Recording and views on Sound Design.

Whilst on location it struck me how much sound is actually recorded and used on set; near none.

It is far easier and of infinitely better quality to record seperately for each scene both the atmos track of each location and the dialogue for each character. This allows me the chance to change anything I think might cause a problem, including external noises like traffic, any Plosive or Fricative words ( words which contain specific syllables like Pass, Funk, Punk etc ) that peak the Master Mix that would otherwise have to be compressed in order for it to be useable.

Sadly though sometimes this rule might have to be bent in order to allow for time constraints.

I have also been taking the advice of Mark Watson, who suggested that to get a better range of recordings, you should record the same sound, from different perspectives around the area; much like changing the light settings within photography in order to find the optimal mix. It is methods like this that I look forward to finding out and actively ask of my peers what and how they have been recording; although few have remained as enthusiastic regarding quality towards the latter portion of the project, most just wanting to record the sound let alone think about equalisation and mastering.

This is where I feel I can really contribute to the overall production quality of projects; by fine-tuning every aspect of the sound I can think of, pitch adjustment, reverb time and decay rate, background noise, crew noise and equalisation especially isn't given just time and thought. Altering the parameters of someones voice can be incredibly effective. Specifically when their voice is the defining characteristic, when done correctly though can be monumentally meaningful. If someone asked you to do a quick impression of Darth Vader, you wouldn't don a black cape, enormous mask and black gloves; more likely you would imitate his voice, the deep respiration patterns of an old Scuba diving mask.

This re-enforces the fact that if done correctly, the sound a character makes can be the defining characteristic of the person. But it's that fact that annoys me, 'If done correctly'. This means that for the majority of cases within film, for the most part these are not achieved correctly; it should be the other way around.

Sound within film should not be 'This film has a great sound track' or 'He sounds so cool', it should be every film that achieves this, not just a particular few that stand out as having good sound effects, we should be creating fantastical and memorable sounds for every aspect of film. Before Star Wars for example, the sound of a light-saber wasn't even plausable, now however, just by making a crude swooshing noise with your mouth you can instantly associate that sound with that object. And maybe this means that fiction has an edge over social realism in the mind-set of sound design; that you can't just create brand new sounds for everyday objects, wrong; you can transform anything you want into something incredible, go ahead, try it.

Well that's my view anyway, that sound can be an incredibly powerful medium, but only if people let it.