Discover the latest industry news and audio post production.
We are proud to announce that our Lead Sound Designer, Alex Gregson, has been recognised for his work in The Last Dance and awarded Best Sound at Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival.
November 23, 2021
We are proud to announce that our Lead Sound Designer, Alex Gregson, has been recognised for his work in The Last Dance and awarded Best Sound at Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival.
To get a taste of the sound design that helped 344 Audio win, check out this clip from our showreel.
There's nothing more beneficial to a film than a team of like minded individuals who work together. It's not always easy to find that chemistry, but working with Chris Keller on The Last Dance was a creative experience like no other.
"I have high standards for sound, and was delighted to discover that 344 share them. They are a dedicated and valuable partner in the process. Alex did a great job interpreting my thoughts." - Chris Keller
Chris really knows what he wants from a film's story and soundtrack, this was especially clear on The Last Dance. There were moments where sound had to shine, and others where it had to sit back and let the actors, visuals and music take over. Finding that balance was a challenge we fully embraced.
The Last Dance
| Director: Chris Keller | Producer: Oliver Milburn |
| Audio Post Production & Sound Design: 344 Audio |
| Music Composition: Alex Wallace |
Tonsturm are back with a solution to solve an age old problem; the recreation of the Doppler effect.
November 23, 2021
Company: TONSTURM
Product: Traveler
Price: $179 (Usually $229)
Our Rating: 4.8/5
Not only does Traveler allow you to create Doppler effects either in real time, by processing imported audio, or by way of audiosuite processing, but the user can plot movement graphs in the GUI and use LFOs to provide additional modulation.
There is an included sample library, which includes 76 effects for whooshing and whipping. These are of a high quality, more than sufficient for use within this plugin, but you will want to import your own sounds to create more original effects. The sound of the processing is rather nice, and doesn’t have the artefacts that you may expect from heavy processing. It has a level of control missed in it’s competitors engines.
We used it on a recent project to simulate wind movement, and it was a really nice base layer for further design. Frustration with other doppler plugins has often left us relying on automated pitch shifters and sound effects to pick up the slack, which is less than ideal. It is nice to know that problem is now resolved with the use of Traveler.
There really aren't many negatives to point out with Traveler. The ease of use, preset and sound library, AAX format without Reaktor are all massive plus points. The price currently sits at that of a premium plugin level, but pretty similar to comparable plugins from other vendors. This may be out of the hands of hobbyists, but the again it is a serious workflow tool for professionals.
Any Sound Designer worth their salt uses doppler/movement effects, from whatever source that may be. If you also have found the older plugins a little outdated, this is your answer and it sounds great!
Our Lead Audio Craftsman Alex Gregson was asked to visit Pinewood Studios last week to undergo training to become an Avid Certified Instructor for Pro Tools.
November 23, 2021
Avid HQ at Pinewood is situated right under the nose of film sets for James Bond, Star Wars and other major franchises. On this 5 day intensive course, Alex was trained under Emmy award winning Engineer and Pro Tools Expert Justin Fraser. He took part in lessons to develop teaching skills, a deeper knowledge of the Pro Tools engine and advanced workflows. A lot of which is only available on this course.
As well as this, other tutors present were experienced engineers in their own right, and travelled from across Europe to take part. Perhaps the most valuable part of the journey was the opportunity to present a lesson to the rest of the class. Overall, a further knowledge of Pro Tools and the networking opportunities of being in London and Pinewood were a massive benefit to us. The icing on the cake was being able to meet with remote clients in London that we have only previously skyped with!
World renowned Krotos Audio have just released their new 1.1 update to their weapon sound design solution Weaponiser, to include Round Robin triggering, Multi Mode EQ, Expanded Reverb and new Presets from respected industry Sound Designers.
November 23, 2021
Company: Krotos Audio
Product: Battle Bundle
Price: £454.80
Our Rating: 4.1/5
World renowned Krotos Audio have just released their new 1.1 update to their weapon sound design solution Weaponiser, to include Round Robin triggering, Multi Mode EQ, Expanded Reverb and new Presets from respected industry Sound Designers. This is a free update to all current users.
Alongside this, they have surprised us with their first Weaponiser library 'Battle Bundle'. This library aims to add a more varied offering to the Weaponiser lineup, by focusing on more hand to hand combat and sword fighting sound effects. It is one of the most comprehensive libraries of combat-related sounds ever recorded for TV, film and video games, including 5854 high-quality combat sounds – from sword attacks and rapiers to chainmail, shields, metal, hand-to-hand combat, body falls and impacts at 96/192kHz.
Even though the sound effects are developed with Weaponiser in mind, you can choose to extract the WAV files for use in general tracklay, which is a nice touch. The overall quality of the sound is fairly consistent, and is rather neutral and soft in some cases. This works very well when realism is the goal, but hyper real sounds will need some processing. They intend for you to combine sounds and layer them with the on board synthesis engine. This becomes more apparent when browsing through the 'Swords' folder', as there is a Sweetener section that is more distorted and processed for layering. The new Weaponiser update means that these sounds can be combined to generate thousands of assets with the new randomisation features.
We used the engine's sounds combined with our own library to generate some Sound Design for a new film which included baseball bat hits, scrapes and punches. The randomisation helped in this case, as a large variety in each hit was not needed or wanted by the Director, but subtle changes helped reduce the 'Machine Gun Effect'. This would work very well in a Game Audio workflow. The presets are rather nice and have good starting points to build sound cues that would otherwise need a Foley Artist to be completed within a reasonable time.
There are opportunities that were missed with the latest update. These would have heavily increased the potential of the Battle Bundle. First, the amount of samples allowed per bank really could be increased to at least 15+. In our experience, when working on fight scenes, this amount of variation is needed within the file to really make a dynamic and interesting scene with sound. Pitch variation is becoming more obselete by the day because of increased computing ability and hard drive space for samples. It would make Weaponiser not only a great asset creation tool, but a live triggered 'Sound Design Machine' with enough variation to cover even the most dynamic and drawn out battles.
The sounds were noticeably neutral, which was rather surprising on a first listen. Even when combined, I found that reaching for other sound libraries to layer was sometimes needed to achieve the full, compressed effects that many battles need to cut through music in the mix. The cost is quite significant here too, which I think could be justified more if the sounds had more range for this purpose. Perhaps the sweetener section needs to be much more extensive, and have the level of processing quality that will allow it to really punch through a mix.
This library has a large variety of sounds. If you have purchased many sword/battle libraries from other vendors, and you already own Weaponiser, you will mainly be benefiting from the presets in this product, which will certainly speed up Game Sound Design workflows.
This epic box of tricks from Articulated Sounds contains a detailed collection of designed & source sounds of organic elements, actions, characters, items, spells & atmospheres in the realm of Magic.
November 23, 2021
Company: Articulated Sounds
Product: Magic Elements Vol. 1
Price: $119
Our Rating: 4.8/5
This epic box of tricks from Articulated Sounds contains a detailed collection of designed & source sounds of organic elements, actions, characters, items, spells & atmospheres in the realm of Magic. The designed section includes 326 sounds, while the source folder offers 444 individual elements for tweaking, all extensively metadata tagged and at 24Bit 96kHz. A total file size of almost 7GB. There are also glued and separated versions included, for some Sound Designers who prefer each effect variation to be a separate file.
The branding for this product is simply mind blowing, it could rival that of a video game, and really gives an impression of how much time was spent crafting this magical library. Articulated clearly have the best branding in the sound effects industry.
As usual, the quality of effects here is wonderful. The sounds tend to work well in both magical scenarios, as well as the supernatural. We used them in a recent cinema commercial which was packed with superheroes, and files from multiple sections, including ice, earth and generic fit right into the mix. In one instance we used the ice effects to layer with design for a magical ink ball that was conjured up. The earth sounds are most practical, as they work well for earthquakes, or moments where you would like to let the audience know, the world is in trouble. There are plenty of variations which are crucial in a library like this.
One way that this library could have been improved is the variety on offer. Some more challenging elements like Water and 'Light Magic' would really give an extra flavour to the offering. We're sure that these are planned for Vol 2.
If you ever work with the supernatural, superhero, action or disaster movies, this library will surely compliment your palette. And it will do so with finesse, it has quality and quantity.
Get Magic Elements Vol. 1 Now!
