ToneBenders Eps. 1: Origin Stories

Big News! I've joined up with René Coronado & Dustin Camilleri and we're starting up a new podcast dedicated to exploring the world of sound design and audio post production.  We're calling it Tonebenders. Check us out at www.tonebenders.net, where you can find info and the latest episodes.  Our first podcast is available now at:

At the bottom of this post you can find a press release about this new endeavor as well as instructions on how to set up iTunes to subscribe to Tonebenders.  As some of you may know, it's a bit of a battle to get a new podcast up in the iTunes store. Since we didn't want to wait to release the first show while we were working through the red tape, I've included some download instructions to follow until iTunes catches up with us. 

I thought I'd give you blog readers a quick explanation as to how the podcast came together. In past posts I've mentioned how much I love the sound community I've become a part of over the last couple years thanks to social media.  Twitter has been fantastic for following what other sound pros are up to, and the many blogs out there offer a lot of info and insight into new techniques and gear.  Social Sound Design is a great place to learn something new almost every day, and the Yahoo Sound Design Group lights up with activity every so often.  I'm not always the most vocal in these various web forums but I'm always reading what's going on and taking notes.  As a freelance sound editor and recordist I spend a lot of time working in solitary conditions, so having these digital interactions is the best way for me to learn and keep up to date on what's happening in the sound world.

I'm a big podcast fan and a few months ago I was thinking about how there should be a podcast about sound design.  As far as I know there isn't one out there.  The Game Audio podcast is close to what I was looking for but obviously it's mainly focused on gaming sound, and the Home Recording podcast is great but it's mostly music-studio based.  I thought about filling in the gap with a podcast of my own that covered the kinds of topics that interest me as a sound effects editor.  But then I got busy with another project and left the podcast idea simmering on the back burner.

Around the same time, René Coronado was down in Dallas, Texas, thinking the same thoughts as me. But unlike me , he took action and fired off a tweet asking if anyone was interested in starting up a podcast with him.  I quickly responded that I was very interested, as did Dustin Camilleri in Chicago.  René contacted us and right away, emails were flying with topics and story ideas.  Soon we were having video conferences, hashing out exactly what our various concepts were and how we could bring them to life.  

Before long we found ourselves, each in our own studios - in Toronto, Dallas and Chicago - all set up ready to record episode 1.

And I am very happy with our pilot episode.  We're dipping our toes into this podcast concept by introducing ourselves and describing our beginnings in the industry, laughing at each other's early failures, and sharing the achievements each of us are proud of.  We approached  this first podcast as a kind of “get to know us” exercise and have called it "Origin Stories."  Future episodes will feature pre-produced segments, interviews with some exciting people working in the industry, and reviews of new software, gear, and SFX libraries.  We've been busy putting together stories for future episodes and I can't wait to get them out there - and I hope they spark some discussions beyond the podcast itself.

You can follow @thetonebenders on Twitter to be in the loop when new episodes come out, and to help us with any crowd-sourcing stories we might be producing in the future.  You can also “like” us over on the Tonebenders Facebook page. 

If you don't know of René and Dustin, you'll be glad you checked out the podcast where you'll find out what kinds of cool stuff they are into.  So take a listen to Episode 1: Origin Stories and let me know what you think. 

 

___________________

Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE:

TONEBENDERS, a brand new podcast that focuses on the art of Sound Design, has released it first episode.  Available for download immediately.  October 1st, 2012  - Tonebenders is a collective of sound design professionals sharing their thoughts, ideas, and stories.  All aspects of sound design will be up for debate, from field recording to the final mix, from manipulation to synthesis, from track layouts to secret editing tricks.  The Tonebenders Podcast will air these topics in lively conversation while also covering the latest news in software, gear, techniques, and topics from the sound design world.

The podcast is hosted and produced by René Coronado (Dallas), Dustin Camilleri (Chicago) & Timothy Muirhead (Toronto), three audio professionals with different backgrounds and specialties.  Using nearly 40 years of combined knowledge and experience, they set out to create a thoughtful take on the past and present of the sound design and post production businesses.

Tonebenders' premiere episode, titled Origin Stories, will introduce listeners to the show’s hosts.  Through in-depth discussions each host tells the story of how he ended up working in audio and the mistakes and triumphs experienced along the way.  Also, Dustin Camilleri talks about his recent trip to St. Cloud, MN, for the 2012 Kyma International Sound Symposium (K.I.S.S.).  Dustin  introduces listeners to the Kyma software/hardware system and offers his take on the conference.

Tonbenders Eps. 1 can be found at www.tonebenders.net or at the following RRS feed:

About the Hosts:

René Coronado:  René is an audio post professional working in Dallas.  He joined Dallas Audio Post right out of school in 1999 and has worked his way up to partner in the company.  René specializes in field recording, sound design, ADR and spot mixing.  René also runs the blog The Sound My Head Makes and can be found @rene_coronado on Twitter.

Dustin Camilleri: Dustin is a sound designer, re-recording mixer and composer born and raised in Boston, schooled in Champaign and Winter Park, trained in Los Angeles and currently employed in Chicago. Dustin splits his time as the post production supervisor for a large international advertising agency and as the owner and principal creative for Pulsetrain, a full-service audio post-production outfit specializing in unique, original content across all mediums. His intense love of audio is documented on the web at Pulsetrain.net and on Twitter via @pulsetrain. 

Timothy Muirhead:  Timothy has been professional sound editor working out of Toronto for over 15 years.  Currently, Timothy runs Azimuth Audio, a sound editorial and custom sound effects recording company specializing in SFX for episodic animated series.  He also writes the popular field recording/audio postproduction blog Azimuth Blog and can be followed on Twitter via @azimuthaudio.

Contact Info: 

 Please contact Tonebenders via info@tonebenders.net or on twitter @thetonebenders

#####

How to Subscribe using iTunes (for now)

In the future Tonebenders will be available directly through the iTunes store on their podcast page.  In the meantime though, you can set up iTunes on your own computer to subscribe to the Tonebenders’ RSS feed in a few simple steps.  Once you have followed these simple instructions iTunes will download all future episodes of Tonebenders, at the same time it refreshes all other podcasts you subscribe to.

First highlight and copy (ctrl+c, on a PC or command+c on a mac) the following URL:

http://www.tonebenders.net/feed/podcast/

Next, open iTunes on your computer.  Go to the pull-down menu along the top of the iTunes window named “Advanced”.  There you will find “Subscribe to a Podcast...”,

this will lead you to a new window that looks like this:

Now Paste (ctrl+v, on a PC or command+v on a mac) the URL you copied earlier into this window.  Click OK.

You should now be able to see the Tonebenders podcast on the Podcast page in your iTunes.  All future episodes will now automatically be downloaded to this location.

Thanks for subscribing.