Preparing for World War 1

Prepping up for 5 days of World War 1 Feet Foley starting tomorrow - mud. building debris and the epic struggle of war!!! Bring it on!!!

Sayonara PP....

Mr J.Bruce departs our shores this afternoon, in search of Foley, fortune and Otto von Shirach in the concrete jungles of Los Angeles. Take care out there mate, have lots of fun and can't wait to hear about your adventures in sound!!! Pass cEvin my regards too eh:)

V48Hr Film Fest 2013: Location Sound & Foley for team Club Palermo

Club Palermo contacted me this year and asked if I'd assist in the Sound Dept for their short film.
They got 'Immobilized' as a theme and spent friday night scripting a Hitchcock type thriller of a woman trapped inside a house. We met up on Saturday and headed out to Dr John's beautiful old style home on the Shore, which provided the perfect backdrop for the film.
I spent the day on location sound, capturing what I could in the confines of the house and also managing to sample odds and ends, such as creaky old rocking chairs, doors and ladders for use later on.
Shooting wrapped around midnight and after a few hours sleep, I headed into the studios to assist Marcel in soundscaping and the Foley work. We spent the day tailoring the sound as the other half the team started the B/W processing on the footage. The end result was pretty cool given the time restraints!!
It was a great project to be involved with and a huge thanks to Marcel for the invitation, and to Dr John and Bess for their awesome hospitality and the use of their amazing home.

Setting up for the first shoot of the day upstairs

Close up's for the lead actress

Checking levels for the stairwell scene

A very tired team in Post Production sunday afternoon

A rainy day's Foley

After Guild plans to visit the Abandoned Freezing works fell through today, due to change in property managers, and me being all hyped up to record, it was time to do some Foley takes in the basement whilst the house was empty. Factory/construction/industrial type sounds were the go today and will form the basis of a sound backdrop for the intro to a track for a local band.
Big thanks to Drew for the lend of the Blofeld to enhance the atmosphere of the intro as well - dam thats a mean little synth!!

Guild Field Recording Day

The Masters of Foley Guild arranged an impromptu day of field recording on Sunday.
Armed with 3 recording kits and a few location ideas heading from Ellerslie up to Red Beach, we embarked on a great day of recording!! J.Bruce led the intrepid journey, assisted by A.Barber,
G.Van Niekerk and myself.
Firstly we stopped in Birkenhead to visit an old Punker with a serious WW1 and 2 rifle collection.
He is so passionate about his guns and gave us great histories of each for accurate sound usage and also an amazing array of rifle sounds - bolt actions, loading, shell ejecting, magazine loading and general handling just to name a few.
Next up was Red Beach and some feet in wet sand, general ocean noise and some water to add to the library. Suburban recordings were also taken in Red Beach, including general neighborhood ambience, creaky stairs and the inner workings of a car.
Finally, to wrap up a great day, an undercover Supermarket ambience record and out to the forest for ambience and car exterior.

It was a wicked day out and about and we came home with some great new sounds for our libraries.

Rifles actually used in WW1 and 2

The assortment of vintage rifles and shell casings

Chris Bass and J.Bruce capturing the rifle handling

Army Helmet Handling

The sounds of water dripping

Mud Feet

G.Van Niekerk recording the ambience

A.Barber, myself and G.Van Niekerk perspective shot

J.Bruce and A.Barber ocean bound

Abandoned Freezing work on the East Coast

As we were heading to Gisborne for a long weekend, I threw in my Field kit and headed out to this awesome site on the outskirts of Ormond. Long since abandoned, earthquake damaged and also an alleged drug storage area for one of Gisborne's more notorious dealers decades earlier,  these picturesque ruins contained some nice derelict items under the main structure. Motors, shelves of tools, a truck cab and an old furnace all provided for great recording, focusing mainly on scrapes and strikes, and allowing the concrete structure to provide some very nice natural reverb. Next time I'll take a rifle to scare off the noisy magpies!

Some light Winter reading...

As the weather grows cooler, its always good to curl up with a good book or two...