I actually did have an odd experience a few
weeks ago.
I thought about writing into a blog, but I
thought that neither of you would believe me that it had actually happened. But
so many little things about the event were just so unexpected, and so odd, and
so strange that I wrote a kind of pre-emptive blog so that at some point I
would send it in.
Well here’s the story.
So I’ve been quite unspecific about exactly
what the studios that I work for do, and what my job actually is. My official
job and my actual job are two different things, that are only about 50%
overlapping. Rest assured that the job I prefer is my unofficial job, which
luckily is the one I actually do. But we’ll start with my official job.
Officially, I’m a sound engineer.
I work for a studio that has lots of very
nice equipment and great studio spaces, and a lot of very talented people that
work here and with a number of very talented contacts. Clients come in from ad
agencies and corporations, every now and then some animation houses and
sometimes film and tv studios. They come in with footage that just has sound
they recorded on location. It is usually quiet and distant, and with annoying
background sounds, and no foley (as in sound effects created by people.) We
then dissect the sounds, recording the foley, pumping up the dialogue and making
sure it is clean and legible (not always easy) and then mixing it all into
whatever format they want. Stereo is easiest, and everything starts that way,
but 5.1 is the main request we get.
This is a great job, and you get to meet
lots of nice people (and lots of controlling tyrants who know nothing about
sound,) and I really enjoy it.
Unofficially, I’m half of a sound design
team.
I do love mixing sound, and I think it’s
just as important to the impact of a film as having nice visuals, but I also love
composing. I work with my hard-partying partner (seriously, I don’t know where
he gets so many party invites from, but he is always arriving to work
hung-over) and between us we completely manage the sound. We record the foley,
sometimes we dub voices (not to brag, but we do some good voice dubbing,) we
mix the sound, add all the necessary effects, and we compose and record the
music. Well I say we when it comes to composing, I do most of the composing, my
partner mostly listens and tells me if it needs more of something, or less of
something, if it sounds too bare, or just too busy etc. And it works. We get some great work done, if I do say so
myself.
So with that out of the way, here’s the
oddness.
Sometimes bands and small time performers
who want to produce some work on the cheap side, but still make it professional,
approach the studio. One such band had booked in for a day of recording an EP
they wanted to distribute online. I can’t say their music was very good, but I
am always happy to help out small time artists. So the band came in, got out
their instruments, tuned up, played through a few songs, and we gave them
instruction to not knock over or spit on any of the microphones (you’d be
surprised.) Next thing I knew, a couple of cameramen came in with their fancy
DSLRs, put up a few lights, and got ready to film. I wasn’t happy about this,
because the room was going to get very crowded, and busy, and camera people
tend to get in the way. But then even stranger, the band then got into costume.
Not subtle costumes either, but black and white horror monster masks, and
tribal fur and pelts for the rest of them. It was bizarre.
And then they set about playing. My partner
and I just sat in the control room, making sure the sound was coming through
properly, and trying to ignore the strangeness of the next room. They recorded
about three songs, got filmed in various ways, and then packed up, thanked us
and left.
That’s my odd story for the week.
Andrew Lyons.
No comments:
Post a Comment