When I first began field recording, I captured any sound I could point my microphone at. It didn’t matter what it was. A shrieking kettle? Sure. Light switches? Done. Traffic from my balcony? I have dozens of tracks. Beginning field recording is an exciting time. It introduces a way of thinking about the world that […]
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The Reaper Blog: How to Master Sound Effects
A few weeks ago I linked to an article from The Reaper Blog about using metadata in the Reaper editing app. Of course, adding metadata is one of the last steps before publishing field recordings. There are many steps before that, including sound effects mastering. That is why I was intrigued when reader Carlos tipped […]
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How to Beat the Sound Effects Mastering Grind
A year and a half ago I sold everything I owned, jumped on a plane, and arrived in Southeast Asia. Why? To capture field recordings, of course. I’ve travelled through Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia recording the sounds of the cultures in those places. I’ve wandered into obscure corners of Bangkok, Siem Reap, Kuala Lumpur, […]
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Quick Tip: How to Sync Multi-Track Field Recordings in Pro Tools
It’s dawn in late fall. Your team has arrived in the countryside, ready to record vintage Rolls Royce sound effects. One person waits at each end of the road, another is in the middle, and you’re driving the car. The four of you are armed with your own microphone and recorder. Then it dawns on […]
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How to Stereoize Mono Sounds: Benefits, Risks, and Theory
Last week’s article shared step-by-steps instructions for transforming a mono sound effect into a stereo file. That process, also known as “stereoizing,” was based on a tip that mixer and sound editor Shaun Farley described in a forum post, years ago. Of course, you can simply follow the steps described in last week’s post. That […]
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How to Stereoize Mono Sounds: A Trick for Creating Acoustically Sound Clips
Have you ever returned to your edit suite to realize one channel of your stereo field recordings is distorted beyond hope? Has a client demanded a stereo delivery spec, regardless of the source sound effects in your sound library? Do you have a cool mono drone you’d like thicken up? If any of these situations […]
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