ProSound News - December 2008 - (Page 38)

[38] Musical Shout (continued from page 34) country, Canada, Sweden and Germany— not only on commercial projects but also their music recording output. “We have a nice-sized live room and a control room, and three writing rooms,” Hollander shares. “We’ve set it up so we can put a band in there and track them live. We have a Soundtracs [MRX] console and a Neve [5542] radio console. Everything goes into Pro Tools at the end of the day.” The studio also features an enormous collection of carefully selected outboard gear, instruments, stompboxes and vintage microphones. “We’re not afraid to get a band that hasn’t scored anything before,” offers Garcia. “If the vibe is right, that’s the most important thing, at the end of the day. We just finished a package for Nicktoons. We wrote the theme song for their Saturday morning comedy block, then all the interstitial music as well, and all the different iterations. We thought it would be interesting to give them a wide range of things, so we called on some of our more traditional guys for some heavily scored stuff, then we called on some of our recording artists. The track they ended up going with was a custom piece of music that we creative-directed. It was written by an underground hip-hop artist, Oh No, who is on Stones Throw Records. It really was the best possible creative solution; there was an authenticity to it.” He continues, “We’re not averse to working with big bands—we deal with major labels all the time—but there’s something exciting about working with a band on a grass-roots level and discovering the band and working in almost a development capacity.” SIOLM’s recently signed artists include L.A.’s Walter Meego, Brooklyn’s Tigercity and, from Texas, Spain Colored Orange, who have provided music for an Olay campaign and a 2009 Ford Mustang online short film. “One of the great things about this is that it’s all so collaborative,” enthuses Hollander. “Every project is so different. You really do have the opportunity to work with all kinds of different musicians and talent. It has really created in a very organic way an inspiring environment, not just for us, but, I like to think, for all the people who come to work here.” —Steve Harvey Shout It Out Loud Music www.shoutitoutloudmusic.com Post’s Future (continued from page 34) and staff are no less world-class, rising to meeting the challenges of television post production and tight deadlines on a daily basis. “We’ve developed a skill set in dealing with the terrible dialog that we get. They put together sentences and put words in people’s mouths that they never said!” says MCS vice president Lisa Blackwood. “There’s at least 20 hours of dialog work before it gets to mix, and probably 10 to 20 of effects, on an hour show.” It’s not the quality of the audio, which is typically well recorded, but rather the script created by producers after the fact: “Every line is almost a little bit of ADR, a little bit of an interview, a little bit of location sound,” explains mixer Sam Kaufmann. “Really, it’s a challenge to make it sound like one guy said it. That’s the challenge for all these reality shows, making the dialog seamless.” “It’s one of the strengths of this company. We’ve been doing these kinds of shows for years and really know what to expect,” says engineer Jon Schell, also noting that TV schedules often dictate quick turnaround, sometimes in 24 hours. “I was working on the Flavor of Love casting special, for VH1,” shares mixer Michael Keele, who also composes for the music library. “I was mixing the music live as we were going to tape. It had to be [sent via] FibreNet to New York in less than two hours’ time. We do The Moment of Truth, and sometimes that will be airing the next day, and yet they’re still making editing changes. You have to pick your battles, because you can’t spend an hour just on one ‘whoosh.’ It makes you be efficient.” The audio staff, which works around the clock, has also developed sound design skills, from working on series with no production sound, such as the History Channel’s Dogfights, which is almost entirely CGI, and Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior. The problem is keeping it real, says Schell, who even traveled to air shows to capture authentic vintage plane sounds. “Sometimes I’ll cut in some low ‘whooshy’ stuff to give it a bigger sound. But I don’t want it to sound like a cartoon.” Alan Ett Creative Group www.alanettcreativegroup.com psn December 2008 http://www.shoutitoutloudmusic.com http://www.focalprofessional.com http://www.alanettcreativegroup.com http://www.focalprofessional.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProSound News - December 2008

ProSound News - December 2008 Sound Business Contents Hank’s Best Yet Sound Recording Studio Showcase: Great City Productions Software Tech Tracks Sessions Anticipating Post’s Future Post Showcase: Eargasm HD Audio Post The Business of Being Creative Sound Innovations: VRsonics VibeStudio Spatial Design Suites Field Reports: Product Profiles Yes We Can Hear Obama Live Sound Showcase: Stone Temple Pilots Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Classifieds Advertiser Index Company Index Music, etc

ProSound News - December 2008

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