some bowling alley recording

I've had the pleasure of working on a series called Bowlopolis for the BPAA recently, and through the first couple of episodes it became apparent that I needed to go out and record some fresh bowling sounds. SFX libraries were getting me by, but I felt the level of sound design could just go up a couple of notches.

So the gentlemen at the BPAA and the proprietors of Alley Cats in Arlington made thier facility available to me earlier this week. First and foremost, Alley Cats is a top-class facility that is much more than just a bowling center, and I'd recommend it highly.

Also, the staff was remarkably gracious and more than accomodating. They allowed me to come into thier facility more than an hour before opening, allowed me unfettered access to set mics up all over the place, and did a whole series of cool things like turning the lanes on and off while my mics were rolling, leaving lanes off while I chased balls with a mic, leaving lanes off while I poked the pins over with a boom pole, and even bowling a few games for me to record.

I didn't take enough pictures, but here's one of the generic setup:


The overall setup was a Sure KSM-32 there by the lane where the ball makes its initial impact, a stereo Sure VP-88 in front of the pins and aimed at them, a Sure SM-57 back behind that backstop aimed down at the pins for the up-close-and-personal perspective, and of course my trusty Zoom H4 positioned about 8 feet behind that camera angle for ambience.

I also chased a couple of balls down the lane (while running along that side track there) with a Sennheiser MKH-60 shotgun mic.

In the end the recordings were fantastic, and as a happy accident I realized that I had captured an excellent surround setup as well. Back in the studio, I panned the mic on the lane and the one close to the pins hard center, the stereo mic hard left and right, and the ambient mics hard back. The result was some serious reality, and I just loved it.

The whole mess folded down to stereo very well, and i'll post a sample or two later on.

The best thing of it all though, was the fact that I was given the opportunity to do my job on the same level as the most elite and accomplished in my field. The good recordings that are hard to get require good projects, good equipment, and oftentimes exclusive access. This isn't the first time I've taken an ensemble of mics out to the world for recording, but I really do love it every time I do.

I have a really cool job.

showcase - some minimalist sound design

I really like what the modern world of animation has done for those of us who make a career as sound designers. Now it's true that a lot of modern animation has become overblown and confused, but those elements of our digital lives just serve as the perfect backdrop against which to lay the minimalist things I'm about to present.

I'll also state that I certainly don't believe that all complex animation sequences are bad artistically speaking (see Transformers and Iron Man), I'm just saying that the truly minimalist stuff forces the sound designer to bring his absolute best game because the audience is guaranteed to have the capacity to perceive every detail.

When complex visual and aural elements are done at the highest level the viewer can watch a sequence repeatedly and see new and cool things each time. When minimalist visual and aural elements are done at the highest level the audience can be focused in enough to catch the nuance of each element on the first or second pass.

Toyota's Yaris spots are an excellent example of this:





There are tons of those on youtube, but the net effect is pretty stark. Lots and lots of whitespace visually, which removes the need for ambient sound in the sound design - leaving room for all of the little reverb tail, and dog-tag jingle details to shine through. It also means that the sound designers have to start with the highest quality recordings for everything not synthesized because of just how naked everything is.

Here's another from dydree Media for Nickelodian. (sorry, couldn't embed that one)

IMO the sound design is just a notch down from the Yaris stuff, but its still a very high level and many of the same minimalist elements and restrictions are in place. No defined environment so therefore no ambient sounds and a very stark soundscape which leaves lots and lots of room for detail.



All of this eventually culminates into an event that I really can't wait to experience. Pixar's Wall-E

Wall E's lead sound designer is the full on modern legend Ben Burtt. You might recognize some of his work:

-The Star Wars franchise where he dreamed up the sounds for (among other things)
---R2 freaking D2
---the lightsaber
---the x-wing
---etc
-The Indiana Jones franchise
-Wilow
-The Dark Crystal
-
-...well, you've got the wiki link there. He's the man.

So here are some of Wall-E's minimalist beginnings:



and here's a pretty straightforward evolution from minimalist to full on film-level complexity.



Based on what I've seen so far, I'm very hopeful that the film will allow all of that room for Burtt's creative genius to come through. Taking on a project of that nature has to be one of the most difficult things a sound designer can hope to get himself into, and I'm just flat out excited to see what Burtt has come up with.