Sound Designer Shines With NUGEN Audio

As a sound designer, mixer and supervisor, Scott Gershin takes pride in telling stories with sound.

Throughout his 30-year career, Gershin has worked on over 100 films and received industry awards and nominations for his work on films such as American Beauty, Pacific Rim, Shrek and The Book of Life. More recently, his expertise has expanded to the broadcast, streaming, video game and virtual reality (VR) sectors. As a longtime NUGEN Audio user, Gershin consistently finds himself relying on the company’s plug-in solutions for a multitude of applications.

"The most important consideration for audio tools and plug-ins is that they work transparently and do their job without adding coloration to the output," Gershin said. "Not only do the NUGEN Audio tools make my life easier, but they deliver output that sounds as close as possible to the original source materials. Plus, the reliability and quality of the tools are fantastic."

Among Gershin's NUGEN toolkit is the VisLM visual loudness meter, Halo Upmix/ Downmix 5.1/7.1 plug-in, LM-Correct loudness measurement and correction tool and ISL real-time True Peak limiter. All of which Gershin finds, "are a wonderful set of tools that help me understand what I am delivering with regards to volume and spatial information." Gershin also incorporates NUGEN's SigMod custom architecture plug-in – which features 12 signal process modules for easy modification – heavily into his workflow.
An important aspect of Gershin's role is ensuring that his content can be played back correctly via multiple mediums and still retain the creativity and expression that Gershin, his audio team and their clients work so hard to create.

"Where I find NUGEN shines is when we have to make deliverables to numerous formats for the same project," he explained. "Each playback medium presents its own set of challenges – whether it be a theater, a sound bar, headphones or speakers on the back of a tablet. Each provides a different viewing and listening experience, and we want to make sure our design and mixes translate correctly for each one. NUGEN's technologies help us create soundtracks that translate to an incredible listening experience."

In addition to designing and mixing for the intricacies of each method of content consumption, Gershin said that understanding the role that audio plays within a given project is also a key aspect to providing a good final project. "Whether it's dialogue, music, sound effects or something else, you want to create an emotional and immersive experience. One where they can shut the lights off and become absorbed within the story, leaving the viewers/listeners with a feeling of being lost in another place or time."

Having explored the quiet and loud, and everything in between, Gershin's expertise, passion and love of sound helps him find and utilize the solutions he needs to keep audiences sonically engaged. "I'm a storyteller that uses audio to help tell a story. I eat, live and breathe sound, and I love how it brings emotion to people’s psyche. There’s so much more to explore and finesse that I don’t know if I'll ever run out of possibilities – it really makes it fun to go to work every day. NUGEN technologies have allowed me to focus more on the creative side."

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