News - Audio Engineering Society - Melbourne Section

Meeting Report: November 2023 – David Lauritsen on Game Sound Design

2023/11/182023/11/18Secretary

On Monday 13^th November, the Melbourne Section of the AES held our (slightly delayed) bi-monthly meeting.

Game Sound Designer/Educator/Musician David Lauritsen presented on the topic of:

Video Game Sound Design and Curriculum Development:

Developing the Skills for a Growing Field

After a brief introduction from Section Chairman Graeme Huon, David started his presentation by outlining his history as a musician and developing an interest in audio engineering, leading to his study for a Bachelor of Audio Engineering and a Masters of Creative Industries. He briefly covered his audio recording work at Coloursound and Black Pearl Studios, and film sound work, moving on to audio education at JMC Academy and ultimately into game sound design at Big Ant Studios (AFL23 and Cricket24)

Photo of Graeme Huon — Section Chair Graeme Huon introduces David

Photo of David Lauritsen — Section Chair Graeme Huon introduces David

Meeting Report: August 2023 – Ben Osmo on Film Location Sound Mixing

2023/08/222023/08/22Paolo Menolotto

On Monday 14^th August, the Melbourne Section of the AES held our Annual General Meeting followed by our regular bi-monthly meeting.

Further details on the AGM proceedings can be found at https://aesmelbourne.org.au/2023-agm

Following the AGM, Academy Award winner Ben Osmo (Best Achievement in Sound Mixing 2015 – Mad Max: Fury Road) presented on the topic of:

Film Production Sound Through the Years
changes and added responsibilities.

Newly re-elected Chairman Graeme Huon introduced Ben with a brief outline of Ben’s career.

Ben Osmo in front of his "sound cart" — Ben Osmo in front of his “sound cart”

Ben then took us through his career in location sound production from his start in 1975 at the ABC. He told us that the typical setup of the time was a Nagra portable battery-operated tape recorder and a shotgun microphone on a long boom pole. He explained that the shoots were often one-camera affairs with shots framed as wide-shot, mid-shot, and close-up with the microphone positioned accordingly to achieve the appropriate sound balance.

Photo showing the crush of news crews covering a live event. — The one-man sound crew.

Photo of early film set with sound recorder and boom operator — The one-man sound crew.

2023 Annual General Meeting

2023/08/142023/08/15Secretary

The Melbourne Section held its AGM on Monday 14th August at 7:30pm via Zoom.

The Chairman Graeme Huon presented his report on the Section’s activities for the year. This can be viewed at:
https://www.aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/2023_Chair_Report.pdf

August 2023 Meeting Notice: Film Production Sound Through the Years

2023/07/232023/07/23Paolo Menolotto

We are back on Zoom for our August meeting

The next online meeting of the AES Melbourne Section will be held on
Monday 14^th August 2023 at 7:30pm – via Zoom.

It will start with a brief Section Annual General Meeting – non-members and other visitors are welcome to sit in on this part of the meeting.

Then Academy Award winner Ben Osmo (Best Achievement in Sound Mixing 2015 – Mad Max: Fury Road) will present on the topic of:

Film Production Sound Through the Years

changes and added responsibilities.

When Ben started his long and illustrious career in film location sound in the 1970s, capturing location dialogue and effects required little more than a Nagra tape recorder and a shotgun mic on a boom-pole. With advances in technology, the kit a location sound mixer now has to deploy on set can fill a medium-sized van and cover not only multi-channel wireless dialogue/fx capture and recording, but also communications, playback, and monitoring for the entire crew.