Channels Audio Services

Foley Recording and Editing

From my experience, Foley really brings a “human” touch to a show, especially when it comes to animation or nature shows. It’s not the same as editing sound effects from a library. It’s creating sounds, and recording them, live to picture. I can say that I have actually recorded the sound of a fly’s footsteps walking around inside a Venus Fly Trap.  This kind of detail got us a nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Sound in a documentary for Smarty Plants.
For dramas, one of the reasons for recording Foley is so that the sound track is filled for when it is dubbed into another language. Every footstep and movement matches. The best Foley is so well integrated into a film that it goes unnoticed by the audience, and it helps to create a sense of reality within a scene.

Mixing and Re-recording

I have seen many changes throughout my career in the mixing process. When I first started, we were mixing on a 10 track, 16mm film chain.  All the machines were synchronized together, along with the projector, and rewinding was done in real time! The sound editors were restricted to keeping their tracks to a minimum to say the least. Typically two dialogue tracks, two music tracks and five or six sound effects tracks. [These days there might be 20 or more dialogue tracks alone, several 5.1 music tracks, 100 or more sound effects tracks and 24 Foley tracks.]
We used to mix down to a three-track 35mm mono machine, keeping the dialogue, music and sound effects separate.  Then, with time code technology, we were able to sync the film chain to our 24 track Otari analogue 2” recorder and the editors could edit twice the number of tracks. This also meant that we could now mix in stereo to an 8 track 1” recorder. Again keeping the dialogue, music and sound effects separate.

Well, once digital came around, the sound quality became a whole lot better, because we weren’t losing a generation every time we made a copy of something. Now with the power of software like ProTools, the sky’s the limit.

Dialogue Recording and Editing

Channels Audio provides voice recording and editing services such as ADR recording (dialogue replacement) for film or television, and narration recording (for informative or educational purposes). We also work closely with Indigenous Languages of Manitoba, formerly Aboriginal Language Services of Manitoba and the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre [MICEC], recording and editing Indigenous languages such as Cree, Ojibwe, Dene, and Inuktitut.

Lately I have edited several audio books, and recorded and edited
another for the same client that was over sixteen hours in length.
We are now working together to create an animated version of the latest book with sound reinforcement. This is going to be a huge job! Thanks Stefan!

I have recorded many commercials for radio and television over the years, and one even won an International Broadcasting Award, presented by The Hollywood Radio and Television Society, for best spot promoting environmental awareness. Manitoba Hydro was the client and Palmer Jarvis Advertising was the ad agency. These days, thanks to Rod Palson, originally from Palmer Jarvis, I have the privilege of co-producing some great Wendy’s commercials.

Audio Restoration

Channels Audio also provides audio restoration. We have the equipment to digitize vinyl records, cassettes and reel to reel tapes of various formats, even 8 Track tapes! We incorporate noise reduction software to minimize clicks and snaps on records and can drastically remove background hiss and hum from tapes, without altering the original sound.