HEY GRACE MICHAUD WHERE IS YOUR VLOG THAT YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING ON?

AS IT TURNS OUT it takes a long time to put together 20 minutes of footage. It also is very hard to access your computer in the Mac lab, since it is occupied pretty much every period. I'm so close though! So...close.

It also doesn't help that I lose tomorrow to go to Michigan...

That's what you said last week, Michaud. 

Say hi to Don!

Besides me apologizing for not getting that in quicker, I shall get to explaining! Goody!

The Audio Department specializes in post-production sound. A client sends an already edited and visually done promo or commercial over, and the engineers mix the sound together. That basically means putting the sound effects, voice overs, and sound bits together.

One of the engineers, Don, invited me to watch him create a promo for Comedy Central.

What is looks like on the computer monitor

This particular promo was for the show Key & Peele. The client, or the producer in this case over at Comedy Central, sent Don an already put together promo, sound included. Not only do they send the video, but they send every single piece of sound in the promo for Don to work with. They're even organized. How efficient! All the pieces must be checked, however, to see if they are synced with the picture. Don basically was improving the clarity of the sound, like the announcer's EQ, and changed the volume of the background to better hear what the actors and voice over are saying. He even switched a helicopter sound effect to one he already had because it sounded more helicopter-y.

Here's the promo:

Once Don is finished with the first draft, it is exported into Quicktime format (a phrase I hear daily in Studio 18). He then he puts it in this FTP link, which is basically the company's private file sharing website that they use to send all drafts and finished products. My aunt receives the FTP link and sends it to the client. The client will either get back in 5 to 60 minutes. They'll give their feedback about what they like and what they don't like.

In this case, Don added little swooshing effects when "New Episodes Tuesday" appeared and a little sound effect to when the Comedy Central logo popped up in the end. The music was also supposed to stop when the guy says "Always better in black" and then start up again when the other guy began to dance (I saw the promo so many times I memorized it...I don't know how they can stand to hear the same things over and over again). The producer over at Comedy Central didn't like it. I don't know why...I liked it. Gave it some flare...

Whatchu going to do?

So that is just one example of how the mixing of the audio all goes down. I was pretty impressed, especially since there are a lot of smaller technical details involved as well.

There was this great presentation of audio mixing at the 2010 Oscars...I'm having trouble finding it but I'll be sure to post it as soon as I do. 

Alright so that's it for today...actually I may come up with a Salinger post a little later. Next week I begin my research into the life of a television and film writer...


I know you are dying in anticipation.