Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/137897
The Art of Sound Design library sounds and custom sounds to create the sci-fi effects. He used plug-ins from SoundToys, as well as Digidesign's Lo-Fi and Sci-Fi, to transform the raw sounds into custom sounds. "In this particular case, we used all our favorite sci-fi effects that we have in our personal library and ran them through SoundToys and triggered them using the M-Audio Axiom keyboard to custom tailor it to fit." Margarita Mix has a large bank of custom robot and spaceship sounds they can alter using emulation programs to adjust size, speed or any nuance that may be required. If the pilot does get the greenlight, Piñon and the audio team are ready to face any challenges that arise. "If we have a low-rent type of machine, we can 'jalopy-up' one of our spaceship sounds. Or, if we need a massive robot, we can alter the sounds we have to For this Dish MultiSportsPack spot, Coupe's Kip Kuepper used MOTU's MachFive to tune the pitch of the helicopter to fit the music track. 36 make them huge. We do anticipate that there will be off-site or off-planet experiences in this show." Piñon paid close attention to the little sounds because Dark Minions is a multi-platform pilot. Most viewers will watch it on their phones, laptops or other mobile devices using headphones. He notes that the multiplatform format will create unique challenges that will impact the sound design. "There has to be some consideration to bandwidth. We have to consider that. We don't have quite the frequency range that we might have with broadcast television. So that creates a unique challenge for this program, or any multi-platform programs that we go forward with." On the plus side, with the audience listening over headphones, Piñon has more opportunity to add little details to the sound, like more off-camera conversations and other incidentals. "Since Dark Minions is in 5.1, we can put random sounds in odd places that you wouldn't think made any sense, but if you were listening over headphones, then it Post • June 2013 becomes a fun detail. It won't ever distract you from what's happening, but it might, in repeated viewing, give you something to listen to, these little nuggets peppered throughout the show in odd spatial locations." Margarita Mix offers audio services for advertising, television, Internet, videogames, and DVD. They can mix in surround formats up to 6.1., and in 3D audio as well. In addition to mixing environments, their facilities provide sound supervision services, videogame editorial, sound effects creation, and a variety of recording capabilities. Piñon has worked on animated series such as Robot Chicken, and Bob's Burgers. DISH MULITSPORTPACK FOOTBALL Kip Kuepper at Boulder, CO's Coupe Studios (www.coupestudios.com) created the sound design, original music and mix for the Dish MultiSportPack Football :30 TV spot for the Denver-based ad agency Impossible. The spot opens with construction sounds, and we see a man and a woman standing in their living room.The man is looking extremely pleased but the woman appears concerned. The scene changes and we see a worker installing sod on the living room floor. Construction sounds dominate the soundscape as a crane lifts a goal post into the man's house. The challenge for Kuepper was in creating a feeling that there was a clamorous bunch of construction workers renovating the house off camera, but at the same time making sure the sound wasn't stepping on the dialog, which, for a TV spot, is the most important aspect. By starting with the biggest scenes in the spot, for example when the crane is lifting the goal post, or when the helicopter is hovering above the neighbor's house, Kuepper was able to keep the scale of the other scenes in check. It also satisfied the curiosity of director Steve Urbano, and we all know that happy clients make for productive sessions. "In this case, the client was really involved in the work process, which is what we like to do," he says. "We actually get 10 times more done when we sit in the same room together. We www.postmagazine.com believe in the value of sessions with the client, or in this case, the director, to really get some serious mileage right off the bat." Kuepper uses BaseHead database software, which makes searching through audio files, effects and music easy to find and implement sound effects from the massive library of sounds at Coupe Studios into Pro Tools. He also likes to incorporate a sampler in his sound design workflow. For the Dish spot, he used MOTU's MachFive. "We love to combine elements from different sources to create unique soundscapes that are often felt more than heard." The MachFive gives him a tactile and immediate way to tweak the basic waveforms to fit his needs. For example, he tuned the pitch of the helicopter to fit the music track. He also likes to tune ambiences. "We find that makes a world of difference." Working on the helicopter was actually the most fun aspect of the sound design for Kuepper. In the spot, a helicopter is very close over-head; the wind from the blades is tousling the neighbor's hair. "While there was a helicopter just a 100 feet over the guy's head, we had to make sure he was still intelligible. It was fun creating a convincing audio illusion of a helicopter while still understanding every word of his dialog." Kuepper used the Waves MaxxBass plugin to help make the helicopter feel really big, while still having it sit under the dialog. Since Kuepper also did the music and the final mix. He had a lot of flexibility when it came to fitting in the sound design. In addition to using the music in shorter cues, which allowed room for sound-design-only moments, he also used EQ to make the sounds fit without having to push the faders. "In order for everything to feather together properly, a lot of the sounds wind up getting notched out to optimize how they work with the vocal frequencies," he explains. "I'll often dip frequencies in the sound effects that are taken up by the music and dialog, usually somewhere between 400Hz and 1 kHz." Kuepper adds that he likes the Avid EQ III for its surgical precision. For the Dish spot, Coupe Studios did everything audio, from the voiceover casting to the final mix. With five Pro Tools 10 rooms, Coupe Studios is able to accommodate large projects with short deadlines. Located in Boulder, they get a lot of work from all areas between Chicago and California. Coupe sees a wide variety of projects, from working on Oscar-winning films to recording bands like DeVotchKa and Yonder Mountain String Band to handling the audio needs for commercial spots like MultiSportsPack Football for Dish.