Old Vs New: Comparing Sound Design to Post Production

Last year, I worked on an Alien Sound Design project. not disimilar to this year's post productrion project, using many of the same techniques. with the learning experiences between doing sound design for the first time, and doing it a year later, it's important to look back, see what i've improved on, and what i may way to revive from last year's project

Comparing Setup

Admittedly, last year I did not do the setup myself. however, the feeling of building my own setup, completely from scratch using my own research to backup the reasons why i set the room up the way i did felt far better

however, both setups were fairly similar, the only difference being in mics, the one i used last year being a simple cardioid, while this years being a proper shotgun microphone, it adds to the general professionalism of it all

Comparing Recordings

In terms of foley, while both turned out fine, last years took far longer to do for a clip that lasted around the same time as this years clip, last years was less planned, less professional, more improvisational, which in certain projects can be a good thing, Foley is one that requires practice, good timing and planning to complete

This years foley was planned, in a professional setting, and coordinated, plus with the practice of the previous year's project, it allowed me to not only come out with a better end product when it comes to foley, but in a vastly shorter timeframe.

SFX was much the same, while last year not only did i not record much, none of the recordings were planned or methodical, but i also used alot of freesound materials, not my own original sounds, while this year, it was far more planned, knowing exactly what sounds i needed to get, and what sounds i simply couldn't, allowing me to get the sound effects recorded extremely fast, and have almost all of the included sounds be my own original works

Comparing Mixes

To give last years project some credit, it had variety. something i cant say about this year's due to the nature of the clip being in just one location for almost the entire time, however, for what this year's clip lacked in variety, it made up for in execution, being a vastly better mixed product in comparison to last years project, where i paid little attention to certain sounds and how they mixed into the environment. where sounds that seemed quiet were far too front and centre, and important sounds got left behind, in this years project, everything felt like it was in its correct placement in the room, giving each sound their correct type of importance

Overall, while the sound design project was a great learning experience, and overall a successful piece, looking back on it with a critical eye, there is much i could have done to improve on it. which, with that experience, i accounted for in this year's project. creating a vastly better product, which could not have been done without the experience of last year's project.