The trailer for black comedy/horror film BLACK SHEEP, which we did the sound design for June/July/August 2006 is on their website now, or heres a direct link to the quicktime movie.
Ambience recording Dec 2006
I havent processed these recordings yet either, but here are a few snapshots of ambience recording locations from my travels….
The east coast of the South Island, near the Ashburton river mouth.
Lake Te Anau, Fiordland – the water was crystal clear.
Totaranui beach, Takaka
I captured three different timelapse shots/ambiences here & I plan to make them into a DVD. When winter gets nasty in Wellington I’ll just turn the heater up & watch/listen to it!
Wharariki beach, Takaka
A gentle breeze in dry long grass – near Wharariki beach, Takaka
I’ll upload the sounds soon, promise!
Impulse Responses Dec 2006
I managed to capture a few impulse responses for Altiverb while away on holiday. I haven’t gone through the recordings yet but once I have I’ll upload them and then update this post…
My nephew Morris firing my .22 starter pistol into a small metal silo on my brothers farm in Southland.
This IR had a nice metal zing to it!
This is inside a tin shed – figured it might be useful for ADR….
This is Echo Point, a spot on the road of the Western Inlet from Takaka. I discovered this spot many eears ago, when there was a sign saying: ‘Echo Point – startling echo heard here!’ The signs now gone but if you happen to explore this area, its by the road marker #99 on the Western Inlet. No doubt it sounds quite different when the tide is in…
my remote studio
While on holiday in Takaka I set up a temporary music studio without having to consider one of those no credit check loans to pay or it, much thanks to Gaylene Preston who loaned me her cottage & woolshed… its such a peaceful spot
The woolshed was the perfect size to set up in & the acoustics were nice! Aside from cows the nearest neighbour is about 2km away…
its the toy orchestra!
I love my contact mic
The executive producer seems to like it!
happy new year!
I finished 2006 by going on a road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. The main destination in the far south was Fiordland, quite probably the most remote spot in the whole country!
I went on a boat trip to Manapouri Power Station & then out Doubtful Sound to the open sea on the West Coast…. totally awe-inspiring! I was so impressed with the company organising the trip, Real Journeys, as they took us into a beautiful spot, deep into one of the branches of a sound & then turned off the boat motors & requested total silence from everyone, so we could just listen & appreciate where we were.
I also drove in a 4WD track to Lake Monowai & then onwards to the bottom of Lake Te Anau, following an access ‘road’ for the power pylons…
Many times on my trip I would stop, set up my sound recording kit & DV camera & record an ambience/shoot 20 minutes of video of a beautiful location to later speed up ie pseudo-timelape… the only annoying thing was if I did it anywhere near an obvious viewpoint, sooner or later a tourist bus would pull up & 20 people would scramble out of the bus, quickly take a photo & then depart again!? I think its like being there by proxy – advice to tourists: DO NO SEE NEW ZEALAND VIA A BUS TRIP!
This is the Mt John Observatory in Central Otago, a place I have always wanted to visit & on this trip timed it so I could. Its run by the physics department at Canterbury University & although it was too late in the day to get the proper tour/talk I did get to have a look around. The view is SENSATIONAL! I can only imagine what its like to be there on a clear night..
This was the main final destination – a week in Takaka, at the top of the South Island. Takaka has a fantastic climate & lots of great swimming beaches, especially Totaranui at the end of the Abel Tasman track.
Mixing a film (part 3)
Oh my god, i still dont quite believe it, but we have finished mixing!
After what feels like an eternity spent in a dark occasionally LOUD room
(& was probably actually 4 weeks) we have final mixed all the reels!
And screened them in a continuous run, discussed the comments & notes from the director, producer & execs, implemented the changes, reconformed for picture changes, screened again, implemented new material & essentially finished…
The mix will now be screened in LA for the uber-execs & i suspect we will get a few final mix notes to update prior to completion & print mastering but for all intents & purposes we are DONE!
And I bought a lovely bottle of 1800 tequila to celebrate the fact!
Hallelujah Jah! It went down a treat…. cathartic!
One funny side note, we all work in these intense work environments
oblivious at times, due to the immediate needs at hand… but at one
point during the mix someone commented ‘this really isnt the place to
be if you have a fear of monitors’
i laughed too, but after i took that photo above I counted up the number
of screens on the dub stage…there are 26 seperate monitors in that room!
Obviously that includes the bank of screens associated with the Euphonix
mixing desk but holy cow, talk about visual feedback for your soundtrack!?!
And technology aside I am left with a huge sense of warmth from the
dedicated work of a combination of many many clever creative lovely
people involved in making the soundtrack for this film – respect!
why birds sing
Bridge To Terabithia Trailer
The trailer for the film we are currently mixing has just been released on the internet, download quicktime (31MB) here
