blog

Well, the 2012 Ad 2 DC Service Project is officially a wrap and Space of Her Own couldn’t be happier! All of my time in February and early March was primarily dedicated to this campaign. From producing to composing to editing to mixing, this project definitely kept me on my toes. If you haven’t stopped by the Productions page in a while, check it out now and bask in the glory of all this hard work! And if you’re interested in the client, check them out at www.spaceofherown.com. 

As soon as post-production was officially over for the service project, I declared the month of March Charles’ Month of Performance. It sort of worked out that way. My intention was to do nothing in March but improvise, practice my voiceover chops, and compose. Never got around to composing but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right? 

As for improv, I competed in this year’s Washington Improv Theater (WIT) Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament (FIST). In this annual month-long “March Madness” event, 3-person teams compete each week until only 1 remains. We made it to the second round (which at least is better than DePaul did back in 2000 when we actually had a team… I’m not bitter). My team, Third Wheel, included the very talented Brian Byrne and Anna Henderson. Our shtick was to create 12-minutes of solid “third wheel” scenarios. Intrigued? Our performances can be seen here:

http://youtu.be/94klL-r68bQ

http://youtu.be/FUBao7jOTh8

Then in April, I served my country for 2 weeks up at the DOD’s Defense Media Activity facility in Fort Meade, MD. There I mixed 1 episode of Recon, 2 boxing shows for TPC Sports, and a series of commercials warning soldiers and their families about the dangers of prescription drug abuse. These were really nice spots but unfortunately I didn’t get to do the final mixes. I did however get to use their new foley stage and record every single sound effect other than ambiences. I’ve never actually had a producer show up to a mix with a box of props that were used in the shoot. That was awesome. 

Speaking of recent work, you can now hear the sound design I did for Science’s “Sci-Fi Masters” spot and my 3 character voices for the NWF’s “Click the Birdie” game on the Audio and Voiceover pages respectively. 

And in other news, the White Rabbits were awesome at the Black Cat, but unfortunately outshined by Tennis. I, myself, prefer the former, but by the time White Rabbits wrapped their set at least half the audience had checked out. Bummer. Also, Sleigh Bells put on quite the mediocre show at 9:30 Club. This is their second album and they performed for all of 45 minutes. Frankly, I expect a little more for a $30 ticket and hell, would it kill you to get a real drummer? Youth Lagoon, also did not have a drummer at the Rock & Roll Hotel, but smoked nonetheless.  This guy has a lot of room to grow but a fantastic head start. I’m totally jealous of anyone seeing him open for Death Cab at Strathmore this month. 

Oh what a month January was… 

First thing’s first, if you’re a sound designer in DC, January universally means the same thing every year, network sales tapes. These tapes are generally my favorite marketing pieces to work on because they tend to use popular music rather than production tracks, and producers usually prefer fast cuts with heavy design. This year I was honored to mix sales tapes for Science, National Geographic (both Channel and Wild), and Velocity.  All were immensely fun and hopefully a few will be up on my website soon enough. 

Also this month, I mixed the Masters of Science Fiction generic promo for Science.  That was a lot of fun to mix as well and I’m eager to watch the show, premiering February 12! 

In voiceover news, one of the most talented audio engineers in Washington and a dear friend of 9 years, Joe Powers, recently paid me the nicest compliment.  I went over to his house and noticed his iPad was laying out.  I asked him if he’d downloaded the National Wildlife Federation’s Click the Birdie app yet.  He said, “I’ve played the whole game through and I can’t figure out which voice is yours”.  To this I replied, “There are only 6 voices on the app and 3 of them are mine!”.  So we played through the game, and he still couldn’t distinguish my own natural voice from my 3 8-year old boy character voices featured in the game.  Huge compliment!  Jeremy Guyre, another talented engineer in the area, was standing nearby and said he could only tell 1 single word was definitively ‘me’.  Awesome. 

Over the last few months, I have been in pre-production for this year’s Ad 2 DC service project campaign, benefiting A Space of Her Own.  On Saturday, January 28, we shot our scripted :30 commercial as well as b-roll for both the commercial and web videos.  This marks my first quasi-professional directorial gig, and I must say it went exceptionally well.  Can’t wait to share the finished product! 

All that aside, The Kills absolutely wrecked the 9:30 Club last night from the very first note!  What a sick sick…  <heavy sigh> sick sick sick show.  Coming up are Sleigh Bells at the 9:30 Club (on my birthday), White Rabbits at the Black Cat, and Youth Lagoon at the Rock & Roll Hotel. 

It’s gonna be a good year.  

Greetings and Welcome to the Critical Noise Lab blog.  

Critical Noise Lab (CNL) is the business entity that features the talents of Charles N Lipper, an A-list audio engineer, premiere voice talent, and overall creative video professional in Washington, DC.   

This is a blog where I will post information about the projects I’m working on as well as experiences I have while gigging, networking, and learning.  

I am originally from Chapel Hill, NC.  I received my BS in Music with a major in Sound Recording Technology from DePaul University in 2001, and moved to Washington, DC in 2003.  

Over 10+ years of professional audio engineering in some of DC’s most prominent post-production facilities, I began re-exploring my bug for performance in voice acting.  After working with many of the country’s finest voice talents, I embarked on a new aspect of my career, voiceover artistry.  

Some of my recent audio projects include two 2-hour specials for Bio called “The American Chef” and 27 15-minute videos for the Department of Labor that will help our nation’s veterans find jobs in the private sector.  My recent voiceover jobs include 3 character voices for the National Wildlife Federation’s iPad game, “Click the Birdie”, and narrating my first as-of-yet unnamed show for National Geographic Television.  

Beyond that, my team recently won 3 DC Peer Awards for a 48 Hour Film Project I produced called “Badger Hollow”, and this January I will be producing all video content for the 2012 Ad 2 DC service project supporting A Space of Her Own (spaceofherown.org).  In my spare time, I am currently taking classes at Washington Improv Theater (washingtonimprovtheater.com).