Sound Design, Mixing and Mastering For Film

[PLacidBasilisk]

Hey All.


I'm just about to dive in the deep end and attempt to do the sound design, mixing and mastering for my Masters thesis film, which I've toiled over for the better part of a year.

I have an intermediate knowledge of the theory and technique, having messed around with Ableton Live for a number of years, but I am no means an expert.

SO, I'm looking for general advice on how to approach the task ahead from the perspective of someone coming from an audio production background.

- How best should I approach the task and organize things from the outset to make the process as seamless as possible?
- What are the cornerstones of good film audio production?
- Are there any plug-ins that will make my life easier?
- What are some tips and tricks that I can use to elevate the mix out of the realm of the substandard and into something approaching professional sounding?

I'll be using Soundtrack Pro for this job - I know it's not the most powerful tool but in the time frame I have I don't have time to learn another DAW with OMF support and I'm already somewhat familiar with Soundtrack.


I also have one specific question:

During the year I returned three times to an interview subject's house to track his progress at different points during the year.

Each time we returned we did our best to replicate the interview setup from last time but inevitably there were slight variations in the placement of the subject in the room, in the distance from subject to microphone and in the microphone's orientation.

These variations have resulted in discernible differences in the tone and timbre of each of the three interviews and when phrases from each are combined the effect is slightly jarring.

I'm hoping that with judicious use of equalization and compression I can bring the three together so I am able to chop and change them without any discrepancies in the audio.

What is the best way of achieving this result? Are there any tried and trusted methods here or is it a matter of doing it by ear?

I've done some preliminary experimentation with the "equalization matching" in Apple Soundtrack Pro but it seems way off. Perhaps I'm not using it right?

I'm able to get a relatively good result by simply using a Channel EQ and Compression but I'm unsure of how to fine tune it. Is there a good, precise, spectral analyzer I can use to really nail it? What's the protocol here?

Any help is much appreciated

- Joey

[BlackMath]

Hey All.


I'm just about to dive in the deep end and attempt to do the sound design, mixing and mastering for my Masters thesis film, which I've toiled over for the better part of a year.

I have an intermediate knowledge of the theory and technique, having messed around with Ableton Live for a number of years, but I am no means an expert.

SO, I'm looking for general advice on how to approach the task ahead from the perspective of someone coming from an audio production background.

- How best should I approach the task and organize things from the outset to make the process as seamless as possible?
- What are the cornerstones of good film audio production?
- Are there any plug-ins that will make my life easier?
- What are some tips and tricks that I can use to elevate the mix out of the realm of the substandard and into something approaching professional sounding?

I'll be using Soundtrack Pro for this job - I know it's not the most powerful tool but in the time frame I have I don't have time to learn another DAW with OMF support and I'm already somewhat familiar with Soundtrack.


I also have one specific question:

During the year I returned three times to an interview subject's house to track his progress at different points during the year.

Each time we returned we did our best to replicate the interview setup from last time but inevitably there were slight variations in the placement of the subject in the room, in the distance from subject to microphone and in the microphone's orientation.

These variations have resulted in discernible differences in the tone and timbre of each of the three interviews and when phrases from each are combined the effect is slightly jarring.

I'm hoping that with judicious use of equalization and compression I can bring the three together so I am able to chop and change them without any discrepancies in the audio.

What is the best way of achieving this result? Are there any tried and trusted methods here or is it a matter of doing it by ear?

I've done some preliminary experimentation with the "equalization matching" in Apple Soundtrack Pro but it seems way off. Perhaps I'm not using it right?

I'm able to get a relatively good result by simply using a Channel EQ and Compression but I'm unsure of how to fine tune it. Is there a good, precise, spectral analyzer I can use to really nail it? What's the protocol here?

Any help is much appreciated

- Joey

first lock your picture..ie final edit locked
but a head tone or click at the beginning and at the end...all your tracks will also contain the same click/tone at the same time for alignment purposes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S36oJlk_lA4

assemble your dialogue track..hint Low cut everything below 100-200hz depending on content..removes most low hums/traffic/machine noise/air condition fans..etc
use sometype of noise print/reduction plugin...waves noiseX or izotope RX...soundtrack probably has something similar built-in
remove the noise floor..
find about a min of "room tone" from somewhere..it can be from your previous recording or record it new. its just silence in a room
make a track and loop room tone crossfading the clips for the whole duration of your film
compress your cleaned up dialogue track and the room tone track together and adjust levels till smooth adding a touch of a nice convolution Room reverb could also help


then do soundfx/foley if you need/want
then do Music
Spectral Analyzing and good meters are your friends

[PLacidBasilisk]

Hey All.


I'm just about to dive in the deep end and attempt to do the sound design, mixing and mastering for my Masters thesis film, which I've toiled over for the better part of a year.

I have an intermediate knowledge of the theory and technique, having messed around with Ableton Live for a number of years, but I am no means an expert.

SO, I'm looking for general advice on how to approach the task ahead from the perspective of someone coming from an audio production background.

- How best should I approach the task and organize things from the outset to make the process as seamless as possible?
- What are the cornerstones of good film audio production?
- Are there any plug-ins that will make my life easier?
- What are some tips and tricks that I can use to elevate the mix out of the realm of the substandard and into something approaching professional sounding?

I'll be using Soundtrack Pro for this job - I know it's not the most powerful tool but in the time frame I have I don't have time to learn another DAW with OMF support and I'm already somewhat familiar with Soundtrack.


I also have one specific question:

During the year I returned three times to an interview subject's house to track his progress at different points during the year.

Each time we returned we did our best to replicate the interview setup from last time but inevitably there were slight variations in the placement of the subject in the room, in the distance from subject to microphone and in the microphone's orientation.

These variations have resulted in discernible differences in the tone and timbre of each of the three interviews and when phrases from each are combined the effect is slightly jarring.

I'm hoping that with judicious use of equalization and compression I can bring the three together so I am able to chop and change them without any discrepancies in the audio.

What is the best way of achieving this result? Are there any tried and trusted methods here or is it a matter of doing it by ear?

I've done some preliminary experimentation with the "equalization matching" in Apple Soundtrack Pro but it seems way off. Perhaps I'm not using it right?

I'm able to get a relatively good result by simply using a Channel EQ and Compression but I'm unsure of how to fine tune it. Is there a good, precise, spectral analyzer I can use to really nail it? What's the protocol here?

Any help is much appreciated

- Joey

first lock your picture..ie final edit locked
but a head tone or click at the beginning and at the end...all your tracks will also contain the same click/tone at the same time for alignment purposes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S36oJlk_lA4

assemble your dialogue track..hint Low cut everything below 100-200hz depending on content..removes most low hums/traffic/machine noise/air condition fans..etc
use sometype of noise print/reduction plugin...waves noiseX or izotope RX...soundtrack probably has something similar built-in
remove the noise floor..
find about a min of "room tone" from somewhere..it can be from your previous recording or record it new. its just silence in a room
make a track and loop room tone crossfading the clips for the whole duration of your film
compress your cleaned up dialogue track and the room tone track together and adjust levels till smooth adding a touch of a nice convolution Room reverb could also help


then do soundfx/foley if you need/want
then do Music
Spectral Analyzing and good meters are your friends

Thanks a lot for the advice, BlackMath.

A few questions based on your tips:

- How much compression is standard for V/O tracks?
- How loud should the room tone be and should it be looped and maintain the same volume throughout the film? What about during a sequence in a quiet outdoor location where the only sound is faint wind?
- Can you recommend any good Spectral analysis tools?

Also, any ideas about the matching of the three interviews?

Thanks for the help so far