The 129th AES Convention in San Francisco was once again held at the Moscone Center.

Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy was asked to serve on the panel at the Education Forum. This year’s topic was Creating the Out-of-Class Experience. Our presentation was titled PRODUCTION IN ACTION: An Innovative Approach to Collaboration with the Industry. Alex Case, AES Education Committee Chair, moderated the 90 minute session.

Other educators and professionals on the panel included Agniezka Roginska, Paul Geluso, and John Storyk representing New York University, and Nathan Breitling, Ryan Kleeman representing Art Institute of California.

Hundreds of exhibitors filled the large hall. Boutique manufacturers of everything from high-end analog front end mic pres and eqs to medium and large format consoles to loudspeakers were on display. We noticed a remarkable resemblance in many of these new products to designs of the past.

TFMAA also had a table at the Education Fair. More schools than ever were present talking with prospective students of audio programs. Sam Pasquesi, Tom Siuchninski, Dakota Serviss, Adam Hajnos, and Kyle Olson all made the trip to represent the Recording Arts Department and institution.

Last week, among some 1000+ Chicago film enthusiasts, I sat and watched [heard] the first-ever Flashpoint Academy produced film The Collector in Grant Park on a gargantuan screen with a killer sound system. The film, directed by FP Academic Dean Paula Froehle, was not only accepted as a short to be screened at the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival, but is living and breathing proof our PRODUCTION-IN-ACTION component has real-world impact. Though the festival could not accommodate our multi-channel surround mix, the stereo playback system at the venue was first-rate and, of course, it was terrific to see it projected as a 35mm print.

The interview was conducted by Dan Newman, one of the inaugural Rec Arts students, now awaiting his second year at Flashpoint.

April 2008

John Murray: I suppose it all started with a love for sound, and a thirst to capture it, harness it, manipulate it, and to tell a story with it.

My first recording device was a cheap portable Panasonic cassette recorder / player. I carried it with me everywhere. I was about nine years old. Once I discovered that I could start and stop recordings with the “PAUSE” button, and in effect, string together snippets of audio, there was no stopping me. Although I didn’t recognize it as such at the time, it was a way that I could “edit.” Much like a film editor tells a story by “editing” together discontinuous moving image sequences, I was editing little pieces of unrelated audio that once compiled together told a story that was formerly only present in my imagination.

That primitive methodology evolved through middle school until I became dissatisfied with the lack of precision. After all, the PAUSE button was mechanical, housed inside a really cheap device. I wanted the ability to make “cuts” that were absolutely, and precisely, in time with the music I was using. So around the time I started high school, I began meticulously taking apart cassette casings, carefully pulling the tape off the reels, cutting it with scissors at exact moments, rearranging the pieces and using scotch tape to mend the seams back together.

By the time I got to college and was allowed to use “professional grade” open reel tape recorders, splicing blocks, grease pencils, razor blades, and real bona fide splicing tape, I was completely hooked.

DN: Why sound design? Have you any interest in music recording or location audio?

JM: Though I thoroughly enjoy the process of recording music with bands, and I’ve done a fair amount of it, I guess I’ve always known that “audio production,” including the freedom and control of multi-track layering, editing, and manipulation, was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I just love the idea of being able to use bits of seemingly random pieces of recorded audio to create an entirely new emotional response.

And, for the first ten years of my career, I was fortunate enough to work at facilities that had both music recording studios and sound for picture rooms. So, if I ever had the urge to do that I could.

Location audio wasn’t something I understood until I started doing audio post for TV commercials. I did location audio a few times early on and it just never agreed with me. I never got comfortable with waiting around on set for hours while grip and electric and the DP set up shots.

Field recording to gather sound effects and ambiences, on the other hand, is something that interests me very much though I never seem to have enough time to do it.
DN: Can you talk a little about the medium that you worked on before Pro Tools became the industry standard? What was the industry standard before the digital age came about?

JM: Well, obviously it was in the analog domain. I started out using the Ampex AG-440 line of transitor-based recorders. Fantastic machines. 1” 8-track, 1/2″ 4-track, and 1/4” 2-track. Built like tanks. Then I moved up to Otari multi-track recorders, before finally working regularly with a variety of 2” 24-track machines. You have to understand that although these machines were workhorses – I mean you could really pound on them – you had to perform daily maintenance, constantly making adjustments to the internal electronics that governed record and playback levels and bias across the frequency spectrum. It was a funny mixture of feeling comfortable that the machines would NEVER fail you, so we worked them pretty hard, but you also wanted to take care of them. I suppose it’s akin to antique car collectors getting fussy about “leaning” on a front quarter-panel. In the end, they were mechanical devices, and we were the operators, so an extraordinary amount of care went into making sure they were functioning properly. It was just part of the gig. Any engineer from that era will muse fondly about the countless hours listening to the voice identifying frequencies on MRL [Magnetic Reference Laboratory] alignment tapes used to calibrate the machines.

There was also the fact that there wasn’t any “undo.” When you punched into record on a specific spot on tape it was forever, no going back. Whatever was there previously was now erased. It seemed completely natural at the time, but part of being a good engineer was understanding the limitations of the devices you were working with, which included only a certain amount of tracks. What we would call “file management” or “track layout” today was at a premium back then. You only had so many, so you had to pack it in wherever you could.

DN: What is your process in doing the actual work of sound design for film? Is it conceptually driven or practical, or both?

JM: It starts out conceptually and then moves into practical. There is always this moment at the beginning of a project where I panic a little, not knowing how things are going to turn out. Or if I’m going to be able to sonically capture the essence of a story, but that always seems to fade the farther I move along in the process.

I typically begin with dialogue, cleaning up production audio to make it as smooth as possible throughout the film. It often takes quite a while to get the noise floor to be seamless from shot to shot and scene to scene. In doing this, I become very familiar with the characters and the little nuances in performance, which helps me hone in on the story on several different levels—not just the obvious narrative arc, but also any symbolic or metaphorical stuff that I can latch onto.

I then turn my attention to backgrounds or ambiences. Again, taking great care to represent an interior or exterior shot as accurately as possible. Often, I have to “build” an ambience. For exteriors, this means creating things that are not only appropriate in the foreground, but also distant, out-of-frame stuff, like dogs barking, car passes, hydraulics of buses, lawn mowers, kids playing, construction, airplanes, you name it—anything to bring alive the neighborhood. Mind you, all of these sound elements usually end up on the edge of perception, but they really give a soundtrack realism.

Foley is next. If I’m doing it myself it’s fairly laborious. Footsteps, floor creaks, seat rustles, and cloth movements make a huge difference, but there are always props that need to get re-recorded as well. Keys, phones, dishes, glasses are all examples; it’s really anything that a character may handle, touch, or move.

Of course, I’ve described a typical slice-of-life film. If the story is a thriller or action or sci-fi or horror, everything changes. In those cases, music and / or sound design elements created with virtual instrument modules, i.e., synths and waveform modulation stuff, play a much bigger role and I usually need to get to that earlier in the development of the track.

DN: How do you get motivated to do the work? What are your aspirations? Who inspires you most?

JM: It’s not “who” that inspires me, it’s “what.” It’s always the story. If the story is good, interesting, and meaningful, I’m in for the long haul. And I guess that’s where my motivation comes from.

DN: In your personal experience, how has your creative work reflected or influenced your life?

JM: That’s not exactly an easy question to answer because I think it goes both ways, back and forth. My personal life certainly influences my creativity, but it’s also the other way around.

What I can say is that when I’m deep into a project there is no difference between them. In other words, immersing myself in a sound design project is my life for a short amount of time. It’s all I think about. I go to sleep anxious to get back to it the next day, and I wake up thinking about how yesterday’s work is already different in my mind. There are definitely instances of clarity that come to me as I walk away from the studio each day or night. Perspective and momentary distant from a project is vital to me. I need time to digest and ponder the development of each day’s work. I suppose if you charted it, there might be a pattern. But if there is, I’m not sure what it looks like.

DN: Is there anything about the industry that you know now that you wished you had known 10 years ago?

JM: Not so much 10 years ago, but I wish I knew 25 years ago how important it would be to protect my hearing. I used to go to a lot of live music shows, most of them were entirely too loud, and I also spent quite a bit of time under headphones listening to audio at high SPL’s. I just didn’t think about it then, I was young and thought I was invincible. The parts of the ear that allow us to hear are some of the few vital human organs and processes that do not repair if damaged. Ever.

DN: What advice can you offer someone interested in the sound design field?

JM: Don’t worry about the software and hardware. By the time you master any given product it’s long obsolete. Spend your time grasping concepts. Sound, image, time, and space are good places to start. Develop perception, attention to detail, and aesthetics. Work on communication skills and understand collaboration and never keep somebody waiting. If you can create a sound in your mind and then know exactly how to achieve that sound using available technology or good old-fashioned knowhow, and do it quickly, you’ll be just fine.

I don’t mean to sound like an advertisement for Flashpoint Academy, but we hammer away at these issues for a reason. They are the most important tools you can have.

DN: Do you enjoy teaching the craft better than working in the field?

JM: Fortunately, I get to do both. But yes, I enjoy teaching immensely. I think one of the greatest gifts we can give is to pass along knowledge and experience to the next generation. And to finally find an institution where immersive and experiential learning can take place—something I believe in very strongly for technology-based education—is a terrific situation for me.

Tuesday, May 13
Jun Mhoon
CEO of I Am Music Online, Jun is a digital aggregator / content supplier for iTunes, Amazon, Real Network, Napster, eMusic, Google, etc.

Wednesday, May 14
Cory Coken
Sound Designer / Mixer at Avenue Edit. Has designed hundreds and hundreds of national, regional, and local commercials, films and documentaries.

Thursday, May 15
Tom Zimmerman
Location Sound Recordist and Digital Imaging Technician. 30 years working with many major film companies and productions houses including Sony Pictures, BBC, National Geographic, David Gruber Prods, Ron Ascher Prods, etc.

Danny Leake
Mastering Engineer, owner of Urban Gurilla Engineers. Kanye West, Janet Jackson, Sting, Hank Williams Jr., Candlebox, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, etc.

Friday, May 16
Doug McBride
Music Recording Engineer, owner of Gravity Studios. Working round the clock right through the heart of Chicago’s Indie scene, Gravity has hosted Veruca Salt, Smashing Pumpkins, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, Juliana Theory, Bob Mould, RATM, Red Red Meat, Sinead O’Connor, etc.

Rob Fetters, Chris Arduser, and Bob Nyswonger, also known as the Psychodots, came into town this week for four days as part of our spring PRODUCTION-IN-ACTION. Part I took place Monday and Tuesday in the Flashpoint music recording studios as the band re-recorded Not a Pretty Face with Bernie Mack (below) engineering. During the afternoon session, RA students took the controls, punching through vocal parts for verses and choruses.

Part II takes place today and tomorrow on a soundstage where FP Film students will be involved in the shooting of a video for the song with Peter Hawley directing and Amy Rising producing.

Game and Animation students, who helped with our set-up on Monday, are also creating a game to go along with the video.

All in all, it’s another terrific immersive-learning experience for FP students.

Footsteps, cloth, and props. It’s messy; it’s physical; it’s a day in the life of a Foley Artist. Flashpoint Academy, in a continuing effort to bring high-profile, industry professionals inside the studios and classrooms of its educational facilities at 28 North Clark Street was fortunate enough to host Vincent Guisetti yesterday in two workshop sessions.

There was a simple theme to Vincent’s message: Foley effects can breathe life into faithful, but otherwise sterile, soundtracks for motion pictures. Though it’s not complicated, it does require an eye for frame accurate precision and a feel for the natural rhythms and cadences of actor’s movements. “You have to be willing to get inside a character’s head. In essence, become that character while you are performing Foley,” he said. Vincent treated our students to many of the stories of working on roughly 350 films, TV shows, and cartoons including Passion of the Christ, Mr. Brooks, Hostel parts I & II, The Pursuit of Happyness, Talladega Nights, Behind Enemy Lines, and the last five years of SpongeBob SquarePants.

He also let students in on some trade secrets like snapping and twisting wood shingles wrapped in denim for bone breaks, cornstarch in a pillow case for footsteps on snow, a handful of sand between several layers of small panes of glass for cracking ice, a wet shammy for all types of splats and splatters, and how a mere tablespoon of coffee grounds on cement adds just the right amount of grit to simulate exterior pavement.

Once again, FP students engage with the real-world as part of their educational development. It’s built-in to the curriculum so that as graduates they can hit the ground running.

Special thanks to Steven Berger for arranging the connection.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Flashpoint, The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, has purchased two TRUE Systems P-SOLO single-channel microphone/instrument preamplifiers and installed them in two sound-for-film suites in its new 32,000 square-feet production/post complex.

Click to read press below:

Trans Audio Elite

AudioCourses.com

MixOnline

ProSoundNews

The Intruder wraps today with some pickups and the remainder of the visual effects shots needed for the end of the film. The crew, whose job is strictly production, are already thinking ahead to the next location. But for those of us who are firmly grounded in post, our job is just beginning.

FP Rec Arts students were fortunate enough to have several conversations earlier in the week with Director Mikael Kreuzriegler about ideas for sound design. We began first with the words “ethereal” and “eerie,” and perhaps as a layer or texture beneath the delicacy “the feeling that something is off.” We talked about styles of music and how much of it will work its way into the film. And because there is so little dialogue, the use of up-close “studio, not soundstage,” ADR may actually help to create a slightly unusual sensation. Lastly, Mikael explained that he usually hears the entire soundtrack in his head while shooting, but this film is different.

For sound designers, that’s code for “freedom.” So, we left the set Wednesday and had a great brainstorming session in the morning followed by an afternoon of effects gathering and research. Yesterday, we started dropping some cut effects on the timeline of a short assembly and recorded Foley to try to get a feel for the entry and living room spaces. Our goals were not too ambitious, just sketching a few ideas to play for Mikael. Today, we’ll fine-tune footsteps, clothing moves, and some of the phone and record player gags in the script.

In the end, it’s entirely possible that some or all of this work will not remain, but Rec Arts students are engaging in the part of the postproduction process that cannot be learned in books, that cannot be absorbed through lecture, rather, is only discovered experientially with a lot of exploration. The Intruder’s soundtrack will be better because of it, and along the way, young Flashpoint sound designers will to.