Recording DVD commentary for The Cleveland Show and Family Guy.

Typical Cleveland Show DVD commentary setup.I recently got to record two very different DVD commentary sessions. One was four or five people for a full episode of The Cleveland Show. The other was a “side-by-side” segment for Family Guy, where the director of an episode was comparing the animatic (black-and-white sketch animation) to the final color version for a few short segments of the show.

I wanted to say a few things about recording DVD commentary, and generally speaking, a full-episode session with several people is significantly more challenging than a two-minute segment with one person, so I’ll focus on that Cleveland session. This setup, though, evolved out of my Family Guy experience and how my counterpart on that show, production mixer Patrick Clark, did it when I was his assistant.

  • July 22, 2011

Audio glossaries.

If you’ve ever wondered about any of that audio jargon engineers like to throw around, or if you’re reading a manual or tinkering with some gear and wondering what something...

  • June 14, 2011

Great new music: Peaks of Valleys, “Fallen Out of Line.”

Peaks of Valleys: Fallen Out Of Line.

I have to share some great new music from a friend of mine. Nathan Schafer, working under the name Peaks of Valleys, has just released a fantastic album called Fallen Out Of Line. I think anyone with a love of indie pop or a hunger to discover excellent new music will enjoy this one.

  • May 26, 2011