Discover the latest industry news and audio post production.
We share 5 tips for taking care of yourself physically and mentally.
November 23, 2021
Generally speaking, working as a sound design/audio post professional is a cognitive-based job, meaning that we are using our brains directly more than we are using our bodies. Whilst our livelihoods do not directly depend on our physical fitness in the way that a firefighter, builder or professional sportsperson does, those of us who want longevity in our careers should still pay close attention to our physical wellbeing. In this article, we will share with you 5 tips for taking care of yourself physically and mentally.
Taking short breaks throughout the day will help prevent your ears from becoming tired and should let your hearing remain sharper throughout the day. They also give you chance to clear your head and approach tasks with a fresh perspective.
You can further maximise the effectiveness of these breaks by adding in a short walk around the block. This will help you reach your daily recommended steps and maintain a consistent energy level as the day progresses.
Stress is a natural part of life, however, when it becomes unmanaged it can have a detrimental effect on your body and your mind. You can help alleviate some of the negative sides of stress by introducing stress-relieving activities into your lifestyle and daily schedule. This could be anything from a brisk walk, reading a book or listening to a podcast, taking part in yoga or meditation, or completing a crossword.We would also recommend going easy on your coffee intake, as caffeine is a stimulant and can increase feelings of stress and anxiety.
Exercise has many brain-boosting effects that can help you think more clearly and be better equipped to deal with challenging tasks. Consider getting up a bit earlier and getting in a morning run before you hit the studio, or perhaps switch the car or bus for a bicycle and cycle to work each day. Also, don't overlook the importance of stretching. Long hours spent working at a computer can play havoc on your posture and your mobility so take a few moments throughout the day to stretch out, particularly your hips, back and shoulders.
The benefits of physical activity are too many to name. Even just spending 30 mins a day doing some light exercise will have a massive impact on your overall wellbeing and performance, so find something that works for you and is enjoyable enough for you to stick with it.
Develop healthy habits that over time become second nature to you.This could be simple switches like snacking on fruit and nuts rather than junk food, swapping soda for water/tea or leaving your phone alone for an hour before you go to sleep in order to get a full nights rest. You can also look to eliminate some unhealthy habits that you may already have such as quitting smoking or switching to an E-cigarette and controlling your alcohol and caffeine intake.If you don't do so already, get into the habit of cooking your own meals and making sure to include some vegetables and wholesome ingredients. Eating proper meals with quality ingredients gives your body the fuel it needs to work at 100% and you will be rewarded in terms of your energy levels and mental clarity.
Temper your mindset with a bit of a wider perspective about the world. Remind yourself why you do what you do, and be grateful that you get to wake up and live out your passion for sound every day and aren't working in a job that you hate.
When all is said and done it's only sound at the end of the day. Whilst missed deadlines and difficult clients can be difficult situations to deal with, no one gets hurt if things don't go to plan and there are no lives on the line. Above all else, keep a positive mindset and always look for the good in situations. Be a source of positive energy and enthusiasm for yourself and those around you and the positive energy will come back around to you when you need it.
We hope you enjoyed this article!
We aim to record the charm and personality of these antiques.
November 23, 2021
It's no secret that we love antiques here at 344 Audio, and over the years we have amassed a fairly large selection of vintage objects. While these have mostly served as studio decoration up to now, we are now moving forward with a series of recording sessions to capture the charm and personality of these antiques in audio form, to be released to the world as sound effects libraries.
Check out this news post for more details about our antique series.
Antique objects have an in-built sonic character that is hard to replicate. The combination of the materials, weight, shape, and functionality gives them an intensely pleasing and practical sound, and our ears instinctively pick up on the build quality and robustness of these objects.
In the past, resources were more scarce, and so things were built to last. Craftsmanship was on display everywhere you looked. Shoes, furniture, jewellery, cutlery, picture frames, and everything else in between required years of apprenticeships and practice to make, and were built to a much higher standard than their equivalents today.
Since the dawn of mass production, we have stepped further and further away from this way of doing things, and now in our modern world, goods are mass-produced with cost and efficiency in mind over everything else.When it comes to how these objects sound the result is flat, lifeless, dead and devoid of any real spirit or personality. In a cinematic context where we are using sounds to tell stories, vintage will always win over modern for its personality and feel. There is just no comparison, so that was our initial idea of planning this antique sound effects series.
The humble typewriter is an interesting device as it maintains many similarities with phone and computer keyboards. There is a range of great sounds that are produced including the typing sounds, click-clack of the mechanism, ding when a page has reached the margin, and the sliding sound as the paper is brought back into position to type another line.
Antique telephones such as the model shown below produce some cool sounds such as the spinning of the rotary numbers and the sound of the earpiece being taken in and out of the holster. Sounds like these are very diverse and can be used for a large variety of foley prop interactions.
Antique books have a really unique sound compared to modern books due to the thickness of the paper used, types of ink and glue used, and the binding techniques that hold the books together.
Leather, canvas and softwoods were frequently used to build vintage luggage holders, cases, boxes and cabinets. Whilst they would be seen as weighty and blocky by today's standards, these hard-wearing items have a chunky and heavy feeling sound that lends itself perfectly to a wide range of foley scenarios.
The examples mentioned above are just some of the many items that we will be recording and making into sound effects libraries. What's great about working with antiques is that they really tickle your imagination, and once you start delving deeper into this world of sound it opens up new ideas and possibilities to explore. Stay tuned as we continue this journey and update you on our progress.
If you have any suggestions of specific antiques or objects that you would like us to record then let us know!
We hope you enjoyed checking out this news post!
Our new 344 Audio members club initiative, which gives members access to a specially curated selection of sound effects each month.
November 23, 2021
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new 344 Audio members club initiative, which gives members access to a specially curated selection of sound effects each month and also includes an introductory offering of 4GB of free sound effects to all who subscribe.
Simply register to our email subscriber list and you will be automatically signed up to our member's club.
All members club subscribers will gain instant access to our FREE 4GB SFX library.
We hope you enjoyed this news post!
Victorian Pump Organ is our new steampunk-inspired Kontakt library made in collaboration with Stuart Keenan from Glitchedtones.
November 23, 2021
Victorian Pump Organ is our new steampunk-inspired Kontakt library made in collaboration with Stuart Keenan from Glitchedtones. With 50 different patches including sound design, drum kits and foley, this instrument is perfect for musicians and sound designers to make everything from sea shanties, period style music from the 1800s and early 20th-century all the way to EDM tracks and horror/atmospheric scores.
Find out more on: https://www.asoundeffect.com/sound-library/victorian-pump-organ/
Today we have a review of a new sound effects library from our friends at Spectraveler: Quantum.
November 23, 2021
Welcome back to the 344 Audio Blog. Today we have a review of a new sound effects library from our friends at Spectravelers. The library, which is called Quantum, is based around the theme of electromagnetic field sound effects and contains a colossal 60+GB of content. Let's dive in and take a look!
Company: Spectravelers
Product: Quantum
Price: $144
Our Rating: 5/5
Spectravelers is comprised of the two-man team of Benoit Marsalone and Arnaud Noble, both of which are seasoned professionals in the field of video game sound design. They have multiple AAA credits to their names including Ghost Recon Wildlands, Deus Ex and Rayman Legends.
For anyone who has come across the work before, their passion for the craft of sound design is clearly on display, and they like to inject a lot of fun into both their products and how the brand themselves, which is a refreshing thing to see in the world of sound effects libraries.
At first glance, this library packs quite a large punch for its cost, as you would normally expect to find a much higher price tag attached to a 60GB+ library. This alone is quite a big selling point for Quantum, but its size does not tell the full story. Dig deeper into Quantum and you will find that there is very little filler, which is quite impressive for a library with this much content packed into it.
The library is separated into three distinct categories, Raw, Designed and Toolkit, which makes navigating through and finding the right sound effect a much more time-efficient process.
Raw
Captured with different microphones like Elektrouši, Elektroucho Pro and Priezor, we recorded a lot of devices and wild signals which allows you to sculpt, create, and edit your own sounds with more than 340 individual sounds.
Designed
This section provides you ready-to-use sounds (over 1897 individual sounds in 371 files), all created and designed only from the Raw and Toolkit section materials. From huge to tiny, this collection delivers Impacts, UI, Ambiences, Whooshes, Pass-By, Energy, Machine, Electricity sounds and many more Hard-SF things.
Toolkit
This is a NEW section and we are very excited about this. We have created a Toolkit section organised in different categories (Energy, Drone, Forcefield, Machine…etc..) to allow you to create a unique flavour sound.
As you can see, the Spectravelers team have clearly put a lot of thought into what kind of content is included in Quantum, and how it is structured. No one wants to spend ages trawling through 60+GB of sounds, so top marks for showing such a careful consideration for the end-user experience!
In their own words, Spectravellers give us an overview of their quantum library.
While there are many commercial libraries available that have an electromagnetic theme, Quantum takes things to another level both in terms of the variety of content and the sonic quality of the sounds.
One of the core focuses of this library was to create sounds that fit the "Hard Sci-Fi" aesthetic.
HARD Science-fiction
A category of science fiction characterised by concern for scientific accuracy, logic and technological consistency.
Think of films such as Black Mirror, Moon, The Martian and Arrival. The sounds in Quantum all sizzle with a sense of the spectacular and futuristic, whilst also feeling intensely grounded in reality and something that could actually exist in our world. This is due to the methods and sound sources used during the recording of this library.
Electromagnetic pickup microphones were used on a variety of common gadgets and pieces of tech such as a PlayStation, 3d printer, Blu-Ray Players and digital cameras.
A selection of the specialist microphones used in the creation of Quantum. (Priezor, Elektrouši and Elektroucho Pro from LOM.
With over 3450 sounds to choose from, Quantum gives you a huge palette of sounds to play with and should be more than up to the challenge of modern Sci-Fi projects. All sounds are delivered in 24bit, 96KHz format and are tagged with detailed Metadata and Universal Category System (UCS) complaint.
If we were working on a Science Fiction or futuristic themed project then Quantum is a library we could see ourselves coming back to time and time again.
We would use the Raw section sounds as starting points for crafting bespoke effects for technology interactions in a film such as weapons, vehicle pass-bys and spaceship doors.
The designed section would be extremely useful for quickly building up an atmosphere with its wealth of high-quality ambiences and drones. We would also use the designed section for enhancing action moments with whooshes, energy flashes and mechanical sounds.
The toolkit section contains sounds that would make excellent layers with other sound effects to give them a more futuristic field. these include start-up and power-down sounds, alarms, buzzes and countless bleeps and bloops that are perfect for designing UI sounds.
The Quantum Teaser video highlighting the extensive range of sounds that can be found within the library.
All in all, Quantum is a terrific sound effect library that is a must-have for anyone who is working on science fiction projects, and the quality of the sounds make them highly versatile for other genres too. The attractive price tag means that it is an appropriate purchase for sound professionals at any stage of their career. The main thing to consider would be hard drive space and whether or not you want to give up 60+GB of space for a single sound library.
Follow this link for more details on Quantum and purchase information: https://www.asoundeffect.com/sound-library/quantum-electromagnetic-field-library/
We hope you enjoyed checking out this review!
