AES Section Meeting Reports

San Francisco - May 6, 2009

Meeting Topic: Creating Foley and Post Production Audio for Film

Moderator Name: Jim McTigue

Speaker Name: Ellen Heuer and Dave Nelson

Other business or activities at the meeting: Value of AES membership, notification of upcoming section election, upcoming meetings, and upcoming AES Conventions and Conferences

Meeting Location: Outpost Studios, San Francisco, California, USA

Summary

On the evening of May 6th, Foley Artist Ellen Heuer and Foley Editor Dave Nelson opened up Outpost Studios for an informative session that explored the art of sound design for film; creating and recording sound effects and using various primary sound effect elements for audio, video and film projects. Outpost Studios has the largest lock-to-picture Dolby Surround control room/mix stage in San Francisco in San Francisco. It features a Euphonix CSII automated digitally controlled analog console, Digidesign ProTools HD/3 and Apple Logic systems. Ellen Heuer has an amassed an extensive portfolio of work as a Foley artist, spanning over 150 films in nearly every genre, from Shindler's List to Ratatouille. She has won The Golden Reel for best Foley in animation for the past 3 years, for Cars, Ratatouille and this year, Clone Wars. Dave Nelson has engineered many of these demanding sessions and is also a seasoned sound designer and Foley editor. Dave pioneered the act of recording Foley directly into ProTools- which has since become the industry standard.
The overflow attendance indicated the robust interest in this important aspect of media production. It also demonstrated the again the wisdom of San Francisco section's committee member Jessica Livingston in organizing a timely and popular meeting.
The meeting consisted of an audience interactive presentation that provided extensive live demonstrations of the numerous techniques and skills involved in the art of sound design for film; creating and recording sound effects and using various primary sound effect elements for audio, video and film projects. This was followed by a tour of their warehouse of Foley props, including those from the collection of artist Marnie Moore and the Saul Zaentz film center.

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