Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1175944
FAVORITE AUDIO TOOLS www.postmagazine.com 31 POST SEPT/OCT 2019 ERIC HIRSCH Re-Recording Mixer Goldcrest Post NY New York City www.goldcrestpostny.com What is your current favorite audio tool and why? "The Izotope RX Audio Editor — it does so many things so well that no other plug-in or program does, plus clients love looking at the orange spec- trogram display." What are the standout features? "The tool I use the most is probably Spectral Repair, which allows me to attenuate or replace certain specific frequencies in a piece of audio. The Voice Denoise and Spectral Denoise functions, and Dialogue Isolate and EQ Match are also indispensable. But they all rely on the spectrogram, which is a graphic visualization of time, frequency and amplitude, and which is Izotope's greatest innovation." What is it helping you achieve? "It's great for dialogue — removing mouth noise, reducing squeaky sibilance, lowering background noise and even eliminating overlaps between two actors recorded on the same mic. So it helps me get a clean dialogue track. But I use it on everything — music, BGs, Foley. It helps fix all audio problems." What are the types of projects you are using it for? "I use it on feature films and episodic television, especially projects that have rough production dialogue but don't want to loop entire scenes." NICK SEAMAN Foley Editor/Foley Mixer Alchemy Post Sound Peekskill, NY www.alchemypostsound.com What is your current favorite audio tool and why? "The Waves C4 Mulitband Compressor. It's ease of use and results are best in its class of multi-band compressors." What are the standout features? "It's graphic interface allows you to slide the crossover frequencies and easily adjust the settings at the bottom — gain/range/attack/release. For me, simplicity in a plug- in is always a plus. I want to be able to open a plug-in and get right to the point. Many other plug-ins like to add flashy, cumbersome parameters that take time to finesse and get right." What is it helping you achieve? "C4 let's you easily isolate problem areas within the frequency spectrum. We can target a frequency range within the plug-in to help cut down the tappy, ticky elements of a sound, which creates a warmer, darker sound. This can really help a hand pat sound more natural and a shoe less tappy." What are the types of projects you are using it for? "C4 is used on our record chain for just about every project here at Alchemy. It's helped create a more natural, warmer sound to a lot of our Foleys." INSIDE THE TOOLBOX: MIX ENGINEER JOREL CORPUS RELIES ON NUGEN PLUG-INS LOS ANGELES — When mix engineer Jorel Corpus received a copy of Producer bundle from Nugen Audio (www. nugenaudio.com), which offers audio editing software for television and music mixers and producers, he says he soon realized it was the perfect complement to his workflow. His work spans music and television projects that include The Snowy Day on Amazon Prime and Family Style, an Asia foodie show released under Justin Lin's YOMYOMF and Warner Bros.' Stage 13 platform. Corpus notes that prior to receiving the software, he had heard great things about Nugen. After using the plug-ins, he quickly realized the full breadth of the solution's benefits. "A lot of industry friends and colleagues who I trust use Nugen," he says. "I had wanted to use the company's solu- tions for a while, so when I received the Producer bundle, it was perfect timing. As soon as I started to use Nugen, I felt more assured. I use the Visualizer audio plug-in when clients send me files to immediately analyze if the signal is in mono or stereo. This organizes my resources and streamlines my workflow better. I also use the Stereoizer and Stereoplacer tools regularly." In addition to the plug-ins found in the Producer bundle, Corpus has since acquired Nugen's Loudness Toolkit with the VisLM loudness meter, which helps him remain compli- ant when working on a range of television and video-on-de- mand projects. "I've found that the ISL stereo limiter works well with the VisLM loudness meter," he notes. "The ISL provides highly transparent true peak limiting for all stereo and mono content. In the past, with competitor products, I would worry about being compliant. With Nugen, you don't even think about it. Using Nugen plug-ins allows me to make Netflix, Amazon Prime or television deliveries that have a hardline loudness requirement very easily." Since incorporating Nugen software into his workflow, Corpus has found himself replacing the plug-ins he was previ- ously using. "Even though you have similar tools that do the same job, you gravitate towards using the higher-quality solution," he says. "I consider the Nugen software a final layer in my pro- ductions. When I want to make sure what I'm doing is compli- ant, I am going to use Nugen."