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Mixing audio
 
It’s been seventy-five years since audiences first heard Al Jolson's "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You ain't heard nothin' yet!" in the first talkie, The Jazz Singer. Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Metropolis, and D.W. Griffith have managed to stick in our psyches, but most other silent films have faded into obscurity.

When we watch a video, we generally listen to an audio at the same time. A big difference between professionally produced presentations and all of the others is the quality (or even presence) of a sound track. Without a background in audio recording and production, we seldom give sound a second thought—unless it’s missing or lousy.

On a recent assignment for U.S. Energy, Mark Padak added audio to a synchronized slide/sound presentation. The process is fascinating. Mark began by discussing the script and choice of voice talent with president of U.S. Energy, Douglas Walch. Mark then spent several hours with announcer Dan Kelley at Chameleon Communications’ studio to record the audio. Mark and Dan worked together to be certain the tone and emphasis were correct to convey the mood and feeling of the presentation.

Next, working back in our studios, Mark selected production music and sound effects to round out the presentation. That's a very cool part of the process. In order to comply with copyright law, all sounds used in commercial presentations must be properly licensed—royalties must be paid to the owners of the copyrights, lest our clients and we be sued. That would be lousy for business, so we license professional production music libraries to keep everyone happy. The libraries contain thousands of clips of varying lengths, categorized by mood, style, instrumentation, and so on.

It’s odd to walk past the studio when Mark is selecting music—it’s kind of like having a sound track to your life. The trick is to select sound that sets a mood without drawing attention to itself. Mark’s good at it. The U. S. Energy presentation called for sound effects too—a train, a jet, and a space shuttle launch come to mind. We had them all, and they fit right in. (Just so you know, it’s even weirder walking by the studio when sound effects are happening—Mark is relentless. I’m thinking of asking him to put something together for my next party.)

The last stage of the production is the preparation of final mixed audio; narration, production music, and sound effects have to be combined. The mixing is all done digitally. The digital process allows the producer to adjust the timing and queues precisely—sounds show up where they belong and stop when they should. The sound is then balanced and equalized so the message gets through (that’s really the point, after all). In the case of a slide/sound presentation, like the one I’ve described here, the only thing that remains to be done is transfer of the presentation to cassette for the final synchronization to the visuals.

We’ll be glad to give you a hand with your next production. the Campos Group can provide full service audio and video production the next time you want to tell your story. Contact me (716.837.1016 x285) or George (716.837.1016 x294) by phone or email and let us discuss your project.

Denny Atkinson

September 5, 2002

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