Hello there 2011, we are back for some more. If I'm not wrong (the camera moves a bit hectically so I'm not 100% sure), the room that Matthew Wood shows, used to be the sound designer room mainly used by Gary Rydstrom and later on by Randy Thom.
There is little to be learned from this, but it is always neat to catch a fresh glimpse from the ranch and the great people that work there.
More news and info regarding Skywalker Sound: The latest Spencer Brewer album "Cinematic" was recorded at the scoring stage, and one song in particular was written in it, called "The Walls that Move" inspired by the actual moving walls in the stage (which can provide natural reverb). It was released on July 15 this year.
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One of EA's latest games Dead Space, had it's score recorded at Skywalker Sound. The score features over three hours of music (composed by Jason Graves) recorded during two different recording sessions. In the first session Graves conducted sixty musicians of the acclaimed Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra at the Bastyr Chapel in Seattle, and a year later Graves conducted sixty players of the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and twenty voice choir at the world famous Skywalker Sound Scoring Stage. During both sessions, co-produced by Jason Graves and Rod Abernethy, the orchestra was recorded individually by section (woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings) with multiple dynamic levels and variations to be implemented as adaptive layers of music in the game. EA’s audio team designed the music system to be multi-layered so the music could be mixed at run-time based on gameplay and situation. Read the whole press release HERE. Dead Space was released on October 14.
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Nice interview with Dustin Cawood, an assistent sound designer and sound effects supervisor at Skywalker Sound. Read HERE.
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The new Star Wars: The Clone Wars tv series has recently begun screening on Cartoon Network. Here is a nice behind the scenes video from MovieBeat:
This month's cover of Mix Magazine has Skywalker Sound' Scoring Stage all over it (those beautiful diffusers aren't hard to recognize). I would like to start by pointing out that the Skywalker Sound HQ is actually called Technical Building and not "Technology Building" as it is in the article). Other than that minor detail, it is an interesting read. Of course it features the amazing Leslie Ann Jones, head of the Scoring Stage and overall genius. This article informed me about a couple of things I didn't knew:
* They switched digital recording from Euphonix R1 to ProTools HD * They are recording a considerable number of videogame scores. * They are having a BIT of a hard time filling the studio (at least compared to .... say... Abbey Road)
"Over lunch on the back porch of the ranch's white-clapboard Victorian mansion-style Main House, the studio's director of scoring and music recording (not to mention record producer and Grammy-winning engineer), Leslie Ann Jones, notes that it is exactly that sort of diversification that has kept her studio busy: film and game scores, major- and indie-label work, classical and rock music, local and national talent."
