Session 1: Remember to give me paper copies of your scripts today, and in the lab, let’s continue working on the animatic project. Today in lecture we will be viewing the audio production special features for the Lord of the Rings series. These documentaries offer us a glimpse into the world of high budget film audio effects and Foley techniques.

This week I’ll be demonstrating how to use the equipment in the recording studio as well as discussing concepts such as Foley. Check out this website for a list of Foley articles and descriptions of some techniques. http://www.filmsound.org/foley/

Don’t forget to create at least 50% of your sound effects using field recordings, sound design, and/or Foley techniques. The following reading assignments will help you get a clear idea about the process of Foley, and how you can create your own Foley for your project.

What is Foley?
Foley Artist Share Their Secrets
Interview with Dustin DuPilka

Session 2: We’ll be covering audio compression today in our group lessons. Audio compression (not to be confused with file compression) is a way to automatically adjust the dynamics of sound. Mixing multiple tracks of audio can often become difficult when some of the audio has varying or inconsistent levels. Audio compression can help resolve these difficulties. It as also widely over-used, especially in the mastering process resulting in the “loudness wars“. Please look at the following articles regarding compression for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression
The Death of Dynamic Range (Atricle on the so called “Loudness Wars”)