Latest news with #ProTools
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How ‘Worlds Beyond Number' Broke Battlefields, Hearts, and Also Pro Tools
For anyone who has made the sane decision to not have a podcast, Pro Tools is Avid's audio editing suite and is the most common DAW (digital audio workstation) in use once you reach a certain level of production. It has all sorts of plugins to enhance or alter audio files and can mix in Dolby Atmos, if that's your bag. It also has a limit of 1,024 discrete tracks to hold audio files in a single project. For one recent episode of the'Worlds Beyond Number' podcast, producer Taylor Moore hit the Pro Tools track limit. Twice. 'Worlds Beyond Number' is an audio actual play series currently concluding its first arc of fantasy tale 'The Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One,' before it transitions to a new setting for an as-yet-unnamed science-fiction story. But every two weeks for the past two years, players Aabria Iyengar, Erika Ishii, and Lou Wilson have adventured as Suvi, Ame, and Eursulon, growing into the titular wizard, witch, and wild one; gamemaster Brennan Lee Mulligan, meanwhile, has spoken for every other character in the animistic, magic-filled world of Umora. More from IndieWire How a Thank-You Note Transformed Mara Brock Akil's Career | 'What No One Tells You' Inside the Textured World of 'Daredevil: Born Again' The fourth season (or, to use the show's nomenclature, the fourth chapter) of 'The Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One' has seen Umora suffer great harm as a war erupts between two powerful empires. The characters' quest to save a group of children stolen from their parents by one of those empires for exploitative purposes has stretched these True Friends' grasp on both the truth and their friendship — and that was before they ended up between the front lines of a major battle. Mulligan sets the stakes early in 'The Battle of Twelve Brooks Part 1' by telling the players they cannot experience what's about to happen via the normal rules of D&D combat (the show uses the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons for its game mechanics). But it was Moore's job to craft a soundscape that pays off Mulligan's descriptions of a horrifying perspective shift — one in which the characters go from being at the center of their own story to being as small as 'bugs that have crawled out of some rubble at the edge of one of the continent's largest events in its history.' IndieWire reached out to Moore about stretching Pro Tools to its limit to sound design 'The Battle of Twelve Brooks,' all the ways podcasts can sound as epic as the biggest film blockbusters, and the value of silence in audio. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. IndieWire: What are audio's strengths as a medium when it comes to doing this kind of storytelling, with the Battle of Twelve Brooks? Moore: It's cheap. Yeah, fair enough. Because we have chosen audio, we are able to go toe-to-toe with the most powerful entertainment production houses in the world, regarding the emotions of our audience. I can get tears, I can get laughter, I can get disgust in the same way that Marvel or Disney can, and for a millionth of a percent of the cost. How are you constructing the show? What's the normal workflow? The normal workflow is very simple, God bless podcasting. Brennan and I will have a few story meetings, writers meetings, then he'll talk with the cast, usually one-on-one. Then I got to LA and we build a recording studio in the bedroom of an Airbnb; we record a bunch of episodes in there; then we take the episodes back and Jared Olson, my assistant editor, and I will cut it. Jared will do a first pass on the dialogue edit and the design edit. Then, when it comes to me, I'll scooch things around and take a couple of swings before last looks. Nothing's locked until I hit publish. I have truly gone back at the 11th hour to add some extra sauce to some early cue or fix a mix problem I didn't discover until the very end. We will usually make these episodes in less than two weeks. It's one of the benefits of working in a small team: We can be flexible without all these levels of production hierarchy. There's no one else to answer to, aside from us and the cast. We can follow our bliss until the very end. It's a beautifully simple process — until you decide to have a 'Return of the King' sized episode, a 1 hour and 40 minute episode with 1000 cues in it. And to have each effect stand out and be identifiable — and to combine it with everything else going on at the time to maintain immersion when so many things are going on all at once and each faction has a different style and sound of magic and music — that's when it becomes really complicated. That's when you max out Pro Tools. How do you go about fitting a 'Return of the King' into a DAW? Combine and compress. Lock 'em in. Listen, when I first started Fortunate Horse, my production company, we made really big, beautiful, sophisticated audio shows on Audacity. This is back before Audacity's recent updates, which gave it non-destructive audio editing and plugins. So we were dealing with audio with no plugins, no real-time audio processing, everything was destructive editing. Thinking about that now, it seems like the most irresponsible thing, and I can't tell you how many times I lost a whole show or a whole episode or something because of some software problem that, with software like Pro Tools, is not an issue. The issue is — when you have this many cues, this much music, this many sound effects, eventually you discover that it turns out there's a track limit and then you have to commit and then you have to decide, 'I'm not gonna fiddle with the mix on that one magic spell anymore. I've got to combine tracks and get it way down.' Wow, like 2015 Audacity? That's wild. I agree! But I didn't know any better. I run my company very much on the Wile E. Coyote principle, you know? You can walk off the cliff, just don't look down. Don't acknowledge that you might be doing it the wrong way. Don't look down and you won't fall. Podcast with confidence, yeah. It gets at something, too, that there's no right way to do audio storytelling. You just have to teach your audience and commit to what you're doing. As a person, I am in love with spectacle. I like spectacle. I like the feeling that someone has suffered to curate an experience for me, which makes me sound like Louis XIV, you know? It's real 'treasure bath' time. That's not what I mean. I listen to politics shows, and chat shows, and round tables in front of a microphone. I love them. But I want to make opera. In the very earliest stages of developing this particular show, 'The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One,' our first large format campaign in 'Worlds Beyond Number,' we were very much influenced by Studio Ghibli and Joe Hisaishi's scores and absolutely in love with the middle and late 20th century adventure film, the Alan Silvestri and John Williams of it all. The problem is I did not know how to write music. I only learned how to write music and produce music on a computer in the last couple of years, so I could score podcasts without stealing music or licensing music. I was like, 'Oh, I want to make some John Williams-style music,' and that's one of the most complicated — a John Williams action score has more notes in it than stars in the sky, and it's the most musically sophisticated popular entertainment you can have. It was like saying, 'Oh, this afternoon I'm gonna go develop powered flight and build an airplane real quick.' I was so stupid, I didn't know that it was a dumb idea, and so I got myself stuck in it. Have we even come close to that standard? No, not for a nanosecond. But you know, it's nice to have something to shoot for. Listen, there are some bang-on cues in 'The Battle of Twelve Brooks Part 1.' Those mournful horns when we see that Gaoth soldier who's a giant and also 17? C'mon. So, early on, we decided that these different orchestral families would be the standard bearers for different factions in the world. So for The Citadel, it's always brass. It's these snare drums, these martial effects. Spirits are very much about strings and breath and the choir, while witches are always these scratchy, screeching violins and, you know, the catgut instruments. As much as it was an aesthetic vision for the show, it was always a great way to get over the creative hurdle of the blank page. And now that we're so far along with the show, all these factions and parts of the world are mixing, so now we're dealing with the entire orchestra. It's a blast. I mean, the cue for when Ame is talking to Suvi at the bottom of the rope before they part ways — I thought that moment was handled so incredibly well by Aabria, Erika, and Brennan — the music there is a reorchestrated version of the cue where Suvi is freeing the ink demons. It's the same, and it literally matched up. I didn't have to change any of the timing. I was going to write a new cue that references that moment, and then I dropped [the original] in, and it was the perfect fit, like down to the half-second. And this shit happens all the time. Our natural organic rhythms of these things just constantly repeat and line up the way spirals on the fancy broccoli does. It's all these shapes just repeating themselves. Wow. Sometimes it's not just dice. The story tells the story. Is there anything on the editing side that you feel like you've kind of leveled up or learned over the course of making 'The Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One?' I think I've gained an almost religious reverence for the natural rhythms and texture of organic human speech. There is so much magic in a pause, in a slight hesitation before a word. The urge with all the hyper-intelligent machine learning, polishing mix algorithms out there and the ease with which modern technology allows you to pull all the silences out and all the breaks — I mean, I could hit one button on Pro Tools and it'll strip all the silences and shorten the dialogue so there's no gaps. But that destroys it. In the same way that when we meet someone in person, there's all these subconscious things that are communicated between people with body language and smells and stuff. There's so much of that in the way people speak. And I think maybe in my early days, I was too quick to remove some of that, whereas now I understand that even if its meaning isn't clear, the nakedness and honesty of it has a value that can't really be quantified. It seems especially important when part of the show is us hearing the players' experience of telling the story together at the table. Absolutely. I mean, I cannot use a gate to clean up my dialogue because I will lose these tiny little gasps that reveal how the other people are feeling at the table. Without getting into spoiler territory, of course, I'm curious if you anticipate anything else in this chapter of the show potentially hitting the Pro Tools track limit again? It will be a tall order. This is definitely our 'Battle of the Bastards.' This is our big technical accomplishment for this season. I mean, maybe the finale? The finale has so much different stuff in it, and listeners will very much understand when they hear it. I think the finale has more locations and more characters in it than anything we've ever done. 'Worlds Beyond Number' is available on all podcast platforms and the show's Patreon. Best of IndieWire Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See The 19 Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in May, from 'Fair Play' to 'Emily the Criminal' Martin Scorsese's Favorite Movies: 86 Films the Director Wants You to See
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A.I. Sound Will Not Count for MPSE Golden Reel Awards
From search engines to email summaries, A.I. tools are now legion in our everyday lives. In filmmaking disciplines, they are no less endemic. But the Motion Picture Sound Editors have decided that Generative A.I. tools will not have a place in its Golden Reel Awards, which annually celebrate excellence in sound editing in feature films, broadcast, gaming, and interactive media, as well as giving out awards for individual recognition to leaders in the field. Within sound production, A.I. can be used for voice generation, dialogue cleanup, and speech enhancement in applications like Descript and and both Adobe and Avid have pushed AI features for 'boosting creativity' in more industry-level editing workspaces like Audition and Pro Tools. Just to name a few uses, A.I. features pitch or change the quality of human speech, generate wholly AI speakers from a written script, or remove silences between speakers — although, as sound designer Taylor Moore pointed out to IndieWire, working in that algorithmic way can destroy important context for audiences and can actually rob creators of the chance to make artistic choices. More from IndieWire Gold List TV Honors 'Squid Game,' 'Deli Boys,' 'The Studio,' and More Jacinda Ardern Documentary 'Prime Minister' Shows Us How the New Zealand Leader Is the Anti-Trump 'The urge with all the hyper-intelligent machine learning, polishing mix algorithms out there and the ease with which modern technology allows you to pull all the silences out and all the breaks — I mean, I could hit one button on Pro Tools and it'll strip all the silences and shorten the dialogue so there's no gaps. But that destroys it,' Moore told IndieWire. The MPSE's Golden Reel qualification rules are currently in the process of being updated and re-published on the MPSE website, detailing what it will mean in practice to not accept projects for awards consideration where Generative A.I. is used to create elements for the final soundtrack. The organization also said that the MPSE board of directors and its A.I. committee will continue to study the existing and evolving tools on the market and make additional changes to the awards guidelines as appropriate. But the MPSE wants to firmly come down on the side of supporting human artists working in sound and music editorial, sound design, and Foley artistry. 'We support and prize technological advances that assist artists in their creations. However, standards for the legal and ethical use of Generative A.I. have yet to be established and are far from being accepted broadly. What we choose to promote as award-worthy points to how much we value the human endeavor of artistic creation,' the MPSE released in a statement announcing their ban on projects that utilize Generative A.I. David Barber, president of the MPSE, added in the same statement that, 'It is an enormous question to ask: how much of our humanity are we willing to give away to technology, especially in the arts? The time to ponder that question, set up boundaries, and guide how A.I. is assimilated into our workflow and lives was yesterday. The dam of A.I. has broken, and the waters are upon us. Choosing what we embrace as award-worthy filmmaking is a way of diverting those waters while we grapple with this exponential change. As A.I. technology infiltrates and permeates our industry, rules and accepted practices for its use need to emerge that keep artists at the forefront.' Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Vogue
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
How Little Simz Found Her Way Back to the Light
There are definitely some songs that are clearly rooted in some dark nights of the soul for you, and you've talked about experiencing a real lack of self-belief at certain points in the process. Did writing this music, and expressing all those different parts of yourself that you mentioned, help you overcome that? Yeah, totally. I think even when I was making it, I was still in that space. It's only when I had finished it, to be honest, that I was like, 'Oh, wow. I actually got this done.' When I was in it, I just had to trust the process. I was like, 'I don't even know if this stuff is good, but let me finish it and then I can cross that bridge when I get to it.' I couldn't keep doing this start-stop-y thing—I had to actually just finish a project. I could only really see what was in front of me at the time, and so I just focused on that. I wasn't trying to see into the future, to think about the music videos or how I might perform a song. I just kept focused on this Pro Tools session, or this lyric book, or whatever was in front of me. Then by the time we had it done, I was like, 'Oh wow, that's cool.' [Laughs.] I just hope I'm being heard. There was all this worry, but I've done the best I can do. I put my heart on my sleeve and I just tried to make an honest album. One of the things that struck me when listening to the album is your incredible ability to be very specific about your experiences, while also framing them in a way that feels universal—'Thief' springs to mind as a powerful example of that, as even though it's about a particular experience in your life, I found myself thinking about similar situations in my own life rather than parsing the song for details about what might have happened in your life. Is that something you consciously think about when writing? Do you have to labor over that a little to get the balance right? I appreciate that, man. I'm glad you feel that way. I guess all we're trying to do in life is relate, and connect with each other. And the same way you feel about my music is the same way I feel about the artists that I listen to, and when they talk about what they're going through it gives me goosebumps, or makes me cry, or makes me feel happy, even. So I am mindful of talking about my own experience. With a song called 'Thief,' people who know my situation or whatever might think, 'Oh, okay, she's talking about something material that someone has physically stolen.' But I deliberately tried to make it open—it can be about feeling like you've been robbed of your time, your energy, your resources, whatever it is. Some of this stuff is really heavy. And if you can relate, you can relate. But if you can't, I understand that as well.
The Hindu
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Career in sound engineering and audio production
In today's fast-evolving media landscape, sound engineering and audio production have become essential in bringing creative visions to life. Whether it is cinema, a live concert or a podcast, professionals in this field play a crucial role. With the increasing demand for high-quality sound, a range of career opportunities awaits those willing to invest in the right skills and education. At its core, sound engineering and audio production involve the art and science of capturing, manipulating, and enhancing sound. They encompass activities such as recording, editing, mixing, mastering, sound design, and live sound. It is not just about managing technical aspects, but also about appreciating the creative potential of audio. Designing soundscapes that enhance a narrative or ensuring that live events deliver an impeccable auditory experience requires both technical expertise and creative flair. Education Aspiring professionals can pursue several educational routes. Certification courses provide a short-term, practical introduction to industry-standard tools and techniques and focus on specific skills, such as operating digital audio workstations (DAWs), basic mixing techniques, and live sound management. Diploma programmes offer a more comprehensive curriculum that blends theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice. Covering topics from acoustics and signal processing to creative sound design, they ensure that students develop a well-rounded skill set. For those wishing to fully immerse themselves, UG and PG degrees offer extensive training, including music theory, media studies, and entrepreneurial management, preparing graduates for diverse roles. Many reputable colleges and specialised institutes in India now provide diploma and degree programmes tailored to industry needs. However, for those seeking exposure to global best practices and cutting-edge techniques, studying abroad is an attractive option. Countries such as the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Germany offer well-established programmes that combine advanced technology, extensive studio work, and industry internships. Beyond the classroom While formal education lays a strong foundation, success also depends on several additional skills. A finely tuned ear — the ability to discern subtle differences in sound quality — is essential. Equally important is technical proficiency, with familiarity in software platforms such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro, or Ableton Live being critical. Creative problem-solving, attention to detail, and an understanding of acoustics and signal flow further enhance one's capabilities. Moreover, strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively are highly valued, as many projects require coordination with artists, directors, and other technical professionals. Continuous learning and adaptation to new technologies are vital for long-term success. It is important to remember that, regardless of formal education, sound engineering remains a predominantly practical industry. While theoretical knowledge is invaluable, nothing can substitute for the experience gained through hands-on work via internships, live projects, or personal experimentation. Direct engagement with equipment and real-world production challenges refines technical skills and nurtures creativity in ways that classroom learning cannot. This is crucial to develop the intuition and problem-solving abilities necessary to excel. Careers Prospects in sound engineering and audio production are varied and promising. Graduates can pursue roles in recording studios, film production houses, broadcasting networks, and live event venues. Common job titles include recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, live sound technician, and sound designer. Many professionals also choose to work as freelance consultants or establish their own studios, combining technical expertise with entrepreneurial ambition. As the media and entertainment sectors continue to evolve, the demand for innovative and skilled sound professionals is set to grow. For those passionate about sound and its transformative power, a career in sound engineering and audio production offers creative fulfilment and professional advancement. By combining education with continuous skill enhancement and practical experience, aspiring professionals can forge rewarding, diverse, and inspiring careers. The writer is the Founder of Bay Owl Studios.
Engadget
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Fender just launched its own free DAW software for recording music
The iconic instrument and amp maker Fender is diving deep into the digital domain. The company just announced Fender Studio, an all-in-one music-creation software platform. It's basically a digital audio workstation (DAW) but one that's intended for newbies. Think GarageBand and not Pro Tools. Just like GarageBand, Fender Studio is free. The software looks perfect for going straight into an audio interface without any complications. Players can select from a wide variety of digital amp recreations. These include some real icons, like the '65 Twin Reverb guitar amp, the Rumble 800 bass amp, the '59 Bassman, the Super-Sonic, the SWR Redhead and several more. More amp models are likely on the way. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Along with the amp models, the software comes with a bunch of effects inspired by iconic Fender pedals. There's a vintage tremolo, a stereo tape delay, a small hall reverb, a triangle flanger, a compressor and, of course, overdrive and distortion. There's an integrated tuner and plenty of effects presets for those who don't want to fiddle with virtual knobs. The software includes several dedicated effects for vocalists. There's a de-tuner, a vocal transformer and a vocoder, in addition to standard stuff like compression, EQ, reverb and delay. There's also a cool feature for those who just want to practice. Fender Studio offers "remixable jam tracks" that lets folks play along with songs in a wide variety of genres. These let players mute or delete an instrument, for playing along. To that end, users can slow everything down or speed things up. Fender promises that new songs will be added to this platform in regular intervals. As for the nuts and bolts of recording, the arranger can currently handle up to 16 tracks. Despite the track limitation, the software offers some real pro-grade features. There are various ruler formats, a global transpose, input monitoring, looping abilities, time stretching and even a simple pitch-shifting tool. Tracks allow for fades, FX sends and more. The mobile version of the app includes a pinch-to-zoom feature, which is always handy with recording software. All of those squiggly lines can get tough on the old eyeballs. Fender Studio is available on just about everything. There's a version for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Linux. It should even run well on Chromebooks. Again, this software is free, though some features do require signing up for a Fender account. This is certainly Fender's biggest push into digital audio, but not its first. The company has long-maintained the Mustang Micro line of personal guitar amplifiers. These plug straight into a guitar or bass and offer models of various amps and effects . The company also released its own audio interface, the budget-friendly Fender Link I/O , and a digital workstation that emulates over 100 amps . If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
