Soundtrack Creation Tools

PopTuna's music has been featured on all the major networks, numerous independent films, platinum-selling game titles, regional and national advertising campaigns, as well as several full-length, internationally distributed documentary films. Additionally, popTuna has more than 500 original pieces of music that are ready to be licensed for your project. Click the image to listen to a sample.

You think communication between significant others in a committed relationship is problematic? If you're a videographer in need of a soundtrack, try figuring out what language to speak when you're working with the composer you've chosen to score your latest opus. If you've ever encountered problems getting exactly what you require in any area of audio post, this article is for you. Besides music, we'll take a look at sound effects, ADR, and foley, and make sure that the next time you wade into these waters you'll be armed with the information you need to help you create the most effective soundtrack that your time and budget will allow.

Whether you're asking a composer to write music for a feature film, an ad campaign, or a corporate video, there are a couple of mistakes you must avoid making. For starters, unless you're a trained musician, don't try to talk about this art in technical terms with a pro. You may think you're speaking the only tongue the idiot savant sitting in front of you understands, but all you're doing is frustrating her and jumbling things up. A composer doesn't need you to discuss counterpoint or four-part harmony. He wants to know the emotional role you'd like music to play. If you can point out specific hit points and let the composer know if you want them to arrive suddenly or be the culmination of a rising wave of feeling, you're in great shape. Your primary job is to provide a road map of the emotional contours of the piece being scored to a degree that goes beyond what the moving image already provides. Communicate your feelings; don't try to impress. If you're sensitive enough to understand that the best work comes when the composer feels he or she is trusted to make a contribution rather than simply function as a vehicle of your genius, you're on your way to developing the genuine collaboration that can lead to a memorable score. (Think Hitchcock/Herrmann or Spielberg/Williams.)

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One more no-no: Bypass the demo-love trap. Composers want to shoot themselves, or their most annoying clients, when this topic is raised at the water cooler. Sure, you've been cutting to a temp track that you love, but the "1812 Overture" has already been written, and Coldplay has lawyers who would appreciate it if you didn't rip off "Viva La Vida." Besides, when you tell a composer to write a thinly veiled rendition of someone else's work, you're really saying that you don't trust her enough as an artist. That hurts!

Working with a composer is all well and good, except sometimes you just don't have the bucks to commission a score. There are tons of stock music libraries out there, many of them (as we've discussed in earlier articles) available as track-by-track downloads. In the old days hiring someone to score your project was more commonplace—even if the budget was tight. Hiring a pro is still a viable way to go, particularly if you can cut a deal with a shop or individual who can provide all of your audio needs in an affordable package. But unless you're an A-list filmmaker or spot producer, you'd be well advised to learn how to cut audio yourself. Affordable, approachable tools are out there.

Of course, here we're assuming that you have a relatively powerful workstation and an up-to-date postproduction suite (such as Apple Final Cut Studio or Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection) that has an integrated audio engine. Get comfortable working with your platform's audio mixer and any effects that the system contains. You'll be amazed at how quickly you'll be up to speed, creating crossfades between cues and adding reverb to that canyon scene to match the image perfectly. Most importantly, during the experimentation process, you'll learn a lot about how different tempos and instruments affect the visuals they accompany. Even if you end up going outside for audio, the time spent will be invaluable.

Super sonic noise does music for film, TV, and commercials; remixes; songwriting; and music production. The company's music catalog is available for licensing. Click the image to hear a sample.

Separate Oscars are awarded for music (score), music (song), sound editing, and sound mixing, which should give you an idea of the importance that Hollywood assigns to these interconnected but individual disciplines. Your budget may not allow you to hire multiple audio professionals, but that's OK. Almost every composer has become versed in the art of sound design, and many audio engineers have MIDI keyboards and software aimed at the creation of sound effects. If you need to hire just one person to handle music and sound effects (and, perhaps, audio mixing itself), study the talent pool, decide which discipline comes first for your project, and make an appropriate choice. Sound effects might trump the musical elements of your project.

How involved do you want to be in the creation of sound effects? If you've booked a session with an engineer or composer who owns sound effects libraries and has software that allows for the creation of effect tracks unique to your project, you must decide how much time you're willing to spend in this area. Beware: Sound effects are a lot of fun to work on, and there's more than one way to get the desired result. If you have an animated monster more ferocious than any lion tearing across the screen, you'll be surprised at how much time can be spent layering different sounds—a roar, a set of chains (detuned down three or four octaves), broken glass processed through a phaser, perhaps—to help turn this character into a frightening figure. There's an art component to creative sound design, to be sure, but there's also a craft and a language that has developed over the last 15 years or so. Learn as much as you can about the essential tricks of the trade—the radical detuning tip just mentioned is a constant go-to device—and whether you're working on the clock with an outside source or building tracks on your own, your time is again spent efficiently.

You can do this! Again, if you have the budget, by all means contract a studio that has a vocal booth and an engineer trained in automatic dialogue replacement (ADR). On the other hand, you can buy a microphone for a couple of hundred bucks that does a great job. Several years ago, I reviewed the Studio Projects C3 microphone, a clear copy of the classic Neumann U 87, which cost more than four grand at the time. I borrowed my friend Joe Cerisano's U 87, and his singing chops, and we cut multiple takes of him singing through both the U 87 and the C3, which retailed for about $300 at the time. Neither of us could tell the difference between the two.

Soundproofing a closet can be as simple as tacking foam stapled with muslin onto 4'x2' panels of plywood to the walls of your studio. Bam, you've got yourself a credible voiceover room! Add-on hardware devices that cost little can add remote talkback functionality to your computer-based workstation. The PreSonus Audio Electronics Monitor Station, which we'll review in detail later this week, is one of several units you should bone up on.

Ask your partner to help you develop level settings and create an ADR template, and you're good to go. To do this, you need someone to stand in your vocal booth and speak at a normal, comfortable level while you make level adjustments on your digital audio workstation's mixer, make sure there's no extraneous noise. If you have a talkback mic, make sure that it is properly routed to the booth and that the level going through the earphones is comfortable for whoever is working in that room. But the most important part of getting quality results is putting talent at ease. If you can coax the best performance out of her, the rest is easy. Just make sure that you have an external drive attached to your computer, and back up frequently during the session.

Independent Media Pros was created to enhance the collaborative relationship between directors/producers and composers, sound-designers, engineers, and up-and-coming bands. The company's goal is to support independent artists as well as provide a complete scoring service for any film project. Click the image for a sample.

There had to be a catch, and this is it. The most specific one-to-one relationship between a piece of footage and the audio accompanying it lies with foley. As a result, there's far less foley material available on CD, DVD, and the Web than either music or effects. And you probably don't want to dig a hole in your living room to pour sand into, either. You will be able to find some basic foley elements (footsteps are a staple) but this is one area that you need to consider carefully before your shoot. Unless you've budgeted for time at an established audio post facility that has these capabilities, you'll probably need to capture these sounds on set.

Capturing audio in the field is problematic for several reasons. For one thing, you've got other things on your mind, such as getting good footage and convincing performances. For another, you're recording other elements. Unplanned audio interference—that gunshot in the distance, for example—can ruin an otherwise excellent take.

IZotope RX has outstanding Denoiser and Declicker functionality.

If you don't have an extensive ADR/foley budget, you must check out some of the great noise-elimination plug-ins. Adobe Audition has a terrific Spectral Pan Display that lets you isolate and zap audio events. (See my review for a thorough introduction to all of Audition's features.) Another software plug-in, iZotope RX, has outstanding Denoiser and Declicker functionality. I've reviewed this plug-in as well, so check it out when you have the opportunity.

High-powered Hollywood directors can afford to hire the best specialists in the interrelated world of audio post. Maybe you can too. But if budget is a concern, you need to ask yourself whether you're capable of learning how to execute at least some parts of the audio post process on your own. If so, you'll save a ton of money and probably be artistically enriched to boot. If you know your limits and have decided that audio lies on the other side of the fence, scout around and see if you can find one person capable of handling all of your needs in this area. An all-purpose threat with whom you're comfortable on a personal level is sure to help you perfect the audio tracks for your next masterpiece.