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At 344 Audio we provide Sound Design for Films and Visual Media, but really enjoy the moments where a completely new and abstract project comes our way. InTouch was a very unique concept for us, as our Sound Design is now used and experienced within a physical product.
November 23, 2021
"InTouch is a conceptual tool comprised of 20 magnetised spherical and hemi-spherical shapes that make up a molecular model of dopamine. Like a modern day worry bead, InTouch is dedicated to sensory experience. As each magnet connects, a sound is triggered.
While there is no optimum state to be in, at different times we will want the user to be able to shift into one that is appropriate to the task at hand, whether sleeping, working on a project or relaxing. This is where InTouch comes in. We tell stories by engaging the senses: as the user connects each form together, they become the composer of their own experience. The combination of the action of completing the dopamine model, the pleasure received from the clicking noise of the magnets and the resulting sound turn the experience into a performance that can help ease tension and reduce anxiety.
InTouch is intended to not only describe what happens in the brain when we discover new things, but prescribe an alternative
experience as a method of relaxation."
Product Creator, Olivia Somary
During our Sound Spotting Session, we spoke with Olivia about the experience that InTouch should offer for end users. It needed to be immersive and trigger relaxation and focus in the brain, without using cliche sound effects such as rainfall.
Together we decided that binaural beats and ambient synthesised soundscapes would be the best option to offer both a modern and accessible feeling to the product, we thought a lot of people wouldn't have tried binaural beats too, and that their effects could really enhance the products goal for end users. We built a small team for the project to help create a collaborative and varied soundscape.
Using Binaural Beats made from sine wave generators in Pro Tools, we conducted research to discover which frequency gaps offered the correct emotional and physical responses. These were given an auto-panning effect, to ensure that when stacked, they would move and shift around the headphones that the user wears, giving another element of randomness.
Here is a binaural beat frequency we used to invoke a sense of hypnosis:
The multiple binaural beats emotional/physical responses created included:
The ambient soundscapes were much more complex, but had to fit musically with the binaural beats, even if everything was connected and triggered by the user. The Sound Design team sat in a studio session together and decided which musical key our soundscapes would sit in, as well as the direction that each team member would offer with their sounds.
Here is one of thousands of soundscapes that users can generate with the product:
Various themes were explored for the soundscapes, including:
Olivia wanted to use the Soundplant engine, to ensure simple and stable operation, a product able to work on almost any computer system.
Using Soundplant, the device was able to trigger our sounds whenever shapes were connected by the user (at their own discretion). The files were created in a way that there were likely hundreds of thousands of possible variations in timing and timbre which only added more interest and longevity to the product. The sine waves were brought into the engine as singular frequencies, which meant they could be triggered at any point and binaural beating would occur, because of the frequency gap between the waveforms.
The product now triggers the binaural beats when users connect the base shapes and the ambient soundscapes when they trigger the smaller shapes providing a fluid and dopamine inducing experience that puts you InTouch with your brain.
Here's what Olivia thought about the experience:
"It has been a pleasure to work with Alex. He introduced me to Binaural beats and combined them with ambient sounds to give my project a whole new dimension. Together we have composed a conceptual creative tool for relaxation - a device I would not have been able to create without Alex’s extensive knowledge and insight! Thanks again!"
We would also like to give a special thanks to the Sound Design team:
Lead Sound Designer
Alex Gregson
Assistant Sound Designers
George Lloyd-Burman
James Ellis
Daniel O'Connor
Phil Batley
InTouch was a wonderful experience for the team and it was a pleasure working on such a unique product with Olivia. We can't wait for the exhibition/demonstration coming soon which we will definitely be attending and providing updates on.
If you enjoyed this article please check out our ultimate guide to audio post- production: https://www.344audio.com/post/the-ultimate-guide-to-audio-post-production-sound-design
At 344 Audio we like to lend style and flair to every project, that's why with RRAFAYC we forged Sound Design elements from Custom Forest Recordings and Effects.
November 23, 2021
During our remote Sound Spotting Session, we spoke with the Director Katie Smith about the world that she wanted to create. It was important that we construct the sound around the children characters' perspective of a large isolating forest, in which these children are trying to escape their adult pursuers. This film includes themes of childhood innocence, wonder, exploration, conflict and disease, all of which play a pivotal role. It was also important to note the difference between the adult assailants scenes and the children's scenes.
Katie asked us not to hold back with Sound Design on this project, we needed to add a sense of urgency in some scenes and downright fear and abandonment in others. We knew that this called for some custom recordings and because the world had to feel isolated, we planned to use only sounds from the forest in our design. We visited a large reservoir/forest area in the British Countryside, that had enough character to work and was silent enough to gather clean material. We hit trees, whooshed sticks, stamped in mud and recorded various ambient sounds to lay on the film.
With a clear plan in place and lots of material for inspiration, it was time to start tracklaying.
We were able to use 100% production dialogue for this project - which was necessary to ensure the children's performances were kept intact, any problem lines had almost identical takes to replace them, which was nice. We also were very light handed with noise reduction, using it only where absolutely necessary, to preserve the warmth and depth of the audio. Due to the nature of the forest, we did have to remove a lot of harsh twig snaps, but did so with minimal effect on clarity.
One storytelling tool that was very useful was the passage of time and location within the forest. 90% of the film is set within this deep and huge rural environment, with time shifting to the evening as the film progresses. The forest allowed us to build sounds to sell this, Crows, Ravens, Foxes and Owls covered the adult's scenes with a sense of mystery, fear and anger, while Robins, Frogs and Various Tweeting Birds offered a sense of innocence to the children initially, progressing into the darker tone of Crickets and Marshland sounds as time passed, showing the isolation of the children group, as they part ways.
Our custom recordings were used numerous times to accentuate moments and bring subtle detail to shots. Everything from the initial title sequence that had its 'pencil drawing' sound made from a pitched up foot scraping a tree to slow motion shots accentuated with pitched down impact sounds of hitting trees with branches and whooshing sticks past the microphone to create cinematic transition elements. We even designed a car engine with a pitched down Bear Growl as it creeps towards the children in pursuit. There were also some much softer and delicate sounds to design, the stunning meteor shower VFX shots were covered with fireworks sounds that had Doppler pitch shifting and subtle flangering. Manipulated sounds of wind chimes and bells were added, which gave some 'sparkle' to the intense night sky. Here is a sound we designed from hitting a tree with a branch, it was used as part of a slow motion shot:
We mixed the film in stereo and wanted to add a sense of 'width', as per Katie's instructions. The background sounds had to surround the audience, so we extended the stereo field and had lots of layers of animal and weather effects panned around in different scenes.
We also did some interesting things with the score, filtering it down in certain shots and heavily accentuating low frequencies in others to create a pumping sensation.
The mix also had to sell the dialogue and foley to the audience in this heavily forested area. To achieve this, we used a combination of delays and convolution reverbs, with forest impulse responses loaded. Automation of distance perception with EQ and Reverb also provided a sense of realism and hyperrealism in certain shots.
Run Run As Fast As You Can was a pleasure to work on and we are already working with Katie again which is great news. You can expect to see the film at a festival near you soon!
If you enjoyed this article please check out our ultimate guide to audio post- production: https://www.344audio.com/post/the-ultimate-guide-to-audio-post-production-sound-design
Badlands Sound are known for their affordable libraries with unique themes. Their latest venture offers a much needed fresh perspective on traffic ambiences.
November 23, 2021
Company: Badlands Sound
Product: Above & Below Traffic
Price: $18
Our Rating: 4.6/5
Badlands like to organise their samples into one folder, which makes sense with their libraries being quite compact in terms of file numbers. Everything here is neat and tidy, very lengthy files, all around 5 and half minutes each which is quite impressive - a total of approximately 70 minutes of content, all in stunning 24 Bit 96kHz WAV fidelity. We couldn't wait to open this one up, as the theme, cover art and past libraries from Badlands are all stunning.
This library has got to be one of the best value for money products that we have ever reviewed, time has been taken to capture true to life moments here with a theme that I have never seen covered before. The 13 files offer a variety of passing vehicles which will liven up any residential area, city, or highway (the car chase scene from The Matrix Reloaded comes to mind).
The great thing about the above and below perspective on these sounds is that they have multiple uses with some tweaking: traffic beds under your spot effects, external traffic noise from an interior shot, LFE rumbles and more. The even better thing about this library is the price - $18 (also 30% off currently). I think is a steal for the amount of work involved.
The best thing about them is the sound. They have that gritty 'field recordist' vibe, which makes them sit in scenes with a sense of reality without over accentuating traffic noise. It could even be worth purchasing this library just for an alternative BG perspective in a complex scene, they work great where the audible focus should be in the foreground.
The only constructive criticism we can give on this library is that it is much more 'above' than 'below'. I feel Badlands should have recorded more content below vehicles in strange locations and increased the price to reflect this.
Bare in mind that this does't take away from the fresh content that this product delivers, I know we'll be using it a lot for distant traffic backgrounds and more.
Need some earthly recordings to liven up a city scene? Tired of using the same traffic samples, that are too obnoxious to work? Get 30% off Above & Below Traffic now and you won't be disappointed!
Sound Response's latest product Binary Code helps further push their aesthetic for high end, futuristic sounding sample libraries with it's user interface theme.
November 23, 2021
Company: Sound Response
Product: Binary Code
Price: $45
Our Rating: 4.3/5
After opening our review copy, we put the library through its paces, using it to cover some infographics in a documentary. The library is split into three sections for easy sample searching, and sounds are numbered by their variation. They also have extensive metadata and are provided in 24Bit 96kHz WAV.
Due to the nature of these sounds - the metadata search terms can become mostly be irrelevant, listening and selecting multiple options in the 3 categories will provide more worthwhile results.
All of the content here is well selected. Nothing feels out of place and Sound Response took the time to make everything tidy for the user. It's a great time saving tool if you are working on an extensive Sci Fi scene, which has rooms of alien computers, robotic auto aiming plasma cannons and head up display systems.
It also works well in other contexts, things like video game menus, infographics and anything with a touch of futurism. The three sections on offer are Beeps, Readouts and Calculations, Typing, which offer enough variation to cover extended scenes with close up shots of an interface. The sounds on offer also have a decidedly chirpy tone, heavily processed with EQ to fit straight into your UI with ease.
The artwork gives an impression of what to expect (The Matrix and beyond) style granular and synthesised sounds, that mostly carry an almost positive and sometimes neutral connotation.
One of our only criticisms to this library is that it doesn't cover every base for this theme. Sound Response should have included 'negative selection' sounds, alarms and more - it covers more of the general usage of sci fi devices and may not be enough to cover a whole film.
The neutrality of many of the sounds did mean that when placed in a non future themed documentary, it worked well on infographics.
While it's not a bad price point at more than 10 sounds per dollar (570+ sounds total), it would work better if it had less sounds per category and more categories to cover other UI necessities.
This Library is a great time saver for those excursions into the future with Sound. Be it in Film, Audiobook, Videogame, Documentary - these UI sounds have you covered. With our exclusive 30% discount code below (valid until Sunday 23rd April) , you will get this library at an exceptional value.
Get Binary Code at 30% off with code: BINARY21
At 344 Audio we know when it is time to go full throttle with sound and when it is time to keep it minimal and let the story unfold. On one of our recent sonic ventures 'Choice. Regret.' we chose to save Sound Design for pivotal moments in the film.
November 23, 2021
When sat with the Director Christopher Schönning, we talked about holding back quite a lot, creating a sense of desolation in the opening scenes but ensuring nothing would give away what is to come. We won't mention any spoilers, the title gives a sense of what to expect in this Drama short. There are a couple of moments where many would tracklay extensive effects and design, but Christopher was clear on the fact that he wanted to keep as much of the production sound as possible.
Previous viewers of the early edit had said that the sound already hit many of the emotional cues needed - we didn't want to take away from that but instead enhance it. Paired with Lukas Loughran's amazing performance, the dialogue gaps in some scenes are awkwardly damning.
Sat with Christopher, we took a very bold step, deciding to fade out the theme music after 8 bars and bring a touch of background ambience, only to then continue the music on an offbeat - giving the audience a sense of the characters thoughts on past choices; an uncomfortable silence.
We cheered in the spotting session with Christopher, even receiving a high five for the moments we had created - a combination of luck and bravery in breaking the mould.
After some audio restoration, we were able to use 100% production dialogue - which was necessary for a project like this, the great performances had to be real for me and Christopher. We even shuffled around some off screen dialogue in an intense scene, completely changing the mood and escalating the drama.
The great thing about drama is that sound remains 'invisible' and only shows it's hand in pivotal moments. The establishing shots in the film open up to a rural village somewhere in Northern England, we filled these with heavy gales, the subtlety of windswept metal fences and haunting creaky trees, giving a sense that you are trapped within this small world.
Shortly after, as the characters leave their venue, in search of refuge, the world falls silent, we focus in on their foley movements, something is coming. A sense of mystery was formed with heavily reverberated sounds and an interactive rural wildlife.
An intense narrative moment occurs and again we're back into reality. A common theme that runs throughout this film is the use of almost magical hyper-realism followed by the harsh and brutal reality of 'silence' and moments of reflection (hence the title).
We managed to fill some scenes with sounds we recorded at the real locations, bringing a sense of authenticity to the film.
The mix on this project was mostly about grounding everything in reality with balance and distance perception. The use of perspective EQ and impulse response reverbs gave a sense of believability to the film - especially in 5.1.
Many of the moments that hit you are location recordings, layered subtly with effects to let them come to life.
Choice. Regret. was mixed on an Avid S6, with a wonderful 5.1/7.1 Exigy system. We don't believe that technology should be an obstacle to creativity, but the S6 is so intuitive when surround mixing, using its touch screen surround panner allowed us to instil movement into even the most static effects.
We also upmixed the theme music from stereo to 5.1, which made it feel more powerful and engaging.
Choice. Regret. was a pleasure to work on, no doubt we will be working with Christopher again. You can expect to see the film at all major festivals soon!
If you enjoyed this article please check out our ultimate guide to audio post- production: https://www.344audio.com/post/the-ultimate-guide-to-audio-post-production-sound-design
