DP and some sound design questions... Please advice.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

FWIW< I upgraded to Snapper 2 today ($50 USD for the upgrade) and it's nice. It doesn't spot to DP as in the video but drag and drop works and you get the snippet (not the whole file). That's a time saver and a space saver for the HD.

[Michael Canavan]

I use both Audio Finder and Snapper. For design work Snapper is great as you can select just a small segment and drag it to a window or the desktop (watch the demo). Audio Finder is better for general audio stuff,

BTW you can do the same thing with Audio Finder.
From the manual:

You can select a portion of the audio to playback by drag selecting a region of the
Waveform Preview. When there is a selection, only the selection will be played. If you
hold down the Control Key and drag, the selection is exported to a new file. This is
handy when you have a file with several samples in it that you would like to use
separately. Each newly created file will have a serialized file name to make multiple
exports easy.

[FMiguelez]

After some additional research, I am leaning towards this SFX library.
http://www.sound-ideas.com/sound-effect ... aries.html

It would be my first serious library. I like it because it seems to have a little of everything, and it can be expanded as needed.
What do you guys think?

The only thing I don't like is that it's quite expensive for a 16/44.1 library... One can get it in 24/48, but what's the point if the masters are 16/44.1????

Anyone wants to recommend a similar alternative by a competitor, perhaps?

BTW, I LOVE what I've been reading about Snapper and AudioFinder... I can get fully functional demos of both, so I'll try them to see which works best for what I want.

[martian]

i use audiofinder-

in my view stems are wet..

so when I supply stems - ie dialog music and SFX they are 'finished' u add the 3 together and u have your mix... ( music might be "undipped" tho dependin on spec sheet and usually for TV doco type stuff )

u have edited and balanced your dialog. ( takes ages ) if that has ADR then u have EQ'd an matched perspectives which definitely means reverbs

made foley, mixed it ( ie balnced and corrected perspectives.,,,,., )

SFX and ambiences ditto..

with regards to reverbs.. u have identified the choices correctly FM

personally I just used the same ones and then bounced out ( faster than Realtime ) selecting appropriate channels.. never got around to making seperate for each stem.

but organisation is important... ( i was using track folders - for dialog , foley , sfx, ambiences, music -- each one having a submaster........

SFX library - those above posted by mlc - did he mention BBC? u can also preview SFX quite nicely on sound dogs so u can get some ideas.. also freesound.org is getting better.

why u need to output stems at drop of hat? anyways a 20 min reel wont take too long with faster than realtime.................. ( i never had any issues with it really )

[martian]

After some additional research, I am leaning towards this SFX library.
http://www.sound-ideas.com/sound-effect ... aries.html

The only thing I don't like is that it's quite expensive for a 16/44.1 library... One can get it in 24/48, but what's the point if the masters are 16/44.1????

most TV film will ask u for 48k and a toss up between 16 and 24 bit..

the 16 bit general will do - I bet the 24 bit is just the 16 bit anyways...

the general is alright I guess but some of it is dated and its by no means exhaustive,,,,

[martian]

The sound editor always seems to want to mess with the levels and while they can be good at this, I've found that after 40 years of composing and recording that I am just as good in what sounds right - and often that is not what the sound editor thinks. I'll listen to his suggestions but as the composer, I will have final say on the music mix. Period. If the producer or director wants it differently I'll change it, but the sound editor is not the composer and should not have final say over the music mix unless it is creating a problem with other elements. I've seen the mix screwed up too many times by people who "know better" when in fact, they don't.

yeah I think I got an email from your twin once.. it basically told me all music level was at correct 'dolby' level and I shouldnt touch anything- move anything - eq a no no as well!

but most of it was near FSD and blasted over the dialog - so I ignored that

*every* scene *had* to have music... and music must always cross every scene COUGH!


seriously I think mixing a movie is a task *most* musicians should let go of. ( not directed at any one individual,,,,,,, )

- some one else said 'for my music to go on top of' or similar - and it is hard to let go of what u have done.. but really a movie should be about the story and sometimes music is too powerful - even the faintest trace of it. even if u wrote it ..

for me it took a long time to learn to enjoy forgettin who did what and watching the movie with a different hat on... and at first its hard to 'throw away' 'hard work' but eventually u get over it.

yes I have thrown away days of work on SFX and foley and smiled becos i realised it was right and improved things..

----> and equally I have cut pasted and hacked untold bits of score... hell I even reversed several minute long cues on one movie cos the composer had created cheese on some horror flashbacks- I didnt tell anyone I had done it - the director and his gamng came in liked the mix and the composer yelled at me after the premier - I also got 2 nominations for awards for that ( ok I didnt win )


of course this is jus my 2 ¢ent$

[MIDI Life Crisis]

If you heard ANY mix I've done you'd hear every word of dialogue. You'd also find my scores tend to be very much on the sparse side and are not constant unless its a silent film. So your inference, sir, is so far off the mark as to be ridiculous and not at all representative of my esthetic.

Don't believe everything you think and even worse, don't believe everything you think about another person or their work without actually hearing that work. But it was a nice try, but no cigar.

[martian]

The sound editor always seems to want to mess with the levels and while they can be good at this, I've found that after 40 years of composing and recording that I am just as good in what sounds right - and often that is not what the sound editor thinks. I'll listen to his suggestions but as the composer, I will have final say on the music mix. Period. If the producer or director wants it differently I'll change it, but the sound editor is not the composer and should not have final say over the music mix unless it is creating a problem with other elements. I've seen the mix screwed up too many times by people who "know better" when in fact, they don't.

( not directed at any one individual,,,,,,, )

[MIDI Life Crisis]

yeah I think I got an email from your twin once..

Can't imagine how I got that impression.

[martian]

jus sayin that mixin is different to composing - and if u can remove your ego u might be able to add a new dimension or dynamic - just when u thought your work was complete - another 'perspective' really can improve things. whether it is u 'disowning' your work - or some outside direction -

for me when mixing I will often go and sit in a different chair - not in front of the computer and just watch...


i did say seriously this wasnt directed at any one, and my comments were lighthearted ( see the smilies? )

havent listened to your music so cant comment - but obviously you are *never* wrong

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I compose but I've been designing sound and mixing for a few years before that. Just sayin' after 40 years I kinda know from whence I speak.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

And you ALWAYS seem to make it a personal issue. I don't. That says more about you IMO.

[James Steele]

Okay please. Let's just let it go. I don't want to have to close the topic or start deleting posts.

[FMiguelez]

Okay please. Let's just let it go. I don't want to have to close the topic or start deleting posts.

Let's all calm downe,. I don't know what happened that triggeref that. My iphone is about to die.

Thank you for chiming in, Martian. I'll reply when i get home.

[Shooshie]

Okay please. Let's just let it go. I don't want to have to close the topic or start deleting posts.

Dang. Just when it was starting to get really good. I was wondering who was going to win that exchange! (…and Bob, tell us what is behind the curtain for the winner! What's that? A NEW CAR??? Wow! Who knew?)