Today I attempted mixing in 5.1 in the performance lab. I did this as an exercise to grasp the process of moving sounds around a 5.1 formation, rather than it being an actual mixing session. I found the process very similar to mixing in quadrophonic, although I find quadraphony more balanced in terms of focus. Quadraphonic mixing feels like working on an equal plane, there is no focus on direction. I found 5.1 to have a clear direction, it seemed like working with a fontal plane with a lesser plane behind you. The three monitors at the front seem the most prominent, I think this is because of the visual context attached to the format. I found it very easy to move the sounds around the room and automate movement with the latch function, this was mostly useful in the slow motion scenes where I could be more creative with the sound design. I would like also use the spatialisation in a realistic manner, to create deep and textured soundscape.
This was a useful exercise for an introduction into the format. I now know what I need to do in preparation for my mixing sessions in the composition studio. I need to finish gathering and arranging atmospheres, I then need to create the FX I need to and mix them in mono. With all of the tracks I need, mixed and finished, I will go into the composition studio and mix them in 5.1. I will also research good practices for mixing in 5.1, perhaps how to structure the project, sends and busses, and some standard practices and priorities for 5.1 mixing.
My auditory response to this short film will be mainly focused on providing an immersive semi-realistic environment, a large part of how this will be accomplished is through the spatialisation of the sound. I plan to mix the audio in 5.1 as a believe that this format will give me what I need in terms of spatial movement of the sound. The majority of the sequences are fairly static, and I will need to created a realistic environment with atmos and foley. There are a few visual sequences that have a lot to offer in terms of movement of sound, I will separate these scenes and identify what sound will be needed and how they must move in the space.
1
I find this short sequence very intense, and I think the intimacy could be emphasised with a spatially comprehensive sound sequence, I imagine something close and enclosing. The content of the sound could be quite melodic to enhance the emotional aspect of the intimate scene.
2
In this sequence the camera slowly pans around the subject while the fire spits small sparks/cinder, I feel this would be an interesting sound to move around the mix. I think it will align the audiences experience with that of the character, hopefully creating a deeper sense of immersion.
3
In this sequence the subject walks through a small corridor with stone walls while birds fly above. I think that this will be an interesting scene to create spatially, ill try to make it realistic in relation to the architecture through use of spatialisation and reverb.
4
I feel this sequence will be one of the most spatially rich scenes, the camera moves forward through the ultra slow motion shot, moving towards the campfire and the lightning striking the tree. This will be the most challenging part of the project in terms of creating sound effects.
5
This sequence follows directly from 4, I can use the same sound design and pan it around the character. This will hopefully again enhance the immersion of the piece.
6
The camera moves backwards through an ultra slow motion shot, the character is throwing rocks at dogs about to attack him and the coffin. The rocks pass closely by the camera, I think this will sound very good In surround. Shortly after this, the dogs appear from behind, ill create some viscous sounds that will emerge suddenly from behind the audience.
I will be recording and arranging sound design for a short film called ‘3WW’. The film is a music video for the band Alt J, I will be removing the music and working with the visuals only. I believe that this gives me an opportunity to take inspiration and influence from both the visual directors intentions and the musical/lyrical content.
‘There was a wayward lad Stepped out one morning The ground to be his bed The sky his awningNeon, neon, neon A blue neon lamp in a midnight country field
Can’t surround so you lean on, lean on So much your heart’s become fond of this
Oh, these three worn words Oh, let me whisper like the rubbing hands Of tourists in Verona I just want to love you in my own language
Well, that smell of sex Good like burning wood The wayward lad laid clean To two busty girls from Hornsea Who left a note in black ink
Girls from above say “Hi” (hi) The road erodes at five feet per year Around England’s east coastline Was this your first time? Love is just a button we press Last night by the campfire
Oh, these three worn words Oh, that we whisper like the rubbing hands Of tourists in Verona I just want to love you in my own language’
-Lyrics of ‘3WW’ By Alt J
Alt-J approached Alex Takacs (also known as Young Replicant) to direct a short film for their song 3WW, a song about love and loss, they also requested that Takacs take influence from a Ted Hughes book of Poems ‘Birthday Letters’. At first Takacs thought that the poems and the lyrics had little in common content-wise, but after spending some time with them both he recognised a shared sense of ‘dark sensuality and morbidity’.
Ted Hughes- The Dogs Are Eating Your Mother
Ted Hughes was a very celebrated English poet, in 1956 he married another celebrated poet by the name of Sylvia Plath. They had an infamously intense relationship, until she took her own life in 1963 when she was just 30 years old. In the years past this event, Sylvia became an object of investigation for poetry enthusiasts, and a very important figure for feminist literary theorists. Due to this, Ted Hughes often became a target of criticism in light of events surrounding Plath’s suicide, them being separated at the time and her still being devoted to him. For Hughes, this criticism was a strange experience, strangers prodding into an intense love, he equates it to a pack of dogs ravaging her grave and digging up her body. ‘Pulling her remains, with their lips lifted like dog’s lips into new positions.’
This poem is about a small pocket of something beautiful being attacked from all sides, and the person inside it trying to protect it, struggling against this barrage but ultimately realising it to be a sisyphean task.
In response, Takacs created a visual story of a tragic romance between two characters, Ramon and Julina (A reference to Shakespeare). The film follows the funeral procession for Julina after her untimely death, the coffin is then carried by Ramon alone through the mountains, wherein he builds campfires, experiences a lightning strike a tree very close to him and the coffin is attacked by a pack of wild dogs.
3WW- Alt-J
Although the brunt of this project will be foley work and atmos, I want to create some melodic elements in the sound design to respond to the poem and reflect the emotions that the poem/film invokes, I believe these to be isolation, determination, remorse and nostalgia. As a reference I’m looking at ‘Romantic Works’ by Keaton Henson, specifically ‘Petrichor’ as a palette. I feel that this will be a small part of the project, I would like to keep the music subtle, as a supplement to the sound design. Through providing a realistic audio environment I would like the listener to be immersed in the otherworldly scenes. I’m hoping that this immersion will make it easier to sneak in emotional musicality without it being the focus of the piece.
