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| A Primedia Property | |
| January 26, 2005 | |
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Table of Contents And the Oscar Goes To ... Manhattan Production Music: Chesky and Woody and More ... Speaking of The Aviator ... ADVERTISEMENT From the vaults at Sony Pictures Entertainment - the Sony Pictures Sound Effects Series. First time available: five CDs containing over 1,200 high-quality sound effects. This extensive collection provides everything you need to add professionally-produced sound design to your film or video. Only $399. Visit mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products to learn more. What's New And the Oscar Goes To ... Well, we won't know that for a few weeks, will we? But on Tuesday, Jan. 25, the nominations for this year's Academy Awards were announced and, not surprisingly, we're keeping a close eye on the sound and music categories--after all, an Oscar nomination in the sound effects editing category represents a pinnacle of achievement in that field. Their work will be admired, absorbed, and imitated by other recordists, including those who work on SFX libraries. And chances are that the nominated music scores will sooner or later be influencing production music, as well: how many library composers have used Oscar-nominated scores by John Williams, James Horner, Thomas Newman, Hans Zimmer, and others to inspire them in their quest to write vital, contemporary dramatic music? In the sound effects editing category, the three nominees are selected at a Los Angeles gathering in early January known as the Bake-off. (The visual effects folks also have their own Bake-off.) Weeks before the Bake-off, the sound effects editors who are members of the Academy's Sound Branch are sent a "pre-nomination" ballot containing a list of eligible films. The members then submit a list of what they believe are the five best films in that category. To read the rest of this article, click here. Inside Info Manhattan Production Music: Chesky and Woody and More ... Manhattan Production Music has grown steadily through the years, adding an impressive number of titles through the auspices of various affiliated sub-brands, including Apple Trax (which offers dozens of different genre collections, from Modern Guitar to Drones to Percussion Drama to Dark Orchestra); the 150-plus-disc BRg library, which spotlights "the latest sounds and musical attitudes for high-impact productions"; and Live Trax, which promises cuts from top studio cats in a wide variety of styles, including blues, swing, emo, and more. Additionally, MPM licenses Chesky Records tracks for commercial use. Another feature clients seem to like: SplitTrax, which offers certain cuts in a special separate mix with the lead instrument on one channel, and what is essentially a mono mix of the track on the other. "It allows clients the flexibility of raising or lowering the level of that instrument in relation to a voiceover or whatever," Ron Goldberg, VP of sales and marketing, says. To read the rest of this article, click here. ADVERTISEMENT  When overnight shipping can't get it there in time, choose Q-Disc from CSS Music to download entire royalty-free CD Volumes. From Download to Your CD-R in 30 minutes. No expensive overnight shipping or sales tax. Single track downloads also available. For more information call 800-468-6874 or visit www.cssmusic.com Hollywood Inspiration Speaking of The Aviator ... Remember those amazing, deafening flash-bulb sounds in Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull 25 years ago? Well, Marty's at it again in his Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator. Once again, the sound of old-style flashbulbs explode on the soundtrack, but it is in service of one of the main points of the film: Hughes hated the attention of the press and was very uncomfortable in large gatherings where photographers were present. So every flash and pop from the sea of photographers is like a psychic bullet, in a sense. When I interviewed supervising sound editor/sound designer Eugene Gearty about the film last fall, here's what he had to say about the flashbulb SFX: "My first thought was, 'Am I going to be clever and try to outdo the man himself, Frank Warner, who really did the flashbulb thing in Raging Bull.' I mean, he pretty much nailed the coffin on that one, didn't he? [Laughs]. No, I'm not, but I still have to come up with something good for this film because it's important to the story. So my only recourse was to be authentic to get the best recordings of the real thing. To read the rest of this article, click here. Next Issue Just when you thought it was safe to not pay attention comes the horrifying sequel to our acclaimed History of Production Music Series....THWAK! The History of Sound Effects! Plus, the usual shenanigans and cool stuff. Comments? Questions? Write me: blair@blairjackson.com. |
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