Brown Blog Films

“Ooh, pretty swanky”…..

“That’s a whole heap of shiny buttons”…..

No, they weren’t talking to me…….instead they were commenting on Brown Bag’s new audio suite which has undergone a bit of a revolution. As you’ve probably gathered from our blog, the last 14 months has been pretty full-on getting Olivia, Noddy in Toyland and a smattering of commercials through post production, so this past month has been a welcome bit of downtime. We had taken our previous audio system as far as we could so it was time to move up in the digital world.

One of the major changes was to equip the studio with 5.1 surround sound. Previously we have only ever been asked to work in stereo but it’s a sign of the times that even pre-school TV is beginning to require a 5.1 mix. To be honest, I’m partially questioning the need for 5.1 in pre-school TV, BUT with the boom in Dolby capable DVD/Blu Ray sales, the fact that nearly every animation feature gets released in 3D and the fact 3D TV is peaking its head over the horizon (from the promising to the downright gimmicky!), I guess the 3D perspective that surround sound gives you is likely to become very important.

Now I’ll freely admit to being a tech head but I’m pretty good with gear envy so we haven’t gone crazy (unlike this guy….)

The guys over at Big Bear Sound installed lots of flashing buttons including…..

• Pro Tools HD2 system with Sync HD
• ICON D-Command control surface
• Genelec 5.1 Monitoring System
• Avid Mojo SDI
• Focusrite ISA428 preamps
• A whole heap of sound proofing including a new wall between me and the Smoke suite and a big new door (Woohoo, won’t be able to hear Theresa from the Production office anymore….)
• A few licks of paint (colour palette thanks to David McCamley – you might think he’s a bit odd after his Day in the Life Directing Noddy and he has a funny sense of style but he does know his colours…)
• New carpet and a brand new layout (thanks to our own Head of Post Production Carpenter/Carpet layer Brian Gilmore…)
• A seat in the corner for when my Mum comes to visit…….

Now I thought I might clarify a few things regarding what this system can do differently (Brown Bag installed a Autodesk Smoke system awhile back but no one really understood what it did differently, bar the fact it was “better/really cool”!!)

My old 002 unit was a bit like an all-in-one box that did a fair bit of what the new system can do, but everything is taken to a whole new level (OK OK, you could say its “better/cooler”!). So…

• The HD hardware gives you 3 main advantages : It has dedicated DSP chips for plugin processing, it has better signal converters and it allows you to sync with other machines such as tape decks so Shane can stop hassling me for audio stems……I can just play them out when i’m ready!
• The D-Command control surface brings a whole lot more of the Pro Tools software to your fingertips so there’s less clicking about in menus etc. All those hours learning keyboard short cuts…..oh well…
• 5.1 Monitoring – its a bit like stereo but with 3 extra speakers so i can pretty much put any sound in any corner of the room. Oh and if we ever require earth pounding explosions in pre-school animation, hello Mr Subwoofer – he’s not big but he sure is heavy…
• The Avid Mojo acts as a dedicated video converter so we can show near HD quality video, no more apologising for the low res picture then…..
• Focusrite microphone pre amps are just like the pres in the 002, but a whole lot more flexible and better sounding

So here’s a little photo montage to show just how far our little room has come. In an animation company the audio never gets to show off so this our moment!!!  Enjoy…..