Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529989
36 M PS E . O R G interesting aspects was that her career was not a linear upward trajectory, it was full of triumphs and setbacks. The overall lesson seemed to be that once you find your path in the sound world, you have to figure out how to keep doing what you love, even when obstacles are put in your way. When Shelley's one-hour presentation ended, it really felt like it could have gone on for much longer, so Shelley took a group of those that were interested, up to the college's Foley room and gave nearly two more hours of hands-on interaction with the group. What an amazing surprise addition to the schedule for those lucky enough to be along for the ride! Another stellar presentation in the MPSE Theatre during Sonic Days was about the Danish prestige series Familier Som Vores (Families Like Ours) from internationally renowned Danish director Thomas Vinterberg. Series sound designer Peter Storm Wich and picture editor Anne Østerud presented how both the picture and sound evolved over the course of post production. The two played early cuts/mixes of important scenes followed by the final product to illustrate how they changed direction. The series is almost entirely without score, so sound design was leaned on heavily to lead the audiences' emotions. It was fascinating to hear how simple footsteps became percussive elements and distant fog horns became tonal elements meant to manipulate the viewers feelings. Leslie Gaston-Bird (MPSE) did another excellent presentation covering her work with the Dolby Atmos renderer. It included a fun demonstration of a scene with nano-bots on the attack and how Leslie used creative panning to give the audience the POV of the characters on screen as the tiny robots swirled around them. These are just a few of the over 75 talks and presentations that happened over the three days making up the 2024 Sonic Days conference. There were also fun, sound-focused events in the evenings. These included an "audio nerd"-focused pub quiz put on by Game Audio Denmark, and it was a lot of fun. One of the rounds of trivia featured the same sound being played multiple times into the room, but treated by different plugins each time. Contestants had to listen closely to figure out what kind of effect was being applied in the variations. Bonus points were awarded if the exact plugin could be named!? Sadly, I personally didn't get any bonus points, but I did pretty well otherwise. Another fun evening event was a live concert by the Danish electronic band Roya, featuring a recent graduate of Sonic College, Sebastian Igens. At Sonic College, even the student pub has a full immersive sound setup. The band took advantage of the venue's surround speaker array to send their synth-based songs all around the audience's ears in innovative ways. The performers were loving the surround mix so much that they regularly left the stage, to enter the audience and get the full experience. Overall, Sonic Days was exceptionally well run and a tremendous amount of fun. It is an entirely free event, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate, learn, and connect, regardless of their background. This means that everyone is spending time with everyone and it makes for an excellent feeling of community. It was extremely inspiring to see so many MPSE members on the scene sharing their love of making noise with our international sound family. Sonic Days 2025 has already been announced, November 19-20, so mark your calendars and make sure you don't miss it in the future. The band Koya playing live.