People Behind The Sound of Movies in Kollywood
Apr 29, 2016 18:04:55 GMT
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Post by Prem Rogue on Apr 29, 2016 18:04:55 GMT
People behind the sound of movies in Kollywood
M Suganth | TNN | Apr 28, 2016, 01.00 AM IST
The new breed
In movies, a sound technician is involved in three ways: sound recorder, sound editor and sound mixer. Now, a new breed of craftsmen, called sound designers, have come in and they design the soundscape of a film. "A sound designer is responsible for every sound you hear in a film — right from the first frame of the movie till the last frame of the end credits. This person is like the director of sound," says Kunal Rajan, a sound designer who works in Hollywood and has been part of Tamil films like Enthiran, Vishwaroopam, and Uttama Villain.
While Resul Pookutty's Oscar win in 2009 created an awareness of this community, in Tamil cinema, it was Pizza in 2012, that made people sit up and take notice of sound design. "For Pizza, we wrote a sound script and discussed with director Karthik Subbaraj on what kind of props he could use. We went with the most updated audio format at that time (7.1). We wanted the sound to be livelier, realistic and at the same time, surreal. We wanted the audience to feel as if they were next to Vijay Sethupathi," says Vishnu Govind, who was the film's sound designer with Sree Sankar. Of course, they had to convince the producer, CV Kumar first, but once he watched the final film, he realised the difference, and now, they have been part of his other films, including Thegidi, Soodhu Kavvum and Irudhi Suttru.
Designing a film's sound
A sound designer today gets involved with the film right after it is scripted. "We work with the director on how sound can shape up the film, give inputs on props that he can use during shooting and so on. Say, if it's a horror film, and there is a scene where a character has to open a door, as sound designers, we know that the creakier a door, it is scarier for audiences. So, we tell director what door to use (metal instead of wooden)," explains Sachin Sudhakaran, who runs a sound studio with Hariharan.
The sound designer also learns what ideas the music director has for the score of the film to ensure that there is a balance between the sound effects and music.
Till the last decade, dialogues were given prominence in Indian films and often used to be loud as filmmakers tried to make them as punchier as possible. But Bollywood changed this pattern and started recording dialogues and sounds on location. But here, sound designers need bigger budgets to do so, as this process demands more high-end equipment, technicians and time.
To work around this, Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar have started approaching sound design slightly differently, starting with the Malayalam film Premam. "We treat dialogues as real as possible. So, using various plug-ins, we make dubbed dialogues come across as sync sound (dialogue recorded on location). We find that the audience's involvement in a film is higher for this kind of an approach," he says.
Most sound designers take charge of the whole package — from recording sounds on location to supervising the dubbing and the sound effects and the final mixing. They have a set of regulars who they hire for these various processes. A minimum of 20-40 days is ideal to design a film's sound, with 15 days needed for pre and final mixing, they feel.
Striking a balance
Once the sounds that are recorded on location, the sound effects and the dubbing tracks are added to the film, finally, it is time for mixing. There is a distinct division into commercial films and offbeat films when it comes to sound mixing, but the rules are not definite, says mixing engineer (also called as audiographer) Four Frames Udhayakumar, who has worked with analogue sound as well. Newer technologies like Dolby Atmos have only helped them enhance a scene. "Earlier, we could make you feel the sounds in a forest. Now, we can make you feel as if you actually are in a forest. You can not only hear the flap of a bird flying, but can also sense how fast it is flying and in what direction," he explains.
He says that only 20% of filmmakers give the time that mixing needs. "When we are given time, we can correct inconsistencies, suggest corrections if the sound editing isn't right and get them corrected by coordinating with the sound editor," he says.
The gender imbalance
M Gita Gurappa is perhaps the only notable female sound technician in south India. She has worked on over 350 films, including Mankatha, Anjaan and Massu Engira Masilamani and is also the first in the country to mix sound in Dolby Atmos. After working for studios for the past three decades, she has recently gone freelance. She says that she has faced discrimination because of her gender, but believes that once filmmakers work with her, they realise that their apprehensions were unfounded. Directors like Venkat Prabhu, Lingusamy and Suseenthiran often have her do their film's final mixes.
Commenting on the shortage of female sound technicians, she says that not many girls take up a sound engineering course, and those that do mostly go on to work in the TV industry, which offers assured pay and better job timings. "There have been times when I have had to stay in the studio for a couple of days to get the work done. Not many families are comfortable sending their women to such a workplace and I'm thankful to my family for understanding the crazy demands of my job," she says.
When a mix gets remixed!
The biggest problem sound technicians are facing today is that sound systems in theatres aren't uniform. "Multiplexes tend to have state-of-the-art systems, but in the other theatres, theatre projectionists alter the sound levels that we have set for a film and our mixes go haywire. They increase the loudness thinking audiences will be impressed, but our ears cannot handle loud sound for long and this is why people complain of headaches after watching some films," Vishnu says.
"It is important for theatre owners to calibrate their screens at regular intervals and maintain a universal standard. This not only helps the sound designer and filmmakers, but theatres are less at risk of damaging their speakers," says Kunal, who reveals that theatres across the US ensure that their sound levels are calibrated the same, and do maintenance work regularly.
Taking these things into consideration, sound engineers here are forced to mix accordingly. But, of late, some like Kunal and Vishnu have decided not to compromise and do what they think is the best mix possible for a film. Kunal recounts the explanation that Kamal Haasan gave him when he asked why the actor-director was spending more money by mixing his film in Hollywood rather than in Chennai. "He said, 'I'm doing this film only once, so I want to ensure that I do it in the best way possible. Even if people cannot experience the quality of sound today, 50 years later, the audience of that time should be able to enjoy the film without it sounding dated,'" he recalls.
Negotiation and recognition
While the spate of horror films has created a market for sound designers, unlike directors, producers don't look at the quality of work done and tend to cut costs in the sound department. Sound gets allocated only 1-2% of the budget when quality work needs 3-5% of the budget, feel sound technicians. Sound engineers say producers often negotiate with them and make them accept a budget that is 10-15% less than what they quote unmindful of the work involved. "They go over the budget during the shoot or pay stars too much and ask us to adjust with the payments. Most times, we accept just to not miss out working on good films," says Udhayakumar.
Suren, who quit his secure job at a FM radio station to follow his passion of being a sound, has done the audiography for films Vanakkam Chennai and Kaaki Sattai. He feels that it is important that one has a hit film on their resume as otherwise the industry doesn't take them seriously. He adds, "Today, film buffs are aware of the sound department, but the recognition that we get is very less. Hardly any award event here gives awards to sound technicians. But when you see your name on the posters and on the big screen, the sleepless nights fade away, and the satisfaction you get compensates the hardships."
M Suganth | TNN | Apr 28, 2016, 01.00 AM IST
The new breed
In movies, a sound technician is involved in three ways: sound recorder, sound editor and sound mixer. Now, a new breed of craftsmen, called sound designers, have come in and they design the soundscape of a film. "A sound designer is responsible for every sound you hear in a film — right from the first frame of the movie till the last frame of the end credits. This person is like the director of sound," says Kunal Rajan, a sound designer who works in Hollywood and has been part of Tamil films like Enthiran, Vishwaroopam, and Uttama Villain.
While Resul Pookutty's Oscar win in 2009 created an awareness of this community, in Tamil cinema, it was Pizza in 2012, that made people sit up and take notice of sound design. "For Pizza, we wrote a sound script and discussed with director Karthik Subbaraj on what kind of props he could use. We went with the most updated audio format at that time (7.1). We wanted the sound to be livelier, realistic and at the same time, surreal. We wanted the audience to feel as if they were next to Vijay Sethupathi," says Vishnu Govind, who was the film's sound designer with Sree Sankar. Of course, they had to convince the producer, CV Kumar first, but once he watched the final film, he realised the difference, and now, they have been part of his other films, including Thegidi, Soodhu Kavvum and Irudhi Suttru.
Designing a film's sound
A sound designer today gets involved with the film right after it is scripted. "We work with the director on how sound can shape up the film, give inputs on props that he can use during shooting and so on. Say, if it's a horror film, and there is a scene where a character has to open a door, as sound designers, we know that the creakier a door, it is scarier for audiences. So, we tell director what door to use (metal instead of wooden)," explains Sachin Sudhakaran, who runs a sound studio with Hariharan.
The sound designer also learns what ideas the music director has for the score of the film to ensure that there is a balance between the sound effects and music.
Till the last decade, dialogues were given prominence in Indian films and often used to be loud as filmmakers tried to make them as punchier as possible. But Bollywood changed this pattern and started recording dialogues and sounds on location. But here, sound designers need bigger budgets to do so, as this process demands more high-end equipment, technicians and time.
To work around this, Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar have started approaching sound design slightly differently, starting with the Malayalam film Premam. "We treat dialogues as real as possible. So, using various plug-ins, we make dubbed dialogues come across as sync sound (dialogue recorded on location). We find that the audience's involvement in a film is higher for this kind of an approach," he says.
Most sound designers take charge of the whole package — from recording sounds on location to supervising the dubbing and the sound effects and the final mixing. They have a set of regulars who they hire for these various processes. A minimum of 20-40 days is ideal to design a film's sound, with 15 days needed for pre and final mixing, they feel.
Striking a balance
Once the sounds that are recorded on location, the sound effects and the dubbing tracks are added to the film, finally, it is time for mixing. There is a distinct division into commercial films and offbeat films when it comes to sound mixing, but the rules are not definite, says mixing engineer (also called as audiographer) Four Frames Udhayakumar, who has worked with analogue sound as well. Newer technologies like Dolby Atmos have only helped them enhance a scene. "Earlier, we could make you feel the sounds in a forest. Now, we can make you feel as if you actually are in a forest. You can not only hear the flap of a bird flying, but can also sense how fast it is flying and in what direction," he explains.
He says that only 20% of filmmakers give the time that mixing needs. "When we are given time, we can correct inconsistencies, suggest corrections if the sound editing isn't right and get them corrected by coordinating with the sound editor," he says.
The gender imbalance
M Gita Gurappa is perhaps the only notable female sound technician in south India. She has worked on over 350 films, including Mankatha, Anjaan and Massu Engira Masilamani and is also the first in the country to mix sound in Dolby Atmos. After working for studios for the past three decades, she has recently gone freelance. She says that she has faced discrimination because of her gender, but believes that once filmmakers work with her, they realise that their apprehensions were unfounded. Directors like Venkat Prabhu, Lingusamy and Suseenthiran often have her do their film's final mixes.
Commenting on the shortage of female sound technicians, she says that not many girls take up a sound engineering course, and those that do mostly go on to work in the TV industry, which offers assured pay and better job timings. "There have been times when I have had to stay in the studio for a couple of days to get the work done. Not many families are comfortable sending their women to such a workplace and I'm thankful to my family for understanding the crazy demands of my job," she says.
When a mix gets remixed!
The biggest problem sound technicians are facing today is that sound systems in theatres aren't uniform. "Multiplexes tend to have state-of-the-art systems, but in the other theatres, theatre projectionists alter the sound levels that we have set for a film and our mixes go haywire. They increase the loudness thinking audiences will be impressed, but our ears cannot handle loud sound for long and this is why people complain of headaches after watching some films," Vishnu says.
"It is important for theatre owners to calibrate their screens at regular intervals and maintain a universal standard. This not only helps the sound designer and filmmakers, but theatres are less at risk of damaging their speakers," says Kunal, who reveals that theatres across the US ensure that their sound levels are calibrated the same, and do maintenance work regularly.
Taking these things into consideration, sound engineers here are forced to mix accordingly. But, of late, some like Kunal and Vishnu have decided not to compromise and do what they think is the best mix possible for a film. Kunal recounts the explanation that Kamal Haasan gave him when he asked why the actor-director was spending more money by mixing his film in Hollywood rather than in Chennai. "He said, 'I'm doing this film only once, so I want to ensure that I do it in the best way possible. Even if people cannot experience the quality of sound today, 50 years later, the audience of that time should be able to enjoy the film without it sounding dated,'" he recalls.
Negotiation and recognition
While the spate of horror films has created a market for sound designers, unlike directors, producers don't look at the quality of work done and tend to cut costs in the sound department. Sound gets allocated only 1-2% of the budget when quality work needs 3-5% of the budget, feel sound technicians. Sound engineers say producers often negotiate with them and make them accept a budget that is 10-15% less than what they quote unmindful of the work involved. "They go over the budget during the shoot or pay stars too much and ask us to adjust with the payments. Most times, we accept just to not miss out working on good films," says Udhayakumar.
Suren, who quit his secure job at a FM radio station to follow his passion of being a sound, has done the audiography for films Vanakkam Chennai and Kaaki Sattai. He feels that it is important that one has a hit film on their resume as otherwise the industry doesn't take them seriously. He adds, "Today, film buffs are aware of the sound department, but the recognition that we get is very less. Hardly any award event here gives awards to sound technicians. But when you see your name on the posters and on the big screen, the sleepless nights fade away, and the satisfaction you get compensates the hardships."