Cloud Sound – Online Collaborative Multi-Tracking.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

Yep….an online multi-track sound thingy designed for collaborating remotely with other musicians.  Play around with this session I created!!!  I’ve shared this project here:

http://www.indabamusic.com/sessions/wabisabisound/119859

I obviously love this idea.  While very basic, this gadget is awfully cool and does what the internet does best these days…connects people around an idea, news bit, product or in this case…a creative collaboration.  As a Nuendo fan, I hope Steinberg is watching.  They’ve had the ability to simultaneously share sessions for a while, and I hope this inspires them to keep up the development on that front.  I’d also like to see us as consumers/creators get used to working this way.  It makes all kinds of sense….like sharing my session with the foley stage in L.A. realtime.  Or, instantiating my synth wizard friend into a music project…as opposed to a soft synth vst:)

Xbox 360 Hard Drive On the Brink

This is the sound my Xbox360′s Hard Drive started making last night.

Xbox 360 Hard Drive Malfunction

This will be the 4th repair Microsoft has performed on this XBox, and my 7th hardware failure overall if you count devkits.

The Meat and Meta of Sound Design: Film, Gaming and New Media.

I like to think of sound design as having 2 aspects to it: the Meat and the Meta. As you start a project its a good idea to frame your approach along these two lines.

The meat is the literal. It is: see a dog, hear a dog. See a flash of light…hear a flash of light. Knowing when a sound is necessary is a very basic skill in sound design…the Meta is where all the fun is.

The meta is the context. There is a saying script writers have that goes: “If the scene is about what the scene is about, then the scene is about nothing.” In plainer English, a scene is step on the path of the narrative. If the dialog, set design, costuming etc in the scene only serves to represent what is already evident then no progress has been made on the narrative path…and therefor the scene is about nothing. What is it about the scene that the audience is coming to understand.  Sound Design, as with all the disciplines in film and game making, can have a large role in this….and that’s what I call the meta.  What is the intention of this moment in the film or event in a game?  Generally speaking its best to work with the director or game producer while determining the meta aspects to the sound design.  They probably aren’t terribly interested in what sounds you’ll choose, but having them run through the game or film with you will give you and them great insights into their intentions.

Using the Meat and Meta approach allows me to tap my creativity in a very efficient way.  The meat tells me what I need to create and the meta informs my approach to creating the sound.