I am enjoying how much I learn each and every time that I sit down at the board, and I am by no means ready to start spouting mixing advice to anyone.  But, I can say that I’ve come to appreciate certain editorial practices (and absolutely abhor others!) through my new vantage point as a mixer.  Things that I thought of like a nice way to make your mixer happy have turned into practices that are essential to me being able to start my mixing day right.  Seriously, these five things can be the difference of hours added to my predub day.  So, here are five editorial practices that I’ve realized are absolutely essential to a smooth mix.

#1: Stick to the template.

In short, don’t add tracks!  Adding tracks to an established template causes numerous headaches for your mixer during the setup, and it’s easy for issues to crop up later without him or her realizing it.  Every time a track is added, your mixer needs to adjust his or her inserts, sends, groups, VCAs, markers, and more.  That is a ton of extra work, and if one of those hasn’t been checked and adjusted before beginning to mix, issues can crop up along the way.

Adding more tracks to your session to squeeze in those 18 dirt debris sound effects that you added to a car peel out is a huge no-no.  I am especially annoyed when I see that tracks were added just to put one or two sound files on them in the entire session.  Your mixer or supervising sound editor has thoroughly thought through the needs of the project before creating your template.  So, if you feel that you need more space to spread out, you probably need to re-think the way you’re approaching your builds (see number four below…).  But, if having more tracks seems absolutely essential to you, make sure that you reach out to your mixer ahead of time and clear the change with him or her.

#2: Cut foley in perspective.

Foley is often one of the things that makes a project really come to life.  It truly helps the action to feel more real.  But, it’s also something that is often mixed so that we feel it instead of truly recognizing it with our ears.  Your mixer probably won’t be using the footsteps to make a sonic statement during a big monologue or music montage.  But, it does often make sense to feature them when characters are moving in or out of a scene.  It helps the audience to track where they are located in the story and aids the flow between shots.

In these instances, the panning is often at least as important than the volume.  And in order to pan people walking, for instance, off screen-right and then immediately into the next shot from screen-left, the foley needs to have been cut for perspective!  I’ve had numerous foley editors say that they’re uncomfortable cutting in perspective because they want to give the mixer options.  But, you’re truly not giving your mixer options.  Instead, you’re tying his or her hands (or, rather, making them need to scoot over to the computer and recut it themselves when they’d rather focus on mixing)!

But perspective cutting for foley can be a bit confusing.   So, let me break it down for you: you should cut your foley in perspective if there is a drastic change in volume necessary, or if characters need to be panned in our out of a shot.  Panning within a shot does not require perspective changes (e.g., a character walks around a room during the same shot).  Zooming in does not require a perspective change (this can be done with a fader move and is not a change between shots).  Here are some examples that would require perspective changes:

  • Perspective change for volume: We start on a long shot of a character dancing on stage, shot from deep in the audience.  Then, we cut into an extreme close-up on his feet.  Bam!  Perspective change!
  • Perspective change for panning: Two characters and standing around talking, and they realize they’re late for an important meeting.  They run off screen-right.  Then, we immediately cut to them running into a different room from screen left.  Give that sucker a perspective change!

#3: Color code your builds.

This is not by any means an industry standard, but I seriously appreciate it. I see it!  Want your mixer to love you now and forever?  Then color-code your builds!  I would recommend color-coding the regions that make up each BG location the same color each time that location is used as well as color-coding the regions within each FX build.

For BGs this is helpful to your mixer because he or she can easily copy and paste the volume automation onto each instance of the same location in just minutes!  This is such a great time-saver for getting to a reasonable starting point on BG balance.

For FX, make sure to color-code your regions according to what the build is covering on-screen rather than the kind of elements they are.  That way, it’s easy for your mixer to identify what to adjust by just glancing at your session (without necessarily soloing every single file).  For example, when cutting a door open, you may have a handle turn, a wood door open, and a long creak.  Color-code all three of those suckers brown!  Extra points go to color-coding something that makes sense for the thing you’re covering (blue for water, brown for a wooden door, yellow for a yellow remote-control truck, etc.).  And make sure that each time that same door opens happens, you color code it the same way.  By doing that, your mixer can easily find a balance he or she likes and then paste it onto every instance.  That makes adjusting it to work in a specific scene so much easier.

#4: Choose fewer, better FX.

Let me say this: more is not better.  Not by a long shot.  Yes, in a lot of cases, you should cut more than one layer to get a textured and full sound without tying the hands of your mixer.  But, you also don’t want to veer too far in the opposite direction and cut way too many elements.  Sound effects editorial is an art-form, and like any true art, it takes forethought and vision to do it well.  That means deciding which layers you want before you start digging through your library, and then editing yourself to create the most robust but clear and simple build possible.  I never start pulling sounds without a game plan, no matter how simple the build might seem.

In general, I like to stick with a rule of three: choose three files max that cover three frequency ranges (low, medium, and high) and also three different sonic textures.  For example, when cutting a steady forest fire, I would choose a low-end rumble element to give it size, a mid-range thick whooshy element (maybe with a little phase for motion) for fullness, and a high-frequency steady crackle to give it motion, life, and to help it poke through the mix without needing to turn the volume way up.  Without a game plan, I might be left throwing in a dozen elements because they seem like good choices.  But with a little forethought, I can easily cut down the number of elements I use and make each one count.  Honestly, it also makes things sound a lot better.

Sticking with the rule of three also helps your mixer!  After all, he or she can easily grab up to four faders (three is even easier!) and adjust the volume without needing to create a group and then disable it after making the adjustment.  So, there’s basically no reason not to cut like this.  It helps you and your mixer to work better, smarter, and faster!

#5: Use clip gain instead of volume automation to balance FX builds.

So, you’ve toiled over creating the perfect balance between your elements in a single build.  And mixers love it when you do some of the work for them!  They’ll definitely want to adjust that balance to make it work within the mix, but having a solid starting point is key.  The problem with adjusting your balance during editorial with volume automation is that as soon as your mixer grabs the faders, that balance is completely erased and replace with whatever his or her fingers do.  So, do yourself and your mixer a favor and balance within builds using clip gain.  That lets your mixer have all faders sitting at zero (and not popping up and down all over the place during playback), and thus each adjustment he or she makes is on top of what you’ve already accomplished.

A few caveats on this:

  • Make sure to use volume automation rather than clip gain when adjusting volume for perspective changes.  Always first balance your build with clip gain, then cut it in perspective and make any volume changes for perspective with the volume bars.
  • Do not ever clip gain a sound down to the point of being inaudible.  That makes it impossible for your mixer to turn up the volume with a fader without seriously compromising the signal-to-noise ratio.  Furthermore, if you find yourself turning anything down that much, just delete it!  You obviously don’t actually like it, and you need the space so you can follow #1 and #4!  Take the opportunity to edit yourself!
  • Do not clip gain BGs.  Use volume bars instead to adjust the balance.  This is a good practice for two reasons: First, BGs often need to be super low in volume, and if you use clip gain, your mixer won’t be able to turn them up enough with the fader.  Second, since these are long, steady elements, it’s nice to see where the volumes are on the faders rather than having them all at zero.  But mostly, this is a signal-to-noise ratio issue.
     

Designing Signature Sounds

The Project

I recently had the pleasure of creating signature elements for a new animated series which will likely air near the end of 2019.  We were brought into the process at a very early stage, the first animatic, which was incredibly exciting. If you aren’t already aware, in animation, an animatic is essentially a video of storyboard panels timed to work with the recorded dialogue and then exported as a video.  An animatic is a very thorough blueprint for the animation studio to follow. Adding sound design to an animatic can do a number of things: it can bring the animatic to life for the animation studio which allows them to better understand how to animate important moments. It can help executives to better understand the action when reviewing the animatic for approval. And it can establish signature elements early on so that the sound can help to inform the animators’ creative concept for the series.  Having clients who appreciate the importance of bringing the sound team into the mix (pun intended!) early on is a wonderful thing for us here at Boom Box Post! So cheer to all of our amazing clients!

The Process

Step 1: Brainstorm about an Overall Aesthetic

The key elements of the series are birds and babies (sorry to be cryptic about the premise, but it’s too early to share too much about this project!). My mind immediately started churning about how to incorporate these in a way that would be nuanced and special.  When designing sounds for a new project, it’s also important to consider the audience. This series is geared toward preschool-aged children. So I also wanted to create a soundscape that would be friendly and familiar to viewers in that age group.

First, I decided to make all of the items in this animated world sound like they are made out of materials familiar to preschool kids.  This would involve recording a ton of children’s toys to really let these textures shine through in the mix. The set locations look high tech and designing in that aesthetic is always fun. But isn’t it much more fun to design a baby’s take on tech?  Now that would be a challenge.  Second, I decided to incorporate the bird aspect of the series by creating new sci-fi sound effects for all of the tech elements by processing bird calls.  I didn’t want the bird calls to be in your face. After all, it doesn’t take much creativity to just throw a bunch of hawk calls on everything. But, folding them into my tech builds sounded like a fun challenge that would result in a truly unique signature sound aesthetic for the entire series.

Step 2: Decide which elements should be stand-out signature designs.

I consider anything that will clearly appear in a series again and again to be signature.  And so, even if it’s a mundane item, to me it’s an opportunity to add a little special flavor.  You might think it’s a waste of time to create special door open sound effects or record all-new hand grabs. But creating a new palette from scratch for all reusable elements can ensure not just stand-out sound design moments but an overall signature aesthetic for an entire series.

For this series, I decided that the sounds for all of the things in the main location should be signature: all doors, all grabs of items and furniture, all mechanical elements, etc.  Basically, anything that will clearly be seen again and again needed to be custom.

Step 3: Create a Custom Recording List

When I’m creating a recording list, I like to brainstorm things to record which might add to the overall aesthetic I’m trying to achieve while keeping in mind what I need to cover.  Sometimes, if you map out exactly what to record for each signature element, you close off your brain to considering other options during the process. Think about the general aesthetic you would like to achieve and come up with items that you think may help to achieve that aesthetic–whether you think you’ll use them now or they may just be handy to have in the future.

Here was my list.  Notice that I’m focusing on what I want to hear and not marrying myself to specific items just yet:

  1. Toy ratchet
  2. Toy click into place
  3. Different plastic items for grabs
  4. Toy rolling
  5. A toy which “pops” or “thunks”

Step 4: Browse for Items to Record

I took this list to a local children’s consignment store and roamed the aisles looking for interesting items and listening to how they sounded.  I chose a consignment store because it was cheaper, but also because the toys were not in their original packaging, so I was free to test them out.  Often browsing for things to record is best done in your own home or a friend’s closet for this very reason. Keep in mind that the best recordings are made from items which are different from what you actually see on screen. You want to achieve a certain texture, a certain sound, a certain feel. You don’t want to just record the exact thing you see in the picture.  Think about how an old loose doorknob is often used for gun foley or a piece of celery is broken for a good bone crunch. When choosing items to record, shut off the visual part of your brain that’s telling you to go for the obvious, and start listening to everyday items with your creative hat on. Evaluate each item solely on its ability to give you the sound properties you’ve already brainstormed in the above list.

Step 5: Record new sounds

Step 6: Edit your recordings to work with the picture.

Once you’ve recorded all of your new (or old) props, bring everything into your DAW and start playing.  Often I find that elements I recorded in hopes of covering a certain signature element actually work best for something else.  Don’t be afraid to play around and try new things. Use the clean recordings, process them to the point that they are unrecognizable, or mix them together with sounds from your library.  In this step, you are the sonic painter. Give yourself the creative freedom to use your full palette and don’t be afraid to make a mess. That’s how the best discoveries are made!

Step 7: Collaborate with your clients.

Sound is never a job that’s pursued in a vacuum.  We’re part of a larger project team, and most often that project is the creative property of someone else.  Once you’ve come up with your most alluring signature sounds, share them with your clients and let the collaboration ensue.  It’s incredibly important to realize that the creative process doesn’t end with you: it’s easy to think that your signature sounds are the best they can be when you’ve finished designing.  In fact, I find that they often get even better when I present them to the clients and they offer tiny tweaks and new creative insights. Sometimes muting one element or incorporating something else that you never even considered is the key ingredient to the perfect sound.

The Sounds

Here are a few of the original recordings I made with the help of our intern, Sam, and the signature elements that I designed using those recordings.  The recordings and designs may sound simple, but remember that signature sounds compound with each other in order to create an often nuanced and distinguishable scape for the series as a whole.  It’s the totality of all of your creative ideas that form an overall new and exciting aural aesthetic.

 

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