# The Sound of the Avengers: Age of Ultron



## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

For the studio nerds - a sound designer from Skywalker Sound discusses his work in the latest Avengers movie. Background on a few of the main characters and signature Marvel sounds. There are some interesting views of the individual tracks playing back on their mixing software and a brief discussion of immersive sound toward the end. Pretty cool.

https://vimeo.com/126456478

p.s. I haven't seen the movie yet so NO spoilers!


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

I gotta give them credit.... thats alot of data to compile. 

I haven't seen it yet either... I'm waiting to spend my money on the bluray.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Peter, that was really cool. I'm gonna go through the other links later. I've always wanted to be part of the movie making process, and that just makes me want to even more. Good post.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

I've often thought it would be a lot of fun to record and create sound effects for movies. IMO many of the newer action movies are waaaaay overdone in terms of the amount of sound elements, but a few accomplish it really well. I'm sure it's very difficult to balance it all.

I was looking again at the screenshot of the individual tracks in Pro Tools (I think). Interesting to see the dynamics of the different sounds. I'm by no means an expert in this field but to my eyes it actually looks like several tracks clip the signal in some areas. 



What do you think? Wouldn't those elements sound distorted at pretty much any playback volume? Maybe it's intentional, but why?


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## chashint (Jan 12, 2011)

I am at work so not able to watch the video yet.
I have seen a few "making of" features that went into how they made some of the sound effects.
Really cool stuff.
Sometimes I think I would like to be a sound engineer but every time I watch one of those behind the music shows where the band members, the producer, and the other factions are duking it out about how its going to be mixed...well I get over wanting that job real quick.
Could you imagine what it must be like to do a movie?


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Yeah Peter, I do see the clipping you mentioned. I can't tell from the image,which effects they are. I do think some elements are intentionally clipped. A rocket, or space shuttle for example. I agree, they would sound distorted at any volume. Whether that's the goal? Who knows. One reason I saw, was those kinds of sounds "clip" our hearing, so it naturally translates when doing those effects. Can't say for sure, but it makes sense. 
Charlie, I have seen those shows too(nerd), and even as crazy as it could get, I think either side of the camera would be fun. I'm a nerd fan of Andy Serkis too. The motion capture stuff he's done is awesome (gollum, King Kong, Cesar etc). It would be a blast. Central MN hasn't many opportunities, lol.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

I wondered that too, about intentionally clipping sounds that would probably be distorted to our ears in real life, at real levels. It's definitely a reasonable guess. I'd be curious to hear it done both ways in a scene like this to see which sounds more real.

I do wonder how much freedom they have when it comes to sound and visual fx. I'm sure there are constant battles between directors, producers, mixers, etc. over how things should be done. Still, I agree it looks like a really fun profession.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Indeed it does. Just occurred to me. It couldn't possibly go smoothly with all those guys/gals involved. My wife and I can't even agree on the simple volume level! Lol


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## thrillcat (Mar 25, 2014)

I didn't watch the video, but knowing ProTools (and most DAW software), that's not clipping. They're just zoomed in on the waveform representation. It makes it easier to see the smaller peaks in the quieter areas - like the start and end - so they can edit easier. That's display only, not actual levels. Plus, that's the recorded clip representation only, not the mix level.

If those were actual levels, Truck Tumble & Police Car would be into the yellow on the meter to the left of the timeline, but they're still down in the green.


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Thanks for the explanation. That certainly answers my question. I would have been surprised if the levels were set to cause intentional clipping. I hadn't paid attention to the level meters on the left side, I'm glad you pointed that out too. I went back and re-watched that part of the clip and it didn't look like any of the meter levels went into the yellow.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Good insight thrillcat.


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