Music of Sound

The trailer for the film we are currently mixing has just been released on the internet, download quicktime (31MB) here

I did a lot of research on land speed racers when working on The World’s Fastest Indian, but nothing quite this fast – check out the sonic boom from this ‘car’ doing 1126km/h!

Of course planes can pass the sound barrier as well, check this one out:

Nice bit of sonic physics, if you feel like a read

FWIW the speed of sound is 331m/s, which is why if you sit at the very back of a large picture theatre the sound will be a frame or two late… At 24fps, 1 frame = 13.8 metres of distance

Ok we’ve finished premixing all the FX – between the three of us cutting FX we premixed our elements down to 5.1 stems (from A -> L) which took us 6 days.

Next was the foley premix, which will take us 3 days work and then… set up for the final mix! Its always quite a concentrated mission, patching up the Euphonix Series 5 desk as it can handle over 250 tracks, and they tend to get filled up! The orchestral score is arriving on Monday and has been recorded and premixed in Los Angeles…
Its only then that we get to see what the final soundtrack is going to sound like. we will spend one day per reel final mixing, and we usually start the day by playing down the reel with all the faders up, to get a feel for it… It then becomes a moment by moment, scene by scene process of balancing all of the elements into a cohesive dramatic soundtrack. In a funny way the difference between that first run through in the morning and where we are by the end of the day is like slowly bringing an image into focus. The content is essentially the same but how you perceive it all is radically different. And good mixers make it seem easy, which it sure isn’t!

All I can say on the topic of foley rooms is NEVER trust a tidy one!
The best foley rooms are FULL of props and surfaces to recreate footsteps & performed sound effects, and a good foley artist knows the room, the props & can instinctively reach for a prop to create the ‘right’ sound for any moment… Which is why I love photographing the foley room at the end of each film – every film has some unique requirements so particular props are sourced & become a part of the available collection from then on. Below are a couple of snapshots of the Park Road Post foley room after finishing work on Walden feature film Bridge To Terabithia. The film involved kids climbing trees, hence the large chunks of pine tree you can see in the first photo.

For a great description on foley, have a look here

My studio is in Wellington, New Zealand – in a quiet little suburb called Miramar, heres a QTVR of my main studio and below is a webcam view looking across the harbour towards the city and Miramar peninsula:

And a Google Earth location marker for my studio
just for the record 41°18’45.59″S, 174°48’49.29″E

Also in the neighbourhood is Peter Jackson’s awesome film post facility
Park Road Post

Plus WETA Physical, WETA Digital and two huge soundstages, one of which has a massive exterior blue screen created using shipping containers
stacked up like lego blocks! Wellywood indeed…