Post Magazine

February 2016

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/642315

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 48 of 51

REVIEW www.postmagazine.com 47 POST FEBRUARY 2016 efore I finally graduated to offline editor, I had a preconceived notion that picture manipulation was 70 percent of the job, technical ability was anywhere from 20 to 30 percent of the job, depending on your assistant editor (if you had one), and audio manipula- tion made up the rest of your job. What I learned, however, is what I thought I knew actually wasn't that great. Much like any new job or position, you can practice all you want, but when it comes to game time, things change. I realized that barring technical prowess and extra- neous After Effects or Cinema 4D abili- ties, video and audio has an equal part in my editing work. So, with that said, let's get to the review. Since audio is at least half the battle to me, I always love great sound design elements. Video CoPilot's MotionPulse library or even a great song to cut to — I love powerful swells and heart stopping slams. There are so many libraries out there, but few that are really what you need all the time. Often times I need ambience for a scene. Sure you could go grab the standard NYC street ambience sound effect, add some car driving SFX, and maybe you'll even be lucky enough to find a taxi horn honk. But how can you make the ambience really reach out to your audience? This is where Pro Sound Effects' latest release, "NYC Ambisonics" library and software, comes into play. LET'S DIG IN "NYC Ambisonics" is a collection of New York City 24-bit/96kHz ambience re- corded in places such as Prospect Park, Times Square, the Upper West Side, and many more locations, with a four capsule SoundField microphone. What sets this collection apart is when used with the Surround Zone 2 plug-in, you can place the microphones wherever you want, allowing the editor or sound designer to capture any perspective they can imag- ine in mono, stereo, 5.1, 7.1 and beyond. You do need to use digital audio workstation software such as Adobe Audition, Pro Tools, etc., that supports four-channel tracks. In full disclosure, I am definitely not a professional audio guy. I can make my way around au- dio plug-ins in an NLE, and even get a respectable mix there, but definitely not at the level of a pro mixer. Nonetheless, I was able to jump into Adobe Audition, load the B-format and/or stereo files, load the Surround Zone 2 plug-in and be off to the mic placement races. I messed around for quite a while in the plug-in (since I don't do much of this, it really heightened my attention to sound design and ambience mic placement). I guess ambience was always a simple thing to me — place a stereo ambience track in the sequence and possibly key frame a left to right or right to left pan of a car driving by and boom! Magic! That is definitely an over-simplification and undermining of how ambience should be edited once I used Surround Zone 2 and "NYC Ambisonics." Using "NYC Ambisonics" has definitely raised my editing toolbox to a whole new level. Surround Zone 2 is easy to use and makes sense to even a video editor like me. I even cranked up the volume and started messing around with the polar patterns. The quality of the New York City-based ambiences is top notch. If you edit a docudrama or reality show based in New York City, you should definitely invest in NYC Ambisonics. Any editor who has worked on those types of shows knows that sometimes audio gets missed. We may need some ambience to cover music in the background of a scene or add some depth to the street traffic (that may or may not be there). "NYC Ambisonics" is the tool that will help you fill out that background and give a sense of importance. It even gives you an edge up by allowing you to place your mics wherever you want in the scene. Need to output stereo and/or 5.1 for network deliverables? Surround Zone 2 and "NYC Ambisonics" lets you do it. I particularly loved the Staten Island Ferry Boarding clip at around 2:20 when the announcer over the loud speaker comes on. It immediately gave me a mental picture of someone standing and listening to the announcer. I was able to imagine different positions of the person by placing the mic to the left, right, behind, center and even high or low. Another favorite was the Central Park clip. With 360 and virtual reality start- ing to really become a prominent force, "Ambisonic" libraries are really going to be a necessity when editing. IN CONCLUSION In the end, if you want to take your creative edits to the next level, you should try out Pro Sound Effects' "NYC Ambisonics" library for $119. If nothing else, grab the two free ambiences and Surround Zone 2 software available on the company's Website — it will really show you what you're missing. PRO SOUND EFFECTS 'NYC AMBISONICS' LIBRARY & SOFTWARE RAISING THE EDITING TOOLBOX TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL VITAL STATS MANUFACTURER: Pro Sound Effects PRODUCT: NYC Ambisonics PRICE: $119 WEBSITE: www.prosoundeffects.com • Create custom ambience in mono, stereo, 5.1, 7.1, and more • Bundled with Surround Zone 2 plug-in • Recorded with SoundField mics that capture height information B BY BRADY BETZEL ONLINE EDITOR MARGARITA MIX HOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD, CA BRADYBETZEL@GMAIL.COM

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Post Magazine - February 2016