Can I make dialogue tracks sound the same in this case?

[harmonica44]

For a short film project I am working on, it's told in voice over narration. However, some of the lines sound further away than others. I recorded the narration over a couple of days, and perhaps the actress was just a little further away from the mic one day, compared to the other, and I didn't notice the small change in distance.

Or perhaps the levels were set a little differently one day, compared to the next.

However, is it possible to make all the lines sound like they are the same distance away. I can change the amplification but can I alter the distance sound somehow?

Otherwise the lines will jump back and forth between sounding like a medium close up distance to an extreme close up distance, if that make sense.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

However, is it possible to make all the lines sound like they are the same distance away. I can change the amplification but can I alter the distance sound somehow?

Yes, it is possible, in fact it's pretty routine. There's commonly distance/perspective issues in production sound or between production sound and ADR, not so common with VO though. The closer dialogue can be made to match the further dialogue or the further dialogue made to match the closer, although the latter can be trickier and the former more common.

There's no simple answer about how to achieve this though, it depends on what is causing the impression of distance. It could just be the gain stetting, in which case the solution is easy, simply change the levels in your DAW or NLE. Most commonly there is also an EQ and reverb component, in which case you have to use your ears to create settings to match one to the other. Depending on what you want to match with what, you may also need to use compression, compansion and/or some noise reduction. An experienced re-recording mixer might achieve a match in seconds or it might be much trickier and take much longer.

G

 

[mikemintzdj]

APE is right on as always. Possibly a good place to start is with reverb. By adding reverb to the close one you can make it sound like it is in a bigger room which might bring it more in line with the farther away sounding one. I think audacity has a reverb effect, in fact all audio mixing programs should have it.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Just tossing on some reverb is not a great solution; you need to match the reflective qualities of the other clip(s) almost exactly, otherwise you still have the same disparity in sound that was the issue in the first place. Most basic reverbs don't have this type of capability.