Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/33429
Audio for New Media And Venice The Series features a lot of loca- tion shooting.“We’re close to LAX with the plane noise, and we get wind, surf, people and music in the background,” he says. “There are two takes at most — an old soap model, so there aren’t really alternate takes to choose from, and there’s no time or budget for ADR.” Last season Crouse introduced “interest- Lane Crouse is sound editor on the Web series . Season 3 will gear up later in the year. He notes that “a lot of soap actors are going to Web series. Venice The Se- ries wanted to stand out with high production values and a high standard of audio.”Working on this on- line series is “very similar to TV,” he says, with careful consideration given to pro- ducing high-quality sound for “the lowest common denominator: A lot of on- line viewers are listening on little speakers, just like a lot of the TV audience still lis- tens in mono.” Since the Web has no audio standards, shows like Venice The Series can be “mixed for broadcast, but once the audio is com- pressed and it hits the In- ternet, there are issues about what the hosting sites do to it — you have no control over the audio at that point,” he notes. Still, clean location sound is key. “The second season of the show did a great job nailing location audio,” Crouse reports. “They got a great location crew and really clean pro- duction audio, which made my job a lot easier. Hearing the actors is first and fore- most in importance for the Internet.The series is not contingent on sound de- sign to tell the story, but di- alogue drives everything.” 32 Post • May 2011 www.postmagazine.com ing, subtle, lower-end sounds — variations of wave sounds — to guide people in and out” of flashbacks. He also taps sound design to heighten drama and smooth transitions, no mean feat considering that “a good amount of low-end content is lost on smaller speaker systems.” The show’s co-creator, executive pro- ducer and writer Kim Turrisi also serves as music supervisor.“She seeks out artists she likes and includes the fan base in suggesting music,” says Crouse.“She has found a lot of cool songs that tie into what’s happening on screen as well as instrumentals. The show establishes a musical theme or soundscape specific to a character as they go through the season.” Crouse mixes Venice The Series in his stu- dio on an Avid Pro Tools TDM system with Waves Gold and WNS noise reduction and monitors through Dynaudio BM5a and Yamaha HS50 speakers.“The show is shot and line cut in LA, and editing is finished in New York City,” he explains. “I’m in Atlanta where I do my edits and send them back on FTP sites; then the final QuickTime goes to LA for review and notes. It’s a tapeless workflow, but you have to be careful about file naming and organizing the workflow be- cause a lot of versions are circulating.” The third season of Venice The Series is slated to get underway later this year. PODCASTS & WEB VIDEOS For the last couple of years, Hollywood’s World Wide Wadio (www.wadio.com) has been crafting podcasts for clients of New York agency Corebrand. Designed primarily for internal corporate communications, the podcasts are “a different kind of storytelling” from World Wide Wadio’s usual radio ad- vertising but are proving to be an effective tool for customers, says senior VP/executive creative director Steve Jacobson. For Abbott Vascula, podcasts now form the basis of “Abbott Vascular Radio,” a recur- ring series of communications to employees. “They focus on success stories with an in- troduction from the CEO,” says Jacobson. “The podcasts’ frequency is motivated by the need to recognize a particular achieve- V enice