While that oxymoronic standby ‘less is more’ has proven sporadically true at best over its long life, in the post-production world the adage is gaining some respect. Born of the evolution of digital technology and the constant search for time and cost-saving means of completing a project, smaller gear and a streamlined process are being applied to more jobs at every level.

And as more is done with less, the universe of audio and video post is also contracting, with not only smaller gear and a ‘contracted equipment set’ but convergence of talent. With digital nonlinear post, the job descriptions of audio and video post people as well as engineering and post become blurred. At the same time, talent is now working on traditional as well as digital equipment and methods, both new talent schooled in both worlds and existing talent who have devoted considerable effort to making the leap.

The combination of that intermingling of talent and the expansion of high-level capabilities over a larger equipment base has been, once again, to distill the importance of the human equation; a more level equipment field emphasizes the importance of raw talent and quality from the beginning to the end of the production process.

In the following report, new stars and established players discuss shrinkage, digital dexterity and the evolution of the production and post process.

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There are as many opinions on digital consoles as there are buttons on an analog board. Complicating those opinions is the fact that the range of digital consoles is immense.

‘There are digital consoles and there are digital consoles,’ says Mark Scott, a partner with David Hoole at Vancouver’s Post Modern Sound.

One that has tongues wagging of late is the Yamaha O2R, a fully digital console that is in the $12,000 range and has been mostly well-received in smaller studios. Another is the Neve Capricorn. But while the 02R is getting lots of tryouts, the Capricorn is the stuff that audio dreams are made of – it’s priced at about $1.2 million and the only known user in Canada is cbc in Toronto.

In between the 02R and the Capricorn are some new or soon-to-be-released mid-range consoles in the $50,000 to $250,000 range, such as the brand new Soundtrac Virtua ($50,000) and Logic 1, 2 and 3 from ams ($300,000 to $400,000).

‘The Yamaha is good for a project studio or a musical studio at home, because in a big situation they run out of horsepower pretty quick,’ says Scott. ‘What it really does is upgrade the kind of quality you can get in a smaller studio. It allows you to use digital sound processing in doing small projects so you can digitally patch things, digitally e.q. things, digitally put reverb or effects. It allows the individual a lot more expertise for a reasonable price in a domain that is very quiet and very flexible.’

Vancouver’s Dick & Rogers has gone truly digital with two mid-range consoles: the AMS Logic 1 and Logic 3. ‘We decided on these because they do quality work at an impressive speed,’ says Roger Monk, adding that almost all their television and commercial post-production work is done on the consoles. ‘It’s a computer – it makes tasks more efficient. Although they are still pricey, these consoles are beginning to have a major effect on the business.’

Vancouver’s Ferocious Fish team Daryl Bennett and Jim Gutteridge had a Yamaha on line but decided to throw it back.

‘There are people out there who love them and swear by them, but we like the analog and I don’t think we’ll go back to digital like that again,’ says Bennett. ‘We tried the Yamaha for the recording of a 75-piece orchestra and it seemed to offer less warmth. With 40 violins together, there’s a lot of harmonics and it didn’t reproduce that warmth and harmonics of acoustic instruments.’

At Magnetic Music in Toronto, director of music David Greene, on the other hand, swears by the 02R. ‘We got one last fall, and it’s been amazing,’ he says. ‘For our application it’s very cost effective and has a great deal of operational sophistication. It’s easier to make changes and it’s cost effective for clients. Previously, we couldn’t get that kind of facility in a console – it would have been 10 times the price.’

Despite its truly digital nature and its affordable price, the 02R is not suitable for large projects, say industry gurus. ‘It’s great for smaller documentaries and industrials, but it’s not going to serve a feature film where you’re running 60 to 200 channels of sound,’ states Lou Solakofski at Toronto’s Casablanca Sound. ‘To do that you’re looking at larger-format digital consoles.

‘In the u.s., they’re just starting to get into consoles like the Capricorn and in Europe they’re looking at the Solid State Logic Axiom. The Toronto film industry is more hesitant, based on our budget. We’re not looking at $50 million movies sound-wise, so it’s very tough to buy one of those high-priced ones. Also, the smaller consoles aren’t set up for traditional two-man mixing – right now they’re designed for one person.’

John Hazen, a sound expert with John L’Ecuyer’s Curtis’s Charm to his credit, says he was impressed with the 02R. ‘I mixed a cd in Dolby surround using it. We ran the entire chain as a digital chain and it was amazing. It was coming in digital, we were mixing digital and it was going back digital. What that means is there was an overall clarity and sweetness. Digital loses its sweet quality when it goes through all the conversions (from digital to analog, back to digital).’

Hazen is pointing out something that many in the industry have observed. It’s nearly impossible to currently operate in a completely digital world, and films are usually released in analog.

‘The advantages of digital are realized only when you maintain the digital domain – then you get a beautiful sound,’ says Hazen.

Solakofski agrees. ‘It’s very difficult to keep your sound digital from top to bottom, because you always have to go into analog to use different equipment and then go back in. So you lose the bonus of having a digital path.

‘I would rather have the producers thinking about a digital format release,’ he continues. ‘Producers worry about being on a digital console, but most won’t pay for a Dolby digital mix, so there’s no point. If you work in a good room, you’re going to have good sound anyway.

‘Where the (lack of digital) hurts the most is when it’s being played back in a movie theater and it’s going through a terrible format like ultra stereo. Going for a digital format is the single biggest improvement you can do for the sound of your film.’

While manufacturers scramble to catch up with Yamaha’s budget technology, a wide range of digital consoles at widely divergent prices are beginning to be released. Meanwhile, Canadian sound techies are taking a measured, wait-and-see approach. ‘I think digital consoles are the wave of the future,’ says Scott, ‘but there’s still a ways to go.’