Skiles Portfolio - Vocal Rec (PSA)

Deanna Skiles Audio Production

U.S. DOT Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “Aggressive Driving”

Public Service Announcement

Summary

This project used two separate sessions in studio, and another series of on-location recordings.

The first session I used A-B room and close miking techniques in the live room for my two characters.

The second session was with a voice talent, using three different mics in the isolation booth to compare colour.

On location, I used an h4n recorder to record various car and road noises. I recorded ambient sound at an intersection in McKinney, Tx, and engine/road sounds in two different sports cars. (1993 Mazda RX-7 and a 1991 Porshe 911)

Mixing Notes Initially this project was slated to be a minute long. This proved to be very frustrating, especially with the aural storytelling of the near-miss car sounds.

I was advised to cut down the mix, and to avoid the creatively driven panning for the sound FX - basically, converting this to a PSA more conducive for radio. This made the sound design much easier, but it altered the integrity of the original script.

I used very small adjustments to speed up my vocal talent's lines, and cut out some of the redundancy of the script - even though the new flavor of the couple's dialogue is no longer nearly as amusing (indifferent guy, nagging girlfriend, you know the drill.)

We recorded sounds off of two sports cars and an intersection, but several of these sounds ended up being omitted, as the sound design "story" in the beginning was abandoned for the final cut. Freesound.org was used to procure a more clear horn sound, and Firstcom was used to supply the music.

Creatively the intention was for the final edit to be very dense with sound design, but in the end this became a lesson in prudence and kouth: The orignal design would be too distracting from the end goal of the piece itself. The design ideas have been set aside, however, for whenever a more detailed car-ride project presents itself to me!