Update: 20 August 2010
FILM SOUND WEB RESOURCES
Artists, Schools, and Studios | General Resources | Specific Films | Technology and SoundGENERAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES
The Art of Foley at http://www.marblehead.net/foley/index.html
Association of Motion Picture Sound at http://www.amps.net/
Australian Screen Sound Guild at http://www.assg.org.au/index.html
Audio Engineering Society at http://www.aes.org/ includes the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society at http://www.aes.org/journal/
Cinema Audio Society at http://www.cinemaaudiosociety.org/.
Digital Audio Librarian. Audio and Visual Resources at http://www.digital-librarian.com/audio.html
Film Music Magazine at http://www.filmmusicmag.com/
Film Music Society at http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/
FilmScoreMonthly. A film magazine, with FilmScoreDaily online. At http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/
Film Sound Bibliography at http://filmsound.studienet.org/bibliography/littlist.htm (includes links to full articles on the Web)
Film Sound history articles at http://www.filmsound.org/film-sound-history/
Film Sound Articles at http://www.filmsound.org/
Floren Film Sound Webpage at http://www.miracosta.edu/home/gfloren/f-5.htm
For a sound timeline, see the Recording Technology Website of Professor Steven Schoenherr (retired from the University of San Diego); within the total multi-page text is a section on motion picture sound 1930-89.
The Institute of Broadcast Sound at http://www.ibs.org.uk/
Physics of Sound at http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/soucon.html and the Physics Classroom at http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/sound/soundtoc.html
Radio Days at http://www.otr.com/index.shtml Includes news, radio genres, a search engine, and a monthly list of important dates in radio history, with re-broadcasts online via RealAudio (including a link to a RealAudio reproduction of Orson Welles' Mercury War of the Worlds on the Science-Fiction page).
Sight and Sound, a British film journal, at http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/
Skywalker Sound, a tribute, at http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/lucasfilm_skywalker_sound_tribute.htm
"Sound Effects in SF and Horror Films," an online essay (with bibliography) by Fiona Kelleghan--based on a talk held at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 21 March 1996. At http://www.lysator.liu.se/lsff/confuse96/Sound_Effects_in_SF_and_Horror_Films.html
Soundsite at http://www.sysx.org/soundsite/ . Online journal of sound theory, philosophy of sound, and sound art. "Soundsite is a World Wide Web publication for sound artists, practitioners and theorists. Soundsite deals with the cultural, theoretical and practical aspects of sound as manifest in: language and discourse; voice; poetics; acoustics; psycho-acoustics; the nature of perception and sensory experience; hearing vs. listening; aurality and corporeality; space and architecture; sound geographies; philosophies of sound; post-musics; film, video and tv soundtrack; sound art and sound by artists; sound and noise; virtual systems; human-computer interface; communication and technological systems; low fidelity sound; radio and radiophonic art; performance; recording; composition; aesthetics; art.//This list is not exhaustive!//… Essays are preferred in a 'journal' type format, with footnotes and bibliography as appropriate. We are also very interested in receiving reviews and artist's descriptions of sound artworks and performances." [Note: A link check on 24 September 2003 found this site unavailable.]
Soundtrack, an online magazine on the art of film and television music at http://www.soundtrack.net/
"What Radio Has Meant to Talking Movies," an essay by Charles Feldstead, Sound Engineer, Universal Pictures Corporation, from Radio News, April 1931. At http://www.antiqueradios.com/features/movies.shtml
SOUND ARTISTS, SCHOOLS, and STUDIO WEBSITES
Disney: The Disney Music Page at http://disney.go.com/disneyrecords/
Goldenthal: Elliot Goldenthal, film music composer (won Oscar for original musical score for Frida) at http://goldenthal.filmmusic.com/
Herrmann: The Bernard Herrmann Film Music Pages (director of music for Citizen Kane, among others): http://www.bernardherrmann.org/
Murch. Walter Murch articles at http://www.filmsound.org/murch/murch.htm (Murch is revered in film sound, and editing, circles.)
- Walter Murch at BAFTA, Part 2 (~50 mins). The first 10 mins are for a Q&A (question and answer) session. Examples: "How do you judge editing?" Or, how do you know the editing job is good? ("The prize is given for the best collision of images.") Then he moves on to music in his editing of The Godfather (including clips from the film to illustrate the decision to withhold music until a point after a killing). "Music used indiscriminately as a kind of audio steroid can inflate certain scenes,. . . . but there's a cost for this. . . . It can beckon you down a path that looks encouraging but ends in a swamp." His explanation of using the musical effects of sound effects (affecting the audience emotionally and mentally), such as the sound of the elevated train, is fascinating. He speaks of the scream of the train being interpreted by the audience as the scream inside the man who is pulling the trigger (similar to the scream of the woman, in Citizen Kane, as though being raped is heard with an onscreen image of Susan, who is figurately being raped by her beast of a husband). At about 30 minutes, he discusses digital sound editing. Then discusses The Conversation.
Nyman: Music of Michael Nyman at http://www.michaelnyman.com/index.php (director of music for The Piano, among others)
Portman: The Rachel Portman Soundtrack page at http://www.soundtrack.net/composers/database/?id=168 | The first female composer to win an international reputation in the film music community (she won an Academy Award for Emma, 1996). | A moviemusic site here at http://www.moviemusicuk.us/portman.htm
Streisand: The Barbara Streisand Music Guide at http://www.bjsmusic.com/
Thom: The Randy Thom page of essays at http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/ (He did the sound for Cast Away and The Incredibles, among others)
Vancouver Film School - Sound: Nice little introductory video on this site.
Williams: John Williams Page at http://www.johnwilliams.org/
Apocalypse Now. An interview with famed sound designer Walter Murch at http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/2000/04/27/murch/
Citizen Kane
- The American Experience: The Battle over Citizen Kane, a documentary about the conflicts between William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/kane2/index.html
- Internet Movie DataBase Site: http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Citizen+Kane+(1941)
- Tim Dirks Review of Citizen Kane: http://www.filmsite.org/citi.html
The PI Website at http://www.pithemovie.com/ Recommended by Encyclopaedia Britannica, which says this about the site: "Official information about the science thriller film. Features sections focusing on topics covered in the film--the music genre electronica, the Chinese board game Go, the concept of Kabbala in Judaism, migraine headaches, the New York Stock Exchange, chaos theory, and pi--with related links for each. Includes audio clips from the sound track (requires a RealAudio plug-in), a sweepstakes entry form, excerpts from the director's journal, and a gallery of video clips (requires a QuickTime plug-in).
Singing in the Rain, a great musical about the coming of the sound age. Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain" is a classic; search for it on You-Tube, and you'll not only find the original, but several adaptations by contemporary admirers.
TECHNOLOGY: SOUND SYSTEMS. Dolby Laboratories at http://www.dolby.com/. || LucasFilm’s THX Homepage at http://www.thx.com/
Created 17 April 1998. Revised 20 August 2010
Gloria Floren, Letters Department, MiraCosta College, One Barnard Drive, Oceanside, California 92056.
Contents Copyright 1998-2010 Gloria L. Floren. All rights reserved. U.S.A
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