One of my favorite textbooks is Audio Production and Postproduction by leading audio professional Woody Woodhall, CAS. This introductory, comprehensive text of audio practices for both production and post-production sound, emphasizes the importance of recording the sound properly on the set and explains the postproduction audio process as a creative collaboration that enhances the story and is not merely a “fix” for various audio problems.
Woody and I are longtime colleagues from the Cinema Audio Society (no doubt, you noticed the CAS after both of our names). More than that, however, is that Woody and I have shared the stage on a few occasions, presenting seminars and workshops to members of our industry at tradeshows, meetings, and special events. I like to think that what I am to Production Sound, Woody is to post production. We are both award winning practitioners, but more than that, we are both accomplished TEACHERS of our respective crafts.
There are a lot of mixers and editors out there who do what we do; and there are definitely a number who do it even better! But I think that Woody and I share something very special in common, namely the ability to analyze our respective crafts and explain them in understandable detail. We all know that being a great athlete does not make you a great coach. It is one thing to practice a skill; but something entirely different is required to break it down to its base components and show a novice how to make it all come together.
Woody Woodhall CAS has accomplished just that in his textbook. He touches on Production Sound, but really excels in his presentation of modern post production techniques. After reading his book, you'll find yourself throwing around terms like PFX, stems, futz tracks, and x tracks as if you have lived in front of Pro Tools for years!
“Sound is an often misunderstood and under appreciated skill and this text is meant to offer practical guidance and techniques. Through exercises and review material this text takes the reader from the mic'ing of actors to the final mixing and archiving of a project,” said Woody Woodhall, author and President of Allied Post Audio located in Santa Monica, California.
Designed for undergraduates enrolled in film-studies programs at colleges and universities, community colleges, and trade schools, this book offers extensive exercises and review questions to better understand the relationships between the gear and practices required for optimal recordings and mixes. Rather than merely explain the concepts of sound wave propagation, the electronics of how sound is recorded, or the acoustics of sound reverberation in spaces, these exercises are designed to demonstrate and reinforce these crucial ideas.
“There are many books in the marketplace that are specific to filmmaking and to digital audio,” Woody continued. “But there are few that tackle the subject in a comprehensive manner for proper audio recording on set and then adding to those recordings in postproduction for a professional and well-mixed soundtrack. My book helps fill that niche.”
ISBN-13: 978-0-7637-9071-4
MSRP: $41.95
CD-ROM accompanies every new copy
Published by Jones & Bartlett Learning (http://www.jblearning.com)
Woody Woodhall, CAS is President of Allied Post Audio in Santa Monica, Calif. A supporter and advocate for independent filmmaking, he has sound-designed and mixed many independent feature films and documentaries that have played in theatres the world over. For television he’s VO-recorded, sound-edited, and mixed hundreds of episodes of programming for VH-1, Discovery’s The Travel Channel, USA Network, Sony’s Game Show Network, and Comedy Central among many others. He is founder and moderator for the Los Angeles Post Production Group, a monthly, membership meeting group of post-professionals in Hollywood. Besides writing for his blog WoodysSoundAdvice, he is also a contributing blogger to studiodaily on audio matters. He’s won awards for Best Foreign Film at the European International Film Festival for “Silent Radio,” a film which he post produced, sound designed, and mixed. He was awarded both a 2008 Telly Award and a 2008 Communicator Award for Sound Design and Mixing for E! International’s “The New A-List Hollywood.” He was also awarded Create Magazine’s “Best of Industry Award – Audio Services” for his recording work on JibJab Media’s “Second Term.”