Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Musings while at a local coffee shop:

Scribbled in my notebook:

It is nearly impossible for me to think. I'm eavesdropping while I maintain this veneer of a quasi-studious male. The trio across from me is talking about fleeing and seeking refuge elsewhere, although I don't quite understand which country that had picked for their asylum. They're reasons are clearly more opinionated rather than substantive problems. No matter, this idle talk is nothing worth my concern.

The two blokes behind me are obviously trying to start the semester off right. Something about setting goals and working hard. I say "trying" because they quickly shift the conversation to cars, rims, and girls. Once again, nothing really worth listening to.

Still, here I sit. With my empty glass, I quietly ponder whether, from a sound design perspective, these conversations are walla or room tone*. Anywhere else, and especially in class, I'd consider it walla. But here, at this coffee house, it's just part of the norm.

And here I sit, alone, though not lonesome, in all this din.


*Room tone - the ambient sound present in a room when nothing else is going on (i.e. - the combined sound of your computer fans and the air conditioner in your room)


That's right, folks. Classes have started again. This time, I'm taking a couple that I actually want to take!

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Daily Ditty:
Keane - Nothing in My Way

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Strictly speaking, room tone contains no voices. The real question you want to ask is whether the voices are walla or dialogue. The guide to that is pretty simple: are they a part of the narrative of the film, or are they incidental, that is, are they just 'colour'? If they're just colour, then they're walla. If they're critical to the story, or the emotional content of the story, they are dialogue.

Walla and dialogue will still all end up in the dialogue mix stems.