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Keep Your Mix Clean
Those who primarily use software to create their music often lack valuable perspective when it comes to composition, and this can have a detrimental effect on the resulting mixes. I count myself in this group, and I only recently (within the last 2 years) became aware of what I was doing. To get right to [...]
Creating an Abundance of New Sounds in Ableton Live
I used to have a rather idealistic reaction to the use of random elements in music, asserting that this was somehow less than artistically pure and that a finished piece that was any less than 100% the result of conscious decision-making was incomplete at best. As the years wore on, I realized that such a [...]
Writer's Block? Read This.
I’d like to lay out some tips on getting past writer’s block in all of its ugly forms whether it be apathy, procrastination, or just a frustrating lack of inspiration. Staring at a blank sequencer timeline is one of the more miserable studio activities that I can think of, so let’s take a look at [...]
Keeping Your Composition Moving Forward With Freeze and Flatten
Have you ever run into overcomplexity while arranging your latest piece of music? It happens to me all the time. It’s that phase of composition where you’ve got all kinds of automation going on, sweeping a filter here and increasing an effect trail there. In addition to automation data, you may have a dizzying array [...]
Listening to Your Environment and the 3 Building Blocks of Sound
I’d like to touch on the importance of the artist’s experience of the surrounding world and how that experience informs their work. In short: Regardless of whether you compose pop music or generative ambient, having a grasp on how the world creates sound is useful knowledge when it comes to creating your own sounds. So [...]
Sound Design for Film Part 3 – Stinger (Clash of the Titans)
Here's the third, and last, part of the "Clash of the Titans" sound design videos. This time I cover the stinger sound at the end of the Medusa scene which was covered in part 2. I go over some inspirations that I had from Ben Burtt's whip sounds from "Indiana Jones" as well as the [...]
Sound Design for Film Part 2 – Medusa (Clash of the Titans)
Time for Part 2 of the "Clash of the Titans" videos. This time the focus is on Medusa in all her reptilian glory. I pay special attention to the sound she makes as she slithers along some stone ruins as well as fire and debris elements to fill out the atmosphere of the scene. For [...]
Sound Design for Film Part 1 – Giant Scorpion (Clash of the Titans)
As promised, I'm doing some videos on my process for post-production sound design. I don't have any professional experience in movie/game sound, so putting together a demo reel is going to be a challenge without work to show. The way I'm getting around this is re-designing the sound for movie trailers and any other video [...]
Free Spectral Sound Design Plugins for Mac OSX
I recently downloaded a free, top-notch set of sound design tools that focus on the spectral processing of audio: SoundMagic Spectral. Previously known as SoundMagic DSP, these tools offer up an astounding level of control and creativity, allowing the designer to morph sounds in a way that totally obscures the original content. I must admit [...]
Harry Potter and The Sound of Magic
I just spotted an interview with Andy Kennedy, sound designer on “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at Filmsound Daily. It was an enjoyable read because he actually touches on some techniques and ideas that went into the specific magic sound effects. Science Fiction and Fantasy films offer up so many great opportunities [...]