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Area’s of Research

Here is a list of my first key area’s of research for this project.

 

Sound Designers and their;

 

– Workflow/ project management – how they work and manage all their projects and keep everything organised. I’ll do this by reading articles and journal posts that many professionals in the industry do, where they demonstrate their production method and progression of their work, as as I believe at the moment professional sound designers when working on smaller scale projects will have many on the go at the same time.

 

– Production Technique – how they create their sounds through foley, edit mix and process them. What types of plug ins do they use for both mixing and composition, why do they use these? When composing music is it better to record live artists or compose via computer based emulations of instruments? or is it a case of one is used to the latter due to time constraints.

 

– Use of sample packs and licenses – with the ongoing availability to sample packs, vsts, and sound fx available online, I read that some sound designers do sometimes use these to save time. But what are the legalities to using these sample packs and why would you use them instead of creating and using your own sound library. I will look at some of the top brands of sample packs such as samplephonics and investigate their licensing agreements to the use of their samples, as well as researching sound designers/composers that use samples generated from these packs and why.

 

– Digital Audio Workstations – Not all audio engineers use the same DAW, but whats the industry standard in sound design and composure and why? do the have specific parameters which enable sound designers and composers to work more efficiently or is it just down to subjectivity and personal preference. I will look at articles that deconstruct DAW’s such as Pro Tools, Logic and  Cubase and also read into interviews of professional sound designers and investigate why they use these DAW’s not just because ‘It’s the industry standard’ as any tool used correctly can provide the best results.

Posted on No Comments on Project Overview and Initial Idea’s

Project Overview and Initial Idea’s

For my second project I will be working as a freelance sound designer and composer to various animation projects. This will entitle me recording foley and providing sound effects to the actions on screen, synchronise these sound effects, making sure they’re right correct sfx for instant if the main character is walking inside their house that the animators has a wooden floor, then I’ll provide footsteps on a wooden floor, I will be going as precise as to matching the tonality of the footwear of the character.

I will also be composing the soundtrack to these animations and working to musical cue’s that the animators provide such as a light piano progression for the opening scene of the animation, any sudden changes in the mood of the animation will be followed with a alteration of the key in which the music is composed to help portray the mood and feel of the piece. I will obviously be following the animation with music and composing different scores for the opening and ending credits.

My final role will be as the mixing engineer. This will involve me mixing the final piece with both the sound effects foley and the composed music, making sure that everything is clean and can be heard clearly without the mix being muddy. Also working on the finer details such as panning and volume automation to match the movement of whats happening on screen to provide an accurate sonic replication to all visual elements.

 

Animations:

 

Satsuma:

A three minute film based on the perspective of a male going through a divorce and the emotional turmoil he goes through with it. The animation constantly switches between the memory of him meeting his wife and the modern day. It’s a very powerful animatic that plays on the heartstrings. This is to be accompanied with soft piano’s and light trills of string sections. The tone of the music will change between the perspective of memory and modern day, with memory composed in a more uplifting major key, whilst the modern day will be composed in minor to secure the emotional attachment between the audience and the film.

 

Guardian:

Another three minute film based on a young woman suffering from the loss of her recently deceased grandmother, who goes to her old house to pack up the remainder of her grandmothers possessions where she stumbles across some old possessions which bring back some touching memories of her beloved grandmother and the times they shared. This also a film based on its emotional attachment will be composed in a major key with the use of light piano’s and strings but the music will not be consistent throughout the piece but there are key cue’s where the main character is reminded of her grandmother where music will fill in to simulate the memory.