2008 July

Clearing the Ears

Sunday, July 20th, 2008
by Zak Forsman

Kevin shot and cut this micro-masterpiece and I’m posting it. Enjoy.

Giving Good Sound

Sunday, July 6th, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah

I think Zach is giving me way too much credit - I did nothing more than pull the effects that N. Itrik would have done if he had more time. Zach is the real genius behind the sound of White Knuckles - and when it was all said and done we agreed this is the best sound experiment we’ve been a part of.

The difference between Zach and virtually everyone else I know - is that Zach is a consummate professional. From the minute you walk into Snap sound, right up until delivery - Zach was gracious, intelligent, thoughtful, tireless and most of all - extremely creative.

We were both astonished last night watching each reel back to back for the first time. And most importantly, the film resonates, the dialogue is clean as a whistle, and the tones, ambiances and silence burn themselves into our psyche.

They say audio is 70% of sound. I would argue that’s just an average. There are some scenes that are 100% sound. White Knuckles has many of these beats, thanks to the artistry of Seivers, to whom I’m forever indebted and forever grateful.

Thank you Zach, from all of us at Sabi on being the Sound Designer for White Knuckles, and for being a friend.

The next step is to play it in a variety of theaters. There’s a private preview screening coming up soon, and then the cast and crew screening. The cast and crew screening will ideally be 5.1.

After this process, we may have another listen with the picture/mix -
but if anything it will be small adjustments, small additions of effects -

really, two perfectionists continuing to polish a wonderful little film
when time allows…

More soon -

Kevin

This is it

Saturday, July 5th, 2008
by Kevin K. Shah

Zach Seivers and I are going to finish Final Mixing today - Saturday. I’m up late gathering last sounds from the production track that we need / we’ve needed. It’s nice for us to collaborate in this way - going back and forth seeking out the sounds we decide we want, or sounds that were missing from the production track that can’t/shouldn’t be foleyed.

For example, we needed some footstep sounds from both William and Julie in the kitchen, and I was able to find them in different takes when there weren’t any lines ’stepping’ on the clean effect (no pun intended). Thanks to Jamie’s excellent organizational system, I was able to go right back to the bin and find the needed effects in less than 10 minutes. Of course the editor should have done this in the first place, but he had a lot on his hands.

Some other examples of the sounds that I’ve hunted and gathered is of a knife against a cutting board chopping an onion, and the first musical track of the picture (which for some reason didn’t translate in the original OMF.). At first Seivers and I thought to begin the film in complete silence, but we felt upon viewing it a few weeks later - that there needs to be something in the beginning, before the quiet of the forest - to get people shuffling in their seats to settle in. It felt too empty in the beginning, like maybe something was wrong with the soundtrack. We shouldn’t be thrown out of the film even with a stark silence in the beginning, we should be gradually brought in. Putting a cue in the beginning makes the sounds of the forest in the dream resonate that much more…

Lastly, the reason why I came and I’m still at Sabi tonight (even though we start at 9am sharp - and aren’t stopping till we’re done tomorrow) is for Hospital sound effects.

This is critical. I’ve gathered Hospital sounds both from the production track and from a library of effects that I’ve licensed from various outlets. Hospital ambiances, really. I can’t believe how much a cleanly recorded ambience adds to a scene.

Having small subliminal sounds of people working nearby, chatting, shuffling helps push scenes along that would have otherwise been in stale silence. Ambient sounds give a sense of urgency if used in a subtle manner - as we intend to do tomorrow.

I’m exporting OMF’s and Quick-times now. Tomorrow is a momentous day.

Zach intends to print the sound for the film…

White Knuckles is a step closer.