Here is where lucky moi got to spend the better part of my day: sitting in a sound studio working on an amazing audio description project with some pretty fantastic people.
As our sound engineer fiddled with the dials and knobs and sliders, the producer (via phone patch from Toronto), the voice actor (in the booth) and I mused.... Just what is it that makes a sound studio such a fantastic place to be?
Well, first of all, it's quiet. There is no extraneous noise. You can't hear the traffic outdoors, or the ventilation indoors. There are no footsteps (unless the sound person makes it so). Because there are no hard, flat surfaces in the room (which is full of odd angles and fabric covered bits), sound doesn't bounce around like a ping pong ball. Rather, it rolls out through the speakers, hangs around long enough to be understood, and then evaporates. A sound studio is dark. Like a womb, we decided. The lighting is usually nice and dim and the temperature is regulated so that it's neither freezing cold nor boiling hot. A sound studio feels like someone has pulled the "calm blanket" over life for a few hours. It's kind of like yoga for the ears (only without the mats and the Lululemon and the bendy people.) Golly, I love it.
Posts
Oh please please PLEASE can we switch jobs?
ReplyDelete*sigh*
That sounds like bliss...
Awww Bunkle. I wish I could scoop you up and bring you along.....
ReplyDeleteamen to that. i can still remember the first time i stepped into a studio in 1972 and was live on air (my job audition) reading 'community notes' in dauphin manitoba. i got the job, and still get the same thrill walking into a studio or sitting down with a mic and a (mixing) board.
ReplyDeletethey don't *all* look as pretty as the one you're in, and some smell quite bad - but who cares - its a place where magic happens.
and t. anytime you really want to drive mr. man around the bend, just lean in close, and whisper ... STAND BY.
Hey bigsnit, 'tis true that I got to spend time in a rather pretty studio the other day! But like you, I've spent my fair share of time in the less than pretty ones! One thing's for sure: you are absolutely right - no matter how dingy they are, they are still magical.
ReplyDelete