Spinney Hollow - Evil Dead

Spinney Hollow - Evil Dead by Corin Evans-Pritchard

This is a little submix of some sound design I did for the Winchester Film Festival's showing of Evil Dead in the woodland setting of Spinney Hollow (Fair Oak). Originally mixed and reproduced in a spaced quadrophonic setup it sounds a little more cluttered than when coming out of four speakers.
Hope you like :)

Winchester Film Festival 2011

So again, a pledge of increased prolific writing dishonored. But hey it's been the busiest time of year for me as I've just finished this year's stint of working the Winchester Film Festival.

There's lots of boring stuff I could ramble on about like transcoding videos and the like. Fortunately that's about as boring to write as it is to read so I'll skip on to the pretty pictures:

Winchester Cathedral - I Confess/Le Confessional

One of the first showings we did was at Winchester Cathedral known for among other things being a location for The Da Vinci Code. More fascinating perhaps is that at in the 19th century the whole building was sinking into ground and a deep sea diver had to swim under in pitch blackness to reinforce it's foundations (more here if you're interested).

We we're showing a double bill in the cathedral of Hitchcock's 'I confess' and 'le confessional'. As the latter was a rather rare import and required switching regions on the day nobody had seen it yet. Thankfully despite being a little at odds with the preceding film (two stripclub scenes, drug abuse, profanities, suicides and male rentboys in questionable saunas) we had no complaints.

Chesil Tunnel - The Third Man

A few days later we were set up in Chesil Tunnel. This is a large abandoned railway tunnel running under st. catherines hill. It's been out of use since the 60s and is rather tragically filled with thousands upon thousands of redundant council bins.

After creating some space we set up a good hundred meters into the tunnel (that screen you see is over 4 meters wide) and ran some festoon down so people could see enough to walk but without bringing to much attention to debris. The chilling, dripping brick tunnel was perfect for that evening's screening (the third man) but I shalln't dwell for spoilers sake.

Yavington Barn - Witness

The following day I was sat at home sorting out the short film award showing if I'm honest but I thought this showing in Yavington Barn both looks lovely and was very apt. The film... Witness. :)

Winchester Great Hall - Nosferatu

The next day and the next site specific setup was Werner Herzog's 'Nosferatu' in the Great Hall. The 13th century hall was as deep and darkly gothic as the film.

Spinney Hollow - Evil Dead

Which brings me on to the screening that Winchester Film Festival is known for, the one where the tickets go shortly after they're up. Evil Dead in spinney hollow.

SH - A survivor waits for the first bus

Visitors arrived by bus and were shepherded through a zombie infested woodland by a lone shotgun wielding survivor (from theater company ‘The River People’).

When they eventually reached the safety of the campsite they settled down in front of the fire provided with hot chocolate and popcorn served by tethered zombie waiters.

SH - Spooky lights

The Spinney Hollow showing also gave me the chance to flex my sound design muscles as buried in the blackness were several unseen speakers pumping out shrieks, clatters and hushed chanting. I'll put up the full mix once I've mixed it down to stereo for your enjoyment.

SH - Pre Show

With the audience settled around the fire I began the preshow of horror shorts and fake trailers lulling them into a false sense of security.

SH - Showtime

We were perhaps a little cruel when it came to their journey home. As the
audience walked back through the forest surrounded by my spooky noises
zombies lunged out of the leafy darkness and attacked. This came to a head
as the guide (the survivor) was torn apart in front of the bus home as
zombies set about piercing the intestine filled blood pack he’d been
wearing throughout the performance.

SH - Post show

If anyone has ideas for next year's showing do let me know. We did blair witch last year so I've personally exhausted my supply of wood based horror. And no we will not do cabin fever... because it's rubbish.

Railway Inn - Live Sound Tracking

The final night was a perfect end to the festival. We were in the railway inn and as a gig venue the setup was very relaxed (so the previous day's 9am - 5am shift wasn't felt too harshly). The films soundtracked were 60s cult sci-fi’s La Jetée (the inspiration for 12 Monkeys) and Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (George Lucas’s first film), plus (Six Men Getting Sick) by David Lynch and (The Big Shave) by Martin Scorsese. On the melodies were Jayetal and the Limes.

Perhaps most ambitiously the night ended with the limes soundtracking the PS3 game Red Dead Redemption that allowed a fantastic chance for improvisation (particularly where an unplanned horse fall occurred).

The night was filmed so I'll post any videos as and when they materialize.

Well that's it for now, hope your eyes found the photos delicious. I'll be back soon with some videos I've shot recently.

Stay Tuned

Composition/Sound Design Showreel

Hi there.

While construction of the site rumbles along I've been building a few different showreels of some of the stuff I've been working on. It's going to be a trilogy, composition/sound design, recording, and video work.

Here's part one:

Composition/Sound Design Showreel on Vimeo.

Back soon with part deux.

C

RICHARD O'FLYNN Releases "Albiet Nothing"

What!!! Where did May - September go??? Ok, well, no they weren't erroniously deleted, I've just been busy. Anyway bigger news:


RICHARD O'FLYNN HAS RELEASED "Albiet Nothing"

"Dedicated to brothers, sisters, cities and lovers, Richard’s debut album is titled ‘Albeit Nothing’. The album is a reflection on life, loss and society and is an interpretation on how it is to live in this world. His songs (which are both joyful and tragic) are based on Richard’s personal experiences and observations of other people’s lives.

The songs have been heavily influenced by Liverpool and the raw energy, life, joy and pain that is apparent everyday on its streets. The result is a melancholic reflection on the ways in which this world can both create and destroy, carrying some people forward and leaving others behind. This album is about the contrast of light and dark, joy and pain, hope and despair."





Read more

I'm very happy this project has come to completion it was great working with Snorre and Rich to engineer it to such a high standard. Props to Christian Hildebrand & Robin Schmit for mixing and mastering respectively.

I know Richard is very happy with it:



And Snorre has expressed his joy in the only way he knows, through the phallus...



"Are you not suitably impressed?" says Snorre. To which I say:



Anyway once we got all that tedious recording and musical prowess out the way we did what we came here to do:

Richard O'Flynn Sessions Part 8

Yesterday was our final day tracking and proved to be another fruitful one. Rich got down another three vocals tracks over the course of the day which, given the layers of harmonies and since we’re tending to double track many of the parts as we go, is no easy feat.



Fortunately as Rich is a strong singer we got these three done before Rich began to tire and look a little bleary eyed.



We’ll do the last few vocals in another session towards the end of the month as it’s better to get the takes dead on and with the O’Flynn performance they deserve. Also this gives us a chance to have the cello player down who had unfortunately damaged her arm before this week’s tracking. With recording done for the evening we had a chance to listen the tracks so far



The night then descended into drunken revelry as we brought in Snorre’s birthday with Modern Warfare 2 and Black Sheep Ale.

In the morning after a fry up and after Snorre was chased by a trio of neighbourhood dogs we took a last chance to explore Carmarthenshire.


Rich and snorre bottom left

It’s sometimes easy to forget how beautiful Wales is. Having had this session in such a pretty environment has really been good for recording giving us an easy way to take breaks and unwind.



Snorre has been particularly fond of the surroundings which are more akin to the open planes of Norway than Liverpool. Left unattended the mountain man clambered onto the first large stone to remind him of home...



...drank from mountain streams...



...and finally disappeared over the horizon.



Upon returning we loaded the last of the gear up into Rich’s car and said our goodbyes for now, It has been a great experience working with Rich and Snorre on this project and I’m really pleased with the results so far.



I just can’t wait till the next session when we get to finish vocals, track cello and mess around with reverb. It’s going to be great. I’ll keep you guys posted as to when the next time will be.

Tara for now

C

P.S. shouldn't be too long till EPAV.co.uk us live

Richard O'Flynn Sessions Part 7

Today is the penultimate day of tracking and we could not have had things go more swimmingly. Rich finished off tracking acoustics this morning giving his voice time to warm up for a full day of vocal recording. As Snorre and Rich headed into Lampeter for a shop break I stayed behind to construct a baffled corner area to give us a slightly deader sound that could eliminate the river outside.



Upon their return Snorre helped me put the finishing touches to my creation as Rich took a moment to warm up.

(bonus points available for spotting a lumbering giant)

Rich was of course very happy with his new home.



We took a further hour to get exactly the sound that we wanted for the tracks testing mic choices against one another. We settled on an AT4040 for a warm but clear tone and a D190 for the backing vocals that gives a lovely old school lo-fi sound. When happy we ran the vocals into a 1960 Drawmer Comp/Pre which gave a bit more warmth which enriches Rich’s rich voice.



Technical nonsense aside, I have to confess that often tracking vocals for me can be a slightly tedious process. This is simply not the case with Rich. The tonal quality and soul of his voice are unique and very heartfelt. Honestly the tracking on ‘What in the World’ today brought tears to my eyes… In a good way obviously.



We’re about half way through at the moment having recorded 5 vocal tracks leaving 6 for tomorrow. We’ve jumped in at the deep end and tacked the ones that are harder with more harmonies so I think we’re making good progress. The arrangements are very well thought out and show off Rich’s vocal prowess featureing a fair few layers of harmony.


yes that’s all vocals

Back tomorrow with the last of the O’Flynn session blogs

C

Richard O'Flynn Sessions Part Six

Happy Easter everybody. Today we’ve inducted Snorre into our traditions by setting an Easter hunt that he gruffly lumbered through and also introducing him to the concept of Egg rolling. I think the idea is to throw your egg around as much as possible without it breaking, the last to fracture being the winner. Snorre excelled much more at this than the Easter hunt through brute force, clearing the garden, river, and road with barely a scratch.


Left to right: Rich, Emily (the budding artist), Snorre, Corin

Aside from egg sillyness we have been doing some real work. Rich has been soldiering on with the acoustic guitars completing all bar one track.



So happy with the guitar sound, it’s a touch like The Bend’s acoustics (which is not a bad thing).



We’ll be finishing the acoustic tracking off in the morning tomorrow before moving on to get our vocal sound. It’s been a welcome change to have brighter sunnier weather so we can take breaks in the sunshine appreciating the environment we’re recording in. Snorre and Rich are slowly falling in love…



…with Wales.

With Pro Tools backing up the session we’ve gorged ourselves on a fantastic Easter spread. Snorre is full of meat and we’re all struggling to move so we’ve parked ourselves infront of modern warfare 2. We are all a lot worse at this than we had thought ( "I'm bleedin' out") .



Happy Easter!

C