Music for Advertising
Crash Symphony productions has experience in both music and sound for a wide range of TVC and Advertising projects. We ensure that your project is completed on time and on budget. Fast turn around available. Call us today to discuss your TVC and advertising music & sound requirements.
The Best Recording Studio in Sydney
I think James is one of the most creative, clever and generous people i have met. He is helpful, listens and allowed us to share some of his unique compilations with the video that we released. He is GREAT value!
Working With Drums
Do you know exactly what you want in a drum recording? We are here to help. Our recording studio is ideal for recording acoustic drums. Over the years we have discovered the best gear and techniques for capturing live drums in our recording studio! We have numerous channels of the revered API 3124+ preamps. These are perfect for drums. These preamps make the drums sound huge, while maintaining pristine quality and definition. API preamps are the best in the world for recording transient material like drums. We have accumulated a large number of microphones that are great for drums. These include modern condenser microphones, old vintage microphones, and even ribbon microphones for that old school sound. On request, we can also include drum triggering. “Drum triggering” is where electrical triggers are placed Recording studioon the drum skins and will activate a drum sample when the skin is hit. This is ideal for drum replacement. For example, you may want to try different components on your kit like a new snare, kick or tom after the drums have been recorded. Alternatively, we can trigger the replacement samples with our software. Programs like Drummagog and Trigger allow our recording studio engineers to integrate samples into the drum recording after the kit has been recorded. We keep loads of drums and percussion at the recording studio for our clients to use when they need it. This includes various snares, toms, kicks, cymbals, congas, bongos, shakers, tambourines, wind chimes and much, much more. You’ll need all this recorded material to be mixed .
About Our Sydney Recording Studio
The acoustics inside have been deadened and isolated from the noisy outside world. No interference can enter the recording studio Recording studiovocal booth from other sections of the recording studio, either. The absence of acoustic reflection (any kind of echo) and noise interference will ensure that the sound recorded in the booth will be Recording Studioclean, uninterrupted, and as pure as possible. This makes vocal processing and sweetening much easier. It ultimately leads to a higher-quality finished product. The vocal recording booth has other features like a built-in computer screen for remote recording (Skype etc), reading lyrics, or synching to video. Your engineer can provide you with on-screen information you need while recording in the booth. We also understand the importance of accommodating different kinds of vocals. Not everyone sounds the same! Not every final product should sound the same! For this reason we have a wide selection of different microphones for all kinds of vocal recording purposes. Some are excellent microphones for singing. remote production servicesOther microphones are the right choice for voice-over and dialogue. Some microphones work well on female vocals. Other microphones are more suited to male vocals. It is the job of our expert recording studio engineers to make the right choice in pairing up a microphone with the your voice. Every step in the recording studio process is critical in attaining that world class million dollar vocal. Does your project require the recording of a real drum kit?
Analogue Outboard Equipment
Need that expensive analogue sound on your recordings? Pop us an email. There is no question that analogue outboard equipment makes a big difference to the sound of Recording studiomusic made in the studio. “Outboard” refers to an audio unit that is separate from the recording system. These processors are standalone units. The audio signal passed through these processors is an electric signal. The electrical components inside these analogue devices gives character to the recordings. Just like our microphones, our analogue outboard equipment can be modern or vintage. Both types have a different impact on the audio that is being processed through them. In our Sydney recording studio, we have compressors like the warm vintage-sounding LA2A, and we also have modern compressors like the Empirical Labs EL8-X Distressor. Often when we are mixing music in the studio we have the option of processing the signal inside the computer (“in-the-box”), or running the signal out of the computer and into one (or many) of these analogue outboard audio processing units. The processed result is then recorded back into the computer. Both options (hardware vs software) have different pros and cons. Often mixes will have a combination of both operations. The best of both worlds are combined to give the best possible mix. At Crash Symphony, we strive for the best and this has brought most of the world’s house hold name in music to rank us as their preferred recording studios Sydney has ever produced.
Expert Sound Engineers
Working with us means working with the best sound engineers in Sydney
The art of being an excellent sound engineer is not as prominent now that video has become the focus of our world. However, a top quality sound engineer can augment the quality of a production dramatically. When we record a vocal for music or a voice over for an ad we have the ability to enhance every aspect of that recording. The modern tools available to the twenty-first century sound engineer are truly remarkable. Staying on top of the rapid progress is very much a full time job. Let's take a quick look at what work is involved in producing an excellent vocal recording for a typical voice over job.
Our sound engineer will setup the session prior to the talent arriving. In the most extreme cases, often film ADR sessions, the project and microphones will need to be prepared first. Our clients, from film productions companies, are often located in another country like the USA, the UK, or somewhere in Europe. They will send the sound engineer the program material. This will be the video files with SMPTE timecode, the cue sheet, and all specifications required by our sound engineer to capture a similar sound to what was recorded on set.
Once these program elements are received our sound engineer in Sydney will go into Pro Tools and mark out all the cue points on the timeline of the film. Each entry point will have ADR beeps that will help the talent execute their lines in Synch with the film. In ADR the talent's job will be to lip synch in time with their delivery on set. By setting up the project prior to the talent arriving our sound engineer ensures that the session flows smoothly for the talent.
Often these "remote sessions" (where the directors and producers are overseas) are facilitated by software that helps us communicate with the overseas studios. Programs like Zoom and Source-Connect allow sound engineers in both locations to be actively involved in the session. The sound engineer overseas can literally press the recording button in one country and our software will obey the command here in Sydney. The directors and producers can watch the video content on their screen whilst listening to the audio being recorded by our sound engineers in Sydney. It's real-time. It's the modern way. It's remarkable!
In this example, an ADR recording session, the sound engineer would also need to setup two microphones. One would be a lapel mic, similar to what might have been used on set, and the other a shotgun microphone. These two microphones are setup by our sound engineer in Sydney in front of a screen. This is to allow the talent to clearly view the film as they are performing. An iPad is also positioned in close proximity to the microphones. This will have all the cue points and lines that the talent will be reading during the ADR recording session.
During the session the sound engineer will be facilitating the smooth capture of cue lines. They make sure that all the takes of each line are saved for future recall and re-listening, and can even cut recorded takes together to create a composite "best take".
Once the ADR session is complete the post-production work on the re-recorded lines begins. The amount of work that goes into the audio post-production is beyond the scope of this example. However, we can give a few examples of the kind of technology our sound engineer might decide to use on the recorded cue lines. There is software to reduce lip and mouth noises. Harsh sibilant frequency can be curtailed. The synch of the spoken lines can be further tightened by intelligent algorithms that look at the original "on set" spoken audio and literally stretch, cut, and compress lines recorded in our Sydney recording studio and make them even tighter. The list of tasks, options, and enhancements that our sound engineer can apply to a voice recording is enormous.
James Englund
Founder
Stewart Havill
Engineer/Producer
Borbala (Bobo)
Session singer and Admin