AUDIO IN LOCKDOWN
home made sound
Audio post has found that a lot is possible from a simple bedroom based set up, but the final finish will always make more sense from the comfort of the suite
W
hen lock down came in, audio departments, like everyone else in post, had to quickly move out of expensively- designed suites and try to replicate them in back bedrooms and garages.
Crucial kit had to come with them, chief
amongst that was a good set of reference speakers. “It’s twofold,” says Scrub CTO, John Johnson, who’s spent lockdown troubleshooting home audio set ups. “You need to trust your mixes so you need a good reference speaker. And working on headphones can just be really fatiguing.” Macs were grabbed too as were iLoks, security
keys that contain licences for all the crucial software and plug-ins the engineer needs. For those that couldn’t get those, software manufacturers like Avid and plug-in suppliers did a sterling job of issuing temporary licences to allow people to keep working. Johnson also says that there was a run on Avid S1 mini control surfaces. “dubbing mixers are used to having a lot of faders to work with. Just having a keyboard and mouse often isn’t enough.
POST
That really did enable people to forget that they were in their living room or the garage.” While most could set up fairly easily for
stereo, 5.1 and beyond was a bigger ask. “It’s easy enough to carry a pair of speakers home in an Uber but if you’re working on a 5.1 job, that’s harder to rig up in your living room. Atmos takes it to the next level “you then need not just the speakers around the room. you need speakers overhead.” Although, he says, some people do have that home set up. Certain audio processes were fairly
straightforward. Sound design could continue almost as normal. “By linking up to our system remotely we can run sessions with clients and talent from anywhere, the same as if we were in the studio”, explains Jungle Studios Sound Designer Alex Wilson-Thame. “The key is ensuring you are working with your sound designer as early on in the process as possible, so that they can guide you on the best process and timeline.” Foley is possible too, says Wilson-Thame.
“Every house and garden is the ultimate Foley workshop! If you have ever seen a Foley room, you will know that it is mainly full of funny old household nic nacs. What we don’t have in the house or garden we do have in our sound effects library.” says Jungle Sound Designer, Ben Leeves. Voice overs were a tougher ask, though. For
broadcast productions that had made it into post by lockdown, VOs still needed recording. Advertising too started to rely more heavily on voiceovers to run on top of animation, repurposed footage and found footage. In the early stages, that meant just trying to
get the best out of VO artists as they crouched under duvets and squeezed into cupboards. It was needs must and a lower quality was produced. “With less acoustic isolation or treatment and lower quality microphones, higher background noise and a little too much reverb was a common issue,” says Johnson. “Thankfully, iZotope RX7 and a few other plug-ins can work wonders!” Jungle’s Ben Leeves says the best solution
is to “look at the talent who can deliver. Many experienced voiceover artists do their work on the move, from hotel rooms or with their own setups. The best will even own a portable ISDN and a good quality microphone. They will also know how to minimise background noise when recording. These are the type of artists you want to be working with right now.” But that’s not always possible. Clear Cut md,
Rowan Bray says the facility was dealing with VOs not directed to picture in the early days of lockdown meaning “we were having to do an awful lot more to treat the sound that was coming in.” One solution was set up the facility to allow
Summer 2019
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