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Friday, June 06, 2008
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI just read your article about mixing sound for film. Thank you for a good read! I am an independent animator, musician, and sound designer, and I've found that the best experience you can get for recording soundtracks is to have a strong background in mixing music. In fact, I find it easier, because there is more head room in a movie soundtrack than a pop album.
What I found the most interesting about what you wrote was the bit about how EQ is used- punch up the treble, and kick down the bass. I somehow knew that, but wasn't expecting the mids to also be pushed up a a bit I actually thought the treble was reduced to avoid ear fatigue! The part about recording in mono should just be common sense- my favorite soundtracks of all time have been on 16mm films in the animation festival circuit, and they all have the same thing in common- every sound is generally panned middle, only slightly louder than the music, if any.
All that said, I do have a question: If you were depicting dialog being spoken in the guest bedroom of a house with wooden floors and fake wood paneling, would you add any reverb to the dialog? Also, would you suggest being closer to the mic for that, or backed off from it a bit with a pop filter in front of it?
As far as ADR and foley... Those have come a long way. These days, it is possible to coax a good sound out of a Shure SM-58 BETA and a guitar FX processor! On there, you have NR, EQ, (treble boost, midrange matches treble, bass rolled off or nonexistent depending on the kind of shot and room it takes place in, mood of the film, music that might be competing with the audio, a prolonged sound effect, etc.)
Good luck with your next project, Sir. I have learned a lot today.
Best,
Don Carlson
independent animator
You are welcome, Don! Thank you for responding to...another post.
DeleteThing to remember Don, is your movie track will not be playing on a pair of close-field monitors in your living room.
It will play in a room that's draped to kill high-end echo, and filled with absorbent people covered in cloth, sitting on velvet seats, each making his own noise!
I owned a movie theatre, worked in many more, and built a few recording studios. I know what those spaces sound like, and I take all of it into account, when I monitor my track.
Don't know what I'd do in the situation you describe, (more or less artificial reverb, compared to what?) but I'd work it until it sounded like a movie!
I know it seems a SM-58 and a guitar fx box, will do the job, maybe it will in a particular instance, but it certainly won't always, unless you don't yet know what you're listening for.
There's a reason the pros use certain mics, and certain delay and EQ settings. They sound like a movie.