Just wondering what you guys do or recommend in post to keep/have/make all your audio even and level? Programs, tips, tricks, and so on. I'm looking to "remaster" the audio from my first film/documentary and this is pretty much the only issue.
editing audio leveling
- Thread starter underthegun
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That is great advice. Thanks for sharing that insight.
I just received my M-Audio BX5 monitor speakers and a digital sound level meter. I know they're not the best, but I didn't want to spend any more money.
Also purchased RX4 Advanced, and Insight. Insight already has various regions pre-programmed for leveling.
I'm getting deeper and deeper into film sound and I'm loving it. The audio post corrections that are possible are just mind-blowing to me. By the time I'm done with this film, I'm going to become half a sound guy I think. Or maybe a quarter
.The audio advice on this site is just superb. You guys are awesome.
That is great advice. Thanks for sharing that insight.
I just received my M-Audio BX5 monitor speakers and a digital sound level meter. I know they're not the best, but I didn't want to spend any more money.
Also purchased RX4 Advanced, and Insight. Insight already has various regions pre-programmed for leveling.
I'm getting deeper and deeper into film sound and I'm loving it. The audio post corrections that are possible are just mind-blowing to me. By the time I'm done with this film, I'm going to become half a sound guy I think. Or maybe a quarter
The audio advice on this site is just superb. You guys are awesome.
Those tools are fine and all, but try leaving a non processed copy of anything you affect. that way if an re-recording engineer has to go back to the orignal its easier.
Trueindie: As one of your questions was about workflow and as PulseSetter's advice is particularly good/important, with potentially catastrophic consequences if it's ignored, I think it's worth elaborating on.
Firstly, there are a number of commercial scenarios where a re-mix is required and even more scenarios for the indie/amateur filmmaker who has had to cut corners to make their film in the first place. In some of these scenarios the difference between accounting for PulseSetter's advice and ignoring it could be the difference between a relatively quick and cheap re-mix and one which is so cost prohibitive as to make a re-mix in effect impossible. In the obvious scenario of the director/pic editor handing over the edit to an audio post dept/person, there are certainly time, costs and/or compromises which can be avoided.
All audio processing is essentially one of two types, destructive and non-destructive. Basic editing and real-time processors are generally non-destructive, other audio processors are destructive or can be used either destructively or non-destructively. In RX4 for example, "Spectral Repair" is destructive, the "De-Clicker" can be destructive or non-destructive (real-time plugin) but is pretty much always used destructively. When I say "destructively" I don't mean that the original (pre-processed) audio file is actually destroyed, although it can be on occasion. Commonly (like with RX4), the pre-processed file is removed from your timeline and a new (processed) file is inserted in it's place, with a modified file name. For the dialogue editor or Re-recording mixer to revert to the original file for some reason means searching the hard-drive for the original file, re-importing, sync'ing and editing it and then applying different processing. Not a huge problem if it's just once or twice (unless the original doesn't exist anymore) but a total disaster if it's frequent or consistent, especially on a feature where there can be literally thousands of dialogue edits and files to trawl through, replace and re-edit!
The first and obvious step is when copying the original production sound files to your hard-drive, copy it to a second (different) external hard-drive as well and then put it away somewhere safe. At least then, whatever else you do, you'll always have a copy of the original files. Beyond that though, it's difficult to give specific advice as it depends on how your specific NLE/DAW handles it's file management. I'll explain what I do when dialogue editing, which I'm then handing over to a Re-recording Mixer, even if that mixer is me! At it's most basic, I would have 4 DIA tracks; DIA 1 for character 1, DIA 2 for character 2 and DIA 3 and 4 for characters 1 and 2 of the next scene (even if they're the same character/s), creating a "checkerboard" between scenes for DIA 1/2 and 3/4. I'll also have several work tracks, DIA 1 wkA, DIA 1 wkB, DIA 1 wkC, and the same for DIA 2, plus a number of OMF tracks (OMF 1, OMF 2, etc.). So, I would import the OMF from the pic editor into my OMF tracks. I then COPY the dialogue I select from my OMF tracks to DIA 1 and edit it. If it needs some destructive processing (say De-clicking), I MOVE the edit/sequence of edits to DIA 1 wkA, COPY it from DIA 1 wkA to DIA 1 wkB, process the wkB copy and then MOVE this processed copy back to DIA 1. If another destructive process is required (say a Spectral Repair), I MOVE the edit/sequence of edits from DIA 1 to DIA 1 wkB, COPY it to DIA1 wkC, process the wkC copy and then MOVE it back to DIA 1 again. The end result is that the OMF tracks will contain the audio as imported, the DIA 1 wkA track will contain the edited but unprocessed dialogue, DIA 1 wkB and C will contain processing steps and DIA 1 will contain the edited/processed dialogue ready for mixing. Obviously the OMF and work tracks won't be routed to the mix and come mix time will be disabled and hidden but if there is a problem, it couldn't be easier to revert back to previous processing steps, to the unprocessed edit or even the original OMF import if required, avoiding having to search around the hard disk for files and re-importing/editing/sync'ing them. This exact way of doing things might not be appropriate with your software/workflow but I'm sure you can find some way of implementing the basic principle without it costing you too much additional time/effort.
G