Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1175944
FAVORITE AUDIO TOOLS www.postmagazine.com 33 POST SEPT/OCT 2019 RODNEY GATES Sound Designer & Audio Director The Audio Hive Los Angeles http://theaudiohive.com What is your current favorite audio tool and why? "My preferred DAW is Steinberg's Nuendo and my favorite editor is Acon Digital's Acoustica Premium. I also enjoy us- ing Wavelab (also Steinberg) specifically for batch processing dialogue with user-defined plug-in chains (perfect for localization). Nuendo is an all-in-one linear editor solution (probably the most similar to Pro Tools). Being 100 per- cent native, there are no restrictions or required hardware necessary for it to operate; it is simply as powerful as your computer is. Acoustica quickly became my preferred editor a few years ago (replacing Sound Forge Pro). It's slick, has multi-channel support, and far better control when looping." How are you using it? "I use Nuendo for everything. It's very flexible and much more intuitive than some other popular DAWs out there, despite their customization capabili- ties (Reaper). Steinberg keeps adding new features all of the time and the upgrade costs are low. For game audio specifically, it has support for source control (Perforce) and integration with Audiokinetic's Wwise middleware solution. In addition, it has all of the same music composi- tion features as Cubase, wrapped up with all of its own post production capabilities. You get the best of both worlds." What is it helping you achieve? "Everything! From day to day, I can bounce from working on a trailer in 5.1 one day to creating a slew of game assets the next. I've set up templates for everything, broken down into separate sections, in addition to having all of them included in one master. Years ago, I set up parts of the template for fun things, like endless 'whoosh' genera- tion to a 'plug-in vector matrix' technique, where you can create ever-evolving textures by using panners to move your audio through various plug-in chains as a sort of synthesis. Extremely versatile!" What are the types of projects you are using it for? "Game audio, trailers, ADR recording and editing, music editing, mastering, etc. Nuendo is a powerhouse."