Can You Make It Sound Like... A Sound Editor's Essential Film Reference Guide

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Can You Make It Sound Like... A Sound Editor's Essential Film Reference Guide

As sound editors, speaking about sound design with clients requires a kind of foreign language. I often find myself making silly noises in an effort to either interpret what a client is looking for or to pitch an idea of my own. There’s a shorthand however, that both editor and filmmaker are aware of. An entire language has been laid out for us in the incredible work of sound designers past. I’m talking about films that are ‘in the canon’ for having memorable sound design moments.

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Career Paths in Film and TV Sound: Stories of Tenacity

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Career Paths in Film and TV Sound: Stories of Tenacity

This past fall, I took part in a panel put together by Soundgirls, and hosted by Sony Studios, called Career Paths in Film and TV Sound. This was a kickass panel with audio professionals from all different backgrounds, with all different backstories and insights, who are at the top of their game. And our careers are just getting started. We talked about what drew us to the sound profession in the first place. We talked about working our way up with unerring drive and determination from the machine room, the tape vault, the intern desk. We talked about staying all night to observe mixers and read manuals. This was a panel about tenacity. And it just happened to be led by women.

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LUNCH AND LEARN: HOVER VEHICLE DESIGN

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LUNCH AND LEARN: HOVER VEHICLE DESIGN

For this blog post I decided to talk a bit about a tool I frequently use when designing hover vehicles. Waves MondoMod is a great modulation tool and super user friendly to use and play around with to create phasing and oscillation effects. While you can use it for a variety of effects, I really enjoy using it to its more extremes in creating scifi sounds like hovercrafts.

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Three Basic Skills Every Sound Editor Must Master

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Three Basic Skills Every Sound Editor Must Master

We have sound editors coming in to test for us on a regular basis. The single most common difference between an editor who has worked largely alone versus one that has worked within a sound team is the lack of knowledge when it comes to the basics. There are three concepts I consider essential that I ask edit testers about right off the bat: Perspective Cutting, Stair Stepping, Color Coding. I can learn a lot about their familiarity with these concepts based on their response. Even a slight hesitance to answer is a dead giveaway; you’ve only worked alone and without much direction.

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Troubleshooting (and Avoiding!) Common Problems in ProTools

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Troubleshooting (and Avoiding!) Common Problems in ProTools

We all have technical difficulties from time to time, especially when using software are intricate as ProTools.  But, after years of making what seems like every mistake in the book, hanging out on Avid DUC, and stalking Gearslutz.com, I pride myself in my ability to overhear frantic technical freakouts and supply solid advice on the best course of action.  Here are a few of the problems I see most often, and and how to get through them while salvaging as much of your work and sanity as possible.

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LUNCH AND LEARN: DYNAMICS PROCESSING FOR SOUND EDITORS

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LUNCH AND LEARN: DYNAMICS PROCESSING FOR SOUND EDITORS

Dynamics processing is valuable for many kinds of audio work.  Compressors, Limiters and Transient Shapers have become so ubiquitous that you would struggle to find a piece of recorded music, film or television show where one of these tools was not used.  These processes have applications for the sound editor as well, allowing you to control dynamics in your own recorded sound effects or beef up a key element in a build for a big moment. In this basic overview, I’m going to talk about a specific plug-in for the three types of processing mentioned above, but the principles discussed here can apply to any manufacturer’s software, or even hardware tools.

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CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR!

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CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR!

2018 has been an exciting time for us and we have been happy to share it with you! We have had some exciting expansions to our studio including a mix stage, worked on some amazing projects and attended fun events through the year. Here is a look back and some highlights of the year 2018 at Boom Box!

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FOCUS ON THE CREATIVE: DEREZ DISINTEGRATION

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FOCUS ON THE CREATIVE: DEREZ DISINTEGRATION

The SiFi genre offers up so much creativity from a visual aspect but also opens up a lot of potential for cool sound design. This week, we will chat with sound editor Tess Fournier about a futuristic disintegration design she created.

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How to go from GOOD sound editor to GREAT sound editor

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How to go from GOOD sound editor to GREAT sound editor

All great editors start out as good editors. The hope is that you evolve as time passes, into an exceptional talent. I have seen it time and again here at Boom Box, often in very short order. An editor with lots of skill and professionalism decides to push for more. These great editors form our core team; the kind of editors you want to keep around. So what’s the secret? Well I’m happy to tell you that going from good sound editor to great sound editor is not that complicated.

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INTERN RECORDING CHALLENGE

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INTERN RECORDING CHALLENGE

A few weeks ago, we sent out our current intern Peter on a field recording challenge to find and capture specific and creative sounds. This week, we will see what our intern Jen found and find out more of her process of recording.

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LUNCH AND LEARN: SOUNDGYM

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LUNCH AND LEARN: SOUNDGYM

It’s easy to fall into the habit of working so often that you forget to practice and develop your skills on your own time. For anyone in the audio field, this might be ear training. For this Lunch and Learn, we’re going to explore some of the features of the online ear training program SoundGym.

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