Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500189
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 41
GR: Oh yeah. And, a lot of my own.
SL: Yeah! Even things that you've
recorded yourself. That's another thing
I love to stress … with the digital age,
and it's so easy to get effects online,
collections and things like that… I want
to see more people going out there and
recording their own libraries. Invest in
a Zoom and just go out there and record
the world and build your palette. Because
that's what makes you more distinctive.
GR: Oh, I think if you're doing sound
as a career, if you're actually doing
sound editing, design, mixing … you
should record your own stuff! It turns
out, it's the most fun part of the job
anyway! And things like the Zoom
… you know in the old days we had
the Nagras, with the Dolby noise-
reduction cards that made it weigh, I
don't know, 820 pounds…
The history of field recording …
it's gotten so easy now. The Zoom
recorders, the small recorders… I
admit this—I like to be able to do
something on the fly, so I just use
my phone! There are different apps
—Dolby had an app—so if you want
to record something quickly on your
phone, you set your parameters, and
you do it!
SL: And you can get little microphones
you can plug in to your phone to make
it a little better, too! Yeah, there's some
wonderful stuff out there.
GR: Everyone takes way too many
photos these days. And what
happens is that we don't think
about recording sounds as a way to
have memories, too. Places you've
visited or people that you love—so,
recording—we just don't think about
it as much. I think that maybe it'll
catch up. Maybe people will start
using their phones to do more audio
recording.
SL: I hope so. That's a really good point I
want to stress with my work, too.
GR: I'll throw in my deep
philosophical thing—sometimes
when I give lectures on sound, I bring
this up—a question to students,
or an audience is … if you only had
one way to remember someone
who was important in your life, but
is now gone, would you rather have
a photograph or a recording? And
when people think about it, they
sometimes think the person would
live more to them in the recording
than the photograph. There's
something more timeless about the
recording, and their voice. What it
gets to is kind of the essence of why
you and I and people who do sound
know that sound is so important.
Because it's so important, we
take it for granted. We don't even
realize the impact it has on our lives
because it's always there. Whether
we're sleeping, whether we're a
fetus … it's always there and we
take it for granted. It has such an
emotional effect on our lives and
our memories and for whatever
reason, it's such a part of our lives—
if we're lucky enough to be able
to hear—that we don't analyze it.
We don't take that into account as
much as we should.
SL: That's a very good point. That's
excellent.
GR: I'm crying! Not really.
SL: Well, let's bring up the
conversation! And I know a good way
to do it… I want to bring up one of your
early films that has a really great fan
base … and that's Spaceballs!
GR: I knew you were going to say
that!
SL: