News and Updates

Hello there! It would seem that Skywalker Sound wasn’t lucky on this years Oscars, but that doesn’t mean their work was anything other than awesome.

Let’s bright up things with some news.
 
Today it was announced that Randy Thom will be doing a keynote speech on this year’s SIGGRAPH.
SIGGRAPH is known as one of the most important events in which advances in computer graphics technology are showcased. This year however they decided to take on a much broader direction and include sound in the picture as well.
Here is a video of what to expect for the 2009 event:

The conference will occur 3-7 August and the exhibition from 4-6.
We will post the exact date and time of Randy’s keynote address as soon as we know.

Read the press release.
Learn more about SIGGRAPH.

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A new album recorded at the wonderful Scoring Stage was relesed on January 27. Zuill Bailey – Russian Masterpieces for Cello and Orchestra. With compositions by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. It really sounds quite intimate and close. It was engineered, edited, produced and mastered by Adam Abeshouse.
Here is a sample of the album:


And Zuill Bailey talking about it:

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Another album relesed around the same time, and also recorded at Skywalker Sound is Tim Gorman’s Cowboy. Do I need to tell you it sounds very nice? No, I don’t. Listen for yourself:

And while we are at it, here is some songwriting advice from Tim himself:

And that’s all for today. See you soon with more!

Catching Up

Hi there, it's been a while. I've been a bit busy with work and many own projects, but I'll try to post more often. 

So, a bit of news and stuff I've been gathering lately:

Last August an album recorded at Skywalker Sound' Scoring Stage was released. Thinking About Bix by Dick Hyman.
A HDCD recorded by Keith O. "Prof" Johnson using custom-made mikes and equipment. I've listened to some of it at Amazon, and it sounds delightful. Musical-wise it's the kind of jazz I sometimes need.

Matthew Wood and David Acord, the gentlemen responsible for the mix of Star Wars: Clone Wars, were recently interviewed at CW31. Pretty great to see sound designers and re-recording mixers on tv!

Now to Ben Burtt being interviewed by The Christian Science Monitor about sound design as an art form.

Sennheiser/Neumann's Mike Pappas gave a recording seminar recently at the Scoring Stage. You can read all about it HERE.

The debut album of Court Mast, called Sausalito Summer, was also recorded at Skywalker Sound, and released on July 29. You can read about it HERE and preview it/download it HERE.

TimesOnline visited what they call "Star Wars HQ", which is actually Industrial, Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. About our beloved place they say:
"Over the hills and far away... well, about a 45 minute drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, way up into Marin County, Lucas' reknowned Skywalker Sound is housed in the grounds of Skywalker Ranch. It's a beautiful spot. Made all the nicer by enjoying a glass of the locally produced organic wine. Okay, maybe two glasses. Fine, I'll have the bottle. The plantation-style building overlooks Ewok Lake (no, really) and there are AT-ATs patrolling the area. Ok, maybe no AT-AT's but there are other, more subtle security measures. Where are all the cameras? Well maybe they're hidden in some of the fake boulders placed at strategic points around the grounds. But those rocks look real! Yes, well the guy does have the best special effects team in the world at his disposal."

HDFilmtools had a very HD interview with Matthew Wood. Mostly about the job of a Supervising Sound Editor. You can also see the ProTools ICON console. Very neat. Watch it/download it HERE.

The last thing for today (there is more, but I'll post it later) is another album recorded at Skysound, which will be released tomorrow.

Speak Low by Boz Scaggs. More good jazz, awesomely recorded (I assume, since I haven't heard it yet). "The sense of intimacy you get there is quite remarkable," Scaggs says. "You think you can get closer to the music in a smaller room, but that's not always true. At Skywalker, the vastness brought us all together.... The quiets in that room are much quieter, and all of the dynamics are really vivid. It's a great room to sing in."
You can purchase it HERE.

That's all for today folks, I'll be coming back soon (I hope) with more things Skywalker Sound