"Survival Training for Non-Linear Location Recording"...presented by John Rambo

Yo, listen up.

Dis is John Rambo, and I'm here to teach you survival skills. Not da kind of skills where you become so deadly that you can kill a man just by lookin' at him; only I can do that.

No, I'm gonna show you da basics of non-linear production sound recording, with gear from Fostex, Zaxcom, Sound Devices, and Aaton.

I'm gonna give youse a link to a page with streaming (like blood) videos, presented by I.A.T.S.E. Local 695 (which is coincidentally da number of people I accidentally killed while brushin' my teeth this mornin'). Dey also got some "...printable quick reference sheets and links to manuals, tutorials and more." I like manuals. They teach you how to vaporize stuff real good.

I wish I coulda looked at these videos myself, but my computer' broken (...'cause everythin' I touch explodes), so here's the link.

(Thanks to Jeff Wexler over at jwsound.net for the heads up...on a stick.)

P.S. I've been gettin' recon about some Chuck Norris guy, runnin' around in cowboy boots kickin' things. So I'll say this just once, 'cause if I repeated myself, the sound of my voice would stop your heart: The only good chuck is ground chuck. Take that, Norris.

{something randomly blows up}

Field Sounds

In my second New Zealand-related post today, I'd like to introduce you to Field Sounds: A Portal for Film and TV Recording. Mixer Ande Schurr has amassed a considerable link list of tutorials and advice for novices and veterans alike. (Disclosure: I found out about it after he linked to my post about working with the Coast Guard).

Snip:

Q: What do I need to know?



Attitude for Beginners : Sit down last - Stand up first; Listen first - Talk last; Laugh at jokes - Don't tell them; Arrive First - Leave last; As a new person no one will need your education but they will appreciate a humble, WORKer. Don't dress to impress or distract (You get this or you don't...); Don't smoke near non-smokers or gear or food or at all if possible; Learn everyone's name (this is big); Be especially nice to support services, security etc - it will pay off when you need a favour or info in a hurry; "Please, Thank You, Excuse Me" - always; When your are bored out of your skull, don't read a book, talk on cell phone etc. (Learn to hide like the rest of us); When you are given boring /miserable tasks, just do it and come back for more; ALWAYS, ALWAYS ask for details if you don't understand a task; Don't rely on someone else to finish an assigned task - YOU will look stupid when they don't; If you are unsafe, you are fired. If you speed, you are fired. If you are drunk/stoned etc..... DO go for a beer if invited - DO NOT get drunk and try to out talk the old timers. Avoid set politics - let everyone slag people/departments while you remain neutral. When you move up the ladder, be especially nice to people below you.

This kind of aggregated information is invaluable to newer folks and those of us who live outside of the Major Markets (ie LA and NY), and thus can't necessarily network face-to-face with more established mixers. If you don't have the opportunity to apprentice under someone (as I did not), you end up learning a lot the hard way, unless you can benefit from resources like this, along with forums like jwsound.net and R.A.M.P.S., to name a couple.

Visit early and often, kids. If I'd known about this when I'd first started out, I'd have saved my self a small fortune in Tums.

Link.

AfterEffects: Working With Audio

Over at Creative Cow, Aharon Rabinowitz has posted a video tutorial entitled AE Workflow Tips #8: Working With Audio.

Link to the flash movie. For those who have trouble with playback of that particular file (as I did), here is a link to a video podcast in mp4.

Holy Foley

In this modern age of DAWs and desks, one of the more active jobs in audio post is that of that of the foley artist. In this tutorial, Philip Rodrigues Singer, M.P.S.E., takes us through some of the finer points. Snip:

On a film set nothing is real - the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painted plywood. Foley replaces or enhances that live sound; the result is a sword that rings like metal and floors that echo like marble! During filming, the location sound recordist tries to capture only the dialogue. Microphones are keenly positioned on set to record even an actors slightest whisper without the background noises from camera and crew. Foley helps to add back a controlled background layer of sound to produce a rich and realistic track.

Link to the tutorial.