Copyright ©1996, RF Specialties Group.
What can you do with a digital editor that you can't do with an analog editor? Plenty. Here are just a few suggestions from sound engineers who use the portable Roland DM-800 digital audio workstation, the newest addition to RF Specialties' studio line.
1. EQ AND LEVEL AUTOMATION: Bill Kates, the production director for WXRK-FM in New York, the home of Howard Stern, likes to create effects from other effects by automating level and equalization characteristics. For example, when he needed to create the sound of a shark coming up from under the water, with the water splashing out instead of in, he was able to slowly change the EQ and level of a splash sound to simulate the desired effect. "The simple solution was to start out the splash in the computerized mix at a low level, but then end it at a high level. In the process, I started out with the EQ muffled and at the end of the effect, I rolled the EQ gradually over the course of the effect, to the point where I rolled back up the highs and accentuated them a little at the end," he explained.
2. SHUFFLE MUSIC BEDS: Eric Aubrey, the producer and sound engineer for Red Armadillo Studios, Chalfont, Pa., stacks music beds in his Roland DM-800 much like one would stack a deck of cards. Whenever he's working with clients who are not sure what they want, he has the Roland "shuffle" through music beds, playing first reggae, then rock, then classical music combined with a voiceover to find the best combination for the client's spot.
3. FOLEY LIVE! Instead of setting up a Foley booth for recording footsteps down a long hall, for example, Sound Engineer Scott Pittinsky of Compound Sound, New York, saves time and expense by recording eight tracks of sound effects on location, live. Later, he can cull from the tracks for the sounds he needs in the order he needs them.
4. LIVE DIGITAL TRACKING: Here's another one from Pittinsky: "I'll take the DM-800 and run into a studio, track eight tracks of drums or a string quartet, and later set it to Program MIDI, lock it to my sequencer and start programming my drums or my sound effects underneath the live instruments. It's the equivalent to being able to take your laptop computer somewhere and scan in photos to bring home and finish a record cover."
The Roland DM-800 is now available through RF Specialties.