From the beginning, the core of Girard Sound Associates' business has been location recording. Typical work involves capturing the audio for interviews and associated B-roll, or for presentations or theatrical performances. By applying as much control as possible in the location, and within the constraints imposed by the visual aspects of the project, we record "clean tracks," which can be used as-is, without audio sweetening.
Girard Sound Associates offers a complete solution for conferences and events. We do what our competitors cannot -- provide both clear, audience-friendly reinforced sound, and a clean, crisp recording of the proceedings.
We are able to supply all the specialized equipment to do the job, without the need to rent additional gear. For example, using a Dugan automixer (regarded as the very best system for automixing), we can do a very high quality mix of as many as 16 wireless microphones, in venues ranging from conference rooms to ballrooms. We handle presentations and panel discussions, as well as tightly scripted shows with numerous audio roll-ins.
Audio for network news requires many of the same skills, and uses much of the same equipment, as recording for corporate clients, or for documentaries. But news has additional requirements associated with live remotes and network connections. Often these connections are unique both to the specific news client, and to the location.
David Girard is experienced in all aspects of news gathering, including working with remote trucks and mobile-phone-based products such as LiveU and TvU. He carries an extensive live kit, which includes 3 hard-wired phone interfaces, a mobile phone interface, 5 wireless IFB receivers and a lip microphone.
Girard Sound Associates provides two types of editing services: audio only editing, and mix-to-pix editing, also referred to as audio sweetening.
An example of an audio-only editing job is the earnings call presentations which we do quarterly for one of our corporate clients. After recording the CEO and CFO presentations on location at their office, we edit the material to conform to the presentation scripts. Then we master the presentations for playback during the company's conference call with investors.
Audio sweetening involves the enhancement of dialog, followed by the integration of that dialog with music and sound effects. An example of our mix-to-pix work is a documentary on a private, church-funded school in eastern Uganda. A major task for that project was the normalization of dialog for multiple speakers, recorded under differing circumstances, in a variety of locations. Another recent example is a humorous 30 second spot for a fitness company.
Forensic audio is a term applied to a collection of techniques used to render audio material usable, frequently for legal purposes. One of the most common techniques involves the "cleaning up" of poorly recorded material in order to increase its intelligibility. It is this enhancement work that is done by Girard Sound Associates.
Depending on the age of the material, it may need to be transferred from an analog format to a digital file. Then we apply a set of software tools, Diamond Cut Live Forensics, developed by Tracer Technologies. These tools are used to reduce background noise, eliminate clipping, suppress crackles and pops, and address other audio problems that make it difficult or impossible to understand what us being said.
Here are some examples of material that we have enhanced:
Girard Sound Associates provides basic acoustical measurement services. Such services are necessary when, for example, there is a concern about environmental noise. The key to accurate measurement is using the correct tools -- the right microphone and appropriate software.
While we have many fine microphones in our locker (including three Schoeps hyper-cardioid mics), only one, the Earthworks M30, is appropriate for measurement. It is a highly specialized omnidirectional microphone that is been carefully calibrated to have a ruler flat response across a broad frequency range, from 5 Hz to 30 kHz.
Our measurement software is Audio Tools from Studio Six Digital, running on an iPad through a iAudioInterface2. Use of this interface is critical for measurement applications, because it bypasses the hardware and software associated with the headset/microphone jack of the iPad. Finally, in addition to the real-time measurements made by the Audio Tools software, the source material can be digitally recorded using our Sound Devices 664 mixer/recorder.