Buffpup 3.0 (Sound Design Commentary)
Preface: In the interest of upholding prior agreements, I will not be discussing anything related to my experience working with clients or any other professionals involved in any of the projects featured on this blog. This is purely about detailing my personal creative decisions while working on the project.
Heyo! KSD here again!
Today we're going to be revisiting the Sound Design of Buffpup 3.0!
CREDITS:
Sound Design/Editing
Sound Mixing
Sound Director Additional Music Direction
Project Info & Video Link:
0:00 (Calm Meadows)
I really do love working on ambience. It's immensely satisfying to pick out all the ingredients that make up a space. Sometimes I might use a recording as is, and other times I'll take just a small frequency band, like the essence of a very specific kind of wind, just to get landscapes like this sounding exactly the way you imagined.
1:03 (Constructing A Factory)
On the topic of ambience, I had a lot of fun working on the factory soundscape. My main goal was to capture that oppressive atmosphere of distant industry, constantly droning in the background. The main bulk of the sound is made up of the repetitive whirring of large machinery, pitched down and low pass filtered with reverb to create a realistic sense of scale and distance for the viewer.
1:22 (Playing With Echo/Reverb)
I think being aware of how far the camera is to anything making sound is imperative in determining how and where it should sit in the mix. Reverb and echo are a good example of this, and can be tweaked accordingly for each shot if the goal is to create an immersive space. If distance is introduced, volume is decreased but echo/reverb is increased. A similar thing applies to vocal intensity. If a character is whispering, naturally their reverb should be less pronounced, if they're shouting, reverb should be increased to account for it. For that reason, I never rely on a single reverb preset when varying volumes and distances are a factor. The same goes for EQ.
1:39 (Crescendo)
The initial plan for this scene was to have the music crescendo right as Buff shouts, but when we got everything ready and in place, it was agreed that the dive into the water was a more impactful spot for the music to end. This worked out really well I think, as it left more room for both the shout and the music to breath, and also adds to the impact of the hard cut underwater. We then slowly transition to those unsettling strings and the creeping whispers that set the stage for what's about to come.
1:54 (Monster And Whisper Design)
I spent a lot of time on this sequence, mostly designing for the creature and whispers. Despite actually going to the effort of writing a script for the whispers, the intent was always for them to be almost impossible to make out, having a script was more like insurance in that case. The monster's movement and roars were made up entirely of vocals I recorded. I really like the warbling sounds you hear as it slowly swims towards Buff from the bottom of frame, this was accomplished by running my hand up and down my throat in quick succession while recording, along with heavy time stretching and reverb. This created artifacts that sounded very similar to the displacement of water and hopefully added to the strangeness of the creature.
And that's all for today! I hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you next time!
KSD
