Moving Forward in Sound Design

As time passes and you finally start to head in the right direction for any or all of the aspirations that you may have, you will come to realise what your priorities really are. Well, this was the case for me anyway. I used to think that producing songs and getting my music heard was the be-all and end-all of my passion, although through studying and working on my craft I realised that designing sound and arranging music means a lot more to me than the acceptance and gratitude of people whom explore into those genre's.

I was recently introduced to a very unique sounding audio desk, the Neve Custom Series 75 (above image). With 32 channels, fixed frequency response settings and voltage summing arrangements through transformers which create a very "retro" sound (Series 75), this audio desk will bring a very modern-classic feel to any studio. Although I only became informed on it's basic signal flow, it opened my mind up to the possibilities of making sound. Sound is not limited to the constraints of a musical composition or melody, sound is everywhere around us.

As an audio engineer I can find many ways to work on the craft I am trying to master outside of composing music. I used to force myself to sit in the studio for hours on end in front of my DAW, in hopes that inspiration or a good melody would come to me. I even used time-boxing as a mental tool for me to increase work flow and reduce stress on my eyes and mind (Medium). But I have found another tool to aid my progression in sound design, and this is audio-visual design.

If you ever experience writers block, try this fun activity:

Find a short animation or film online, download the clip, drag it onto a new channel in Ableton, mute that channel and attempt to create your own design work for that piece of media.

note: if the video window doesn't show up, go into the 'view' drop down menu and click on 'video window' (refer to video below).

Now, you don't need to share these projects around (for copyright reasons) or even complete them if you feel as though they are not of good quality . Use them to step out of your boundaries and experiment with sounds you would not usually affiliate with your music. As an electronic music producer, I tend to go after videos which require more natural and real sounding FX to expand my general knowledge of sound design. I have been doing these little exercise projects on-and-off of my music for some time now, and if you were to ask me a year ago what career I wanted to gain from studying a Bachelor of Audio, my reply would have been something around the likes of "Studio Producer" or "Recording Artist". But now I can honestly answer that question with nothing other than, "I want to be an Audio-Visual Sound Designer for short film and animation."

It's amazing the things you find out when you step out of your comfort zone and try new things. Not only have I sourced a new career path for myself, I have learnt so much about what I love doing most, creating sound. I have even started incorporating my design work into the songs I am currently working on in an attempt the break the boundaries between electronic production and live sound. I am working with a collective of artists at the moment to help them achieve the sound they want in their tracks (as any good producer should), and hope to even get the opportunity to turn their film clips into professional sounding cinematic experiences. Updates on this will be announced in the near future.

ATOM

References:

Neve Manufacturing Australia Custom Series 75 |. (2019). Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 20 February 2019, from https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/neve-manufacturing-australia-custom-series-75

7 secrets to master timeboxing – Dreimannzelt Adventures – Medium. (2016). Medium. Retrieved 20 February 2019, from https://medium.com/dreimannzelt-adventures/7-secrets-to-master-timeboxing-66a744ea9175