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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Recording engineer Steve Gadsden hasn’t had the time to look forward to the job he just landed two weeks ago as senior engineer at Louder Music and Sound Design, a Toronto-based commercial audio house.

Plugging in mathematical calculations to figure out wall dimensions, juggling calls from suppliers and keeping track of price bids are more pressing concerns at the moment. Louder is building an in-house 36-track digital recording studio and Gadsden’s first task is overseeing its construction.

Not a bad gig for a guy who graduated from George Brown’s electronics engineering program in 1988, landed his first job assisting on album recordings at Phase One Studios while still in school, and in 1990 moved over to DAVE Audio where his emerging skills were honed on commercial and tv audio post.

Now he’s tackling a daunting job of a different nature – drywall and concrete, which by early summer will house a recording studio boasting 16 tracks of digital Pro Tools running on a 48-input analog console. Gadsden is still debating between offering an analog alternative or expanding the digital format for an additional 24 tracks.

Gadsden opted for Pro Tools, which lists for about $25,000, because as an add-on to the console, it’s more economical than other hard-disc systems, like Scenaria or Omnimix, which are self-contained and more costly.

‘Pro Tools is perfect for the use we need it for,’ he says. ‘It’s a hard-disc medium which is very conducive to voice recording and sound effects requiring a lot of shifting and moving.’

Free from the restrictions of linear-based recording, the digital gear will put more creativity at his fingertips while allowing him to keep up with the quick turnover times demanded in commercial work.

‘I can push the limits, try something different, give the client options and move sections around without messing up the entire session trying to put the tracks back if they don’t work,’ he says.

Time-consuming client revisions are also more efficiently handled with the digital gear. ‘It used to get a little scary,’ says Gadsden of the number of hours that used to be incurred on client edits, working against the clock as he took sections off the tape, sampling, moving and locking up the two-track analog machine to ensure it was dead in synch with the picture.

The learning curve on digital systems is wide, admits Gadsden, who cut his teeth on dave’s digital 48-track and console with Scenaria. ‘A lot of your training as an engineer is thrown out the window because there are different rules, ratios and thresholds for digital and analog compressors.’

A season of music and sound effects editing and mixing for Insight Productions’ tv series Pumped! gave Gadsden the chance to develop his skills and handling of the digital gear.

Gadsden went with an analog over a digital console for the Louder studio because he prefers its layout.

‘With the in-line analog console you can see what’s happening with a track at any given time, but on the digital consoles you have to call up the screen to see the track you’re working on,’ he explains.

As well, Gadsden isn’t too impressed with the current quality of the digital consoles. ‘Digital compressors and equalizing isn’t perfected and the sound is harsh,’ he says.

Louder’s writing rooms will be tie-lined so the five writers set up at mixing consoles can send audio to the control room, watch visuals onscreen and keep in contact with the engineers throughout the session. The tie-lining offers time savings and flexibility. Writers won’t be hauling their gear to the studio, setting it up and dumping their work into the multitrack tape; they can immediately feed changes to the control room.

A recording floor, able to accommodate a full-sized band, will be wired with a mike panel with 48 lines to the console. A client lounge will feature a parallel mike panel with 24 lines tied to the console so it can be used for additional recording space.

‘The whole facility is accessible for recording,’ says Gadsden. ‘I can put a mike in any room and there’s a port that connects to the control room.’

As for the rest of the equipment, Gadsden says the final decision isn’t in yet, but it will be standard fare – the regular outboard effects any high-end recording studio would offer. Prices and budget figures are changing daily, he says, and until all the gear is decided upon the hard figures can’t be nailed down.

Louder, formed in late 1993 by partners Clive Desmond, David Krystal and Steve Convery, opened a small in-house recording studio a year ago. But running only 16 tracks of Pro Tools mated to a 24-input Mackie board, the studio allowed only for some creative sound design prepping and premixing, small v/o jobs, client revisions, and sound effect layups.

With a year of running the studio under their belts, the partners decided to take the plunge and build a studio offering the creative options previously only available at large facilities.

‘In the new studio we can do the entire session from start to finish,’ says Gadsden. ‘Record the music, do v/os, sound effects and mixes – the entire package.’

Some projects will still have to go outside to large studios but Louder plans to capture 70% to 80% of the work in-house.

With the technology compact, high-powered and falling in price, Gadsden says it is starting to make sense for music post companies to build in-house studios.

‘Now you can do an entire session on one little screen with a keyboard, ‘ he says. ‘Before you needed a $400,000 console plus a $350,000 tape machine just to start. Now you can buy a single $25,000 system with a small little board, and have the same strength of capabilities.’

And Gadsden says the quality the Louder studio will offer is on par with the topnotch studios around town.

With an ear to the audio post future, Gadsden has roughed in the elements and allotted the wiring to go surround-sound in the Louder studio. If new systems like AC3 go through, he sees the demand for commercials with surround capacity in the near future. The switch to surround-sound in commercial audio post is currently hampered by registration and licensing fees for encoders and decoders, explains Gadsden, but discussions are underway to allow for the outright buying of the equipment.

Expansion of the Pro Tools system has also been accounted for and the wiring in place to bump up the number of tracks quickly without too much expense if the need arises. Allotting for these extra costs at the front end is important, notes Gadsden. ‘This way our hands aren’t tied come something new.’

And Gadsden is no stranger to adaptability and versatility, having worked in a wide variety of formats and mediums in his short career and taking his latest career leap in stride. He’s jumped from album recordings, working on Phase One’s 48-input ssl console with analog Studer 24-track, to dave where he considered himself a ‘jack of all trades,’ switching daily between analog and digital setups, doing sound effects and music mixes, and cartoon v/os for tv and commercials.

‘Engineers my age are the first generation walking the line between analog and digital,’ says Gadsden, noting the digital realm is beginning to blur the lines between what were once strict engineering categories. With a handling of the basics of digital operation, engineers are moving freely between music mixes, sound effects and dialogue editing jobs. ‘It’s a big jump between analog and digital operation, but once learned, you are master of both worlds.’

But right now Gadsden has a more urgent challenge to tackle than exploring new territory in the audio post world. ‘I just can’t wait to get these walls up,’ he admits.