Lucky Dog Audio Post

I don't know what I like more about this video, the sounds of the Buchla Music Easel or the look of 16:9 720p High Definition format shot using a Letus35 Extreme and a 35mm LensBaby 3GPL! Awesomeness all around.

CHARLES COHEN AT THE BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL from ALEX on Vimeo.

Les Visages de Douille du Chien Chanceux.

In 1954 Maria Do Natal and António Borges walked into a radio station, Rádio Clube de Angra, in the Azores. They were accompanied by guitarists Mário Ranchel and Lauriano Correia and together, the four of them recorded 12 songs. Last week, Maria Do Natal walked into our studio with these recordings on a disc.

It's not every day that a Fado singer walks into your studio with a cd of vintage recordings. And as excited as I was to hear these recordings, I was even more intrigued by two photographs Maria brought with her. Seen above and below, these photographs document a performance given in 1954 for a group of "diplomats" visiting the Azores. Maria had little more to say about the performance than that and the ambiguity of her description makes me all the more curious about the event. Diplomats from where? The neighboring town? The mainland? What sort of diplomatic meeting could this be?

The top photograph offers little in the way of clues. The group assembled certainly looks distinguished. The military officers standing in the back, left-hand corner of the room bring an air of seriousness to this photograph (as do those in the audience dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns). But just when you start to think that the fate of the free world lies in the balance of this ballroom detente, all of the orthagonals in this photograph's composition point to Mr. Black-Bow-Tie who, seated in the center of the room, looks like the Portuguese version of the Maytag repairman, hatless and wearing a self-conscious grin.

But my attempts at Luc Sante-ish musings have nothing to do with our real work on this project. As well as scanning these photos for use as part of the label, we duplicated 100 copies of Maria's cd, now in her hands and entitled "Modas Regionais Vozes de Maria Do Natal e António Borges." The photograph below is what ended up on the face of cds themselves, a close up of the quartet in action, back in 1954, playing Fado songs for diplomats from the corner of a small ballroom somewhere in the Azores.

Tracy Byrd stopped by the studio today to record a voice over for a new :30 Radio. Pictured above, Tracy with little buddy Scott Minor.

The day before yesterday, we thought we were being soooo clever. We were working on a spot that required GPS SFX so we hopped in the car with Scott's Magellan GPS unit, programmed directions to Lucky Dog Audio, took a spin around downtown Little Rock, and recorded the Magellan beeping and cooing at us as we made all the right turns to get us back home. Awesome idea! Good job, Lucky Dog! Home run on the foley work there boys!

Nope.

The spot went to the client for approval and out came the gong. Spot's no good. Turns out the client has a Garmin GPS in their car, so all those Magellan bells and whistles mean nada.

Now it is time for reflecting on the task of creating authentic simulations of specific audio events when using new gadgets that are, as of yet, unfettered to concrete audio signifiers. And yes, we've been through this before. Several months ago we were working on a spot that needed a cell phone ring. We dropped a fairly ubiquitous ringtone into the spot and the client said, "Hey, that cell phone ring doesn't sound like my cell phone ring!" Not to sound like old man Wilson down the street, but it used to be a phone sounded like a phone. Not anymore.

Silent reflective pause.

So yesterday, our buddy Gary graciously lent us a Garmin GPS. Here's a shot of Scott pointing our Rode shotgun microphone at his (Gary's) unit (please refrain from commenting on this sentence).

We thought we were being soooo clever. . .

Not only is it Cinco De Mayo, today is also "Car Appreciation Day" here at Lucky Dog Audio. First off, my wife drove by this morning in a red Cadillac. Pretty sweet. She's working on a 7 Day Film Project and landed this Caddy as a prop.

Secondly, Scott needed some GPS sound effects for a radio spot we are producing. What better way to get those GPS tones than to hop in the car and drive around town with a GPS? So here's a pic of Scott pointing our Rode shotgun mic at his Magellan GPS unit (please refrain from commenting on this sentence). Scott Minor - call him the "Verisimilitude Dude."

Finally, for good measure, here's a picture I took yesterday of a Buick Regal. In case you were wondering, this is a 1984 Buick Regal. That being the case, I didn't think it technically qualified as a donk. Others disagree.

Donk it is.

It just didn't seem fair to add this sleeve face to our gallery without including a shot of the man behind the "'Big' Tiny Little" cover, writer and musician Kevin Kerby.

Academy award winning actress Mary Steenburgen dropped by the studio for an ADR session yesterday. As usual, the Lucky Dog personnel managed to strike awkward poses for the camera. Jim's comment sums it up best, "Looks like three thorn bushes and a rose."

Occasionally we let Scott out of the office, usually to grab a bite to eat or ride his motorcycle. Yesterday we had the opportunity to let him actually work outside. The project was called "what do you think of my green striped shirt?" As you can see, Scott really had to hassle this particular young lady for an answer.

The Lucky Dog snow meter says we are out of time so we're closing shop early today.