How To Add Personality to Your Sound Effects

February 15, 2012 in Creativity, Field Recording, Technique with 2 Comments

F430 by Nelson Wu

Over the last two weeks I’ve written about recording race car sound effects for airbornesound.com. This post will wrap things up with a description of how I specifically tried to evoke character from the session.

Bringing personality to recordings when you can’t control the environment or performance is tricky.

Last week I wrote about how to regain control in passive field recording sessions.

Today I’ll explain a technique you can use to bring personality and life to your sound effects recordings. I’ve found it works in both passive and active sessions. I found it especially helpful during the IndyCar recordings.

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Getting Good Sound Effects from ‘Passive’ Field Recording Sessions

February 8, 2012 in Creativity, Field Recording, Sound Reflections, Technique with 2 Comments

Toronto Sunset

In my last post I wrote about recording IndyCar and Nascar race car sound effects for airbornesound.com. Visit there to read the background of the field recording shoot. You can hear some of the samples of Ferrari and Indy Lights race car sound clips.

I recorded those cars last summer. Since then I’ve thought a lot about that session. The shoot was characterized by frustrating problems I couldn’t change such as music, aircraft, PA and more. It made me think about field recording subjects that are mostly out of your control.

It’s important to capture richness and nuance into your recordings. That’s what gives them character, impact and longevity. As I wrote earlier, I believe a good part of that naunce comes from the recordist themselves.

I wondered how a field recordist could bring richness and depth to sound effects that they actually can’t directly influence at all.

So, using the race as an example, I’ll write this week about what you can and cannot control in a ‘passive session.’

I’ll also share some ideas on what you can do in these situations, and how to approach these sessions.

The article got a bit long, so I cut it in two: next week I’ll write about how I applied these ideas specifically to the Indy race.

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Field report: IndyCar and Nascar racing sound effects

February 1, 2012 in Field Recording, Field Report with 2 Comments

IndyCar

courtesy of szeke

Race car sounds

Earlier last year I wrote about my favorite sound effect recordings of 2010. One of them was the Honda Indy race.

Recording 650 horsepower high-performance race car sound fx is thrilling. Being surrounded by the overpowering nasal whine of the IndyCars whipping by creates a powerful yet tense feeling. Just what the type of sounds I want for Airborne Sound: evocative sound effects that transport you to the scene.

But although those race car sound clips were favorites that year, I walked away from the event not fully satisfied.

Compressors, crowd and PA were everywhere on the track. There was no escape from hovering helicopters. It was a challenge to get a minute of clean audio. I didn’t record as much material as I wanted.

I was determined to do better. So in July 2011 I went back.

Today I’ll share background approach, challenges of the shoot and the sound effect results.

In my next post I’ll report how I captured the sounds and analyze why the sounds themselves had potential to be vivid, muscular and evocative sound effects.
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Website Update: A New Blog

January 31, 2012 in Updates with Comments Off

Mac Keyboard

It has been a good month for writing. In the post-holiday downtime I’ve banged out over a dozen articles about sound effects and field recording.

I started this blog a bit over ten months ago. It has been a great experience returning to writing. I can’t thank you enough for your encouragement, criticism, feedback and re-tweets. I’m really enjoying this.

When I started writing for Jetstreaming.org all I knew was I wanted to write about field recording. I wrote whatever came to my mind. It’s been fascinating to see what people like best. Some posts had great responses and comments. Some not so much. It’s been ten months and I’ve settled down into a solid direction for the articles.

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12 Tips for Field Recordists to Keep Busy During Downtime

January 25, 2012 in Creativity, Sound Reflections with Comments Off

11 Tips for Field Recordists to Keep Busy Off-Season

Winter in Canada isn’t as frigid as the stereotype would lead you to believe. Just the same field recording sound effects during winter just isn’t practical.

Fumbling around with recording equipment in gloves and boots is a hassle. Field recording often requires prolonged sessions outside. This just isn’t possible when the weather is terrible.

I imagine it’s the same for northern Europe and America. Although those of you in the south don’t have cold to contend with, you can substitute the words downtime, heat wave or rainy season for winter.

Every freelancer knows the cycle of feast and famine: sometimes you’re too busy to bathe, other times there’s nothing going on. This is something I’m currently experiencing in the post-Christmas slow period.

So, what do you do as a field recordist in the off-season? How do you remain creative, active and grow when you can’t get out there and record sound fx?

Here are some ideas.

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2011 Review: Creativity and Sound Roundup

January 11, 2012 in Creativity, Roundup with 1 Comment

This post will conclude the 2011 review roundup posts. Next week I have a new field recording report in the works.

On this blog I’ve gradually focused writing about four things:

  • field recording
  • travel, a sense of place and sound
  • selling sound effects
  • creativity and field recording

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2011 Review: Selling Sound Effects Article Roundup

January 4, 2012 in e-Commerce, Roundup with Comments Off

Around 1999 I unexpectantly entered the world of e-commerce. I had previously been a sound editor and assistant and occasional yet passionate field recordist for my infant sound effects company Airborne Sound.

By an odd twist of fate I began mastering sound effects for a company that sold sound fx online.

Since then I’ve learned a lot about how to sell sound effects on the Web. I found it fascinating to see how people respond to distributing or sharing sound (for sale or otherwise). It’s also satisfying to use technology to give people creative tools and for them to walk away happy.

This year I started writing about e-commerce and sound clips. I call the series ‘Selling Sound Effects.’ I covered topics like improving your sound effects library, your sound fx website, distribution and mistakes to avoid when selling sound.

Here’s a link roundup of my e-commerce Selling Sound Effects articles:

Any aspect of selling sound effects you’d like to read about in 2012? Let me know in the comments.

Don’t forget, if you want to read the articles in your email inbox, you’ll need to resubscribe at this link to receive posts after February 1st.



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Website Update: Newsletter Changes

December 30, 2011 in Updates with Comments Off

A quick update.

First, I want to thank every visitor here. It’s been incredibly encouraging to see the number of newsletter subscribers and Twitter followers climb.

I’ve plans to streamline on the site to make things easier for everyone. The first change is with the email newsletter.

So, if you prefer receiving the weekly articles in your email inbox to read at your leisure, please resubscribe here to continue receiving the free weekly newsletter.

I’ve switched to MailChimp because it looks slicker. It’s also easier for you to manage. There are less hoops to jump through.

I’ll be switching over completely on February 1st. At that time I’ll turn off the old Feedburner email newsletter.

You can also subscribe on sidebar. There’s also the envelope button in the black title bar, on the right.

Other ways of staying in touch

I have decided to commit to publishing each Wednesday. So, you can visit by simply browsing to jetstreaming.org.

You can also subscribe to the RSS feed. When you add the RSS feed to your browser or RSS reader, you’ll automatically be told when there’s a new article. More on how RSS works here at Wikipedia.

You can follow me on Twitter to see new articles as I announce them. I also post about field recording-related articles, posts, gear, etc.

Also don’t hesitate to write me. You can email me directly. Let me know what kind of articles you’d like to see, or any questions you may have. Feedback also is always appreciated.

Thanks! I’ve got more great things coming up in the new year.

Have a great holiday.

Paul

2011 Review: Field Reports Roundup

December 28, 2011 in Field Recording, Field Report, Roundup with Comments Off

This year I decided to write about field recording sound effects for my website Airborne Sound. I call them ‘Field Reports,’ in the spirit of dispatches from the ‘front.’

I originally wrote them to share tips and tricks I learned during the process. I also wanted to offer recordings for your listening pleasure and get feedback in the process.

In each field report I describe the approach and challenges then provide the results.

In later posts I have jotted down thoughts on the process, lessons I learned and reflections on how field recordings affect the recordist and the listener.

Here are the sound effect field reports from 2011.
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Sound Effects and Space: Soundmap Roundup

December 21, 2011 in Roundup with Comments Off

Old Globe

courtesy ToastyKen

I love meshing field recording with travel. Foreign sound effect atmospheres can give a taste of what it’s like to be in places you’d otherwise never experience, like France, Spain or Greece. The best ones can immerse you deep in the environment.

When you add these sound clip ambiences to a map, the immersion becomes deeper. You can virtually walk the streets of other places and hear soundscapes of what it was like to be there.

I’ve travelled quite a bit recording sound fx and I’ve always wanted to create a sound map of my travels. Here is my basic worldwide map of my sound effects. I’m planning something more elaborate for the future.

In the meantime, here’s a list of ‘mashup’ websites that combine maps and sound, called soundmaps. They use geotagging to position field recordings on a map. Some of them include soundwalks, which are field recordings while moving and exploring.

Now, if we could only have sound recorders with GPS geotagging built in…

If I’ve missed any cool soundmaps, please leave a message in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

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