Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541592
72 M PS E . O R G a photo illustrating how it was recorded. While the sounds were instantly useful, were high resolution and had lots of variations, the videos sparked people's imaginations. Before then, it was almost frowned upon to show a microphone onscreen, but I am 'camera-shy' and always have been, and that's why I made my microphones the hero. But a fundamental shift in my thinking about work occurred simultaneously: I was creating my own work, where I owned all the intellectual property, and like everything in life, it compounds. So here we are 15 years later, and people still buy that first library, but most important of all is that people use the sounds. The sounds serve very practical and creative purposes, and my motivation is often driven by what I wished I had access to in those first 25 years of my film sound design career. I am also fiercely independent and have a deep belief in the DIY ethos, and therefore, I built every aspect of HISSandaROAR. I learned how to build a secure e-commerce website with reliable delivery. And over the last 15 years, my initial idea has grown to more than 200 sound libraries and well over a terabyte of high-resolution source material that is used by many of the biggest studios in the business, along with hundreds of smaller sound post and game audio facilities, and many, many individuals. The latter is very important to me, as that is my origins—a creative individual with their own studio. Sometimes people contact me and mention the HISSandaROAR 'team' without realising it's just me and the cats! I am constantly researching and developing ideas for HISSandaROAR, and I have always felt that the only way I could ever compete with the dinosaurs of the sound effects industry was by innovation. So, the ideas and potential use had to be strong. Some libraries I recorded specifically as 'cliche-killers.' For example, I grew so tired of hearing the same doppler horn pass from an old CD library (you know the one!) that I drove five hours, set up my mics on the side of desert road, and held up a sign saying 'TOOT!' while making the arm pump sign at every passing truck. The result is that anyone who owns my DOPPLER TRUCK HORNS library has so many options that they can find the ideal choice for their project, rather than reusing that same tired old sound. Other innovations have been created by available technology. For example, I was an early adopter of the Sennheiser MKH 80X0 mics which capture up to 50kHz, and more recently, the Sanken CUX-100K which warrant recording at 192kHz as they capture up to 100kHz. Just because humans cannot hear it doesn't mean it does not exist: These high-res mics enable extreme manipulation. For example, recordings with the CUX mics can be slowed down to 1/8th real speed and three octaves lower in pitch and still feel coherent and 'full spectrum' to human ears. Similarly (and inspired by Ann Kroeber's work), I have developed a lot of use for professional quality contact mics, as well as EMF sensors and geophones. The advent of multitrack 32-bit float recording has also had a huge impact on my recording work. The only reason I can afford these tools is due to support from HISSandaROAR users, and my reinvestment means they benefit too. So, it feels like a positive feedback loop. My theory is that I changed my career: As a sound designer, I was working for one director on a film project. Now I work for hundreds of creative sound designers all over the planet, and the ultimate joy for me is to hear my recordings used by such clever people in their projects. I find it incredibly generous of you to share your recordings with others. Do you get feedback from fellow soundies around the globe? The best form of feedback I ever receive is when I recognise some of my sounds in a project, or someone comments to me that my sounds were crucial to a particular element in their project. I follow my creative instincts with what I record and am well aware of how complex and subjective sound design is, both from creating practical reality, as well as storytelling, so it is both gratifying and encouraging when some of my sounds contribute or help solve a creative problem. I'm not a gamer so it tends to be films and TV shows where I notice. You also collect unusual items and build unique contraptions to create and capture particular sounds. I imagine you can "hear" what sound you are aiming to record and then go about creating the right "instrument" to produce that sound. Would I be correct? Seeing or imagining the potential for sound is a fundamental aspect for every sound designer. We are presented with incredible footage and work hard to create entire sonic worlds for it. And my work with HISSandaROAR follows that same idea but applies it to everything! "Seeing how Randy (Thom) and Phil (Benson) worked was amazing but learning how they thought about sound and their philosophies had a profound influence on me." �TIM PREBBLE