Discover the latest industry news and audio post production.
Three predictions for the coming year.
January 3, 2023
The film industry is an ever-changing, ever-growing industry that evolves alongside the society and technology that produces its films. As the new year begins, here at 344 Audio we're excited for the new developments on the horizon.
Here are three forecasts for the coming year:
In response to COVID-19, many people made a shift to remote work. And over the past two years, many employees and employers have continued to work remotely and are eager to do so for the foreseeable future.
This eagerness to stay home is a good sign for digital streamers. It's likely that the vast majority of films will be released digitally before entering the cinema, especially with huge studios like Disney already hosting their own streaming services.
As the AR and VR industries continue to boom, it offers a plethora of opportunities for the more adventurous filmmakers to create immersive experiences. With Virtual Reality placing the audience in the world and Augmented Reality showing the world through a character's eyes, these technologies will allow us to interact with our favourite films like never before.
As filmmaking technologies become more affordable for budget-conscious filmmakers, it's plausible that the trend of producing independent films will continue. Independent filmmakers are accustomed to working within small budgets and maximizing the technology they have at their disposal. You can now even use AI like DeepStory to help create your scripts and storylines, while programmers are also developing Voice Synthesis and AutoFoley AI software that could help video editors soundtrack their own productions.
We hope you enjoyed checking out this article!
A guide to finding the perfect royalty-free music to enhance your film.
November 29, 2022
Filmmaking is an art. It's about telling a story in a compelling and stimulating manner that makes the audience relate or connect with the story.
Not long ago, filmmaking was an expensive endeavour. But thanks to advancements in digital technologies, filmmaking is more accessible than ever.
As a business, brand films represent a unique opportunity to tell your story, educate the audience about your products, and connect with them on a deeper level. Done right, brand films can bring significant success to a business.
The best brand films are those that engage all of the senses and compel people to act. To achieve this, filmmakers need to combine the visuals with outstanding music.
Music creates connection, music creates memory, and your film isn't just complete without the right music.
Music is the lifeblood of any film. According to famous music composer, Bernard Hermann, music can lift mere dialogue into poetry, create a link between the screen and audience while reaching out and enveloping all into one single experience. And Hermann couldn't be more right.
You can evoke different emotions and alter the mood of the audience with music. Brand stories become more impactful and meaningful with the right soundtrack.
Music is a double-edged sword. There are serious consequences to using the wrong music in your film. And this makes choosing the right mood music for your film very important.
Anyone that has worked on films or ads before knows you need to obtain permission before using most types of music.
And this makes royalty-free music appealing for many content creators as they usually have to pay an affordable one-time licensing fee to legally use the music for their purposes.
Below are simple steps you can follow to choose the right music for your film:
Let Music Complement The Video.
It's easy to think of video and soundtrack as two independent entities. But the truth is that the two need to be compatible and in sync. Videos have rhythm and shape just like music does. And the onus is on you as a filmmaker to choose music that complements your video.
Some scenes may need fast music while others may need slow music, more intricate music. You don't necessarily need to change the soundtrack. Sometimes, you may just need to slow the tempo of the music.
Silence Can Sometimes Be Golden.
You don't necessarily need a soundtrack for the entirety of the video. It's okay to be silent sometimes and let the natural sounds dominate. When the soundtrack eventually comes up, it will be more effective and memorable for the target audience.
Don't Go Overboard.
This one is easier said than done. But remembering that the music is there to enhance the story will probably help you avoid making this mistake. Go through your footage and understand the scale and importance of each aspect and incorporate a soundtrack accordingly. Don't just go for epic just because you feel like it. You may end up contradicting the message and confusing your audience. Doesn't sound too good, right?
Experiment, Experiment, Experiment.
There's a lot of editing work to be done after shooting a film. And there's no pressure on you to get the soundtrack right on your first try. Experiment with different royalty-free music and have trusted colleagues, friends, and family members beta-test it to have an idea of how your audience will react to it.
We hope you enjoyed checking out this article!
Discover how to create Sci-Fi sound effects using hardware synths like the Korg Volca Keys and Mini Kaoss Pad 2—no software required! Learn hands-on techniques and grab a FREE sound effects library.
November 23, 2022
1. We started off by setting up a patch on the Volca Keys. The 'Unison Ring' setting allows the use of three detuned square wave oscillators, which adds some movement. A short attack, medium decay and full sustain helped create a 'gated' effect. The filter was left open with some resonance to boost the high frequencies. We then played notes until we found a discordant interval:
2. Next it was time to add interest to the loop, and create some futuristic sounds. We started up the Mini KP2 and went over to the 'loop' section of effects and set the tempo to maximum. First experimenting with the 'Pitch Looper', we were able to loop and pitch the Volca Keys sound. Holding a finger on the X-Y pad then resulted in repeated waveform cycles akin to computer processing sounds:
3. This is where the hands-on magic of hardware comes into use, small swipes across the XY pad add movement to the effect:
4. Even more interest can be added through exploring different directions of swiping:
5. Cycling through other effects on the Mini KP2 garnered instantly usable alarm sounds:
6. While stopping the Volca sequencer and processing it's amplifier noise with the Decimator setting on the Mini KP2 created some harsh digital malfunction effects:
Even the most minimal hardware setups can offer a different type of control than software, which for creating huge variations of effects, can be much faster. The results of 'playing' the effects with knobs, controllers and X-Y pads add to the experience. We thought it would useful to share the results of our audio exploration here:
Discover the art of crafting unique cartoon sound effects, from whimsical Foley techniques to DIY props, to bring animated worlds to life with creativity and flair.
November 16, 2022
One of the most exciting but also daunting challenges that you'll face when designing the sounds for an animated project is the task of starting with a blank canvas. Because there is no actual location to hear how the environment sounds or how the space reacts to movement and speech, you’ll be building a sound world from scratch. It’s important to take care and be very intentional with the sounds that you choose to use.
You may be crafting anything from background sounds like ambiences, wind, weather and the hum of an interior, to foreground sounds like mechanical sound effects, vehicles, Foley effects and vocalizations.
With many cartoons and animations being set in incredibly surreal and abstract worlds, you may not be able to find the right sounds in a library. You’ll most likely have to go out to a location field recording or even build your own sound effects props.
For a lot of cartoons, you’ll want to avoid creating anything too realistic. Instead you may want to create more caricature style sound effects.
Here are a few examples of sound effects and how you would create them:
Bird Call Whistles: There’s a huge variety of Bird Call Whistles, perfect for composing your own Dawn Chorus.
Horse Hooves: Coconut Shells on various surfaces - gravel is a nice place to start. You can also use a Geophone alongside your microphone for some extra weight.
Slide Whistle: For that classic Eee-yoooooop! sound.
Soldiers - Use a Marching Machine / Troop Blocks on various surfaces - wood and metal surfaces work well. Like with the horse hooves, you can use a Geophone alongside your microphone for some extra weight.
Splashes: Use a large rubber tub, line the inside with towels to avoid plastic sounding splashes and fill with water. Submerging different objects like paddles, plungers or your bare hands will give you different sounds.
Tyre Screeches: Inflate a hot water bottle and drag it across various surfaces.
Wind: A Wind Whistle or you can build your own D.I.Y. Wind Machine using an upturned bicycle and sheet of canvas on the wheel.
Lots of Toys: Board Game Pieces, Chess Pieces, Guiros, Marbles, Slime, Silly Putty, Slinky, Rattles, Whirling Tubes and Classroom Musical Instruments are all great for sillier sound effects.
Signature Strings lends itself perfectly to cinematic trailer sound design projects. However, the wide array of files gives you the arsenal to design sounds for a variety of genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, and action.
November 2, 2022
Welcome back to the 344 Audio Blog. Today we have a review of a new sound effects library from the team at RT Sonics. The Signature Strings Library is an ideal tool in any sound designer, video editor or trailer music composer’s toolbox.
Company: RT Sonics
Product: Signature Strings
Price: $49
Our Rating: 4.8/5
This library contains 270 high quality sound effects in 96kHz 24 bit Wav Format. All the sounds were created using a double bass and a plethora of playing techniques including pizzicato plucking, arco, legato, staccato and tremolo bowing.
Sound design is an integral part of the cinematic experience. It draws the viewer into the world you created, amplifying your message and telling a story of its own.
As intended, Signature Strings lends itself perfectly to cinematic trailer sound design projects. However, the wide array of files gives you the arsenal to design sounds for a variety of genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, and action.
Some of the sound effects you will find in this library include:
All fantastic for trailer or VFX sound design!
The key audience for this product includes composers and sound designers who would like to integrate Wav based orchestral effects into their everyday workflow. RT Sonics supplies you with both designed and source folders for maximum creative freedom. Thanks to the high production value, detailed naming and metadata, these sound effects are easy to find and can be intuitively dragged and dropped into your timeline.
We recommend this product for any audio professional who is searching for that signature cinematic sound.
For the price tag, Signature Strings gives you a ton of tools perfect for crafting cinematic soundtracks. The production quality of the designed sounds is very high, and we love the inclusion of source recordings that can be manipulated further. This is a worthwhile addition to any sound designers, composers or video editors toolbox.
You can purchase Signature Strings here:
https://rtsonics.com/products/signature-strings
