Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487730
They did pretty much everything post-production and they even had a side arm that was a production studio. So I really got to see kind of the whole gambit of how commercials were made and hopped around from video editors to audio engineers to visual effects artists. I basically was still at Optimus when I contacted Noisefloor. I freelanced doing Foley with them [Noisefloor] when my internship ended. Cory asked me if I wanted to be a Foley artist on The Longest Drive. It was on the golf network, and then on a couple independent films. But then, for two years, I couldn't find a job. I knew I was meant to do something in sound but I couldn't find anything. I got an admin job at an architecture firm for a couple of years but I kept my eyes peeled for something in sound. And lo and behold, on Facebook, Noisefloor posted that they were looking for a studio manager. It wasn't really what I wanted, but I loved the people at Noisefloor and I loved interning there, so I applied for it and I got the job! Then their producer left and they asked me if I wanted to try producing. I thought well, I know the language of sound, and I'm already interacting with clients face-to-face as they walk in the door every day. So sure, why not? So I did that for five years. But in between that, I kept letting them know if they needed someone to hop in the booth and perform Foley, I'm here. SSS: Do you work with a partner? KW: No, I do not. SSS: In Los Angeles, a lot of Foley artists work in teams in groups of two. They cover each other's bases, they watch each other's choices, and they help set up props and perform cues together, record elements together. SSS (To Bryen): Something to think about boss. [Laughter] KW: It sounds really cool. I've talked to a Foley artist in Texas, and he was telling me that. I've heard that people work in teams, but I never really understood how? Do they pick characters? Does one do props and one do footsteps? Does it just depend how people are feeling when they come in that day? He said, no, they pick a character and they stick with that character. And that makes total sense. SSS: You do all the footsteps for the whole reel at the same time, then you do all the props together, and you spot each other. So while one Foley artist is actually recording a character, the other Foley artist will spot for sync and performance. They're constantly taking care of each other, and then a lot of props are done together. So it is an interesting concept. There are Foley artists that work alone in Los Angeles, it's not uncommon, but it's preferred to work in teams. Also, critical listening is crucial. It takes years to learn critical listening. BH: It does, and sync. There's an art to it. It's performance art, and there's no other way to really describe it. Everybody moves differently. When you're doing footsteps or you're doing body noise or you're doing whatever, everybody moves differently. Figuring that out for each character takes a little bit of time. And then listening and being able to edit that and making sure it's in sync is a big challenge. SSS: It's a very big challenge. It's really hard, too. People will look at me and ask, why do you need to edit Foley? I thought it was already recorded in sync? I get that all the time. It's totally crazy. BH: A lot of times it is. But workstations make it so easy. You can just go in and scooch things around a little bit. SSS: Right, but performing Foley is two to four frames late because of the human reaction time doing what you see on the screen of what you actually classes, a lot of post-production sound classes, and some basic filmmaking classes that taught me about storytelling in a nutshell. I went in there thinking I was going to do sound, and I came out doing sound, so my gut instinct was right. SSS: Did they have Pro Tools at Columbia? KW: Yes, they did. I learned on Pro Tools. I took two post-production audio classes where we worked on films, and there was a class where we were paired with MFA students that were there for their master's. We got to do sound for their films. I also took an ADR class and a Foley class as well. They were two separate classes, which was really nice. And that was when I first learned about Foley. I thought it was really fun and cool that we got to try to mimic what people were doing on screen. I acted in middle school and in high school. I played a lot of sports, basketball, softball, swimming, I didn't have tennis at my school, but I liked that as well. So when I think about it now, all of these things make a lot of sense why I really liked doing this one thing. Then I graduated. In my last semester, I got an internship at a post-production facility called Optimus here in Chicago.