Audious Sound

Fire Place

2012-01-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

The house boiler has broken, so we've had to make use of the Fire Place to keep warm.

I took the opportunity to capture the sound and put together a video using from photographs.

Hope you enjoy.

Your Best Sound of 2011.

2011-12-01T05:17:00.001-08:00

I've opened up my annual "Your Best Sound Of..." thread on Social Sound Design. You can view it here: http://socialsounddesign.com/questions/11651/your-best-sound-of-2011.

You can submit any sounds you have recorded, synthesised or composed. Sound Effects, Music, Speech or Synth is welcome.

I'm looking forward to seeing what submissions we receive this year. Since last year was a great success!

I'll make a point of including a blog entry of my favorite submissions.

Forest Bird Chorus

2011-09-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

As the morning sun is creeping through the trees, you can hear a variety of different species of English birds.

You can purchase an MP3 version of this track for £1.50.

During 2010 I got up early one morning and headed to a nearby Woodland to capture the dawn chorus.

I used this recording to gather information during some research I am continuing to do. For more information on leaving feedback please click here.

Sounds For Earth

2011-09-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have just compiled a small collection of ambience and nature recordings that I have made over the past couple of years and made them available to buy for listening to.

The first release of sounds cost just £1.50 each.

The Sound Recordings currently available can be found below:

Please note: These Sound Recordings DO NOT come with a Creative Commons license or a license for editing, changing, copying, performance or synchronization with any other media. They are solely for listening purposes only. If you would like to purchase any other license along with high quality .WAV files, please feel free to contact me.

Yacht passing by the boat yard

2011-09-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

During summer 2010, I was collecting sounds and ambiences from around Rye, East Sussex, UK.

Because Rye is a Cinque Port town and famous for its fishing community, I spent a large portion of this time at Rye Harbor.

Here is a sample of one of my favourite recordings from the project.

Listen to the cables rattling against the masts in the boatyard, the people looking forward to enjoying their day on the passing yacht, the calling of sea birds and the waves of the wake splashing against the shore.

Choccy - July 2011

2011-08-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

During July I did some more work on series 2 of the Ob-Doc television show Choccy Woccy Doo Dah.

It's a great show to work on. All the characters are great fun to work with and the rest of the crew are hard working and professional.

During the month I we got to meet some great people, but I'm not going to spoil anything for you though.

The 2nd series is due to go out in October on the UKTV Good Food channel in October.

Looking In - Dr Voice

2011-05-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Back at the end of January I joined the LookingIn.co.uk Team to produce a series of location interviews. I worked on this project as location sound recordist.

There are still a few post-production tweaks to be made to both video and audio. But I have been given permission to give you guys a sneak preview of our first interview.

Presenting - Dr Voice:

Wow, I've been busy.

2011-05-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

Update

I've had a very busy past couple of months.

I began work on series 2 of Choccy Woccy Doo Dah, and Ob-Doc TV show around a Chocolate shop in Brighton. Unfortunately production has been suspended on the series. So lets hope it gets going again soon.

This week I have been working on a project with People Who Share on a Pilot episode for of a documentary show. We even got the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister earlier in the week. Muchly exciting.

Hoping to see alot more work over the summer. So I will keep you posted.

Regarding my podcast

Just a note to say that my Podcasts may be receiving some down time over the next couple of months. This is due to something out of my control.

I'll keep you up to date when they are up and running again.

Noisy Work Men

2011-03-02T11:33:00.001-08:00

I had to get up early this morning. Some maintenance work men coming to fix the door to my flat. At first they were making one hell of a racket, but then I remembered one of my first posts on this blog:"Goddamn Builders Making Noise at This Time of the Morning".

This inspired me to grab my microphone and capture the sound of them working. They were quite happy to co-operate in return for a cup of tea :)

Here is an sample from the recordings.

Forest Bird Song

2011-02-18T02:23:00.001-08:00

Recorded in the early morning in the country woodlands of East Sussex on England.

When you listen to this recording can you do me a favor? Can you turn away from your computer screen or stand up and walk to the other side of the room, maybe lay down for a couple of minutes. You can think about a loved one, imagine you are in the track or try and clear your head.

This is only a short track, but if you could take the time to leave me some of your thoughts and emotions whilst listening to this recording.

Can you picture yourself in the forest? Are you feeling relaxed? If there is something in the sound that is stopping you from relaxing please feel free to comment aswell, all feedback is welcome.

If you can leave your comments in the box below I would be most grateful. All comments are kept confidential.

Thank you.

Looking In - On Location Interviews

2011-02-08T06:52:00.002-08:00

I have recently started working with Ryan Mathie of Lookingin.co.uk.

Ryan has assembled a team to help him to produce a series of web videos for his website Looking In. Each video interviews an expert in the field of finding true happiness within yourself. A really inspiring and worthwhile project that has been great fun so far.

The first interview took place on 28th January 2011. The interviewee was Dr Voice who discussed how the use of breathing, voice, language, beliefs and physical activity can be used to raise your level of happiness.

Click here to find out more about Looking In and visit the website

The session began with a sit down interview between Ryan Mathie and the Doc. For this I used a couple of Lapel Microphones. We did consider using wireless lapels, however because the subjects remained static throughout the interview (and to keep to budget) we opted to have them hardwired into my FR2-LE.

We ended the session by heading outside into the street and picking a random member of public to interview and do some exercises with. For this section I opted for a single Sennheiser MKH 416 shotgun mic on the end of Boom pole. This was enough to move around all the speakers, whilst cutting out the noise of the city in the background.

For a first session with a new film crew who hadn't worked together before this project was a great success. I think I can say that everybody enjoyed it.

The video is currently in post production and will be available soon.

South Bank Skate Park

2011-01-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

I've been planning a new recording project recently. Whilst scouting some locations, I came across the Skate Park at South Bank on the Thames (near the London Eye (the big Ferris Wheel)).

Whilst going through my teenage years, I knew a lot of Skate Boarders and BMXers in my home town of Hastings. In fact, I still know a lot of them. I knew that this would be a good place to start recording.

It was a busy Sunday afternoon, and there must have been about twenty 16-25 year olds with their boards and BMXs, grinding the ramps and pulling ollies. Many individuals and families of all ages and backgrounds stopping to watch. It just shows that the sport can be enjoyed by everyone.

The sample is of the skateboarders rolling past in either direction, in the section with the concrete grind ramps.

Note to self: Bring your SLR camera with you in Future instead of the iPhone :)

The Gloomy Church Yard Bell

2011-01-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

Whilst looking for a late night recording session in early January, I remembered hearing the Church Bell of my local village going off late at night.

You can buy this sound recording for £1.50. You can use the sound in your films, videos or compositions. Just send me an e-mail with a copy of your receipt and I'll send you the license and a .wav copy of the file.

I parked up nearby and set up my equipment just outside the Grave Yard.

There were a few houses nearby, so I didn't want to make too much noise and raise suspicion that I was grave robbing or something equally as stupid.

Being around a grave yard at midnight can be a scary thing. At one point I turned around and saw two White Glowing things which appeared to be above ground level. Ghosts? That was my first thought aswell. No, they were infact Balloons left over from somebodies party.

Anyway, since I enjoyed making the Fog Horn video from last week, I thought I'd treat you to another Church Bell one.

I took the photo in the video on Christmas day whilst visiting some Christmas House Lights.

Lost in the Fog.

2010-12-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

It's been foggy for the past couple of days in South East Sussex.

So today I decided to take a trip down to Rye Harbour (again) to get a recording of the Fog Horn used to guide boats into the Harbour.

Here is a video containing one of the sounds I recorded and some images to show just how foggy it was.

You could cut that fog with a knife!

Lewes Bonfire 2010

2010-12-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to be part of a film crew attending Lewes Bonfire.

Lewes Bonfire is the largest Guy Fawkes Night celebration in the UK. The Lewesians take it very seriously. With 6 Bonfire Societies celebrating on the 5th of November, with 6 different Bonfires in different parts of the town.

We chose to follow the Cliffe Bonfire society, conducting interviews and collecting footage of the event.

This sample was made at the Bonfire event, between the lighting of the fire and the beginning of the fire works.

Lewes Bonfire - Cliffe Society Bishops by Audious

There were 3 Bishops on a podium (real people), with one of them reading something over a loud speaker. Whilst they were doing this members of the Cliffe society were throwing bangers AT them.

The whole event was amazing and chaotic. For me, this was the most memorable moment of the event.

Field Studies 2010.

2010-09-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

This last week I took part in a Field Studies Workshop being run by London Metropolitan University.

The course was designed to give people of all ages and backgrounds, from Architects to Musicians an opportunity to gain knowledge and hands on experience in using Field Recording equipment.

The students of the course was split into 3 groups, who were each given a number of listening exercises and theories, before identifying locations within the city which would have and interesting sound environment to study. The groups would gather recordings from their chosen location(s) and then compose these recordings into a composition to play to the rest of the workshop.

My group decided to study the Barbican. I personally took interest in the crowded area's including the Foyer, the general library and the Garden Canteen on the fourth floor. Here is a sample I made from the Foyer of the building.

Foyer of the Barbican by Audious

Over the 4 days we received lectures from all 3 of the tutors with an insight into the work they had done in the past. The Lecturers included John Drever, Marc Behrens and Justin Bennett.

The course was great fun and the information and experience that was gained over the 4 days was well worth the £150.

For more information on the course and the lecturers click here

Rye Town Ambiance Preview Mix

2010-08-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

As anyone who has been following this blog, my Twitter feed or the Audious Podcast will know that I have spent much of this summer working on Project capturing the Ambiance Sounds of a small coastal tourist town in the South East of England called Rye.

With this project nearing completion, I have compiled a Preview Mix of some of the Ambiances which will be available in the library.

Rye Town Ambiance Preview Mix by Audious

The Rye Town: A Coastal Tourist Town in South East England, Ambiance Sound Library will be available to purchase soon.

Keep checking back for more information.

An Early Morning Trip to the Marshes

2010-06-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

I stepped out of my house at around 4am this morning, and aimed for Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Having been tipped off a few weeks before hand that there were a number of Seasonal Birds around at this time of year, I thought maybe this would be an interesting place to try and capture a dawn chorus.

Not knowing what to expect, I was initially quite disappointed with what I heard. I could hear the dawn chorus starting, but I couldn't find any way to get close enough to any trees or bushes that were housing any wild life.

I carried on deeper into the reserve and could in the distance hear a raw which I, at first, passed off as the sound of the Sea in the distance. With the Raw getting louder I decided to explore further.

As I got closer I the sound was becoming more distinct, and the sky was beginning to lighten up enough for me to see what I was hearing. This certainly wasn't a flock of Seagulls... I think it could have been better described as a "swarm"!

There were thousands of them, all flying around in circles, squawking away in a constant dron

I havn't got around to cataloguing my recordings properly yet, but here is an example of what I heard.

Sea Bird Dawn Chorus by Audious

And here is another recording, I made earlier in my visit. This one is a bit calmer.

Dawn Chorus, Rye Harbour, Sea Gulls, Birds, humm from nearby houses by Audious

Children Always Play Up

2010-06-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

I was out recording in Rye, East Sussex on a hot summers day. A mum and daughter walked past my set up, and as they walked past the girl turned her head to my mic and did this.

Children always play up. by Audious

I smiled at the woman as she walked past. Im sure her daughter will be a radio start one day.

The Ancient Town of Rye.

2010-06-01T11:18:00.001-07:00

I recently made a visit to the Town of Rye, in East Sussex, England. As well as a busy town centre Rye boasts a number of cobbled high streets leading up to the church and a number of small rivers going throughout the town. This makes Rye a great location for tourists all across the world to visit.

I decided to make Rye the subject of my latest recording project. I spent my first afternoon walking around the town in both ancient and modern areas capturing sounds, and scouting locations for my next return.

It was a lovely sunny day, so there were plenty of tourists around, although sometimes the wind

got up a little bit causing some unwanted noise in nearby trees and bushes.

This project is set to continue. I aim to capture a vast array of different location sounds from the town, so watch out for more information on this project coming over next few weeks and months.

You can hear one of the recordings made during this visit by subscribing to the Audious Podcast (Episodes dated 1st and 7th June 2010).

Mobile Phone Vibrating Sound

2010-05-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Recently there has been a sound that I hear regularly in TV programmes, films and internet videos that keeps catching my attention when I hear it.

The Mobile Phone Vibration.

You can buy an MP3 version of this sound for £1. You are more than welcome to use it in your videos, films or compositions, just send me an e-mail or leave a comment and I'll send you a copy of the full license plus a .wav version.

Much like my version of it (above), it always sounds far too "boxy". It tends to catch me by surprise and pull me out of the program itself and makes me think for a second "Oh sweet, text message!" before the character on screen pulls out their mobile phone.

I created this boxiness by placing the mobile phone on top of a cardboard box and then place the microphone underneath it. This amplified the vibration.

Remember, calling a mobile phone will cause interference in the recording equipment. I actually recorded this by flicking on and off the vibrate switch on the phone.

This was a quick recording that I made, just to make a point. The cardboard box I used was quick beaten and battered. In another recording of this sound I would experiment with different boxes and chambers of different sizes and materials to see what would give a crispest sound.

Beside the River.

2010-05-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

Whilst driving around looking for interesting countryside sounds to record I came across a bridge down a lane.

The river was in a small valley, it was a long distance from the main road, so there was no traffic noise pollution. There was a lot of trees around and unfortunately, there was enough wind to be heard blowing in the trees.

I tried 3 positions when recording this sound. The first was to gather and all round image of the terrain. I placed the microphone about 3 metres away from the river, pointing towards it. The second recording was place at the same distance, but point in a parallel direction to the river.

With both of these recordings I found that the wind in the trees and the surrounding wild life were more prominent that the river itself. Unfortunately, the wind was not the most pleasant of sounds.

For the third attempt, I decided to change the perspective and get a close up recording of the river itself. So I moved the microphone as close as I could to the river, pointing it in the direction of the stream to get a good left to right stereo image.

You can listen to an example of this recording by subscribing to the Audious Podcast (Episode Dated 17th May 2010).

Alternatively, the sample is available for FREE to add to your sound library by downloading the FREE Audious Sound Sample Pack.

Audious Sound Design Podcast - Ambiance Series.

2010-05-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Series 3 of the Audious Podcast is now going live. Click Here for the iTunes link

This series is showcasing some of the Ambiance sounds that I have recently started recording.

The first episode showcases a recording made on Winchelsea Beach. For more information on this recording see a recent blog entry called "Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside" Number 2
The second episode showcases a recording made beside a country stream. For more information on this recording, see the blog entry called "Beside the River"
The third episode showcases a Outside SubUrban Ambiance made in a little village called Broad Oak (aka my back garden) in East Sussex, UK.
A bonus episode in this series, showcases a recording made recently in Rye, East Sussex. The recording is of a busy road in the town centre near a group of tourists.
The Fifth Episode returns to Rye, but to an area with less traffic and more tourists. It discusses the use of Walla.

To subscribe to the Audious Podcast Via iTunes: Click Here

To subscribe using another Podcatcher use the following Url:http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

FREE Audious Sample Pack 1.

2010-05-05T07:07:00.001-07:00

Audious Sound Design is pleased to announce the release of the first FREE Sample pack.

The sound recordings in the sample pack are completely royalty free, and you can add them to your sound effect library.

To download the FREE Audious Sample Pack, please fill out the following questionnaire:

"Oh I do like to be beside the sea side". Number 2

2010-04-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Back in January 2009 whilst recording sounds for the original Clover game, I paid a short visit to Winchelsea Beach, Near Rye in East Sussex to make a recording (Read the article here). This recording was Broadcast on BBC Southern Counties later that year during an interview with Daniel Jones from Binary Tweed.

Well, today I made my return to the beach to make a new recording. Because the original was recorded in Mono due to equipment restrictions and the file restrictions of the game. Now with my new Stereo recording equipment I felt it was a good time to make another take.

This recording was made at Mid-tide, whereas the original was Low-tide. It was slightly windier today, and the sea was rougher. There were a few people present, but everyone was respecful of the recording.

One person even approached to have a nose what I was doing at which point we realised we actually knew each other. What a small world.

Here is a clip of the recording.

Audious Sound Design Podcast - A Curious Tale Series - Episode 5

2010-03-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

The fifth episode of the A Curious Tale series of Audious Podcasts has just gone live.

This episode describes the creation of one of the games more complex sound effects, the Drawbridge.

To subscribe to the Audious Podcast Via iTunes: Click Here

To subscribe using another Podcatcher use the following Url: http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

I hope you're enjoying playing Clover: A Curious Tale.

If you have not played it yet, the game is available from Blitz 1-Up

Audious is growing up.

2010-03-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

This week saw the arrival of some new gear at Audious.

I've gotten my grubby little mitts on a brand new Fostex FR2-LE and a Rode NT4.

The Fostex FR2-LE, is a 2 track field recorder, which is not only used by a number of professional sound recordist and film studio's around the world. It is also used "out of this world", it is the chosen device for recording sound in outer space.

The Rode NT4, is stereo X/Y condenser microphone.

This combination is great for on-location recordings. I will be out and about over the coming months and years recording ambiances and sounds which I've previously been unable to collect. I have a growing list of places that I want to visit. This is great for film recordings and band recordings.

Expect another series of Podcasts to come soon after the current one finish's, with examples of the sounds that I have been out recording.

In the meantime, here a sample of the first recording that I made whilst playing around with this combination. Recorded in my backgarden in a suburban neighbourhood at around 5pm this evening, note rush hour traffic in the distance and nearby countryside birds.

Audious Sound Design - A Curious Tale - Podcast Episode 4

2010-03-22T10:41:00.001-07:00

The fourth episode of the A Curious Tale series of Audious Podcasts has just gone live.

This episode describes the creation of the Sound of Sam Rummaging through some broken glass.

To subscribe to the Audious Podcast Via iTunes: Click Here

To subscribe using another Podcatcher use the following Url: http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

I hope you're enjoying playing Clover: A Curious Tale.

If you have not played it yet, the game is available from Blitz 1-Up

Audious Sound Design - A Curious Tale - Podcast Episode 3

2010-03-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

The third episode of the A Curious Tale series of Audious Podcasts has just gone live.

This episode discusses the process in creating the final sound for the book drop sound effect.

To subscribe to the Audious Podcast Via iTunes: Click Here

To subscribe using another Podcatcher use the following Url: http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

I hope you're enjoying playing Clover: A Curious Tale.

If you have not played it yet, the game is available from Blitz 1-Up

Audious Sound Design - A Curious Tale - Podcast Episode 2

2010-03-08T08:01:00.001-08:00

The second episode of the A Curious Tale series of Audious Podcasts has just gone live.

This episode discusses some of the problems in making the Pocket Watch sound effect.

To subscribe to the Audious Podcast Via iTunes: Click Here

To subscribe using another Podcatcher use the following Url: http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

I hope you're enjoying playing Clover: A Curious Tale.

If you have not played it yet, the game is available from Blitz 1-Up

Audious Show Reel

2010-03-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

Here is an updated version of the Audious Showreel.

This showreel contains clips from Binary Tweeds and Blitz 1 Ups new release Clover: A Curious Tale.

Audious Sound Design - A Curious Tale - Podcast Episode 1

2010-03-01T02:04:00.000-08:00

Clover, A Curious Tale is now complete and due for release on Blitz 1-up Wednesday 3rd March 2010.

Clover has been an on-going project for Audious over the past year and a half, and to celebrate the games release we have recorded and new series of Podcasts.

The first episode showcases the Cobweb breaking sound effect from the game.

If you already subscribe to the podcast, it should automatically download the latest episode. If not you may need to update the subscription manually in your Podcatching software.

To set up a new subscription follow one of these links:

Using iTunes? Click Here

Using another Podcatcher? Use the following URL to subscribe: http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

If you have any problems setting up a subscription, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can with a solution.

For more information on Clover and Binary Tweed please check out the following links:

Binary Tweed

Clover - Blitz 1-up

Clover Round Up - Conclusion

2009-11-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a little while since the last part of the Clover Round Up. I promise you that the long wait has not been due to laziness (not 100% anyway). Shortly after writing the 3rd part in the series, I received word from Binary Tweed that there was to be a NEW version of Clover being commissioned by Blitz Games Ltd and Audious was to continue with the work on sound effects.

Having received this news at the start of summer I had hoped to start work on this straight away, so I delayed the Conclusion to this round up. A few months and short trip in the middle east later, I finally received the list of required sounds and work has started on them.

So, I guess it would be rather hard to conclude this work at this point, because we havnt actually finished worked on the game yet. It's nearly there tho.

Clover Round Up - Mixing The Sounds

2009-06-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

With the Audious Sound Design - Clover Podcast Series airing every Monday, it is now time we took a look at the third installment of the Clover Round Up.

In this part we shall discuss the mixing process used to create the complex sound effects that were identified in the previous installment. We shall continue to focus on the rock crumbling sound effect.

Lets identify the 2 parts of this sound:

The Pick Axe Strike - This is the attack of the sound

The Rock Crumbling - This is the decay of the sound.

As you heard in the example in the previous update, the Rock Crumbling sound effect was made from a number of different sound elements. Both parts are made up from more than one element. These sounds were imported into pro-tools and put into their own individual tracks as shown in the picture below.

The Pick Axe Strike was constructed from 2 different strike sound elements. One was a hammer striking a piece of wood, the other was the same hammer striking a stone. The two elements were carefully placed within the time line so that the strikes happened at the exact same moment. The two different tones would then combine to create a bigger sounding strike.

The positioning of each sound element for the Rock Crumbling part on the time line was also very important. I did not want any given moment to be over cluttered with sound, whilst another moment being empty. I also did not want to have too many attack peaks at any one time. The idea was to have a constantly rumbling decay where the rock falls apart. The use of Volume automation was great for fading in and out parts of the each sound element. This helped alot with achieving this goal.

For those who are not geared up on Sound Engineering Terminology, this is a fantastic feature in Pro-Tools that allows you to adjust levels such as Volume, Effects Mix, Left/Right Panning and many many more on the time line display. In the picture below the thick black line with the white dots on it is the automation line for volume.

Another sound was added to the mix which has not yet been mentioned. This is was a 60Hz sine wave which was trigger to play underneath the Rock Crumbling sound. The signal was placed very low in the mix because it was intended to compliment the rumbling effect.

Each part of the sound effect was mixed individually to help separate the sound as two different sound sources and then bounced down together to create the final effect.

Here you can here the sound effect as it appears in the game in this low quality sound example:

I also identified the drip sounds as another complex sound effect. However, unlike the rock crumbling sound effect, the drips were not constructed from several individually recorded sound elements. No, infact the only sound recorded for this effect was a dripping tap.

The sounds that you hear with in the game have had a number of layers of different reverb and delay effect. It was important to ensure that in this situation the reverb and delay times did not match to help to create the randomness of a large chamber or cave like atmosphere.

The next blog will bring my work on Clover to a conclusion. I'll outline some of the things that I have learnt from the project and tell a few stories of things that I got up to on the way. If you're lucky, maybe I'll even chuck in a couple more of my favourite sounds ;-)

As always, if you have any questions please leave a comment.

How to subscribe to the Audious Podcast in iTunes

2009-06-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Audious Podcast - Clover Series is now live.

If you want to listen to the feed just add this url into iTunes or your podcast tracking software:

http://www.podcastnetwork.co.uk/podcast/audious/audious.rss

To find my Podcast in iTunes follow these steps:

* Open iTunes

* Click on the drop down menu labelled Advanced and then click on Subscribe to Podcast...

* A little box will appear asking for the Podcasts Url. Copy and paste the url above into the box and click Okay.

Alternatively, you can search for 'Audious Sound Design' in the iTunes store or click here

If you need any help setting up the subscription with your podcast tracking software, just leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

All New Audious Podcast

2009-05-14T05:37:00.001-07:00

Hello Peeps.

Just a quick note to say that Audious have just finished recording a new series of Audious Podcasts.

This series will come to you in 5 1-2 minute parts. Each episode will contain 1 or 2 sounds with a short discussion. The series is being run to compliment the Clover Round Series of Blogs.

We're hoping to have the first episode live at some point soon. We'll keep to posted on when its out and how to find it.

Have fun and catchya laters :)

Clover Round Up - Creating the Sounds

2009-05-06T03:52:00.000-07:00

Whilst Clover is slowly working its way through the peer reviewing process I bring you the second part of the Clover Round Up.

In this part we shall cover the creation of some of the source sounds before they are built into the final effect.

Lets start by indentifying some of the basic sounds which were used in Clover:

Door Unlock

Newspaper

Footsteps

Seaside

I call the above 'basic' sounds because they were generally recorded and mixed in one layer. That means they were made with a single building block before mixing.

The 'Door Unlock' was simply a recording of a door being unlocked. For the 'Newspaper', I went out and bought a copy of The Times and rustled a few pages infront of the microphone. For the seaside, if you have read my previous blog (clicky) you would know that I took a nice cold January trip to the beach.

All of the above sounds were recorded using the same source as to what the sound itself was representing with in the game.

However, the footsteps were slightly different. Recording the sound of real footsteps did not work too well in this case. The result was not punchy enough. Instead I found close micing some fingernail tapping on hard and soft surfaces gave me the result I was looking for.

On a side note, this technique is certainly not universal for footstep recording. Due to the cartoonish nature in the artistic design of the game I felt that this was best.

Now lets discuss some of the more complex sounds that can be heard in Clover:

Bow and Arrow

Rock Crumbling

Waterfall

Drips

These sounds are 'complex' because they were not taken from a singular sound source, but rather constructed from a number of different sources. The drips used a slightly different technique of construction during the mixing and post-production stage, which will be discussed in the next update.

Since the bow and arrow was touched on in a previous blog (clicky), we shall take a closer look at the construction of the 'Rock Crumbling' sound effect.

I used a number of materials to make this sound which can be seen in this photograph.

The big rocks were used to represent larger rocks, the pegs were used to create smaller crumbling stones, the sand papers was used to create a gravel effect and the wooden slab was used as a hard surface.

In addition to these materials, a hammer was used to make an impact sound.

In this audio sample you can hear each of individual layers which were recorded. These are all just small samples of the each recording.

In the next blog update I will discuss the mixing and post-production process of creating these sounds. This will include how the sounds in the audio clip above were constructed to create the sound used with in the game.

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions in regards to this blog.

Clover Round Up. - My Role, My Gear

2009-03-20T04:13:00.001-07:00

As you know, for the past couple of months I've been slaving away on the sound track for Binary Tweed's Xbox Community Live Game Clover. So with the release of the game approaching quickly I think its only fair for me to write a series of short blogs about my role in the creation the game, the obsticles that I came up against and most of all what I have learnt from the project.

The blog will be written in 4 parts and (hopefully) be published in full over the next few weeks. The 4 parts will be as follow's:

1) My Role, My Gear. This will outline what I was asked to do, and what I ended up doing, and will give a brief over view on what I had to work with.

2) Creating the Sounds. This will discuss the actual recording process and talk about some of the sound sources that I used. (Expect sound samples here :D)

3) Mixing the Sounds. This will discuss how I used the power of digital editing software to mix the sounds to create new sounds. (Expect more Samples)

4) The Conclusion. This will round up what I've done, and discuss what I have learnt. I will also

try and answer any of the questions that I have been asked upto this point, and I do encourage you to ask questions :)

As with all of my blogs, I don't intend to go into too much depth about how things were done. I like to keep things easy reading for those who know nothing about the subject, and I don't really want to bore the professionals with things that they already know. Now thats over with, on with the first part.

Part 1: My Role, My Gear

Okay, lets start at the very beginning. Last year I whilst working at a Studio in London I had to opportunity to hook up with an old school buddy called Deej (Daniel Jones). Having not properly seen each other for years we had discussed what we had been upto and what we were looking to do in the future. Deej had brought up the subject of Microsoft XNA Games Studio, which was something I had read about in the past, but wasn't 'geeky' enough to start coding out a fun game. A few months later, I gave Deej a call to see if he was planning on attending Reading Festival and mentioned that he now had a bit more freetime and planned to start work on straight away on a game. Being the salesman I am straight away jumped in and said "Well if you need any sound effects, you know where to come". A few months down the line, once the game was starting to get somewhere, Deej knew exactly where to come.

I was asked to provide spot and ambience sound effects. The music for the game was to be created by another old school friend of ours (and former band mate) Chris Chillingworth. I think the guys had the right idea from the start with the music, however I certainly contributed my opinion where I saw fit and the end result I think it turned out to be really good. Deej and Mr Chilli were also down to provide the vocal effects for character jumps and talking etc. These vocals were then sent to me to try and clean them up and mix them so that they fell behind the music.

So anyway, Deej e-mailed me a list of sounds that he thought would fit into the game with a short description of what they may be used for with in the game. I should note now, that in the past I have had an image, an animation or a video clip to work with when creating soundtracks. This is the first time I have had to use my imagination 100% as to the image that I working with.

On such a small budget project, I was unfortunately struck down with only having access to my bedroom studio to work in. Luckily, a good friend of mine Danny Jefferies allowed me to borrow his laptop for a couple outside recording sessions, such as the Sea Shore Waves (see previous blog). Other than that I had to work with what I could either make myself or use online libraries. The free libraries where possible, but there was a few cases where I had to splash out and pay for some effects (this reminds me, Deej you still owe my £20 for these). Most of these effects were not too much of an issue, but in the case of Tropical Birds there was no way I would be able to record in my bedroom, and Deej was quite unwilling to cough up the dough so I could go to the Caribbean to record my own.

Just for the record, my home studio is made up of an Digi-Design MBox 2, running Pro-Tools 7 on a battered up noisy old PC. Im using a Rode NT2-A Microphone, certainly not the best mic for the job but I think its done quite well considering.

This I believe brings the first blog in this series to an end. Next I'll be moving on to some of the recording sessions, and discuss what I used as sound sources. This should be a fun one. Please feel free to comment and ask questions along the way.

Just a quick note.

2009-02-05T13:03:00.001-08:00

Heya, not much of an update today. I just wanted to say that we got a mention on the Binary Tweed blog a couple of days ago, as a bit of feed back from the sound effects that I sent off.

Click here to read the entry.

Clover Update.

2009-02-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Heya guys.

I have been busy working away on Clover for Binary Tweed (see last blog), for the past few weeks and have been having a great deal of fun doing so. When I finished University all I wanted to do was work making sound effects for computer games, and this happens to be my first assignment. As you can imagine I am very excited about this project, and I am not the only one. The game itself has been receiving alot of online press. You just need to search google to see that - Click Here

Anyway, onto the sounds that I have been working on for the project. Last time I wrote a blog I had just spent the day on the beach recording the sound of waves. I still remember that bitterly cold day as if it were yesturday (on a side note yesturday the UK received the worst snow for 18years, see my other blog for more details Click). Since that day I have been working largely on the incidental sounds for the project. I have had to supply the sounds of door locks, knocking on doors, crumbling rocks and shaking bushes. However, I think the most fun samples to make were the ones which required the most post editing work. The arrow effects in particular are made up of a number of different recorded sounds constructively added together to create a sound effect. Here is a sample of an arrow effect I made especially for this blog (Note: This sound does not appear in the game, however a very similar one using the same technique does).

You may be able to hear the elements of what made up the sound effect are actually quite simple. See if you can try and work out what I recorded to make the sounds and if you think you can, leave us a comment saying what you think they are.

**
As a final note, I am sorry to say that I have decided to add a low level of background noise to all future sounds clips uploaded to the blog. If you ever want a clean copy of the sound please do not hesitate to contact me and we'll sort something out.

"Oh I do like to be beside the sea side"

2009-01-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all.

Towards the end of 2008 I received a couple of new projects to start work on. One, which I am going to tell you about is for a Xbox Live Community Game that is being developed by Binary Tweed.

I have been asked to provide a number of sounds and ambiences for the project. I do have option to access number of sound libraries from which I can download sounds from. However, being the self respecting sound recording artist that I am, I intend to record as many of these effects myself as I can. However, since my employers where only able to donate a broken toe

nail that they found down the back of their sofa to the cost of the flight out to the caribean to record the tropical bird ambiences, I may have to resort to using them for one or two.

However, there are many sounds on the list which are readily available for me to record and some of which I already have in my library. Take for example the sound of the sea shore waves. If you don't know this already, I am from a small sea side town called Hastings on the South Coast of Great Britain. There is plenty of water around me. So I took a drive out to a quite spot in a small area called Winchelsea set up my gear and pressed record. I got a good capture, the sea was calm and there were very few sea gulls around to squark and crap on my gear and being the middle of January there wasn't any screaming kids around either.

I'll keep you up to date with how this project is going, and if you're lucky you might get a podcast out of it :D

Problems are a good way to learn.

2008-10-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hi all.

It seems theres a little problem with last weeks Podcast update. Although the file itself is there, iTunes doesn't seem to want to download it. My assumption is that it may be a problem with the RSS script. I am going to have a look into it over the next couple of days and hopefully get it up and running properly.

I'll give you an update when its ready.

In the meantime, have fun :)

Update Coming.

2008-09-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hello guys,

My apologies for a lack of an update last week. I was bed ridden with Flu :(

Just a quick note you say I havn't forgotten about this. I've just finished recording this weeks Podcast and will get on with editting and mixing it. It will most likely be up tomorrow since I have been called into work tonight.

In the meantime, I am going to leave you with this sample. See if you can guess what the source of this sample was and how I went about recording it. Leave us a comment with your thoughts.

Podcasting Part Deux

2008-09-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

Hi all.

Well I've been working hard on getting an Podcast ready for broadcasting. All is up and running now so if you log onto iTunes and search for 'Audious Sound Design' you'll be able to subscribe to it from there.

I have learnt quite abit from getting this up and running. Firstly, my Microphone technique really sucks. It needs alot of work. Alot of work! I was forever moving towards and away from the microphone making it a pain for me to maintain a nice balance. Although I think I got there in the end.

Plans for the future with it. I want to compose a piece of music to introduce the podcast and maybe incorporate a few more sound effects into each episode.

Anyway, give it a listen and let us know how what you think.

Podcasting

2008-09-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Just a small update to let you know what I've been up to.

A friend of mine suggested the other day an idea for a Podcast we could work on together. I have not ever done a Podcast before, but has crossed my mind quite alot over the past few weeks to set one up. So I got down last night and started trying to figure out how to do things and how to get a feed running through iTunes.

Well I had success with the help of a couple of online guides: This one and this one.

If you want to listen to my feed just add this url into iTunes: www.audious.co.uk/podcast/MyPodcast.rss

To find my Podcast in iTunes do the following steps:

* Load iTunes

* Click on the menu called Advanced and then click on Subscribe to Podcast...

* A little box will appear asking for the Podcasts Url. Copy and paste the url above into the box and click Okay.

Don't expect to hear anything special from this feed. This was just a little tester that I carried out. I didn't even edit the dialog.

Hopefully for next weeks update I'll have a fully functioning episode for you.

The DJ saved my life

2008-08-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

This week, I've not had alot of opportunity to be out recording sound effects. But instead I've been getting my head around new pieces of audio software. I've actually spent quite alot of time playing around with Ableton Live 7 (get a demo by clicking here). Its quite an fun and easy piece of software to use, and its quite different to what I have used in the past.

Anyway, I got my first little project completed last night. It was simple a remix of 'On the Ragga Tip' by SL2 cut with a few random samples and the famous Amen Breakbeat taken from 'Amen, Brother' by the Winstons (starts at about 1:44).

Stepping aside from my future as a star DJ touring the world (believe me, you dont wanna hear the remix), the 'Amen, Brother' breakbeat has quite an interesting history behind it. It started life as a B-Side to a single, and is now hailed by many as 'the beginning' of such genres as Hip-Hop, Jungle and Drum and Bass.

Nate Harrison made a nice video all about this beat. Its nearly 18minutes and gives an interesting insight into its History. Watch the video by clicking here.

Spring erm... Summer Cleaning

2008-08-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

I don't think anyone can emphasis enough how important it is to keep your set up clean and tidy. So, I've been having a bit of a clean up on the old computer system. I went for a full on format and reinstallated the operating system. I then put my full sound library back and a few old projects on the new formatted hard drives.

The purpose? Well, to get my system running abit faster and smoother is the obvious answer. The fact that I hadnt done a full format in about a year was another reason. But, is also a opportunity to backup my work. Don't get me wrong, I back up everything I do religiously as and when I do it. But I, like many others, have been in the situation where our back ups hard drives/dvds/whatever have decided to break or stop working... at the wrong time. So as a general rule, I like to try and keep everything backed up twice now. Although the first back up is the priority, I like to make sure I have 2 working copies of my work whenever I update or reinstall my system.

Though, I guess you all know this already. So I'll leave you for now with a little sound I discovered whilst going through these backups... one that I had left uncatalogued *gasp*.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Sellotape.

Bang Bang.

2008-08-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

Heya guys.

I may have spoken to some people (in RL) about this before. A few weeks ago I was chatting to a friend of mine, telling them about the recording I do and projects I've been working on.

He turned around to me and said, "Hey, you know I have a gun license and a collection of about 8 or 9 guns. We should go out shooting one day and record the sounds of them".

"$.$ Lets get straight on it" I said. So since that day, we've been busying trying to arrange equipment and a location. We're currently just waiting on a date that we can do it, so I can book all the equipment that we'll be using.

Ofcourse, I will let you all know how the recording goes. But in the meantime, here is an interesting article I stumbled across whilst researching the project.

Clicky Here

"Goddamn Builders Making Noise at This Time of the Morning"

2008-08-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

We've all been woken up in the morning by the sound of Construction work. I can remember one time when we were woken up at 6 o'clock in the morning by a group of men putting up scaffolding, they were singing and shouting and quite rightfully didnt consider anyone who might have been trying to sleep in flats which they were working on. After all, they have to be up at that time of the morning, why shouldn't we?. I also remember when I lived in Leicester, just off the Narb, they were working on a junction through the middle of the night, this was painfully noisey, and I didnt get alot of sleep over those weeks.

This morning was another one of those days. I moved out to the middle of nowhere for the peace and quiet of the town centers so that I can get good recording from any point in my non-accoustically treated house with no major background noise ruining the recording. But yet they still found a way to strike.

It seems that a nearby household has decided to have their driveway resurfaced. Which meant at 7 o'clock this morning out came the drills and the electric saws to tear up the old surface. But something tweaked and stopped me going out and yelling "Do you know what time this is!". Instead, I decided to get out the recording gear and see what samples I can get. The builders didnt seem to mind too much that I was poking a microphone at them. They did however give me a few dodgey looks, one even shouted "Action".

I managed to capture a few good perspectives, from inside my house to being right up close to the machinery. Here's a sample of taken from one of the first recording I made, you can hear the drill and a bit of engine noise, with a bit of chatter.

2008-08-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

Just Stumbled across this video by www.soundeffectsbible.com. They go out and record themselves smashing up a car. Its good fun to watch :)

If you like the video, make sure you visit their Youtube page at http://www.youtube.com/SFXBible

2008-08-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Welcome to the Audious Sound Blog. My name is Owen. I shall be spamming you with features on recording projects that I undertake, random sound samples and links to related articles that I find interesting.

So to start things off, here is a sound sample of a Toilet Flushing.