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Audio for Animation recorded with live action.When there is a production mixer on location or on a set, they are making sure the sound matches how far or close things are from the per- spective of the camera. “In animation where you have everything recorded completely dry in a recording stu- dio, you have to make sure that everything sounds like it is in the correct space.We’ll do that by doing pans to match the movement or EQs for distance, for example. All those things happen naturally with live action. I make sure I match the camera’s prospective to all my sound effects, too.That’s why we need to do so much Foley on the show.A lot of it is adding those subtle movements that help bring it to life, just like what happens naturally with live action.” Nyeste is able to incorporate his smaller “The Golden Squirrel” episode of Penguins of Madagascar:Oracle Post uses a lot of Foley to help bring the characters to life. ing fruit at all the animals and that allowed us to use more cartoony, spat-type of sounds. It was more of a classic cartoon feel rather than the more cinematic approach to the movies. Ultimately, the TV show is some- where in between the movie version and the classic cartoon approach.” On the series, the audio team discovered they needed more creative leeway simply because the penguins are featured on the TV show more than in the movies. With their expanded role on the show, viewers could experience the penguin’s world in a much more detailed and interesting way. “One fun thing we do on the series is play with the perspective of things,” says Nyeste. “We have the opportunity to do things not exactly as they really sound.What I mean is that the penguins are only about one foot tall, so something like a vacuum cleaner can sound like a jet engine to them. Or a toy car can sound like a big racecar.That’s what can really add to the excitement of the show.” Dialogue mixing in animation has its ad- vantages and disadvantages compared to live-action dialogue that has been recorded on a set or location.“In animation, all the di- alogue is cleanly recorded in a recording fa- cility,” explains Nyeste.“Dialogue mixer D. J. Lynch made a great point: in animation, we have to create a lot of the perspectives that happen naturally with production dialogue 38 Post • July 2010 Pro Tools set-up at home with Oracle Post for the final mix. “When I am editing at home, I have an Intel Mac running Pro Tools with the Mbox 2 Pro. I have the complete production tool kit, so I can run timecode, a ton of extra tracks, and even 5.1 tracks. I use the Sony MDR headphones, two Advent speakers and SoundMiner as a databasing tool for sound effects.” Back at Oracle Post, the show is mixed using Pro Control running two Pro Tools|HD3 systems that print to a third Pro Tools system. “We listen to Penguins on really tiny com- puter-like TV speakers for a low-fi set-up, says Nyeste.“We have an Lt/Rt set-up for the flat screen TV there and the JBL 5.1 theatrical speaker system for the 5.1 mix. I use the Mar- tinsound MultiMax monitor controller, which does a ton of stuff. But what I think it does best is give me a really quick way to switch between 5.1 and stereo mixes.” BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN Ben 10: Ultimate Alien is a fast-paced, ac- tion-packed series that airs on Nickelodeon, and the audio treatment plays an important role in defining the show’s characters. Rob Hargreaves, re-recording mixer/sound de- signer at DigiPost (www.digipost.tv) in North Hollywood, understands the delicate balance needed for the characters. On the show, 15-year-old Ben Tennyson transforms into different aliens with each one requiring its own audio treatment for their voice. Morphing an actor’s voice into believ- able aliens while maintaining the clarity of the dialogue is top priority for the audio team. “On all the shows we work on, the alien voices are one of the biggest challenges,” says Hargreaves.“Everyone wants to make them sound as weird as possible, but yet, we need www.postmagazine.com to make sure everyone can understand the dialogue.The most important part of the show is to tell the story so, getting the clarity of lines is priority number one. “That is where dialogue mixer John Hegedes comes in and effects some of the characters, like Big Chill,” continues Harg- reaves.“He comes up with different process- ing in Pro Tools using plug-ins or sometimes he’ll use outboard gear like the TC Electronic System 6000 or the Lexicon 960 reverb that can act like an audio suite plug-in on Pro Tools. But most of it is done in Pro Tools using different plug-ins and harmonizers. Since we always want to understand the dialogue, we will sometimes make the alien voices using a harmonizer and then add the dry, un-effected signal for clarity.We process it as far as we can go without making it sound garbled.” Compared to live action, many of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien’s animated action sequences are paced much faster than reality.There- fore, the sound design must match the rapid pacing while still being believable.“We use a lot of sounds that you would expect in a live-action series,” says Hargreaves. “We want it to sound as big and as live-action-like as possible.We don’t make it very cartoony, but the difference is that the pacing is often faster than live action. Even walking or run- ning, for example, is not done in Foley at a live-action pace. Then factor in the small amount of time you have during a half-hour program and that makes everything move at a quicker pace, too.” For reoccurring situations and events in the series, the sound design is done with great care and detail.“It’s a challenge, espe- cially at the beginning of a series when we are developing sounds that are going to be re- used throughout the series,” says Hargreaves. “For example, there is one spaceship that we did a lot of work on initially, but then hope- fully we have enough built in our library to carry it through for the rest of the season.” At DigiPost, the show is mixed using a two- man Pro Tools set-up and two D-Command consoles.Wall-mounted Genelec 1037As, with the 7070A subwoofer, are used for mon- itoring in 5.1, along with speakers by M+K and Auratones for checking stereo mixes.“We have use a large amount of plug-in like the full Waves Bundle, Antares AVOX2, the Eventide Harmonizer Anthology plug-ins, the ELS vocoder by Eiosis, McDSP’s FutzBox, Alitverb from AudioEase,” reports Hargreaves.“I also use a stereo reverb processor from Bircasti, which is just an unbelievable reverb. For sound design I use the Kyma by Symbolic Sound with Capybara hardware.”