8 new podcasts worth hearing: Sound revolutions at Lucasfilm, creating classic cartoon sound effects, immersive audio, compression & much more:

In this roundup, you can listen to a chapter from DROIDMAKER about how Lucasfilm revolutionized film sound, learn about enhancing audio description with Gavin Kearney, go deep into gear and Chicago gigs with Timothy Chan, hear about David Housden’s work on Thomas Was Alone, The Lost Words, and QUBE2, learn about the career of house engineer Fela Davis, discover why classic cartoon SFX have endured 90 years, explore Dehumaniser and Reformer Pro, and grasp the basics of compression with Joe Gilder. Happy listening!

Episode outline: ‘Author M.H. Rubin started his career at Lucasfilm in the 1980s. In 2012, he wrote DROIDMAKER, a detailed history of Lucasfilm as it transitioned from film to digital video. Now, he has been reading his book chapter by chapter for your listening pleasure.’

Hear the episode:

Episode outline: ‘Today, Oliver was joined in studio by Dr. Gavin Kearney, Senior Lecturer in Audio and Music Technology at the University of York. Gavin received an honours degree in electronic engineering from Dublin Institute of Technology, in 2002 and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in audio signal processing from Trinity College Dublin in 2006 and 2010 respectively. He subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on game audio, while lecturing on the Interactive Digital Systems and Music and Media Technology masters courses at Trinity College Dublin.

He was appointed Lecturer in sound design at the Department of Theatre, Film, and Television at the University of York in January 2011 where he currently teaches both bachelors and masters level courses on spatial audio and surround sound, audio engineering and sound production and postproduction methods. Gavin also continues to work in the audio industry as a sound engineer and designer.

In this episode, Gavin focuses on ongoing research, industry practice standards and enhancing audio description.

Audio extracts are taken from the first-person drama Pearl, a film produced at the University of York with Binaural enhanced audio, and a music recording session from Abbey Road Studios featuring Nova Neon.’

Episode outline: ‘We’re very excited to bring you this month’s episode with the kind help of our friends at Krotos Audio. Krotos us provided with some copies of their wonderful plugins, to check out and share with you in the episode. Barney had a look at Reformer Pro, and Derek had a play with Dehumaniser 2. We also talked about Derek’s recent move to working with Reaper, and answer a listener question.’

Episode outline: ‘Timothy Chan is a location sound mixer based out of Chicago, Illinois. He uses a Zoom F8 mixer/recorder, Lectrosonics wireless, Sennheiser MKH415T shotgun mic, Oktava MK012 mic and Tentacle Sync for timecode.’

Episode outline: ‘Last month Sam Hughes caught up with David Housden, after his recent work on The Lost Words, QUBE2 and more!

David came to be one of the most promising young talents, after his work on the soundtrack for Thomas Was Alone. The game received a BAFTA nomination for Best Original Music and is highly regarded as an indie hit. He then rejoined Mike Bithell for his next game Volume, a respin of the classic Robin Hood stories. His music changed direction with more of an orchestral, rock score and worked alongside Riva Taylor on the vocals for the game.

“Drawing upon his garage rock band days, Housden creates melodic, original music scores which illuminate imaginary worlds with real emotion and immersion.”

They discuss advice for composers, current state of the industry and beyond!’

Episode outline: ‘Fela Davis is a graduate of Full Sail University and has over 17 years of experience in audio engineering. Her past experiences includes working for industry powerhouses Clair Broadcast and House of Blues. Fela is currently the front of house engineer for Christian McBride. Fela co-founded 23 db Productions with Denis Orynbekov. The company does a variety work including mastering, recording & mixing as well as video content. 23dB has been a gateway for Fela to begin producing, shooting and editing for endorsement and product videos for social media (Focusrite, Lewitt Microphones and Big Joe Stomp Box). Using the videos to teach the audio community about new products and hone her skills at video production. 23dB eventually created their own video series called The Art of Music Tech. The series featured audio giants Leslie Ann Jones (Head of Skywalker Audio) and Jeff Bova (Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock). Each featured guest talked about their career in audio and the audio gear used on their biggest hits! They have since made The Art of Music Tech video series into a weekly podcast that Fela and Denis host together. When Fela is not creating content for 23dB Productions or working with SoundGirls, she’s traveling the world mixing front of house for Christian McBride.

About this Interview:

Fela chats with me about her 8th grade career test that said audio engineering was a possibility, her time at Full Sail, folding airbags for Honda Accord’s, paying her dues, driving long distances for low paying audio gigs and her willingness to never give up. Enjoy! – Matt’

Episode outline: ‘Cartoon sound effects are some of the most iconic sounds ever made. Even modern cartoons continue to use the same sound effects from decades ago. How were these legendary sounds made and how have they stood the test of time? Featuring Oscar-winning sound designer Mark Mangini of the Formosa Group, and Advantage Audio’s Heather Olsen.’

Episode outline: ‘Are you new to mixing and you know you should understand what compression is and what it does, but you don’t? Or, do you have a pretty good understanding of compression, but you still have a hard time getting it to do what you think it’s supposed to do? This video is for you.’