week 2 – guest talk
This session we are priviledged to welcome Pete Smith who is coming to show some of his work, discuss his experiences as a field recordist in Scotland. Take a look at the work below and post two questions or discussion areas by 2pm Wednesday in response to what you see and hear.
Show reels
www.thesoundspace.co.uk/showreel/
www.thesoundspace.co.uk/wildlife/
Work with sound artist Hanna Tuulikki
Work with film maker Margaret Salmon
Collaboration with film maker John Duncan
1. Your recordings have exceptional depth and clarity. How do you achieve this and minimise the noise floor in your recordings?
2. What has been your most challenging recording session?
a) How do you manage to record such stable and clean sound of those wildlives? I suppose they move and run now and then.
b) What is the order of your sound recording and the films/videos? Do you record those sound in advance and keep them in storage? Or do you view the films/videos first, have an interpretation and then go recording?
1.) What has been the most challenging environments/situations you had to location record in? and what did you discover the main solution(s) was to tackle it? (e.g. more equipment or assistance? dubbing?)
2.) From one of your showreels, Cuckoo Island really stuck out to me as a really interesting and creative sound, what was your process behind doing the sound for that project? was it recorded on location?
1) The wildlife recordings sound incredibly close, is that through actual proximity to the subject or through specialist equipment? If it’s through proximity how did you manage to get that close without spooking the subject?
2) How do you deal with Scottish weather? How do you protect your gear in the event the weather suddenly takes a turn?
1. Your Nordic Nature sound library is stated to have been recorded over a three year period. Was this all planned, or did the library come together more organically and spontaneously over the three year period?
2. How portable is your average set up? Is there anything you wish you could improve or change about it? Or does this change from project to project?
1) what is your go-to criteria when choosing your field set-up?
2) What does your post-production workflow look like?
A) The clarity of your recordings is amazing. Do you have any tips or tricks on how to get as close to the action as possible so you can get the best sounding recording? without scaring any of the wildlife.
B) What is your go-to microphone and field recorder for a session? and do you have a favourite recording technique when you are out in the field?
Very impressive and exciting work. Thanks for sharing it with us.
In the short film Ancient Scotland, how did you create the sound of the clouds at 00:40 and on?