I need to make my dialogue sound like this. Please help.

[HaloUnionProductions]

Hey guys, so I am working on a film, and I really need to make my dialogue sound like the dialogue in this film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvpzMUIdyE

I am not very experienced with sound mixing, and I have no idea how he made his audio sound like that.

Does anybody have any ideas on how he achieved this effect? It might even be multiple effects.

I would be extremely grateful if any of you have any ideas.

 

[Utopia]

Well, if you really want to have dialogue like this you'll have to get yourself a program called Pro Tools - a free version of it exists named "Pro Tools First".

Then, with the "Space" plugin, there are presets for Post Production, and on there you can find tiny speakers and things to make a sound appear to be coming out of a small speaker.

Although, I would take it a bit further:

Phase Shift it a bit - or if you don't have any ability to do the above and do not want to get Pro Tools, simply take your dialogue track and duplicate it and nudge the duplicated track about 20 samples to the right. Playing both tracks back at the same time causes "comb filtering" that will be a quick and dirty way of achieving that effect - but I don't recommend it. I recommend you get the proper tool for the job. Pro Tools with the limitless amounts of plug-ins that can be used to achieve this effect is what you need to get.

On the alien, it's got some kind of flanger on it - like the effect you put on your guitar to go "whhheeeewwwwhhhhheeeewwwwhhhhheeeewwwww" set to about 2 seconds recycle time. This is another plug-in you need.

BUT, and this is what I do on my films, take your dialogue track and actually play it back through a small speaker, or place the small speaker in a fishbowl and record it newly (like run it through a pair of headphones really loud inside a fishbowl and stick the mic in the fishbowl and record it again through the fishbowl). This gives the most realistic result, in my humble opinion, and I've done this on a LOT of stuff.

This is how I get dialogue to sound like it's coming from across the wall in another room. Or through TV speakers. The application is limitless... And it has a name: Walter Murch invented it - it's called Worldizing. Look it up!

You can abuse this technique to no end - and the editor working on Castaway took Tom Hanks' dialogue when he was stranded on the beach yelling at the ship way off in the distance and played it outside REALLY loud over a speaker to get that "slapback" sound, and it startled the neighbors. "HEYYYY, HEELLLLLPPP!!! HELP MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! COME BAAAAAACKKKKK!!!!!!!!!"...

I would also like to point out to you that there is little to no foley or ambience in this. There are no sounds for the explosions, footsteps, gun foley, NOTHING. Please don't take this as a good example...

 

[HU_Nathan7]

Great advice from Utopia.

I think it's going to have to be one of those things you have to play around with a bit until you get it just how you want it to be. But I would deff start with what Utopia said

 

[Cracker Funk]

This is how I get dialogue to sound like it's coming from across the wall in another room. Or through TV speakers. The application is limitless... And it has a name: Walter Murch invented it - it's called Worldizing. Look it up!

You can abuse this technique to no end - and a friend of mine working on Castaway took Tom Hanks' dialogue when he was stranded on the beach yelling at the ship way off in the distance and played it outside REALLY loud over a speaker to get that "slapback" sound, and it startled the neighbors. "HEYYYY, HEELLLLLPPP!!! HELP MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! COME BAAAAAACKKKKK!!!!!!!!!"......

Yeah, the great thing about worldizing is that it's incredibly easier for schmucks like me to pull off halfway believably, than to try and mostly do it in post. I love worldizing!

 

[Alcove Audio]

It sounds like a "Frozen Flange" with some reverb.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

I need to make my dialogue sound like this.

Couple of questions:

1. Which dialogue? Different characters' dialogue has different effects. There's some ring modulation on some dialogue, plus a lot of EQ/bandlimiting, compression, reverb and other effects of varying amounts on other dialogue. Although ...

2. Why? There are numerous faults, editing clicks, distortions, artefacts, etc., all over the place, it's certainly not what I'd want any dialogue to sound like. In fact, the artefacts are so bad, it's difficult to work out exactly what was done. There sounds like severe artefacts from too much noise reduction and/or multiple lossy compression artefacts. I'm all for futz'ing dialogue when the situation calls for it but this just sounds like a kid in a bedroom with a bundle of new audio software toys to play with but no idea how to use them.

BUT, and this is what I do on my films, take your dialogue track and actually play it back through a small speaker, or place the small speaker in a fishbowl and record it newly (like run it through a pair of headphones really loud inside a fishbowl and stick the mic in the fishbowl and record it again through the fishbowl). This gives the most realistic result, in my humble opinion, and I've done this on a LOT of stuff.

I'm don't think worldizing would achieve the same result as the quoted dialogue. A different result and probably a better result but not the same. There's a lot of digital processing/artefacts in there which worldizing wouldn't really emulate. By the way, I don't think Murch invented worldizing, maybe the term but not the practise. It was used by others long before Murch's time.

G

 

[Utopia]

@AudioPostExpert These are the references as to why I mentioned that he invented it:

http://filmsound.org/terminology/worldizing.htm
http://theses.cz/id/h1mryq/?lang=en;furl=/id/h1mryq/
http://designingsound.org/2009/10/walter-murch-special-the-concept-of-worldizing/

But, maybe you have some other reference that states that Tesla or B.Franklin wrote up a plan for it but never did anything with it? Walter's the one who cultivated it, used it in film and showed us all what to do with it.

Re: didn't really want to match the dialogue - wanted to show him what a better technique would be to achieve a better and more organic result than that horrible guitar-flange effect. Fish bowls sound mighty fine for space suits I'd be surprised if they didn't use that method for The Martian dialogue.

 

[AudioPostExpert]

But, maybe you have some other reference that states that Tesla or B.Franklin wrote up a plan for it but never did anything with it?

Without going through your references I can't be sure of their accuracy or the context you're quoting but I know that Orson Welles and others were re-recording sounds played in acoustic locations in the 1950s, well before Murch. I'm sure you could probably find something about it on the web if you looked. BTW, quoting references is great for passing exams but just because it turned up in an article somewhere doesn't automatically make it the truth.

G

 

[Utopia]

Please get back on topic?

Not sure what questioning the validity of 3 separate references which all back up my statement is going to do to help the OP achieve what he wants?

PM me - let's sort this out.

@Admin - just trying to help, here.

 

[HaloUnionProductions]

Thank you guys so much for the replies. Especially you, Utopia and Alcove.

AudioPostExpert. It's specifically the spartans (the robot looking guys) whose voices I want to copy.

I want to recreate the same style of sound, because I am finishing the series. I used to be friends with the original creator back in the day. It was a big web series when it first came out, similar to Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue, before Mike Rouse, the creator went on to drop it in favor of creating the hit YouTube series, Inside Halo, which went on to become Inside Gaming which is one of the biggest YouTube shows of all time.

But a few years ago, he gave me permission to create one final installment of his original hit series to bring closure to the project. In order to make it feel like an actual final chapter of the series, I need to be able to copy the style of the sound. I'm all for improving on it, recording in a sound studio, removing pops, etc., but I need it to sound basically the same. I need to understand what he did to achieve that sound if I am to copy or build on it.

And on a side note, I cannot ask my friend, who originally created it, because he has completely gone off the grid over the last year and is impossible to get in contact with.

Thank you.