Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1057439
Sound designer Scott Gershin, production mixer Ben Adams, and audio engineers Scott Kramer and Joe Dueck demystified the process of Ambisonic recording. Scott Gershin explained that Ambisonic recording is used to create a natural sound field that approximates being in the environment depicted. He said that mic placement is everything. He pointed out there are three different microphones: 1st order: 4 capsules 2nd order: 8 capsules 3rd order: 16 capsules With the addition of more capsules, you can get a more and more detailed sound picture and more easily locate sound in the immersive environment. You get more detail and less of a smear. All the mics need to be recorded at the same level so that the location of the sound remains accurate. Some mics seem to not be calibrated closely enough for that. Ambisonic sound is 3D sound and becomes relevant in any kind of immersion experience. It is particularly important in VR (virtual reality), as one is totally immersed in the experience. Joe said that some of the failings of Ambisonic recording is that you need presence when people are talking and the Ambisonics do not give you that close-up feel. It was suggested then that you could use an Ambisonic mic such as the SoundField for the ambience and close-up mono mics for the voices. The goal is to record everything as naturally as possible and to do a main take and then record the ambience afterward. The rebirth of the 30 seconds of room tone. All in all, an interesting discussion of Ambisonic recording and the use of binaural dummy heads and the fact you have to use it very carefully and with a lot of thought. It is the wave of the future as Netflix is now streaming in Atmos and virtual reality, especially in video games, is becoming more and more prevalent. AMBISONIC RECORDING: The Future Is Back MODERATOR: Glen Trew CAS The opening song was shot in between sets at Stagecoach on the main Coachella Stage. All the mics were pulled and nothing was amplified for the audience. The first row could hear Bradley, but the rest could not. It was Bradley's excitement that got the crowd excited. They used a scientific way to make it sound live. They recorded impulse responses of the venue and then put that into a reverb like Altiverb so that they could have the actual sound that was on that particular stage. Bradley Cooper was a first-time director but did not come across as such. He was involved in the temp mixes. He was also concerned about how his speaking voice sounded. Dean Zupancic explained, "You cannot mess with that voice. It's the third character in the movie." Jason Ruder, the supervising music editor, collaborated with Tom Ozanich and was on set every day. Originally, they started mixing in 7.1 and then upmixed to Atmos. They then decided they wanted a native Atmos mix so it was then remixed in Atmos and downmixed to 7.1. They shot at Glastonbury in front of 130,000 people. They were originally given 10 minutes but that was cut to three minutes and they recorded just the sections of the songs that they knew they were going to use. The musicians played along to a prerecord of everything but the vocals. But all the final vocals were recorded live and many of the instruments. Everything was recorded flat. Ultimately, in the final mix, the music was pulled off the screen to better immerse the audience. Lady Gaga singing a cappella in the parking lot was miced with two booms and two lavalieres. It was a tough scene to shoot. At first, the backgrounds filled up the space but gradually everything was removed except some wisps of wind that you can see blow Lady Gaga's hair to make it more intimate. As I said at the beginning, a very music-driven film well worth seeing just for the concert scenes which sound incredible and real in the theater.