And the Winner is …

            I was having a casual conversation the other night with an old friend when the subject of the academy awards popped up.  The conversation suggested that their might be too many awards, so some of the categories don’t really matter as much as some of the bigger more popular ones.  But that’s ridiculous!  Of course we need as many categories as possible, a movie cannot be made without everyone doing the part the were hired to do, and well.  The big actors don’t make the movie themselves, every part, from costumes to lighting to the person that cleans up after everything is said an done, movie making is a complex web of individuals creating one final project.  So of course they have an academy award for “best sound editing”.

            Wikipedia suggests, thank you Wikipedia, that “The Academy Award for Best Sound Editing is granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound editing or sound design. The award is usually received by the Supervising Sound Editors of the film, perhaps accompanied by the Sound Designers.”

            I thought it would be fun to look over the list of past recipients to enjoy the memories and ponder what sound effects we can remember from movies that may have once touched us. In a good way.

2000 – U-571 – Jon Johnson

2001 – Pearl Harbor – George Watters

2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn

2003 – Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Richard King

2004 – The Incredibles – Michael Silvers and Randy Thom

2005 – King Kong – Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van Der Ryn

2006 – Letters from Iwo Jima – Bub Asman and Alan Robert Murray

2007 – The Bourne Ultimatum – Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg

2008 – The Dark Knight – Richard King

2009 – The Hurt Locker – Pan N. J. Ottosson

2010 – Inception – Richard King

2011 – Hugo – Eugene Gearty and Phillip Stockton

2012 – “Skyfall” / “Zero Dark Thirty” – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers / Paul N. J. Ottosson

2013 – Gravity – Glenn Freemantle

            Check out the names that appear more than once during the past decade and more.  The style of the movies is also unique to point out.  Movies that center around demonstrating dramatic climaxes and intense story telling; Movies filled with sound effects ranging from explosions to specifically engineered one-time spots. The necessity for strange sound effects that you can’t find anywhere unless you live everywhere.  

To thief or not to thief

            I am a student.  More specifically, I am a college student studying audio production.  Is there a possibility that I will need to purchase sound effects?  Personally I might, when mixing parts or pitches of SFX into songs or working on a movie project.  Certainly I can make any amount of sound effects but what about time?  Hypothetically, maybe I haven’t used my time to the best of my abilities and now I’m at a breaking point; Is it better to purchase sound effects off of the Internet or is better to just download some free ones and mix them together to make a “new” sound effect?  Is this legal, is there really something out there called a “free” sound effect? 

            Once again, long story made short, the answer to my last question is, no.  By downloading “free” material, you are only kidding yourself.  By pirating software and sound samples for a commercial purpose you are stopping someone getting paid for their hard work when they deserve it.

            “I don't think it is risky. There isn't a governing body listening out for illegitimate sounds.” I am sure however if you were caught out, the Copyright Holder would come looking. 

            Yes, you could theoretically with the correct knowledge and gear recreate sounds made. However, you'd 1) need to know a lot about what you were doing, 2) have great analytical skills 3) Have a lot of time on your hands to do so. Some sounds, particularly synth ones, have a very complicated make up, and can take a long time to design anyway.

            Keep it honest! Integrity! Plus, making sound effects from scratch is fun and rewarding.

Sound effect - History - and whatnot

           What is the history of sound effects?  Why should we care? 

            Have you ever been camping or taken a long car ride with someone who is not immediate family or your best of friends? If you don’t have the luxury of radio and or music, you might have been reduced to conversation.  Story telling can be a zesty, robust enterprise that not only teaches you personal traits about the person your spending time with, it also allows you to listen to their unique style of progressing a tale.  As conversation goes, besides vocal regurgitation of the main body of the story and using hand movements to exaggerate details of the theme, sound effects can make a causal palaver seem more personal and intimate. 

            I understand that the use of sound effects can predate the records of traditionally human history.  Discrediting the possibility of humans gathered around fire or around a congregation demonstrating a story with the use of added sound effects is to probable to ignore.  The idea of story telling with inflection and over exaggerated sounds and style seems to me to be a root structure for all humanity; Joseph Campbell thought so, so why shouldn’t we entertain the notion? 

            What does a sound effect do?  While watching movies, sound effect heightens the essence of what we watch.  A war movie without explosions, terror, and groans of freight?; boring.  Watching a comedy without the slapstick or well timed placement of a hilarious noise?; pointless.  The use of a sound effect can make or break the random conversation with you and newly introduced companion.  Not for everyone and not always needed to the degree that other might emphasize, sound effects give “brightness” to an otherwise dull, dim, story. 

            For your entertainment, here is a link to a clip of JAMIROQUAI - virtual insanity.  Without music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRqCVcSWbDc#t=28

SFX Baby!

            Sound effects.  Sound effects are used in so many of our popular media today.  Can you think of one area of medium in which we don’t, at least once per show, hear some type of sound effect?  I might even go as far to suggest that music can be considered a sound effect.  Have you ever listened to an older radio program and hear the classic sting instrument accompaniment?  The classic “Duhnt Duhnt Duhnnnn” for suspense or the stringed instruments violently ranging up the keys to build tension?  How about a plain old frog? How about the sound for a blow-dart?  These sound effects are not generated from the original source, but re-reacted in a studio with what have you.  Who has time to bring in frogs and bugs to recreate a bayou or fifty thousand people to recreate a crowd? No one that’s who, so how do they do it?  Lets talk about it!

            Apart from using a studio that can isolate the abstract and random noises you don’t want in a recording, sound effects can be crated in your own home.  Have a quiet space, no distractions, and hopefully no outside sounds such as construction or heavy vehicles.   Let your imagination wander, I remembering reading up on a technique to re-create frogs crocking by using a stick with a tight cord tied to both ends of a bow.  By making the cord as tight as possible and lightly dragging the bow across the string recreated a strange low sound similar to sandpaper and humming.  The result was a sound that, with a little practice, was very similar to a frogs croak.

            Here are some more random fun sound effects discussed by the pros!

1. Car Engine:
            If you need a car engine sound, buzz into a brass mouthpiece – (tuba/baritone) or bassoon reeds – and pitch shift it down.
-Ellen Lurie

2. Body Hit / Face Hit

            Rolled up newspapers being hit with a (soft wooden) stick are meant to be good for body and face hits.
- Paul Arnold, Gordon Hall

            Take a steak cut, and slice against the gain into two pieces.  Slap the meat tighter to create an over the top “slap” of flesh on flesh. – Richard Sample

3. Arrow Fly By

            Use a thin bamboo stick, such as the type used to hold up plants in a garden. Whip it past the microphone.
- Adam Johnson

4. Mine Car
            Roller coaster.
- Ben Burtt

For more fun check this out!

http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/

Character to SFX

             What quality can make a random character voice precious to our memories?  Many of us remember watching cartoons early in our childhood and becoming attached to certain characters, but is it all nostalgia?  I remember reading Joseph Campbell’s “The power of Myth” when I was younger.  I was intrigued by the idea that “story telling” was a fundamental building block of human progression; that the idea of passing along different tales, lessons, and beliefs was a natural part of being human.  During these stories, I also imagine that the people passing them along might also be expert “story tellers” and who wants to listen to a boring story?  These members of our past must have been experts in describing scene, sounds, and of course, character voices.  These stories would not be remembered if they were boring as dirt, so what do you want to bet that the people telling them would attempt to make them as memorable and dramatic as the could?  By adding sound and technique, stories became entertaining and an art form.  These qualities are the major foundation in what sound design is for me personally.  If you really want to sell a story at a party, or for a group of children, or even at church, adding sound and voice suggestion can be the difference between something people merely listen to and something they will remember for the rest of their lives. 

            For the past couple weeks or so I have been concentrating on character voices more then sound effects.  So, naturally, over the next couple weeks I will divert more attention to the creation of sound effects and their importance.  How are they made and how do you recreate a natural sound with household objects?  Who were the masters of this art and talent?  Any other questions will be checked out and looked into!    

            Just for fun, according to Josh Jackson and his blog entry on the “40 best character voices of all time” on pastemagazine.com, here is a fun list to peruse over.  Look at the names of the artists and remember how many times they might reappear.  Also have fun remembering some of these characters and how many different scenarios or “one liners” you can pick out from being entertained by these talented individuals.  

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/05/the-50-best-cartoon-characters-of-all-time.html?a=1