editing Couple of specific audio questions

[NewMuse]

(working in Adobe Premiere CS4):

1) I've got a scene of someone watching a movie on TV (a movie I have permission to use, thankfully), but we didn't roll sound during the filming. However, I have the original, clean audio of the movie at my disposal. What kind of audio effects would you guys recommend to simulate that on-TV-on-film sound? The setting is a typical living room.

2) I've got a clean air siren sound. In the movie, we need to hear it from both inside the house, and outside, where it is blaring. What are some audio effects you would recommend to create a contrast between the two?

Thanks!

 

[Uranium City]

For the TV audio, if it were me, I wouldn't simulate it. I'd return to the location, play the movie through the TV, and record the sound of the movie as it plays in the room. For the siren, I would achieve the effect just by dropping the volume for the interiors and perhaps dropping the EQ highs a little lower. This one you don't have to do 100% real (ie, you don't have to play the siren outside the house with massive siren speakers and record the audio inside the house) because the contrast you desire will be sold with the combined audio/visual.

 

[Alcove Audio]

Joe is right, but you don't have to return to the specific location to record the TV.

For the siren you would use a low pass filter for the indoor perspective and maybe a some room reverb. For the outdoor perspective add a little reverb and maybe a little slap-back echo depending upon the location.



An excellent but relatively expensive option is Altiverb; among it's dozens of IRs are heard-inside-from-outside 'verbs. Audioease also makes SpeakerPhone which is without question my next major purchase (I have Altiverb). SpeakerPhone does "walkie-talkies, distant transistor radios, upstairs TV sets, bullhorns, cell phones," "dial tones, operator, static... on either the caller or receiver's end," "23 microphones, 106 'Covers' (from blankets to car trunks)." No, I do not work for them, but I do love their stuff and their customer support is excellent.

 

[NewMuse]

Thanks for the advice, guys. For the TV shot, I'll guess send my sound guy a DVD image of the movie over the internet and have him record the sound using his own TV. I don't have any sound equipment myself, and he lives a ways away.

 

[Uranium City]

If the desired volume of the TV is low enough (i.e. its faint background noise) you might be able to get away with just having it at a low volume in your audio mix, right around or lower than your room tone. If it's a featured part of the scene, though, you should send it to your audio guy to record it properly through a TV.

 

[NewMuse]

Unfortunately, no. I mean, the movie-on-tv audio itself is completely inconsequential, but what matters is that it gets cut off in lieu of an emergency broadcast that definitely needs to be heard at full volume.