Sound Design Competition 2011

Watch the top 10 finalists in Waves’ Sound Design Competition, as judged by top sound designers Charles Deenen (Fast & Furious), David Farmer (The Lord of the Rings), Scott Gershin (Star Trek) and Tom Oz

Watch the top 10 finalists in Waves’ Sound Design Competition, as judged by top sound designers Charles Deenen (Fast & Furious), David Farmer (The Lord of the Rings), Scott Gershin (Star Trek) and Tom Ozanich (Kill Bill).

Thanks to everyone who entered the Waves Sound Design competition. We received some amazing entries, and the top 10 finalists’ scores were very close to one another.

Waves would also like to thank our esteemed panel of judges who took the time to personally review all 289 submissions: Scott Martin Gershin (Star Trek, Hellboy 2, American Beauty), Charles Deenen (Need for Speed, Fast & Furious 1 and 2), David Farmer (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, The Incredible Hulk), and Tom Ozanich (Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Incredible Hulk, Speed Racer). The results were determined by averaging the scores of all four judges.

A big thanks to DesigningSound.org for their collaboration on the competition.

Here are the judges’ top 10 favorites:

1. Winner: Toby Hulse

Charles Deenen: Nice! The sounds provided were not over-processed, but enough so they nicely fit within the story. Sound was complimentary to the experience, and pulled me in. Well done.

David Farmer: This grabbed me first time through—it rocked. Solidly put together and nice weaving of elements. Very tasteful. I liked this from start to finish. The process on the zoom to the mirror is great, and focuses the listener's attention. Excellent execution of the "story," and I felt guided through the piece.

Scott Gershin: I like the way you designed each section, the choices you made, and the way you contoured and designed the sound to work emotionally with the visuals. Nice pacing, well executed, on the debris field, not too sharp. I like the final touch—tasty. Excellent job.

Tom Ozanich: Good story telling, good flow, great sounds, well done all around. Each section had its own sound/feel, yet it all flowed well into each other.

Winner Toby Hulse: "I used the following plugins for this sound design piece:

Morphoder – I created a low drone layer using the fire crackling sfx run through morphoder with RBass and a C4 to fatten it up and smooth it out. I also used this same plug-in chain for the stinger sound during the NFS Shift end title screen. I changed the pitch of the sound to add tension and ran a reverse bell chime through it.

UltraPitch (6 voice) – The crowd and announcer dialogue was run through this plug-in giving a slowed down garbled effect to match the slow mo / still frame nature of the video. It was also great for making some of the car bys sound more unique. I also used it on the female breath sfx to produce some interesting overtones and then added metaflanger which together produced a more unique sounding whoosh.

Enigma – Was used to make some of the sfx sound more unique and edgy. I used it on the dry ice sfx using a preset based on “mushroom therapy” that added real time descending pitch and added some nice tonal feedback. I added some Raxx to edge it up a bit more. I also used enigma on the camera flash and gas hiss sound along with the RComp to give it some movement and phasing.

Renaissance Bass – Was used a lot to thicken sounds and make them sound larger than life. I used it on the heartbeat, the engine revs, some of the whooshes and the cannon blast to add more beef to the impact.

MetaFlanger – I reversed the church bell and applied this plug-in to produce very quick modulation as the sfx swells in. I also used variations of this plug-in on the ice cracking and crushed metal sounds along with the supertap 6-tap delay to give the sense of the car breaking into particles in the air. As mentioned above it was also used on the female breath sfx.

MondoMod – Was applied to the windmill and thunder crash sfx to smooth out the sound and give more movement.

C4 Multiband Compressor – Was used on the announcer dialogue to tighten it up and add more presence so it cut through the mix. (also used ultrapitch, delay and limiting on the chain). I also used this on the race engine sfx (socaRacingInt). I cut up pieces from this file to use as engine revs for the intro sequence. Some where pitched slightly using stock pitch in PT. I used the C4 to pull out certain frequencies to cut thru the mix more. I then added RBass for more growl and some supertap in some cases to give perspective.

SuperTap (6 Taps) – Was used mainly as an aux send which (as mentioned) was used to add dimension, width and perspective on various sfx… announcer dia, engine, revs, metal impacts etc.

L1 Ultramaximizer – Was used on various individual tracks as a peak limiter.

L2 Ultramaximizer – Was applying on the entire mix as the master limiter. I like the transparent nature of this plug-in and it seems to carry the low end better than the L1.

Renaissance EQ – Was used on the gas stove ignite sfx to kill unnecessary hi end.

Renaissance Compressor – Also used on the gas stove sfx to bring out more of the subtleties of the sound.

Doppler – I made a whoosh session using Charles Deenan’s article as a reference and used all of the sfx supplied for this contest in the whoosh session. I used the Doppler (along with RBass, MetaFlanger, Enigma and MondoMod) to get some great sounding whooshes of various speeds. I hand picked about 5-6 whooshes that were used in the final submission. They can be heard in various parts of the piece including the particle whiz bys in the car crash scene and layered in with the various high impact sfx stingers."

2. James M. Wearing

Video removed by Mr. Wearing.

Charles Deenen: Nicely done, captured good emotion, great processing! I also liked the clarity of this piece, really understanding when to use clarity elements and creating design sweeteners. The sweeteners you created were very well done.

David Farmer: I can tell you spent some good time building nice pieces. Well done. Great chunky pieces. Arguably some of the best sounds made in the competition.

Scott Gershin: Great sonic story telling, great use of plugins, tasty choices, very articulate. Only thought is the end could have been a little more dramatic (just a little) on the end logo. Otherwise, fantastic job.

Tom Ozanich: Some very nicely processed sounds! Nice build up toward the end of the debris.

3. Josh Osiris

Charles Deenen: Well done! Interesting material. Didn't sound fully finished in the crash spot on first listen, but overall well done. I really liked the sounds you created at the end for the logo, which fit this nicely. Where most designers went for the straight-ahead flash sound in the flash sequence, you created some interesting material. Rocking.

David Farmer: Focused sounds and the style you played it works well, and is different. Nice work on the processes.

Scott Gershin: Very well done. I thought the beginning wasn't as powerful as it could have been. I like the slight vocal FX on the slow-mo debris field—some really nice ideas, a little different than other entries. Nicely done.

Tom Ozanich: I really liked this. Thought the sounds were all very well done and flowed well into one another. Could have had a bit bigger payoff into the final car.

4. Ryan Thompson

Charles Deenen: Oh, yeah, like it! You changed it up from others, which was great to hear!

Scott Gershin: Very tasty, a little different. Nice dynamics, great emotional story telling. I really like some of the subtle design sounds. Nice mix.

David Farmer: Nice working of the material.

Tom Ozanich: Very nicely done, well covered, good feel/flow.

5. Ariel Echarren

Scott Gershin: Great start! Very powerful, nice flashback. Debris field was a little rough and I thought the ending wasn’t powerful enough, but great job overall.

Charles Deenen: Since music was made using the sounds, I'd say so. I like it!

David Farmer: Very solidly put together. You also really paid attention to the direction of the piece and took the viewer through it piece by piece. Really nice tastes!

Tom Ozanich: Some tasty textures and great rhythm/flow. Felt a bit messy at the top.

6. John Morgan

Charles Deenen: Minimalistic, but some interesting sounds. It had a nice musical flow to it. Liked it.

David Farmer: Love how you played the upside down sequence—you threw in some really tasty bits and pieces so that section didn't drag on, and really worked that visual well sonically.

Scott Gershin: I really liked your piece, very moody surreal, great emotion. Great negative space, one of my favorites. Very tasty.

Tom Ozanich: Not a fan of the bell parts but some other nice sounds. Cool treatment to the flash cuts and the pull out.

7. Alexander Pugh

Charles Deenen: Very interesting use of plugins! Some moments though, like the car entry and the flash sequence, leave me wanting more.

David Farmer: Liked the work on the reverse shards, and the final whoosh into the car/logo has real style.

Scott Gershin: Nice material, good ideas. Debris field could have been a little more polished. Shards could have been a little more ghostly. Nice job overall.

Tom Ozanich: Some great sounds, nicely played details. Thought the flash cuts were a bit weak and the debris after needed an underlying movement.

8. Brett Hinton

Charles Deenen: Didn't like the "sci-fi" sound at 0:16, but loved the gentle chord at the end.

David Farmer: Great sounds, and I loved how you weave from one sound into another to move through the piece.

Scott Gershin: Great emotional start, nice story telling. I thought the flash sequence wasn’t as strong as it could have been, though it had cool sounds. Very good job.

Tom Ozanich: Nicely done, good detail and layered/woven elements. Could use a bit more dynamic/emotional shift between sections. Love the pull out.

9. Jeremy Rogers

Charles Deenen: Nice mangling of sounds, nothing too crazy. Love the use of dynamics.

David Farmer: Nice sounds: Interesting idea to make the flashes super fast car bys, especially coming out of that dark intro sequence. Nice contrast!

Tom Ozanich: Nice textures, good dynamics, one of the best flash cut sequences. Would like to hear a few more layered elements before and after it. Love the end into the logo.

Scott Gershin: Great opening, draws you in. Love the flash cuts and that you used race car bys. Great storytelling, great dynamics. The end could have been a little more powerful, like the beginning, but a really nice job. Thanks for the good work.

10. John Loranger

Video removed by Mr. Wearing.

David Farmer: Great zoom into the mirror and crash flashes. Love the contrast of the aggressive and the smooth.

Scott Gershin: Really great job. Nice use of design and storytelling, strong beginning and ending. Great contrasts. Very good job.

Tom Ozanich: Starts and ends well, some nicely done processing. Felt like there were several details missing though.

Charles Deenen: The beginning didn't feel very strong to me, and a fair bit of sounds seemed "similarly" processed, making it obvious that we were listening to processed sounds. That said, I really liked the "weight" in the sound, the ending, and your flash sequence.

Waves Sound Design Competition 2011:

The Rules

1. During the competition, a clip from Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed™ (courtesy of Electronic Arts) and sound effects (courtesy of Hollywood Edge) will be available for download.
2. Using plugins in the Waves Sound Design Suite*, design the sound for the clip. You may also use your DAW's native processing tools, but only the sound effects provided here.
3. Scott Martin Gershin, Charles Deenen, David Farmer and Tom Ozanich will then choose the winner, based on the impact, creativity, and effectiveness of the sound design.

The Prize

The winner will receive Waves Sound Design Suite Native.**

There are a few things to keep in mind:

• You must use Waves Sound Design Suite plugins - the more the better.
• When uploading your video, use the 'description' field to tell us which plugins you used, on which effects, and how.
• No more than one entry per person.

* If you don't already own the Waves Sound Design Suite, you can download Waves Sound Design Suite demo and use it for the competition. If you've already demoed it, call Waves Tech Support at +1-865-909-9200 ext. 1, and they'll give you a special 7-day demo extension.

** If you already own the Sound Design Suite, you may choose an alternative prize in the form of a bundle or upgrade of equivalent value.

The Waves Sound Design Competition will run from February 1 until February 28, 2011, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Waves Sound Design competition. We received some amazing entries, and the top 10 finalists’ scores were very close to one another.

Waves would also like to thank our esteemed panel of judges who took the time to personally review all 289 submissions: Scott Martin Gershin (Star Trek, Hellboy 2, American Beauty), Charles Deenen (Need for Speed, Fast & Furious 1 and 2), David Farmer (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, The Incredible Hulk), and Tom Ozanich (Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Incredible Hulk, Speed Racer). The results were determined by averaging the scores of all four judges.

A big thanks to DesigningSound.org for their collaboration on the competition.

Here are the judges’ top 10 favorites:

1. Winner: Toby Hulse

Charles Deenen: Nice! The sounds provided were not over-processed, but enough so they nicely fit within the story. Sound was complimentary to the experience, and pulled me in. Well done.

David Farmer: This grabbed me first time through—it rocked. Solidly put together and nice weaving of elements. Very tasteful. I liked this from start to finish. The process on the zoom to the mirror is great, and focuses the listener's attention. Excellent execution of the "story," and I felt guided through the piece.

Scott Gershin: I like the way you designed each section, the choices you made, and the way you contoured and designed the sound to work emotionally with the visuals. Nice pacing, well executed, on the debris field, not too sharp. I like the final touch—tasty. Excellent job.

Tom Ozanich: Good story telling, good flow, great sounds, well done all around. Each section had its own sound/feel, yet it all flowed well into each other.

Winner Toby Hulse: "I used the following plugins for this sound design piece:

Morphoder – I created a low drone layer using the fire crackling sfx run through morphoder with RBass and a C4 to fatten it up and smooth it out. I also used this same plug-in chain for the stinger sound during the NFS Shift end title screen. I changed the pitch of the sound to add tension and ran a reverse bell chime through it.

UltraPitch (6 voice) – The crowd and announcer dialogue was run through this plug-in giving a slowed down garbled effect to match the slow mo / still frame nature of the video. It was also great for making some of the car bys sound more unique. I also used it on the female breath sfx to produce some interesting overtones and then added metaflanger which together produced a more unique sounding whoosh.

Enigma – Was used to make some of the sfx sound more unique and edgy. I used it on the dry ice sfx using a preset based on “mushroom therapy” that added real time descending pitch and added some nice tonal feedback. I added some Raxx to edge it up a bit more. I also used enigma on the camera flash and gas hiss sound along with the RComp to give it some movement and phasing.

Renaissance Bass – Was used a lot to thicken sounds and make them sound larger than life. I used it on the heartbeat, the engine revs, some of the whooshes and the cannon blast to add more beef to the impact.

MetaFlanger – I reversed the church bell and applied this plug-in to produce very quick modulation as the sfx swells in. I also used variations of this plug-in on the ice cracking and crushed metal sounds along with the supertap 6-tap delay to give the sense of the car breaking into particles in the air. As mentioned above it was also used on the female breath sfx.

MondoMod – Was applied to the windmill and thunder crash sfx to smooth out the sound and give more movement.

C4 Multiband Compressor – Was used on the announcer dialogue to tighten it up and add more presence so it cut through the mix. (also used ultrapitch, delay and limiting on the chain). I also used this on the race engine sfx (socaRacingInt). I cut up pieces from this file to use as engine revs for the intro sequence. Some where pitched slightly using stock pitch in PT. I used the C4 to pull out certain frequencies to cut thru the mix more. I then added RBass for more growl and some supertap in some cases to give perspective.

SuperTap (6 Taps) – Was used mainly as an aux send which (as mentioned) was used to add dimension, width and perspective on various sfx… announcer dia, engine, revs, metal impacts etc.

L1 Ultramaximizer – Was used on various individual tracks as a peak limiter.

L2 Ultramaximizer – Was applying on the entire mix as the master limiter. I like the transparent nature of this plug-in and it seems to carry the low end better than the L1.

Renaissance EQ – Was used on the gas stove ignite sfx to kill unnecessary hi end.

Renaissance Compressor – Also used on the gas stove sfx to bring out more of the subtleties of the sound.

Doppler – I made a whoosh session using Charles Deenan’s article as a reference and used all of the sfx supplied for this contest in the whoosh session. I used the Doppler (along with RBass, MetaFlanger, Enigma and MondoMod) to get some great sounding whooshes of various speeds. I hand picked about 5-6 whooshes that were used in the final submission. They can be heard in various parts of the piece including the particle whiz bys in the car crash scene and layered in with the various high impact sfx stingers."

2. James M. Wearing

Video removed by Mr. Wearing.

Charles Deenen: Nicely done, captured good emotion, great processing! I also liked the clarity of this piece, really understanding when to use clarity elements and creating design sweeteners. The sweeteners you created were very well done.

David Farmer: I can tell you spent some good time building nice pieces. Well done. Great chunky pieces. Arguably some of the best sounds made in the competition.

Scott Gershin: Great sonic story telling, great use of plugins, tasty choices, very articulate. Only thought is the end could have been a little more dramatic (just a little) on the end logo. Otherwise, fantastic job.

Tom Ozanich: Some very nicely processed sounds! Nice build up toward the end of the debris.

3. Josh Osiris

Charles Deenen: Well done! Interesting material. Didn't sound fully finished in the crash spot on first listen, but overall well done. I really liked the sounds you created at the end for the logo, which fit this nicely. Where most designers went for the straight-ahead flash sound in the flash sequence, you created some interesting material. Rocking.

David Farmer: Focused sounds and the style you played it works well, and is different. Nice work on the processes.

Scott Gershin: Very well done. I thought the beginning wasn't as powerful as it could have been. I like the slight vocal FX on the slow-mo debris field—some really nice ideas, a little different than other entries. Nicely done.

Tom Ozanich: I really liked this. Thought the sounds were all very well done and flowed well into one another. Could have had a bit bigger payoff into the final car.

4. Ryan Thompson

Charles Deenen: Oh, yeah, like it! You changed it up from others, which was great to hear!

Scott Gershin: Very tasty, a little different. Nice dynamics, great emotional story telling. I really like some of the subtle design sounds. Nice mix.

David Farmer: Nice working of the material.

Tom Ozanich: Very nicely done, well covered, good feel/flow.

5. Ariel Echarren

Scott Gershin: Great start! Very powerful, nice flashback. Debris field was a little rough and I thought the ending wasn’t powerful enough, but great job overall.

Charles Deenen: Since music was made using the sounds, I'd say so. I like it!

David Farmer: Very solidly put together. You also really paid attention to the direction of the piece and took the viewer through it piece by piece. Really nice tastes!

Tom Ozanich: Some tasty textures and great rhythm/flow. Felt a bit messy at the top.

6. John Morgan

Charles Deenen: Minimalistic, but some interesting sounds. It had a nice musical flow to it. Liked it.

David Farmer: Love how you played the upside down sequence—you threw in some really tasty bits and pieces so that section didn't drag on, and really worked that visual well sonically.

Scott Gershin: I really liked your piece, very moody surreal, great emotion. Great negative space, one of my favorites. Very tasty.

Tom Ozanich: Not a fan of the bell parts but some other nice sounds. Cool treatment to the flash cuts and the pull out.

7. Alexander Pugh

Charles Deenen: Very interesting use of plugins! Some moments though, like the car entry and the flash sequence, leave me wanting more.

David Farmer: Liked the work on the reverse shards, and the final whoosh into the car/logo has real style.

Scott Gershin: Nice material, good ideas. Debris field could have been a little more polished. Shards could have been a little more ghostly. Nice job overall.

Tom Ozanich: Some great sounds, nicely played details. Thought the flash cuts were a bit weak and the debris after needed an underlying movement.

8. Brett Hinton

Charles Deenen: Didn't like the "sci-fi" sound at 0:16, but loved the gentle chord at the end.

David Farmer: Great sounds, and I loved how you weave from one sound into another to move through the piece.

Scott Gershin: Great emotional start, nice story telling. I thought the flash sequence wasn’t as strong as it could have been, though it had cool sounds. Very good job.

Tom Ozanich: Nicely done, good detail and layered/woven elements. Could use a bit more dynamic/emotional shift between sections. Love the pull out.

9. Jeremy Rogers

Charles Deenen: Nice mangling of sounds, nothing too crazy. Love the use of dynamics.

David Farmer: Nice sounds: Interesting idea to make the flashes super fast car bys, especially coming out of that dark intro sequence. Nice contrast!

Tom Ozanich: Nice textures, good dynamics, one of the best flash cut sequences. Would like to hear a few more layered elements before and after it. Love the end into the logo.

Scott Gershin: Great opening, draws you in. Love the flash cuts and that you used race car bys. Great storytelling, great dynamics. The end could have been a little more powerful, like the beginning, but a really nice job. Thanks for the good work.

10. John Loranger

Video removed by Mr. Wearing.

David Farmer: Great zoom into the mirror and crash flashes. Love the contrast of the aggressive and the smooth.

Scott Gershin: Really great job. Nice use of design and storytelling, strong beginning and ending. Great contrasts. Very good job.

Tom Ozanich: Starts and ends well, some nicely done processing. Felt like there were several details missing though.

Charles Deenen: The beginning didn't feel very strong to me, and a fair bit of sounds seemed "similarly" processed, making it obvious that we were listening to processed sounds. That said, I really liked the "weight" in the sound, the ending, and your flash sequence.

Waves Sound Design Competition 2011:

The Rules

1. During the competition, a clip from Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed™ (courtesy of Electronic Arts) and sound effects (courtesy of Hollywood Edge) will be available for download.
2. Using plugins in the Waves Sound Design Suite*, design the sound for the clip. You may also use your DAW's native processing tools, but only the sound effects provided here.
3. Scott Martin Gershin, Charles Deenen, David Farmer and Tom Ozanich will then choose the winner, based on the impact, creativity, and effectiveness of the sound design.

The Prize

The winner will receive Waves Sound Design Suite Native.**

There are a few things to keep in mind:

• You must use Waves Sound Design Suite plugins - the more the better.
• When uploading your video, use the 'description' field to tell us which plugins you used, on which effects, and how.
• No more than one entry per person.

* If you don't already own the Waves Sound Design Suite, you can download Waves Sound Design Suite demo and use it for the competition. If you've already demoed it, call Waves Tech Support at +1-865-909-9200 ext. 1, and they'll give you a special 7-day demo extension.

** If you already own the Sound Design Suite, you may choose an alternative prize in the form of a bundle or upgrade of equivalent value.

The Waves Sound Design Competition will run from February 1 until February 28, 2011, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.