Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Where and what do you study? What audio field are you in?What initiated your passion for audio? When did it start?
I am 23 years old, from Narvik, a small town north of the arctic cirlce in Norway. I grew up playing guitar and piano in various rock bands. I also played the trumpet and baritone horn in the local marching band. At high school I studied music which taught me a lot about music theory, history and developing musical style and portraying emotions through music.
My field in audio is music production as technician and producer. I do most genres of music, but I have still yet to be involved in a hip-hop/rap-session. The important thing for me is that the music speaks to me and has an emotional impact, not necessarily the genre.
I recently finished an undergrad degree at Westerdals Oslo ACT in music production. This fall I am starting grad school in Trondheim at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology where I will study for a degree in music technology.
I was introduced to music production in 2011 when I studied at a one-year boarding school. This is where I learned to use ProTools and I immediately fell in love with the software. This is where I learned that creating music is not always linear or chronological, and you can actually take parts of the song you are recording and edit or duplicate these onto other parts of the song. For me this was like magic.
Are you a musician yourself? What instruments do you play and in what musical context?
Since I started studying music production I have not played in any bands. There have not been much time for anything but hanging in the studio either recording or mixing. I still play the guitar and piano at home when I have the time. I like to play anything from progressive rock/metal to musicals.
Tell us about the production of your submission. What is the story behind it? What was it inspired by? How long did you work on it? Was it your first entry?
My entry to the competition, Paper Bird by Dim Gray was a pretty long production. We recorded a whole album this session so we have probably spent about a month recording in the studio overall.
This was my first entry to the competition, as well as my first time at any international AES event.
The song is about an origami bird that's throwin into a river. Because this bird is made out of paper, the odds of it surviving is kind of small. The song depicts the struggle this bird has with the stream of the river, and the stones in the river crushing the paper bones of this bird.
The lyrics were inspired by japanese haiku poetry.?We played a lot with tempo changes before recording the song, because I wanted to make the tempo a part of the song dynamics. In the mixing process I wanted to stretch and exaggerate the dynamics even more so that the song is constantly evolving. Because the dynamics change with the tempo, it is hard to hear the tempo changes, even though the tempo increases drastically over time when the band kicks in.?I think I spent about 30 hours editing and mixing the song. The editing is what took the longest time.
What was your most significant/funny/inspiring experience as an audio engineer?
Last year I was touring through europe with a band and they played at a festival outside Sarajevo in Bosnia and Hercegovina. I did not have a lot of experience as a live technician at this point and this was a pretty big outdoor stage. On all the other venues we played, the drums would be really loud on stage and we would sometimes have to dampen the cymbals with duct tape and paper.?After setting the monitoring for the band they played on of the songs, and the drummer had to stop to tell me that he could not hear his cymbals well enough and that he needed some overheads into his monitor. This was kind of funny. I would never expect to hear such a thing, but I guess with hardly any reflections on an outdoor stage with humid air the cymbals aren't that loud anymore.
Accidents happen: What was your biggest mistake in a production and what did you do to redeem the situation?
I think my brain has repressed my worst mistakes, but remember recording a simple acoustic song with Dim Gray during the same session as Paper Bird. This was the last song we recorded and we were all tired after 2 weeks of 10-14 hours in the studio. While listening to the playback of the guitar I had the click track running in the control room, and did not notice that some of the click track bled into the mikes from the guitarists headset. This was discovered when we recorded the vocals some weeks later. To remedy this I used a longer reverb on the guitar and vocals in an attempt to drown the click track, as well as some EQ-notching. It did not turn out great, but close enough.
What’s your advice for engineers who are just starting out?
Be patient. It takes many hours of trial and error to become a skilled technician. Every project is different and the people you work with will react to different things.?I don't like to change my plans or setup during the production, but if I have to, I will always go back to a setup I've done before because I know it works. The best thing is to evaluate yourself after the project is done, identify why/what went wrong and make it right on the next production.
Don't be afraid to share your experiences or tips with other people. It will only make you better, and you might get something in return as well.
Can you name one or multiple of your favourite recordings or productions and tell us why you like them/what you like about them?
I recently recorded a Norwegian folk/pop artist called Valborg. She has a great voice and brilliant musicians in her band. One of the songs we recorded is called «Husk på meg» (Remember me) and is a song about death. It is expressed in an optimistic, almost naive way. It's a short song, less than three minutes. For me it is very interesting to work with simple songs like this because I actually feel it gives more room for creativity. Maybe most importantly, it's easy on the ear for the listener and easier for the listener to relate to the message of the song.?(Spotify-link to the song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0D4I55Pf6IRwpA4ccYuW8T )
Another recent production I did is two songs from an EP by a band called City in Stripes.?This is a more modern rock type of production. The vocalist in this production is also very talented The songs, «Let's do it Again» and «Moving on» both have the same tight, punchy expression.?I like how the band has a beautiful way of combining their rough sound with an almost childish playfulness. For me, these are the types of songs that make you want to quit your job and play in a rock band.?(Spotify-link to the songs:?«Let's Do it Again»: https://open.spotify.com/track/4JcId7ulgEUKBrf8xwDrUP?«Moving on: https://open.spotify.com/track/4NT3JVo2qafo07wKVqU93o )
Tech talk: What are your favourite pieces of equipment (microphones, outboard, plugins), and why?
I really like the AKG c451b microphone. I can use it on everything: vocals, guitars, toms, overheads, under the snare, even bass racks. It sounds crisp and tight, but still natural. For me it's a very predictable microphone.?I mostly use the same plugins on every project, Slate VBC for the mixbuss and drumbuss. It adds nice clarity and punch to the mix while smoothing out the rough edges. Waves Vcomp for vocals. This is my favorite vocal compressor, it has a nice, tight sound and is easy to use. My sweet spot for this compressor is about 9-12 dB gain reduction at a 3 or 4:1 ratio.?I wouldn't compress this hard on any other compressor, but I've found it works like a charm on this plugin. Exponential Audio R2 reverb on anything that needs reverberation. It sounds just like what I imagine a reverb to sound like. You can make it sound natural or polished depending on what you need.
What do you like about the AES? How does it help you to become a better and more successful audio engineer?
As a student, the most important thing is the community. Connecting with other students, sharing experience and making friends is what I like the most. I also get to be updated on the latest trends in pro audio business, even outside the music industry which I find very intersting as well. All of this is very inspiring for me which I guess helps me to improve.
Tell us about your favourite experiences at the 138th AES Convention in Warsaw!
I went to a really interesting lecture on audio forensics. I knew nothing of the subject and was completely blown away. Did you know you can actually date a recording based on reading the 50Hz-frequency?
What is your favourite frequency?
I've always been a sucker for the 76Hz....
What do you do when you’re not in the studio or doing anything music related?
When I'm not hanging out with friends I like to play computer games. Espescially MoBAs like Dota 2 and Heroes of Newerth.?I am also quite interested in astronomy. Growing up watching the northern lights every winter has probably contributed to this. My favorite constellation is the pleiades, also known as the seven sisters. You really need a dark place to see them properly.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I hope to make a living by recording/mixing/mastering bands, creating better music and productions, expanding my network and still having fun with audio.
Could you provide us with some closing comments?
Thanks for reading this. If anyone would like to share their experiences with me or have a chat feel free to make contact.
Contact Sondre at [email protected], to listen to some work done by Sondre follow the links below
Link to Valborgs single:
https://open.spotify.com/
Links to City in Stripes' two tracks:
https://open.spotify.com/
https://open.spotify.com/
Link to submission for the AES competition:
https://open.spotify.com/
Posted: Friday, July 17, 2015
« AES138 Meet the winners: Cat. 1 William Dahl… | Main | AES 138 Meet the Winners: Cat 3 Will Shaw »
