{"id":5884,"date":"2019-02-11T22:54:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T03:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aderack.com\/journal\/?p=5884"},"modified":"2019-08-06T00:34:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T04:34:13","slug":"audible-twilight-the-visceral-soundscape-of-steven-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aderack.com\/journal\/2019\/02\/audible-twilight-the-visceral-soundscape-of-steven-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Audible Twilight: The Visceral Soundscape of Steven Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Listening to Steven Universe in headphones, you really appreciate all the work that goes into the overall sound design. The light environmental sounds \u00e2\u20ac\u201dcrash of the surf, wind\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe tangible Foley, how sounds get muffled or reflected. Tinnitus ring. All about Steven’s bubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get confused about the geography sometimes, though, especially during season one. Where is this<\/em>, for instance? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s not the cliff with the Crystal Temple. Is it on the other side of the bay, by Brooding Hill and the warehouse? If so, Stevonnie seems to drift pretty far… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s interesting also that for the expressive purposes of this episode, twilight seems to last for hours on end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of many things that makes this story so heightened and uncanny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the twilight palette here also affects my idea of Stevonnie’s coloring. Considering Connie’s and Steven’s relative skin tones, their medium tone here seems about right. But in other episodes, in the daylight, they’re way more pink than it feels like they should be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But seriously, yikes<\/em>: the sound design. Every little thing a character touches, there’s Foley, appropriate to the material and the properties of the room or environment. Everything is directional. There’s always appropriate spatial resonance. So present. And the music floats above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, here: when Stevonnie exits the shop, the sound of external crickets and surf, cut off by the slamming door… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m not understanding the level of detail here. What’s the process for mapping out how this works, and doing it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(By the way, if we’re going to focus on deliberate expressive choices like Stevonnie proffering a $3 bill<\/em> (ahem), their selection of doughnuts seems… potentially significant. Particularly in the context of the moment they’re having. )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(You can pick apart their anatomy yourself. )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Come to it, there are an awful lot of deep, blank stare reaction shots in this show. Prime example, from another episode by this storyboard team.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s easy to assume Beach City is just those few blocks on the peninsula, between the temple mount and the mainland, but there’s stuff all over the area. The warehouse is part of this industrial zone, across the bay by Brooding Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And it’s clearly still in Beach City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stevonnie should pull out the sparkle powers more often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okay, right. So<\/em>, sound design. Bopping on back to the next season’s first Florido\/Mitroff\/Sugar jam\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhere when the two of them spin in their little world, the Philosophy Majors recording goes from crackly record on tinny diegetic open-air speakers to full-on direct-line soundtrack, filling the stage… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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… and when we pull out, it’s back to the tinny speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The “What Can I Do For You” sequence (referenced previously, in the open-eyed gawp tangent) isn’t mixed like an album recording; it’s mixed like a slightly off live performance, with people not-close enough to mikes, the guitar too prominent, weird environmental acoustics, and so on. The reverb to the temple entrance, before the house is there to soak up sound… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I’ve been missing out on a whole dimension, here. There’s such a tangible sense of place, simply from the sound mix. I could close my eyes and know exactly what was going on, where, in relation to what or whom, at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Same goes for the rinky-dink record Greg puts on for Rose. As they dance, it swells from diegetic crackle tin to full-stage direct-line cinema swoop mix, reflecting the emotional focus of the moment. And tying in the story with Connie and Steven’s moment at the start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And again it pulls back out to the record player, after Greg disengages and realizes things didn’t quite go as he hoped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I don’t think the parallel is lost on the two of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Retreating into Connie’s less-spectacular world, the Maheswarans’ house is quiet to the point it dulls all sound\u00e2\u20ac\u201das a wooden house full of furniture would, one supposes\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut there’s still a barely perceptible fizz of street noise, as if heard through the windows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As one might expect at this point, the soundscape of the hospital is every bit as uncomfortable as if one were there: hard surfaces; gross, persistent fluorescent hum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love how the sound completely changes inside the bubble, versus outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s stark, in headphones. Barely perceptible on speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This effect isn’t unique to “Nightmare Hospital;” it’s been there since the bubble’s first appearance alongside Connie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Again, inside, outside the bubble. When we go to an interior shot, all the subtle sounds of the shore, they’re distorted\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot just muffled, but the curvature seems to phase the sound as much as the material blocks certain frequencies. It all depends on “camera” placement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The audio impression is significant in this case, with Steven and Connie trapped in their protective bubble. The whole audio environment is different in there. Resonance. Presence. Which adds to the separation between the literal bubble the two of them are in, relative to world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Also nothing new here, but that’s our first glimpse of Obsidian’s sword. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    And the incidental music — when the headphones pull it out in the mix, and cinematically wrap it around the reality of the scene, it stands out all the more how beautiful it all is. And there’s so goddamned much of it in this show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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