AV News 175 - February 2009
Gordon Gray FRPS
Howard and Suzanne visit Ireland, 31 Oct - 4 November 2008
SOUND WITHOUT FURY
To be geographically accurate, they came to 'Northern Ireland', but in
photographic terms 'Ireland'; for our title is The RPS AV Group (Ireland) and
our members do in fact come from as far apart as Ballycastle, Enniskillen,
Bangor, the Greater Dublin area, and even farther south. From its beginnings
twenty years ago the Group has been an all-Ireland, cross-community
Group, transcending historic divisions through our common interest in AV.
Of late our workshop days have focussed on
the 'audio' dimension, partly of necessity, since
that's where a majority of our members seem to
be struggling; partly to prepare ourselves to
take maximum advantage from the much
anticipated visit of Howard Gregory and
Suzanne Walker and their 'Sound Recording &
Soundtrack Production Dayschool'. Wilmslow
Guild and other groups have already had the
benefit of their highly professional programme.
We advertised the Workshop Day throughout
the Clubs of the Northern Ireland Photographic
Association and the N.I. Camcorder Club with a
question "Problems with your Sound?
As though many AV workers, not least those still making the transition from
slide to digital haven't enough problems with PTE and Photoshop, Sound
production too often ratchets up frustration to fury!. Here was the chance
even for those with considerable competence to learn from genuine experts.
So on Saturday 1 November an expectant audience from North and South
gathered in Lisburn, ten miles south-west of Belfast.
Since it would be impossible to do justice to the presentation as a whole I
will confine myself to relaying some points that I particularly noted, partly with
reference to my own stage of development in digital sound :use the introductory music – or sound effects on their own -- to create
the mood or convey the theme and set the pace of a sequence.
“Think ‘sequence’ from the beginning’
“every technique you’ve learned in all your years in photography has its
equivalent in audio” especially in digital, and is as important for the
production of an audio-visual sequence
learn to listen objectively (and ultimately through speakers, not just
headphones) just as we once had to learn how to look at a picture
music should be around 30db below speech
“Think before you click!” AV is an artistic medium, intended to tell a story,
to interest and to entertain, and not merely a technical exercise
“Never use an effect (audio or visual) just “because you can”
Page 32