Thursday 14th June 2012 – Sound Designer – Seeds of Freedom

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Jay

Above is a wonderful documentary for which I worked on as sound designer. For those that don’t know, sound design in this sense is providing the incidental noises that you almost don’t notice and take for granted: noises like the sound of seeds falling into hands and vats, aeroplanes flying overhead, the sound of spraying water and machinery, as well as various other sounds. Some of the sounds in the film have been left in from the original camera work, but it was my job as sound designer to fill in the gaps.

I believe that the subject matter of this film is very important, so please do take time to take it all in while checking out my handiwork!

The film is narrated by Jeremy Irons and was Produced & Directed by Jess Phillimore.

Camera – Jess Phillimore, Jason Taylor, Damian Prestidge.

Sound Designer – Jay Harris.

The film was Produced by The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network, in collaboration with MELCA Ethiopia, Navdanya International and GRAIN.

Feel free to peruse my website to find examples of other projects which I have been involved in as Sound Designer. You will also find other works of sound including orchestral and band composing as well as my soundscape work. Soundscape can be applied to film as well as your experiential marketing campaign and sensory branding to enhance your project’s success.

Contact me if you would like me to work on your film or discuss your entire audio package.

If my work in sound design for film, composing or the use of soundscape in events interests you join my mailing list to find out more.

Thursday 17th May 2012 – How to Make a Robotic Dinosaur – Jay Harris – Sound Designer

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jay

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an old advert that Geoffrey Lebreton had put up asking for help creating sound design and music for his animated short. The advert was old so he had found the help he was looking for, but as I really liked the trailer I asked him if he wouldn’t mind me making my own version of the trailer. He consented to this and here it is!

The trailer only really presented one problem and that is it’s fast-moving nature. This adds to the excitement and mystery of the animation, which is vital for a trailer but meant it could be difficult to follow. To ease this, I wanted to emphasise continuity and detail. Continuity was actually handed to me due to the presence of the ‘runner’s-eye-view’ sections that punctuate the piece. The idea behind adding detail to very short movements was that such detail would make the viewer catch these occurrences as they should serve to prick up the viewer’s ears. I had to be careful though as too much would make the whole thing messy.

With these ideas in my mind, I started work on my favourite part, and that was creating the noises that a gigantic mechanical dinosaur may make!

I started off with the roar at the end of the clip. I could have created my own dinosaur sound, and probably would have done it by combining the noises of various animals (I hear elephant and lion roars are popular) but I heard a perfect ready-made dinosaur sound so I used that instead! The interesting part here would be making it sound mechanical. I did this by trawling through my own recordings and included a clattering fairground ride, the noise of a very old and powerful motorcycle having it’s engine revved and another mechanical-sounding noise (I cant remember where this came from though!).

Next came the sound of the dinosaur running. This was achieved by combining recordings I had made of my electric car windows going up and down and also of the car door slamming shut. These were shifted down in pitch to make them sound lower and therefore more massive. These sounds still weren’t cutting it though as they still sounded far too small. To combat this, I found a synth recording that sounded like giant footsteps and overlaid it. This had a lot of bass in it and was therefore perfect for conveying immense size. On a technical note, I passed all of the sounds through the same compressor and reverb unit to ‘glue’ them together and make them seem as one. Finally, I fed the roar through a further compressor far too loud to make it distort and give a sense of the sound being painfully loud.

Next were the shuffles and movements of the other characters, which were recorded in real-time as a foley artist might. A few takes were made and combined to get things just right. Then, I recorded the gasps and vocalisations of the characters. These were made using my own voice and then processed and shifted in pitch to sound more alien, as if the characters would have made the sounds themselves.

Of course, some kind of background soundscape was also needed to place all of the characters in a realistic atmosphere. This was achieved by using three recordings of various deserts found online. These were trimmed to take out any parts I felt unsuitable.

After getting all of the volume levels just right, I played and recorded the instrument sounds to add atmosphere, got the levels right and then subjected the whole mix to the same reverb and compression to make it sound like that the recordings are all of the same space, and to also ‘glue’ them together more as a single experience.

Well, there’s only so much you can say about a 16 second short so please do have a watch! See if you can spot the noises that I added!

Contact me if you would like me to work on your film or discuss your entire audio package.

If my work in sound design for film, composing or the use of soundscape in events interests you join my mailing list to find out more.

Thursday 9th February 2012 – The Amazing Binaural Audio

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jay

Binaural recording is an idea quite new to me. @TOther_Simon introduced me to it at the end of last year, and ever since I have been having quite a few thoughts about it’s potential. I have been making some exploratory recordings which have come out very well but to get a well-put-together experience of binaural recording put some headphones on and watch the video below:

Fast Tube by Casper

How Does it Work?

As you will be able to hear, binaural recording is a way to get what may be called 3D sound. Conventional two channel recording (stereo sound) is the product of trying to get realistic sense of space into recordings by working from the fact we have two ears. Different signals go to both the right and left speakers to enable a more realistic sound, meaning sounds can be positioned within the 180 degree arc between the speakers. Using reverberation (echo), we are also able to position the sounds up close or further away. However, stereo recording does not account for the physical intricacies of our hearing. As you know, we are able to place sounds from all around us without looking and stereo recording only allows this to happen in front of us (if we are facing speakers), or inside our heads (if we are listening to headphones). Our brain uses the fact that there is a certain distance between the two ears, as well as information about the very shape of our ears to allow us to pinpoint where in the world a sound is coming from; you can hear sounds from behind you as well as in front of you. Binaural recording, takes account of these facts to trick your brain into thinking that what you are listening to is actually occurring in the three dimensional space around you. Of course, our ears are on the sides of our heads and not on our faces so to get the full effect from a binaural recording, it is best to use headphones. The effect is more realistic on headphones that have a clear emission of sound from across the audio spectrum but it seems to work pretty well even when using the cheapest headphones. Achieving this is very simple: use a dummy head with realistic ears containing microphones or use tiny microphones that resemble earphones and be the dummy head yourself!

Where Would You Use Binaural Recording?

So, this is all interesting and gimmicky, but how can binaural recording be used? Well, as you will see from the above video, the guy who made it is promoting a video game that uses binaural recording to make the game experience more immersive. With the rise of portable entertainment with iPhones and iPads etc, the rise in use of headphones could really facilitate more widespread use of binaural audio. This technique could mean more realistic simulations for different kinds of training, or maybe use in film to place the audience in the same space as the actors. This technique has also been used to record bands too, and was apparently used as far back as the 60’s. Some test recordings I made of me playing my acoustic guitar got a very rich and full sound without having to mess around with mic placement at all. For me though, the most fantastic thing about binaural recording is the possibility to take an audience somewhere that would be totally impossible to go to, like the video game example. You could mix the real and the imagined and blur the line between them to get closer to the ultimate escapism.

Please do put ten minutes aside to listen to the example of an audio composition located at the bottom of this web page. It’s nothing to do with my own work but you wont regret it… very cool. I’m raring to go do some experimenting now…

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to add such ideas to your own projects.

Thursday 8th December 2011 – Music for Berlin Montage

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Jay

Here is a montage containing various photographs of Berlin taken by a friend who asked if I would like to make some music for it.

I wanted to use a mixture of synth as well as orchestral sounds to fit the various moods throughout the video. This is because working with this combination presents a slightly different challenge: orchestral instruments on their own pretty much balance and mix themselves really as the orchestra is a well-designed instrument in it’s own right and is a well-trodden path. In an orchestra, each instrument has it’s own particular function, frequency range and timbre meaning each has it’s own space to sit in (although there is overlap if you need it). This ‘personal space’ ensures each instrument get’s it’s voice heard with clarity and/or effect because building up similar frequency ranges and incompatible timbres can lead to a confused and ‘muddy’ (unlcear) sound. Synth sounds don’t really come with this control as such because any synthesizer can create such a huge range of sounds on their own and therefore output any range of sound frequencies; it is up to the musician to make the instrument focused and efficient in it’s intended area by adjusting it’s controls.

As the combination of orchestral and synth sounds can sound pretty cheesy, I made a conscious effort to stop that from happening by thinking about the sounds that I needed to use for effect. The synth sounds weren’t replacing orchestral sounds as such (which would be a sensible choice as they could just slot in this well-honed instrument), but had an atmosphere to convey. Orchestral instruments could have done these jobs (although slightly differently) but the overall effect is a precise mood that I wanted to convey.

Well, there are the reasons for my intended path on this one! Please have a watch/listen below and let me know what you think. If you would like me to do something similar for you, or you know somebody that would, please do get in touch.

Displayed with kind permission from Peter Flower.

Fast Tube by Casper

Thursday 3rd March 2011 – Audio Branding and it’s Use in Film

Posted on March 3, 2011 by transientmusic

Audio (or sonic) branding is a very interesting idea that is actually quite established even though you may not have heard of it… we are exposed to it every day but you may not even realise this. Audio branding is the use of sound or music in creating a brand image for a company, the most obvious examples being the Windows start-up sound, the Intel Inside noises on the TV adverts and that annoying WeBuyAnyCar.com tune (for those who have had it inflicted upon them in the UK). The idea is that you drum a tune into the public’s collective head and combine it with a product to make that product more memorable. Think Pavlov’s dogs…yes, humans are easy to manipulate too. On a more sophisticated level, the sounds can actually convey an emotion which you then associate with the company in question. I’m sure, being a music fan, you are fully aware of how powerful the possibility of creating emotion through music is… People like to be happy; if a brand makes the public feel happy then that brand is in a very good position. You could say the Windows start-up tune is having a stab at this last point. In the unlikely scenario of you not having heard this before (considering you are using a computer to read this!), the start-up of their software is heralded in by a brief but jubilant fanfare…

For me, this is all very interesting; I have an interest in Psychology (I took a degree in it), I am interested in creating atmosphere with my music that immerses the listener in a world of my creation (in a fantastical way, of course, rather than sinister…) and I am also looking into how different sounds make you feel and think. Also, in a career-oriented way I have always been interested in creating a stamp for myself in all the music I make.

Is it possible for me to directly make money as a musician through audio branding? Well I don’t know really, but I suspect that this sphere is way beyond the independent types. As far as I know, only big companies really use audio branding so it is therefore probably taken care of by their advertising agencies. However, saying that, it would be instructive and fun to work on small scale ideas for anyone out there wanting an audio-stamp… Such an opportunity would obviously be great for me but I also intend to use these ideas whilst exploring the more art-oriented music/sounds I make; carrying these ideas in my head whilst I make music and also exploring them will help me to grow as musician. The net result may even help any career that I can make for myself…

So, how else is audio branding being used? Well, Wikipedia says Bentley Motors recently looked to create a brand experience by replacing all interior mechanical sounds with sound that had been created for their Continental GT car. A very cool idea. You can imagine how a submersive atmosphere could be created by assigning a sound to everything in an environment. The sounds could all be part of the same story as the environment or be completely at odds with it; depending on your aim this could all get very interesting indeed….

On a more mundane level, people actually use these ideas every day without thinking about it: People like personalised ringtones as they feel it shows off their personality to the annoyance of the middle-aged (and me). And are music fans therefore using audio branding as a form of self-expression? It could easily be said that is exactly what many teenagers do when they associate themselves with a kind of musical movement. The music can even be secondary to the image for such teenagers although you cant deny that certain sounds effect certain people in different ways; it would be foolish to say that the music doesn’t matter at all…

The article here lends a somewhat sinister slant to these ideas; there will always be some one that will play with ethical boundaries to make some money. The author of the aforementioned article talks about how it is believed that audio branding is now being used subliminally in songs. This may be to communicate brand values or even to re-iterate a company’s slogan… An example cited is Pharrell Williams’ 2005 song ‘Can I Have It Like That’ (featuring Gwen Stefani), with the chorus which apparently echoed the Burger King advertising slogan ‘Have It Your Way’… sinister eh.

All that aside though, recently the use of audio branding in a film really got me thinking. All films use music or sound in some way and it is common knowledge that this use of music is there to heighten the experience and story-telling. Music is also used stylistically in film through life-style music too; hip, cool teen films correspondingly use hip, cool teen music to appeal to their audience. I talked a bit about the use of film sound in a more experimental sense during an earlier post about (An)Other Irish Cinema; sound can be used to enhance the feeling that picture is creating or it could be used to disorientate the mind and the senses. Anyway, back to the film I saw (not for the first time though!): I don’t know to what extent Sergio Leone meant to strategically use audio branding in ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly’ but if you have seen it you will know exactly what I mean. The wailing melody used throughout the film has even become somewhat of a western genre cliché as every time some one wants to reference a western stylistically, this music can be used. Every time this happens it actually strengthens the film’s brand or even acts as an advert. But the use of sound here even goes beyond this. The music in this film is a work of art in it’s own right; it uses conventional instrumentation as well as some ideas that aren’t so conventional. Like many films, the music really sets the atmosphere wonderfully but the sound-direction really does play a part in this too. For example, the use of silence to create tension ready for it to break into action and louder sounds really draws you into the film’s stylistic ‘brand’. These ideas may not be direct advertisements for the film but they all work as brand-strengtheners over time. I therefore put it to the reader that this kind of sound design in film has yet to be fully exploited. As I always say, I’m no film buff but I can’t think of many examples where this has been done so elegantly (please feel free to correct me in the comments section below). As a musician it is possible to create mood for a film whilst giving it a unique stamp that strengthens the film’s identity amongst it’s rival products and peers, becoming an altogether more complete and confident beast in the process. However, there is so much more to explore beyond style, genre, orchestral swells and aggressive rock music… and film-makers that realise this seem to make their films stand out as unique, interesting and all-immersive as well as finalising their work as a piece of art.

Thursday 17th February 2011 – ‘Romantic Rebellion’ and Improvisation.

Posted on February 17, 2011 by transientmusic

To follow on with the independent film theme, this week I have posted a film made by James Devereaux. ’Romantic Rebellion’ is an early example of his work, as well as mine. My contribution came from a chat we once had about my interests in improvisation. Although the acting wasn’t improvised, the kind of feel you get form such music was something he was interested in.

As I have talked about before, I have an interest in improvisation. This isnt to say that I’m a jazz musician or even an aspiring jazz musician but it’s relevance to me is what it can offer music, and my music in particular. Once you have shaken off the shackles of popular influence you are less constrained by what other people have done before you and therefore you are also more likely to bring up some sounds that are interesting and more likely to be unique. There are schools of thought that believe this to be impossible but trying really can make things interesting… Also, the use of improvisation to make music really adds some realism to the finished product. As I have talked about before here, trying to shake off your preconceptions will make your music sound more viable in the context it is used in.

Despite all this, for ‘Romantic Rebellion’ I did not use the film as my starting point. As explained in the link of the previous sentence my current audio-visual work is exploring this contextual factor more. For this film, James wanted something that only had my current thought and moment as influence. We thought this would enhance the chaotic feel to the film as well as add another dimension to it that the film-maker had not previously accounted for. This was hard as everything musical that has gone on before influences what you are currently playing but I tried to leave chords and their associated theory behind and worked on only letting current emotion out. The recordings I made for James were both about an hour long (one using electric guitar and one using acoustic guitar) and after a few minutes of playing I found that my current emotions were being influenced by the sounds/music itself, creating a sort of feedback loop where the previous guitar sound would influence my emotion which would influence the next guitar sound. I found this interesting as it added another dimension to what I was playing as well as giving me food for thought…

As you will see, James did not need two hours-worth of sounds but I gave him something that he could apply in his own way through choice of what to use. The result works with what’s going on on-screen but also throws up questions and distorted atmosphere. As in the films I wrote about in last week’s post, the marriage of sound and vision created something that is more than just sound and vision combined.

You may think that all this is pretty pointless and just an exercise in being ‘artistically’ weird for the sake of it. Beyond the need for these kinds of sounds in the film, at face value this all seems a little pointless. Who cares if you can be weird..?? As you may have read in last week’s post, art for the sake of being weird does not really interest me, in fact I find it quite distasteful… But what you may also know if you have been reading my posts is that I am interested in creating different types of atmosphere. The aforementioned improvisational technique produces a very raw atmosphere; it channels more directly towards the sound-maker’s current feelings. I am always refining these ideas and in particular will be using a watered-down version in future Lunar Rising songs through the use of electric guitar and the sounds it can make. My interest there is to not play chords/notes that interact with the rest of the music but to make sounds that interact more with the atmosphere. Of course, the songs need to be radio friendly so I’ll still be using acoustic guitar, as well as using both in a more ‘conventional’ way depending on the need of the song! And, I wont be the first to use the electric guitar in such a manner either (it is very widespread) but I will be the first that uses the songs I have combined with my own previous musical experiences combined with how the individual song moves me… And this will all be just a part of my musical development: Depending on how these ideas turn out, more questions and ideas may be thrown up into the air or I may even settle upon something which I see as the ultimate way to express myself (although this sounds very unlikely!).

In any case, below, you can watch ‘Romantic Rebellion’. Please do find some time to check out what James is up to by checking out his blog here. It focusses on acting so may not be 100% relevant to your own interests but what I have found is that many of the concepts he talks about are readily changeable to any other medium/artform, or even life itself!

Fast Tube by Casper

Thursday 10th February 2011 – (An)Other Irish Cinema

Posted on February 10, 2011 by transientmusic

Last week, I attended a short-film event put on by James Devereaux for his Drifting Clouds Cinema Group. We had orginally talked about Lunar Rising playing an acoustic set at the event but unfortunately the bar hosting it doesn’t yet have a live music license.

Anyway, the event hosted a film-making trio that go by the name of (An)Other Irish Cinema. As I have talked about before, for the fringe arts to survive it is necessary to collaborate and combine numbers and strength, and this formed the basis of the trio getting together. In their own words: ”(Donal) Foreman, (Rouzbeh) Rashidi and (Maximilian) Le Cain formed as a platform for joint screenings, to showcase their work and, in so doing, to propose the possibility of an/other filmmaking culture in Ireland”

I am no film critic and do not pretend to have any knowledge about film, the proceses used or issues that film-makers care about. I do, however, like film. All the way from cheesy blockbusters to the deeply strange. Each film interests me in a different way and offers something, from gaining a few cheap laughs to something really profoundly effecting me. So, yeah, this isnt meant as a film review (I probably wont even mention film titles) but it is an explanation of what I took from the films in light of my interest in combining and gaining influence from seemingly unrelated walks of life.

From what James had told me, I was aware that the films being shown were avant garde. I’m not a fan of art that is elitist, or art that is so abstract you need a degree in art history to understand it so it may come as a bit of a surprise that I really enjoyed what was on show. As the trio of film-makers hinted in a ‘question-and-answer’ session afterward, the films weren’t designed to wrap up an idea in such a deep cloak of mystery that it will never be understood. Indeed, there may be nothing to actually understand. The works were based around the moment in which they were filmed and took influence from everything going on at the time of filming/editing. You could even say that the films are a film version of Jazz…. What results is a feast for the senses; The films effected me visually, and most crucially to me, aurally. The mix of these two mediums in the way presented, rather than being a narrative as such created an atmosphere that immersed me in something I had never experiecned before and also got my grey cells working. The great thing about such film is that every one takes you on a journey you have never expereicend before. In contrast, love stories etc take you on the same journey over and over again (which I think has it’s rightful place).

As some of you will know, the main focus of my musical interest is atmopshere. With Lunar Rising, very much like my bandmates I think, I aim my input to work towards an all-encompassing experience that will hold you for a duration of time and tell you a story without actually telling you anything; A sense of journey in emotion and immersive sound. Whether or not I ever achieve this is down to the listener of course! The lyrics do add a tale but combined with the ambiguity of the musical journey, I find the desired effect is intensified. With Henry Spencer Project, I aim to create a more physical atmosphere that picks up the listener in rhythmic movement. With the audio/visual project I am undertaking with Lesley Flower, we aim to make each aspect (audio and visual) mutually bolster the other to create an atmosphere that is intensified by their partnership.

It therefore follows that the main interest I took away from seeing these short-films are the atmospheres they created, how they did this plus how I might translate such ideas using the tools and knowledge available into my own work.

The use of space was very interesting. Open spaces were used but sounds were intense and right in your face. Visions of natural surroundings were used with heightened, intensified natural sounds. The distortion of sounds lent fairly normal images more depth and an altered sense of perception. Emotive sounds were used that worked in tandem with or against various images. Lots of contrast and lots harmony in so many different ways. Maybe I can use ‘normal’ sounds and songs but use anything I like to contrast or harmonise them aesthetically or theoretically with sound and/or image (or using any other of the senses for that matter…).

Also, I have been developing an interest in the sounds around us in our every day lives and how I can merge these to create something that is even more personal to me than the music I write/sounds I create. To my mind it follows that combining my instrumental self-expression with sounds that I am personally immersed in intensifies my own stamp. Therefore, the use of everday sounds (or ‘found sounds’) in the work of the films I saw really stood out and, for me, really made the experience complete in a practical sense once combined with my aforementioned thoughts.

Please do take the time to check out the film-maker’s and group’s links at the beginning of the article. Keep an open mind and expect something more than a film; indeed something very different. You wont regret it! If you are unfamiliar with my work then it would be great if you found time to check out the links to Lunar Rising and Henry Spencer Project. As always, I really am very grateful for any kind of feedback you can offer at all!

Jay