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Julian Scott creates world-class
soundtracks for cinema, television, and special projects.
Julian's unique approach to composition combines music with
effects and sound design - everything from experimental sound
synthesis, to a full blooded symphonic score. Visit www.julianscott.com for more information about his work.
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LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: English composer Julian Scott's unique
approach to film, television and special projects, in which he
combines sound design and effects with music, has brought his
work to a world stage for numerous unique projects. Most recently,
Scott produced the soundtrack for the entire Opening and Closing
Ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, during
which Metric Halo's Mobile I/O 2882 and ULN-2 played critical
roles.
"It seemed very easy to have a unit that was self-powered,
so you could, quite simply, take a Firewire cable, bang it into
the back of a computer, boot up Logic, and even if you weren't
in a recording studio, you'd still have all you effectively needed
to hear and edit your material," explains Scott. "That
simplicity is fantastic. And the fact that's it's portable, and
you can put it in a backpack with the laptop, is a benefit."
That portability came in very useful for one particular field
recording, he reveals. "We used the ULN-2 for some high-definition
recording, which was done to stereo. Specifically, we went to
a monastery in Greece with a completely exposed bell tower. Everything
had to be winched up - an Apple laptop, a couple of Neumann TLM170s,
and the ULN-2. We got a fantastic recording and the ULN-2 performed
perfectly."
But it was the MIO 2882 that played a key role in the production
of the ceremonial soundtracks, a lengthy process that began at
the end of May 2003, with long periods of recording in Greece. "We were utilizing the 2882 for pretty much everything we
were doing, as well as all of our analog requirements. During
all our mixing and editing, we utilized the 2882 so that we could
rely on what we were hearing."
Scott, who has been using Metric Halo for several years, has
come to rely on the quality, ease of use, and reliability of the
gear. "It really worked well when we were mixing in three
or four different locations at one time and transferring sessions.
We'd send across a hard disk with various setups, utilizing the
2882, sometimes the 2882+DSP, and it would just load into Core
Audio on the Mac."
The audio quality is especially important to Scott. "It
does sound great. There's an element of surprise there because,
from a professional point of view, it's not a particularly expensive
kit. But we did get a lot of comments about how nice things were
sounding."
Paul Stefanidis, an Athens-based engineer who acted as soundtrack
production supervisor, recording and mixing much of the material,
comments, "I'm very impressed with the converters on the
2882. The DSP is also great. It's a very impressive box,"
he considers, adding, "and the ULN is even better."
Stefanidis, who worked with Scott for the entire project, was
so impressed with the Metric Halo equipment, he says, "I
bought a couple of these units. And now a lot of people here are
getting interested through me in these interfaces."
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Four billion viewers worldwide watched the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens,
with opening and closing ceremonies soundtracks produced by English
composer Julian Scott and his Mobile I/O travelling studio.
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The only situation in which the Metric Halo units were not pressed
into service was during recording sessions in Athens, especially
at the Concert Hall, which utilized a high-end digital console.
But the ability to always have an MIO on hand, notes Scott, proved
a lifesaver on one occasion. Needing a massed drum sound for one
particular piece, the team were recording ten drummers outdoors
in a natural amphitheater using a Greek remote truck when, recalls
Scott, "It got to 5 o'clock and the mobile unit went - they
had a prior engagement!"
Scott's production assistant suggested setting-up the Metric
Halo rig. "So we rigged a G5 inside our van, dug the MIO
out of the rucksack, and in half-an-hour we were recording again.
Two of the main sequences in the show were recorded on the MIO
in the van. The quality was actually better, because we'd lost
the desk, so we were going straight from the microphones, which
were powered by the MIO, into Logic."
When he was initially considering what equipment to use on the
Olympics project, he says, "We definitely wanted to avoid
having a huge amount of hardware locked on the back of a computer.
It wasn't a cost issue, more a fact of portability and setting
up different systems. The fact that Metric Halo is portable, yet
we were not sacrificing quality, and in certain cases we were
gaining quality, made it an ideal situation."
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