Even professionals often skip sound system setup and go straight to mixing because there just isn't enough time. Unfortunately, you can't go directly to your artistic place without first passing through science. The good news is that even the smallest amounts of time can be put to good use. How? With a plan. Simple Sound System Goals The goal for tuning a sound system is very simple: manage interactions to reduce variance across the listening plane. Put another way: provide the … [Read more...]
How to Update Snapshots on the SD5 in the Middle of a Show
UPDATE: This article appears in The Ultimate Guide to Creative Mixing on the Digico SD5. In this video I describe how I used snapshots to automate my mix on the Digico SD5 as head of sound for the Out Of This Word tour for the Ringling Bros. Circus. In it, I walk you step-by-step through how I implemented snapshot creation, global scope, recall scope, update selected, auto update, cross fades, add to group, relative groups, update group, recall times, and midi list for Qlab control. One of the … [Read more...]
Is IATSE worthwhile for sound engineers?
Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Stitcher. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk to Nat Koren about his audio career with the San Francisco Opera. We answer these questions: What are the pros and cons of working with the union? How do you mix an opera? What does a sound designer do for an opera? What specialized gear do they use at the opera house? How do they mix the show and operate 12 cameras without any humans in the … [Read more...]
Are you a sound engineer or an artist?
Art and engineering don't just intersect; they don't bump into each other on a dimly lit street and exclaim about how coincidental it is that they happen to be at the same place at the same time. The truth is that art and engineering are siblings. They share the same blood, they grew up together, they like to bicker and argue, and they not-so-secretly need each other to thrive. Like everyone else, I spend a good amount of time wondering who and what I am. The common methods and ideas I've … [Read more...]
Silence: The secret ingredient to sound design in advertising
Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Stitcher. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast I talk with Munzie Thind, post-production sound designer at GCRS in London. Thind received the Creative Circle Silver Award in Sound Design for the project National Autistic Society: Sensory Overload. We discuss the career path of a London sound designer in the advertising industry, and the production process of TV commercials. If I can get silence into a piece … [Read more...]