Our short film REACH was recently screened at the Women In Film & Television Toronto Short Film Showcase at The NFB Mediatheque.  More screenings in the very near future.

Also, Troy’s work can be heard at HOT DOCS 2012 in The Language of Love from Frog Girl Films, ahead of Theo Fleury: Playing with Fire.

Troy will also be collaborating on an upcoming 3d Animated Music Video and Film project with Artist & Illustrator Lateef Martin who designed our Ring Out Media Logo!  Check out his work as an Illustrator, Storyboard Artist, and Animator here:  http://www.behance.net/miscellaneum  We highly recommend him!

Last but not least we’re gearing up to shoot our next film GRAVITY, shooting in Toronto and Guyana this summer.   Part of which will have us shooting at Guayana’s Kaieteur Falls, one of the longest and most powerful water drops in the world.

Stay Tuned!

A short film co-produced by our friend Shiren Van Cooten, producer of our next film GRAVITY.

“Keepers of the Water” is a short film about a young group of Native children in Fort Chipewyan, Canada. Their town sits directly downstream from the Alberta Tar Sands – the most environmentally polluting industrial project in the world. The members of their community are dying of rare forms of cancer, the fish and moose meat have tested positive for highly toxic levels of arsenic, the water is no longer drinkable, and there is no end in sight. On their own initiative, these kids came together to protest this environmental crime.

Keepers of the Water (2010) from Wandering Eye on Vimeo.

Troy.

Getting Started

So, if you haven’t already begun your process, a great way to start is with an exercise given to me many years ago when I did my 1^st sound design.

After you’ve read the script once or twice, jotting down the random ideas that come to you.  Do it again.  But this time make a note of any and all diegetic or non diegetic sounds that you might hear in the script.   What does this mean exactly?

Some definitions for you: (Although they are applied to film in this context, they are still relevant)

http://filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm

So simply put, any & all sound occurring in the play alluded to or otherwise, metaphorically, or literally, real or imagined.  You get the idea.

Then choose the sounds from that list that might make the most sense to the world of the play.  Or simply the sounds that resonate with you , or that you feel might have an interesting sound quality to them.  This could be as simple as a sustained note or chord, or the sound of wind through the trees, up to you.

On a more practical level, there will likely be some literal (diagetic) sounds that require pulling sound to a specific location/direction, i.e: phone rings or gunshots etc.  Which brings me to:

Speaker Locations: 

This may seem obvious, but there are things to consider in advance.  Think about the space you’re playing in, and where sounds need to be located, for practical reasons, or for effect.  Do you need a small speaker inside a piece of set furniture that has to serve as a radio or a television for example. You should address that early with the set designer if possible, in the event that they need to take that into consideration when it is being built.  You want to stay in step with Lighting as well, in the event that you may be competing for space.  Things to consider.

Running the Show: QLAB

In all likelihood you will be running the show cues using Qlab 2

http://figure53.com/qlab/

You may have some experience with it, or you may be brand new at it.  In any case it is a very straightforward piece of software, but can be complicated depending on how far you want to go with it.  I suggest you view these tutorials if you haven’t already.  They should help get you started.

http://figure53.com/qlab/tutorials/

And if your head of sound/operator hasn’t used it, I would recommend you point them towards this tutorial:

http://figure53.com/qlab/tutorials/operator.php

It will make things way easier in the communication department between you and your operator, if they have a handle on it, and you guys are on the same page, working with the same terminology.

Some Notes on Pro Tools:

If you’re working primarily in Pro Tools, which generally you will, though there are many other suitable (and some would even argue better) D.A.W.’s out there.   Pro Tools remains industry standard, and is generally running in most professional studio environments.  If you have another piece of software that you are comfortable using, and prefer i:e: Logic, Cubase, Ableton etc.  then by all means use it.  Whatever gets the job done, but knowing a little about Pro Tools will definitely help you down the road.

In general www.winksound.com is a great resource for straightforward, easy to understand tutorials, and my personal fav.  Here is their Pro Tools Channel, I suggest you take a look at it.

http://www.winksound.com/channel/1550441/pro-tools-basics

Automation is key:

Nothing makes things smoother than a nice clean transition sound with a clearly defined tail end.  To me, nothing is more jarring or annoying to listen to in a sound design then an obvious and abrupt edit.  If you manage to make these transitions smooth and clean, it contributes greatly to the overall cohesiveness of your design.

Automating your reverb or delay is an important part of giving your edits that smooth finish.  For instance, you may not want to apply reverb to an entire track, but only the tail end of it, that’s where automation comes into play.

Here’s a little tutorial on the basics of Automation in Pro Tools:

Working with Directors:

You’re going to meet and work with all manner of directors with all different styles, who are the product of many different eras and comfort levels with the terminology and technology of sound & music.  Every experience will be different.

Some may have very clear ideas for integrating sound into the show right from the beginning.   Some may have a few musical ideas, or a specific frame of reference, using other sources as a guide, or some may give you the freedom to contribute your ideas, and simply “show them your stuff” in rehearsal in a trial and error sort of way.

One thing that I would emphasize is that you should try to feel them out as early as possible, and to try not to do too much work in advance of a detailed sound meeting, or at the very least a good phone chat.  Some students have made that mistake early on, and I’ve definitely been there myself.

You might find yourself having composed an entire series of tunes for the show, based solely on the script you read only to find out the director will be setting the play 100 years earlier than you planned for.  Bring some ideas to the initial sound meeting, maybe not a complete score that you worked on for 2 weeks straight.

Sound in Rehearsal:

My personal preference is to be able to test out a lot of underscoring during rehearsals, not only to see how effective it is, but to get an approximate idea of timings for your cues.  This also saves you a lot of hustling during tech week, and ideally you won’t have to be re-editing too many cues during tech.  You will be doing some, no matter what.  (And you might not sleep on occasion.  Just a heads up) but with the availability of Qlab and a laptop, this is fairly easy to do nowadays, and you can make changes to timing and edit as you go.  It allows you to be in the best shape possible heading into tech.

Not all directors like to work this way, and it’s not always feasible, but try to be in the room playing your stuff if you can.  While being careful not to interfere with rehearsal too much of course.  Most Directors will be able to give you a date for this, when they are ready to start playing sound.

Production Meetings:  When do I need to be there?

Sometimes this was actually confusing to me when I first started out.  In an ideal scenario, you are present in as many production meetings as possible.  But stay in communication with your Stage Manager, and Director as to your availability for said meetings.  There will be times later in the process that you will find yourself needing the time to edit/compose more than you need to be in a specific meeting.  Sound design is different than lighting this way because it requires a lot more prep time  prior to being in the theatre.

Always discuss this with your director first.  But in a case where your sound plot is in, you know how and what you’re running the show on, when you’re to be there to install and run tests & rehearse.  You may find yourself in a situation where all of the issues are addressed, and you could convey this to your SM in advance of the meeting.  Don’t however opt out of a prod meeting because you want to watch a Habs game.

Creative Sampling: (for the non musicians)

Okay, so you’ve been asked to do a sound design, but you’ve never played a note in your life.   When I started I was a DJ.  I made beats.  I scratched and sampled records.  Then I got into theatre…by accident.  And I had no idea what I was doing.  Don’t panic.  Though I did.  Lol.  I’m hoping to save you that step.

Don’t forget sampling doesn’t mean you have to use an entire track outright from start finish.  It could mean sampling a single note and replaying it to create your own melody, or a 4 bar section from a piece of music that you plan to loop and filter until it is unrecognizable.

The copyright laws are becoming stricter all the time, and you should attempt to compose as much of your own material as you can.  The National Arts Centre for instance has taken to hiring composers more than sound designers for that very reason.  But this may or may not be your background. So…

Do the best you can, just don’t be afraid to experiment with filtering, twisting, layering, and shaping existing sounds to create something new.  Make it your own.   As you progress you can shift your focus to original composition later on.  Or maybe you already have an album out and have been touring the world with your band. I don’t know, I haven’t met you yet.  In which case.  Do your thing.

Tech Process:

Communication:

Ideally you would have a headset for yourself, with a separate channel for you to speak directly to your operator.  Ask if this is possible early on, as it makes things less complicated with less chatter on the headset.

This is not always possible, and if not be sure to wait your turn, and try to prioritize your level notes in the interest of keeping rehearsal moving.  If it ‘s important, and will affect actor’s movement on stage, or a critical sequence/transition, then request time to resolve it in the moment.  If it’s something like a minor level change that can be done during your next tech adjust, and wasn’t a director request.  Put it on your to do list in the interest of keeping rehearsal moving forward.  It’s how you negotiate those moments that can make a big difference in how efficiently things run.

SHOW BACKUPS:

I can’t emphasize this one enough, Hence the ALL CAPS.  In a union house the tech rehearsal will generally end five minutes early in order to “go to disk” before all breaks and at the end of the day.

Get it into your routine, backup to an external disk or usb key.  This can also be done by your head of sound.  Request that they do it,  and add it to your checklist.  But don’t assume that they will without a little reminder before the breaks. Or if you want to be really safe.  Do it yourself.  Trust me on this, you don’t want to learn the hard way.

TRAILER COMING SOON.  Stay Tuned.