The rapid development of digital technology in commercial audio production and audio post continues to have a major impact. Recent advances in both hardware and software have meant lower prices, and accordingly, greater accessibility to those looking to start up audio shops. This is not good news to more established companies that have already made a substantial investment in sound systems.

‘You can actually build and start your own studio now for under $100,000, whereas 10 years ago that was impossible – you needed to be in a large facility,’ says Bruce Fleming, chief engineer at DAVE Audio, a division of NetStar Communications. Fleming has been at the company’s Toronto location since its inception 13 years ago as Sounds Interchange.

A big part of Fleming’s job is recording, mixing and editing sound on commercials, and his recent credits include a spot for Molson’s ‘Stereotypes’ campaign and ads for Tip Top Tailors.

Most of the equipment in dave’s nine studios is in the digital domain, with sound editing performed on either a Pro Tools system by Digidesign (a division of Avid Technology) or ScreenSound from Solid State Logic. The shop still has some analog equipment as well, which evokes different reactions from various members of the team.

dave recording engineer Paul Shubat, who began his career in audio working for such bands as Blue Rodeo and Images in Vogue, says he won’t miss tape – analog or digital linear – when it’s gone.

‘Right now I’m erasing a tape – I’m going to spend 45 minutes [doing it],’ he explains. ‘To sit here and erase a piece of tape that costs $500 is ridiculous. I don’t want to see tape picture, I don’t want to [hear] tape sound, I don’t want to synchronize things with a time-code base – those days are done. I think we should forget about them, sell the gear to people in Nashville who want to make records, buy Power Mac G4s, load them up with Digidesign software and get on with it.’

Shubat realizes, however, that finances are the main hurdle for most shops switching over to new random-access digital systems.

‘Technology is moving so fast that you buy your new computer and find out it’s a dinosaur six months later, and it’s only worth half of what you paid for it,’ he says. ‘Facility owners find it very hard to equip a large place like dave or deluxe or Medallion-pfa.’

Although most audio professionals would rather have the latest technology at their fingertips, Fleming points to an aspect of analog that keeps some in the industry loyal to it.

‘There are some engineers I know who prefer tracking music on analog tape [because of] the warmth of the sound,’ he explains. ‘I still find [digital sound] a little bit brittle. There’s something in the analog quality that they haven’t been able to achieve yet digitally.’

Yet Fleming remains optimistic digital will one day deliver that desirable sonic texture of analog, adding, ‘They’ve brought Pro Tools up to 24-bit now, so the quality of the digital audio is much better now.’

Where the digital domain is clearly preferable is in ease of use, particularly with nonlinear random-access systems, which dispense with the hassle of locating data via fast-forward and rewind buttons. Fleming feels, however, that this does not necessarily make the post process faster.

‘The systems make everything easier to get at, definitely,’ he says. ‘But you spend just as much time editing together numerous voice takes and with sound design and so on as you did before on the analog systems. With all the technology people think you can go much faster, but the demands tend to be a bit higher now as well, so time-wise, it’s basically the same as it used to be.’

Nonetheless, Fleming says in the next phase of updating dave’s existing systems – a joint venture of its engineering staff and technical department – there will be only one way to go.

‘Right now we’re looking at a number of different consoles, but I think we would be looking at completely digital systems,’ he says. ‘We’re looking into updating some of our rooms with a full Pro Tools setup.’

Again, the prime factor is flexibility.

‘It’s getting where we’re going to be digitizing picture and [using] a completely non-tape-based format,’ he continues. ‘It will all be random access so there will never be any waiting on anything. If you had 15 spots and you wanted to quickly verify mixes between numbers one and 15, you’re there instantaneously, rather than having to change reels or set up different pictures.’

Fleming sees the increasing popularity of digital technology on the consumer end as having a positive effect on the audio business.

‘There’s a high percentage of people who have a home theatre,’ he says. ‘You’re going to see many more commercials mixed for high-definition tv, and that would mean mixing almost every commercial in surround sound. When [viewers are] watching tv shows broadcast in surround sound, ads are going to sound smaller if they’re not mixed in the same format [the programs] are. I think we’ll see that happening – more mixing in at least Dolby Surround Sound.’

The audio industry is hardly complaining about this situation, because with each project it means more audio channels to fill, which translates into more hours spent both in production and post, and thus more dollars in their pockets.

Another development creating more sound work is the proliferation of ads playing at your local cinema. A separate, more demanding mix is required for the theatrical version of a tv spot.

‘It does tend to be time-consuming, and only some of the bigger campaigns are actually taking advantage of that at this point,’ Fleming explains. He describes the theory behind a movie theatre mix as ‘the bigger the better,’ adding, ‘If you can get something that’s going to keep the audience involved in the commercial, you’re basically selling the product.’