straight 8 audio guide

part 3: soundtracking

guest expert: the living graham bond a music producer and dj by trade, graham's written the soundtracks on 4 straight 8 films - all of which have made it to cannes



film vs music

a soundtrack can be a deeply important part to any film. from full on dominating orchestras, incidental solo instruments to simple rhythms, music has the power to transform any movie passage from simple dialogue to a full crescendo of emotion. though not to say that a soundtrack is instrumental to a films emotional success, far from it; creating an excellent soundtrack is all about selecting or constructing a piece of music in partnership and consideration of the script

my advice would be to keep music subtle during dialogue heavy passages, rhythmic and flowing during scenes with movement or action and delicate and considered in scenes with little dialogue or action. of course you may find the exact opposites when making your film but considering the script first is most important, the soundtrack shouldn't compete for attention

as discussed by will, sync is an issue. in the films i have soundtracked for s8 i have kept the timing fairly loose. transitions and events have been vaguely set out in the timeline to not cause confusion as seeing, and then seconds later, hearing an event happen can be quite distracting if the storyline is detailed. again, the contrary can create a lot of fun and give the film character. demetri jagger & david palmer do a great job of showcasing the inaccuracies of film to audio sync in "the james young lecture series: 'sync'":


software

to get stuck in you'll need some tools to start constructing your soundtrack. you could of course use an analogue or digital hardware recorder but at some point you will need a digital copy of your soundtrack for upload so you will need some software for this at least

your options are nearly endless, hundreds if not thousands of audio sequencers and editors are available with an almost infinite amount of plug ins and tools being developed constantly. many are available for free and there are massive communities of people who develop these as freeware. it is safe to say you will never be stuck for sound generators or complete recording suites if you are on a zero-cash budget!

acid (pc)

acid is a loop based sequencer that is extremely flexible. sample manipulation, time-stretching and chopping is very easy and makes loop-based song contruction easy. there is a large online community that offers loops, samples and advice.

audacity (mac & pc)

audacity is a multi platform recording and editing suite. within this you can record, edit and sequence sounds, treat them with the built in fx and export in various formats. everything you need for a basic soundtrack layout.

garageband (mac)

an all-in-one solution for most musical projects. built in loops, virtual instruments and fx make this a very easy and complete suite to use. there is a large online community offering support and free sounds and now comes bundled for free with most macs.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

plug-ins etc

if you are looking for something a little off the wall or want to create some sounds from scratch you may want to consider investigating homebrew vsts and aus. a good place to start is http://freemusicsoftware.org/

sounds and free sources

on top of the samples that are supplied with most audio software there are also many websites that offer public domain and user-generated sounds, loops and beds for no cost at all. my favourite is http://www.freesound.org/ here you can get almost anything you require for the cost of a free membership account. from everyday sounds to drum loops to abstract noises, there is little this site does not have. as the content is user-based the quality isn't always top notch but if you select your samples carefully a polished professional finish is easy to obtain. most of the sounds are offered on a creative commons license, if they are, make sure you credit them appropriately in your film

a quick google will bring up thousands of other sites offering free sounds but not all are as reliable as the above

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home