Careers in Sound Design

Recording careers don't only involve working with temperamental divas and disorganized rock bands. The skills and knowledge required in the recording industry can lead to numerous career opportunities in Sound Design and Production.

Sound Designers are most usually employed in the film and television industry, where they provide sounds to accompany screen action. The work they produce is essential to the filmmaking process, as sound elements give film a sense of location or period, or a particular mood. These elements can be any sort of recorded sound, from field recordings to music and special effects. There is, as you can imagine, quite a bit of versatility required, as designers can work alone to produce entire soundtracks and effects, or in a team involving a production mixer, sound supervisor, editor and director. People in this line of work, therefore, must be good communicators, and willing to accept direction and work with others. They must also have a thorough understanding of acoustics and both analog and digital recording and editing equipment and techniques.

In film and TV production, sound effects are added during the editing process. This means that most sound designers have to be experienced sound editors, comfortable with the editing process, software and equipment.

Sound design, however, is not limited to just television and film productions. With numerous media platforms now competing with movie and TV screens, including the Internet, advertising and computer games, the demand for quality, high-trained sound designers is at an all-time high.

Sound designers may be employed by a host of production and media companies, however, many work on a freelance basis, with their own audio workstations and recording equipment. This flexibility gives the opportunity to work on a number of different projects, across a variety of different platforms and formats.

As you can see, now is a great time to start a sound design career training program. The best training programs offer a mix of classroom theoretical instruction and hands-on practical training. Graduates from these programs are highly sought after in the industry, as this varied training approach has numerous benefits: it introduces students to the essentials of the profession, providing an overview of the skills and techniques needed to create recorded sounds, music and special effects; while also providing a golden opportunity to gain experience and confidence with the necessary tools and software needed in the trade.

An Overview of Electric Guitar History

The Majority of the musical genres depend heavily on the use of electric guitars. There are many types of these instruments available. These instruments were developed just 70 years back (the 1930's) by Adolph Rickenbacker. From that period, these guitars have significantly advanced to the level where it's today. In the following paragraphs, we will discuss the electric guitar history.

The Brief History

The earliest electric guitars included smaller sound holes in their body. These types of instruments are classified as semi hollow body and still they are fairly popular nowadays, mainly because of the reason that they're of flexible models.

By making use of pick-ups, it was capable to make guitars with no sound holes (just like the Classical and Acoustic guitars) if connected to the guitar amplifiers. These models are known as solid-body.

The electric guitar's recognition started to increase over the Big-Band era of the 1930's and 1940's. Because of the high magnitude of sound of the brass sections in jazz musical groups, there was a need for guitars that can be heard over the sections. These instruments, with the capability to be connected to amplifiers, filled up this void.

The most common instrument these days was the solid body. This instrument was found by an inventor and musician, Les Paul in the year 1941. It was a guitar made out of solid wood with no sound-holes. The original solid body instrument developed by Paul was fairly simple - it was a rectangle shaped block of solid wood attached to a neck together with 6 steel guitar strings. Les Paul's original solid-body guitar appearance has, not surprisingly, changed from the primary rectangular design to a round design Les Paul guitars.

Gibson presented Les Paul's design to the public in the year 1958. This model was called as 'The Gibson Les Paul' and it rapidly grew to become a very famous instrument. It's remained the most famous instrument for fifty years.

Around the same time period, another inventor called Leo Fender found a solid-body electric guitar of his very own. During the 1940's, Fender released the Fender-Broadcaster electric guitar. This model was re-named the Strato-caster, was officially brought to the general public in the year 1954. The Strat, as it's now called, was completely a different guitar in comparison with Les Paul's. The Strat had a distinct shape as well as hardware and it was very lighter in weight. Fender's Strato-caster electric guitar is the 2nd most in-demand instrument, next to the Les Paul.

Greatest Documentaries

1. HOOP DREAMS (1994).

A film following the lives of two African-American boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional. Documentaries don't come much better than this. Here we have a sincere, compelling look at the lives and ambition of two inner-city basketball hopefuls.

2. THE KING OF KONG (2007).

Diehard video game fans compete to break World Records on classic arcade games. What an unusually, brilliant look at the formidability of gaming nuts. I was hooked by the plight of Steve Wiebe, as he tries to break the world Donkey Kong record.

3. GRIZZLY MAN (2005).

A devastating and heartrending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzlies in Alaska. Straight off the bat...wow! I wouldn't go as far as saying I am sympathetic towards Timothy Treadwell; however, his story and apparent ability to tame wild bears is enthralling. A must-see!

4. THE LAST WALTZ (1978).

A film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band. Give me a concert, which features the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, etc., and which has Martin Scorsese at the helm, any day - truly enjoyable!

5. THE COVE (2009).

Using state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health. If you have a weak stomach, I advise you not to watch this; if you can stomach the worst animal cruelty known to man, this is a riveting watch.

6. NIGHT AND FOG (1955).

The history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside. If you "enjoy" war films/documentaries as much as I do, and find man's inhumanity towards other men intriguing, it doesn't get better than this gem of a war documentary.

7. IMAGINE: JOHN LENNON (1988).

A biography of the rock music star. There is nothing more to say other than this being a biopic of a true, iconic legend.

8. FESTIVAL EXPRESS (2003).

The filmed account of a large Canadian rock festival train tour. If this film doesn't make you want to buy a guitar, start a band, as well as live during this drug-fuelled bonanza, nothing ever will.

9. ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS... (2005).

A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall. This is a harrowing look at corruption like no other. It is amazing to believe they got away with it for so long.

10. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002).