This week, I sat down with sound effects editor, BriElle, to see just how she created a giant yarn ball build!
I have been fortunate enough in my career to be able to impart everything that I have learned thus far (you never stop learning) onto the next generation of sound designers and sound effects editors. I have found that, in teaching sound and teaching how to create sound for TV and Film, that you kind of transcend to another level in your understanding of how to create sound for the visual image. However, by no means is it simple. I’d be lying if I told you that it is. A lot of energy goes into planning and executing a successful audio class. But have no fear! It can be done. Here are three main ideas to keep in mind when you’re about to embark on your academic pursuits:
This week I sat down with our sound effects editor, Katie, to tune in on a really cool popcorn build that she created. Basically what she needed to create were big popcorn waves aka a tsunami.. but with popcorn!
I went around the office and asked everyone what their go to free app for IOS was and got some really cool recommendations. I hope that you find these useful if you’re on the go or need something quick and easy!
We are extremely proud to announce the release of our newest Boom Box Library: Babies & Kids! And we’re celebrating with a site-wide sale.
We asked which libraries you needed the most, and you answered with walla for babies and kids! Now here it is: the Babies & Kids sound effects library contains a variety of recorded baby and kid vocalizations from children ages six months, three years old, and five years old.
This week, our sound effects editor Brad showed me his creative process on a cool futuristic device he created!
As studio owners, Jeff and I get tons of requests for advice regarding how audio professionals can either kick start or amp up their careers. In an industry that doesn’t necessary post jobs on a website, use recruiters, or have a standard interviewing process, how are talented creative people supposed to get their foot in the door? There are so many different ways to answer these questions, but at least one large chunk of this is personal marketing.
Here at Boom Box we get to record a wide variety of sounds… some of them happen to be gross… even done with the lights out in the bathroom….
You, our lucky reader, get to see the process of some of them that we have done!
There’s been plenty of great films that have come out within the past few months so I went around the office to see which ones were a big hit sound wise!
There are a few scenarios that I, and every other Sound Editor I know, come across in almost everything that we work on. The most persistent of which seems to be water. In the last month alone, I’ve cut a scene with a family of octopuses swimming in a shallow bay, a scene with a whole ocean being split like Moses at the Red Sea, and an action packed surfing sequence.
Cutting Water sounds effects can be really hit or miss if you don’t have the right tools in your arsenal, so here are a few tips to make sure your water sounds really make a splash.
This week, I sat down with our in house foley editor, Carol, to get some insight on digital foley!
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.
A Shepard Tone is a sound that creates the auditory illusion of a constantly rising or falling pitch. One of the most recognizable instances of a Shepard Tone in recent sound design is the Batpod from The Dark Knight. Here, I’ll explain how you can make a Shepard Tone for your own design needs.
A lot of our creative blogs are focused on sound effects, so for today’s blog we are switching it up and giving you some helpful insight on dialogue editing with our in house dialogue editor, J-Lo.
Supervising Sound Editor, Tess Fournier, gave us an inside look at some toon sound effects that she recently created!
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.
Katie was hired as a sound effects editor a few months ago and today we are going to get to know more about her career at Boom Box thus far and some advice/goals she has!
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.
Sound effects editor Brad Meyer is always designing amazing effects with unique builds and altering plugins. This week, well chat with him about a steady and pass by effect he created for a super fast running animal.
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.