Too Many Good Choices!

This week I finished work on Scene 9 for Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows, putting me over 1/4th of the way complete in mixing the entire project. (Well, much more than that if you factor in the work on the songs I've completed so far.) That may not sound like much, but to me it's halfway to halfway!

Scene 10 is a short but fairly heavy scene between Saolos and Merikk. Sean Anthony Roberts, who provides the voice for Saolos in both "Dark Ritual" and "A World Of Shadows", brought his A game to this scene, which makes it a great pleasure to work on, but also a real challenge to edit.

Sean is such a fantastic performer that he usually requires very little direction. He also tends to give me multiple, fantastic versions that are different yet equally appropriate to the moment in the script. As I sat editing scene 10 today I thought, "I want people to hear ALL of these takes!"

In the end I choose, as best I can, and then resolve to let the other takes be heard sometime later in a behind the scenes feature.

Already it looks as if I'll be able to finish Scene 10 before the week is over, which would be very gratifying. At the same time, I've begun praying that Yahweh will allow me to have peace and contentment regarding my pace and productivity, resting in his sovereign control over events and ultimate wisdom regarding what should happen when.

Either way, I hope to keep taking a break now and then to keep you updated. Stay tuned!

-Paeter Frandsen

Summer Days And Productivity

It's a miracle!

The summer has begun at the Frandsen household, which means both of our boys are home and full of energy. For a guy who tries to do much of his work at home throughout the day, the thought of this season is something I have dreaded. "Prepare to watch your productivity plummet, Paeter. Just assume that you won't make much progress on AWOS ("Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows") until August."

What I wasn't prepared for was the social dynamic between my boys, and how it's actually helping me to get MORE mixing time into my schedule than I had during the school year with only our youngest at home most days.

Our youngest boy is the extrovert of the family. This means that unless he is interacting with someone, he's not happy for long. Which makes being alone with him all day very challenging if I hope to get any work done.

By contrast, our older boy is more like me. Highly imaginative and content to play by himself much of the time. When I only have him to worry about, keeping up with my work day isn't too difficult.

With our oldest now home from school, the little guy has someone else he can suck the life from *Ahem!* I mean- PLAY with. And when our oldest prefers to play alone, The Destroyer (as we often call our youngest) is often content with his new favorite hobby... playing in water!

So the water bill from our sprinkler may be on the rise, but so is my productivity on AWOS, to which I've so far been able to dedicate at least 1 MORE hour per day than what is normal during the school year. And often even more than that!

I'm sure the schedule will require tweaking as the summer moves forward, but this is a VERY encouraging and exciting development!

For those curious, I'm currently mixing scene 9 out of 38 (not 39, as I thought last time), which means that when I'm done with the current scene I'll be 1/4th of the way through the project! That might seem like a small slice, but for me it means I'm about halfway to halfway! Woohoo!

Here's hoping this momentum will continue!

-Paeter Frandsen

Scene 7 (of 39)

Well, that certainly isn't exciting to type. I'd much rather be on scene 38 of 39! But as I've been reminded lately, slow and steady wins the race.

Yesterday and today were a couple of mixing days with little excitement in them. I'm not working on a terribly complex scene. So it doesn't have a load of complicated sound cues. But neither does it have the creative excitement of some of the "bigger scenes" in the project. On the other hand, it's also not just a scene with two people talking. Those kind aren't flashy, but at least they can be put together quickly.

No, Scene 7 is in the middle ground. It's mostly people talking, but it has numerous sound effects cues that have to be carefully and thoughtfully timed in order to tell the story well. They are also sound cues that, if I do my job right, the listener will not pay direct attention to, but that are still vital to the scene.

The chief challenge is Raan Galvaanik. If I were talking about making a movie, I might say that Raan is an "expensive" character, much like Green Lantern was expensive to put on screen, since even when he was just sitting around he wore a costume entirely made of digital effects. Likewise, Raan is a cyborg, and so always has some minor servo sounds whirring and clicking around him as he talks and does even simple tasks in a scene.

Although things seem to be moving slowly with this scene, I know there are others that are shorter, or that will not take as long. I'm currently aiming for a pace of one scene per week. You're welcome to do the math and estimate a release date, but be sure to add on a month or two to polish up the songs and another month or two for the score and final polishing of the whole project. (While you're at it, go ahead and add six months for the weird stupid crap I won't see coming until it hits me in the face. Lol!)

Finishing scene 10 will put me 1/4 of the way done, which will be exciting. And as more of the project is finished I will likely gain more momentum and greater willingness to push myself. Right now, though, I'm still in those early grindy stages that I can't wait to break out of. Hopefully that will be pretty soon!

-Paeter Frandsen 

The Infamous "Scene 4"!

That's what I have come to call the scene I am currently working on for "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows". I'm certain it is the single most complex sequence I have ever conceived or produced for audio drama.

"AWOS" Progress Report

Still in the thick of mixing "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows". After some annoying computer problems last month I've made some great progress mixing the first few scenes. I've also returned to "Day Of Wrath", the song that will accompany Vincent Craft as he... let's just say as he does some serious damage to Atlantis Incorporated.

Songs Nearly (80%) Finished!

I'm currently in the middle of editing the track for the final of seven songs for "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows". This is very exciting for me because I set the goal for myself to be "done" mixing all of the songs before taking Christmas vacation this year.

Claudius Falcore/Nephilim Interview!

I'm launching the first in a series of special features about the production of "Spirit Blade: A World Of Shadows" with my first ever interview with the voice of Claudius Falcore and The Nephilim, Jesse Tessier!

Jesse recently returned to reprise his roles for the upcoming conclusion of the Spirit Blade Trilogy. In this interview, Jesse talks about his performance background and how unique working on The Spirit Blade Trilogy was by comparison. We also find out what he has in common with Homer Simpson!

You can download and listen to the entire interview right now on our Media Page!

Enjoy!

-Paeter Frandsen 

AWOS Progress and Special Features Plans

Once again I find myself posting an update on "Spirit Blade: A World of Shadows" (our audio drama currently in production) after much more time than I had intended. But in part, that's because work is going well!

Hitting The Song Wall

After a somewhat unsuccessful "off-grid" week, I'm back to my normal schedule and in the thick of song production again. This week my focus is a song called "Mercy", featuring Saolos and the Sanctafi (in the form of a men's choir).

Songs tend to have much longer stretches of monotony during production compared to working on scenes. Most of my work on Mercy this week involved editing together multiple passes of my own voice to create an ensemble of men.

This is trickier than it sounds, since I have to make sure consonants and note cut-offs match up as much as possible, but not so much that it loses the sense of being an ensemble. (I also use a different "voice" each time I record a pass to give the final product a variety of voice types as you would hear in a real ensemble.) Then there is auto-tuning to do and volume adjustments to make in order to decide which voices will stand out and "lead" more than the others.

All of that is just to complete one voice part of one ensemble in one section of the song. Afterward I rinse and repeat about a dozen times. If that was boring to read, just imagine doing nothing but that for hours at a time. Bleh. The result can be a "wall" that I hit (which I did on Monday) that sucks the creative life out of me and makes it very hard to keep going.

However at the end of the day yesterday I managed to get through the worst of it, which means the next time I sit down to work on Mercy will be much more creative and interesting. Today also marks the beginning of the school semester, which means that our oldest son begins Kindergarten and working at home becomes just a little more doable during the day. Of course it all also means I will start getting called for subbing gigs soon, but you take the good with the bad.

-Paeter Frandsen

Marathon Song Work

Unlike previous entries in the Spirit Blade Trilogy, I find myself focusing right now on completing work on all of the songs at once. In the past, the songs have come peppered throughout the overall post-production phase, often only becoming a main focus of my attention when I naturally reach them in the process of chronologically mixing scenes. But this time I'm surprising myself by finding both the motivation and creative inspiration to work on them one after the other, here at the very beginning of the post-production phase.

"Untold: Alliances" Available Now For Free!

(Stock
photo provided by- http://www.nelshael.com)

The Spirit Blade Underground Alliance (a volunteer group supported by spiritblade.net) has just released "Untold: Alliances" an original new audio drama!

In an alternate history earth, filled with magic and
futuristic technology, a disturbing evil has been discovered by the
Theocracy. A tainted military commander is sent to investigate. But will
he be transformed or destroyed in the process?

You can download "Untold: Alliances" and more free audio fiction right now at www.spiritblade.net/alliance !

And as always, you're also invited to join The Alliance and be a part of creating exciting new audio drama!

Enjoy!

-Paeter Frandsen

Staring At The Screen

So here I am staring at this screen trying to figure out what to tell you all about my progress this week. But all the big progress happened in the first half of the week and I told you about it on Wednesday! The rest has been various emails and things on my to do list and a little inching forward on the scene I'm mixing. So I really have nothing interesting to tell you today.

But rather than spend more time staring at the screen until I come up with something interesting to say, I thought I'd just confess that my brain is currently empty. At least then I can move forward and get some work done that I can hopefully update you on NEXT week!

Have a great weekend!

-Paeter Frandsen

A Week For Songs!

It's been a great week for songwriting! Paeter has fleshed out the chorus track for a key song in "Dark Ritual". The song uses an Electronic/Epic sound that incorporates strings, orchestra samples and choral voices to create a sweeping, haunting backdrop for Mike Tully's singing.


There's still the verses to complete and then alot of polishing, but it's exciting to see this song come together after only thinking about it for the better part of a year.


That's all for now. Time to crack the whip and get Paeter back to work!


Have a great weekend!

Stuck In A Loop

I found a cool website recently that any aspiring songwriter should check out. It's called "looperman.com" and basically acts as a hub for people to share sound/music loops that they have created. Registration on the site is free and so are all the loops. They can be used privately or commercially, with only a credit required.


Of course, since virtually anyone can upload loops, you'll find some things that are useful and some that are not, but as I've skimmed the surface I've so far found most loops to be of good quality, if not always what I'm looking for.


Currently, I'm looking a for a little electric guitar material. I've got a friend who did some great guitar work on one song in "Dark Ritual" already, but when I need something short, simple and repetitive just to "fill-in" the sound some, loops are a quicker and easier way to go.


Currently I'm working on a song for Dark Ritual called "Death Come Quickly". Like one or two other songs in Dark Ritual, it has an Epic feel, so I'm looking for authentic sounding strings and will also add choral voices using a mix of samples, synth and my own voice to create the final sound.


Anyway, that's all for now. Back to work!


-Paeter Frandsen


http://spiritblade.typepad.com

Past The Halfway Point!

We're thrilled to announce that we are officially more than halfway finished with the primary mixing of "Dark Ritual"!


Paeter's schedule will begin to free up after a couple more months and we expect progress to come more quickly when that happens.


We also don't anticipate the mastering process to take as long for "Dark Ritual" as it did for "Spirit Blade"(which took around 4-6 weeks). So once the primary mixing is complete it will be a sprint to the finish!


We've learned alot from our experience making "Spirit Blade" and believe that the production quality of "Dark Ritual" will be a significant improvement and refining of what we accomplished in our first project. We hope you'll agree!


Thanks for your support and stay tuned for more updates as we continue to move forward!

Freak Out!

We had a little adventure this week when Paeter thought he had forgotten to record three very crucial lines with Mike Tully when the actor was here last summer.


Although prepared to "get creative" and find a solution that could be written around the missing lines, we felt very lucky to have found the original lines tucked away on a mislabeled sound file. (Whew!)


Paeter is currently mixing an action scene that leads into a MAJOR cliffhanger around the middle of "Dark Ritual". It's a big moment because of its intensity and because of the length of time we make the audience wait before the cliffhanger is resolved. Should be fun!

Mixing Mike Tully

I've finally finished work on a scene with a lot of dialogue that required several layers of "mood-enhancing" sound effects in order to be interesting. Although I've had other things competing for my attention the last couple weeks, that scene was easily one of the longest to mix.


Yesterday, I started work on a "Mike Tully scene". Mike does the voice of Raan and it's always a ton of fun mixing his stuff. When he came into town for a marathon recording weekend last summer, we had so much fun and alot of our screwing around was captured in the recording sessions. So as I'm listening to his takes, deciding which ones to use, I'm often exploding into laughter as I listen to Tully and me just messing around and having fun. (Rest assured, I will be putting together a special feature centered on Tully and his behind the scenes gags.)


With Dark Ritual, I've experimented with using actors who can record their lines and send them to me from across the country or even across the world. It's been a cool way to expand my casting options, but I can't imagine casting long-distance actors in the really hefty lead roles. As a director, I think I value too much the time I spend with my actors one-on-one in a room together. Artistically and socially, there's just too much I think I'd miss.


Anyway, back to work. I wonder what Tully's gonna say today...


-Paeter Frandsen


http://spiritblade.typepad.com

Creating With The Ultimate Artist

Some of the most enjoyable creative moments I have are the result of my own incompetence or what some might call "accidents".


It's in those times that I have to give credit and my thanks to God for partnering with me in the creative process.


It can happen any number of ways. Maybe I forget to have a visiting actor record a line until they're out of town again. Maybe I accidentally put a different effect on a musical track than what I intended. Or sometimes an idea will simply pop into my head that I can't imagine how it logically could have arrived there.


Now, that's not to say that every "happy accident" becomes something that works perfectly. After all, God is still leaving the bulk of creative work in my hands to screw up as I may. But since I'm not the type to believe in luck, I have to give credit for the "golden mistakes" to whom it belongs.


I'll give you one real example. In "Spirit Blade", there's a big continuity error regarding which arm Raan lost in the attack from the Atlantean Shock Troopers. Do you remember which one it was? In two different scenes a different arm is referred to as being lost.


Too late to back and re-record. So if I want to make it work for those perceptive listeners and die-hards that notice, I have to explain it somehow in "Dark Ritual". I'll leave the explaination for how Raan loses BOTH arms for you to hear when "Dark Ritual" comes out. But the need to fix the error brought about some wonderful opportunity for Raan's character, who is becoming increasingly cybernetic and decreasingly human. It will be one of the emotional centerpeices for "Dark Ritual" and an element that would be less effective or possibly even absent, had I not made the mistake I did in the script for "Spirit Blade".


And that's just one example. If I kept track more faithfully (which maybe I should), I'd have a lengthy record of God's grace toward my creative efforts, along with multiple stories of God cleaning up my messes.


Of course, that's the story of our lives, isn't it? Our natural tendency is to make a mess of our lives and everything in them. Thank God, he's interested in cleaning up and being a part of every little thing we do. From the sin that destroys me, to a little "sci-fi thing" I'm working on. God's a part of making it all new. And he loves being a part of MY life! (Psalm 18:19)


Wow...


-Paeter Frandsen

Raan's The Man!

This week, Paeter finished work on a few "torture scenes" and enjoyed working on a new scene featuring Raan Galvaanik.


Raan has become even more "cybernetic" in this story and the ramifications of his lost humanity will play a big part in his running subplot.


Lastly, one of Raan's songs is being re-worked to add some more intensity and "dramatic flavor" to the sound.


That's our week in a nutshell! Have a great weekend!

Paeter= Raan?

If cows ever learned how to fly, snowball fights became common in hell and Spirit Blade was ever made into a major Hollywood movie, I think I would petition very strongly to play the part of Raan.


You might think that's odd, since I do the voice of Merikk in "Spirit Blade". However two things lead me to playing Raan:


1. Merikk is the "leading man", and they'll want someone willing to do more sit-ups than I am for a part like that. (This is still Hollywood we're talking about, after all.)


2. I think I might have more in common with Raan than any other "Spirit Blade" character. At least Raan as he is in "Dark Ritual". I don't know anything about technology, but as Raan struggles inwardly with self-doubt, as he escapes the pain of life by fleeing inward to solitude and his imagination, I feel a unique connection to him.


It probably sounds obvious for me to say I feel "connected" to the characters I'm writing a story and dialogue for, but sometimes I forget that these characters came from my mind. They take on a life of their own and at times I feel like nothing more than a spectator.


Of course, if all I do is watch, then their story will never be told! So I'd better get back to mixing!


-Paeter Frandsen