Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/256240
www.postmagazine.com Post • February 2014 35 movement sounds, and then recorded Foley to augment it. Next, he recorded the voice with the DSP already roughed in. This allows the actor to hear the granular synth process- ing on her voice, the Foley, and sound design during her performances. "Working in context with the latest development of the character is a far more organic creative process in our opinion. Nuendo really makes this possible because Steinberg has streamlined the logistical barriers that made it so time consuming before. On large-scale projects, the ADR/ Foley Stage model still works because of the sheer volume of sound that has to be recorded. However, on more focused proj- ects, having an integrated sound design, voice, and Foley process is a huge creative and time-saving win." URBAN POST Supervising sound editor Mark Gingras is president/founding partner of Urban Post in Toronto, Ontario (www.urbanpost.ca). John Laing and Gingras started the company 15 years ago. Urban Post currently has four audio mix rooms, with a fifth room under construction. All five mix rooms are set up for 5.1, and their main mix room is Dolby- certified for theatrical releases. Urban Post has two ADR rooms, with a third nearing completion. They also have a separate Foley stage. They have Pro Tools systems in all of the audio rooms. The facility includes a picture post department, with two color grading suites, four online suites, HD tape mastering, digital delivery, and DCP capabilities. Their offline department consists of 17 suites, available for offline picture edito- rial, and production offices. "When the business was founded, we were strictly a sound post facility," says Gin- gras. "That is what we're known for. Although, we've done substantial work in picture post for the last five years." Urban Post provides a host of services, from renting offline suites for productions shooting in Toronto (most recently for films like Carrie, Poltergeist, and Robocop) to ADR services for US shows like Alphas, Warehouse 13, and Suits. Local clientele go to Urban Post for their audio post services. "We've won dozens of awards for sound, so primarily we're known for that aspect of our work," he notes. Their work has won Emmy awards, MPSE Golden Reel awards, Director's Guild of Canada awards, and several more. Gingras has been in audio post for 25 years. Starting at age 11, he occasionally worked after school at the Talking Pictures sound editing studio. "I would recycle mag- netic tape stock for 50 cents per 1,000-foot reel. Those were different times. My first real adult job in audio post was at age 19. I was a junior assistant on a Kevin Kline film called The January Man." Gingras has been the supervising sound editor on films such as The Grey, Saw II through Saw 3D: The Final Chapter, and an upcoming film called The Calling. He used his favorite audio tool, the lightweight Zoom H4n portable digital recorder while working on The Calling. In the film, the hero cop (played by Susan Sarandon) visits several churches and remote farm locations. Gingras notes that the director was very specific about wanting very natural-yet-quiet atmo- spheres throughout. "The recorder was a great tool for being able to inconspicuously record location sounds inside a church or outside a farm without drawing attention to myself. I also employed it in my backyard to replicate the sound of wolf paws in the snow during post on The Grey." The Zoom H4n features an X/Y mic arrangement for capturing an accurate ste- reo image. The left and right condenser mics are stacked on the same axis, so they're always an "equal distance from the sound source for perfect localization without phase shifting," according to the Zoom Website. The Zoom H4n can record at 24-bit/96kHz for high-quality sound. Or, if you need to fit a large number of recordings onto one mem- ory card, you can set the H4n to record in a variety of .mp3 formats with smaller file sizes. The digital recorder uses compact SD or high-capacity SDHC memory cards (up to 32GB), so it won't add tape noise to the recordings. Using the two XLR/TRS combo jacks, you can record to four tracks simulta- neously. It also has a four-track MTR mode that provides simultaneous four-track play- back and two-track recording for overdub- bing. You can see a full list of features at: www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/h4n/. The recorder retails for $464, but you find it for around $269. Since the Zoom H4n is compact, Gingras feels it can easily be carried around all the time, to capture those once-in-a-lifetime sound opportunities. He also likes the USB Urban Post sound editors keep the Zoom H4n close by for capturing once-in-a-lifetime sound opportunities. continued on page 46