Need some help and give some thanks

V

Vows

First of all the thanks for all the good info. I made my purchases of Tascam and the Octavia mic, headphones, cables and back up batteries. I have practiced and have learned alot. This forum was very informative. Now, how do I rid my the "bottom' as I think it is called, the hum I can hear lowly under my voice in playback. I will add crowd noise, but do you scrub it out in editting? Another thing, with one mic, I am recording only to one track of the tascam> Does that mean when I put my film together that , L and R will be equal, and I can add crowd noises with the tascams omni mic to simulate a stereo effect so a viewer doesn't have balanced noise in l and r. Or lastly, do films have sound balanced without stereo? Is it too bland, I can always add special effects to either l or r.

Again Thanks
Vows
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
It depends upon the type of hum. In the U.S. it is typically 60 cycle hum, so you can use a notch filter EQ at - you guessed it - 60 kHz. Use the narrowest notch you can and slowly decrease the level from zero (0) instead of just ducking it completely. You can play between width and level to find the best sound.

Dialog tracks should be mono, meaning that you should not have a stereo dialog track. Yes, dialog in centered 99.9% of the time, ideally in the center channel of a 3.1, 5.1 or 7.1 mix; otherwise dead center of a stereo mix.

Large ambient sounds (weather, traffic, crowds, etc.) are often recorded in stereo, but only serve as a basis for the overall ambience of a scene. You can also "construct" stereo ambiences by putting a mono ambience in the left, center and right.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
As Alcove says, it depends on the hum. Ideally you want to identify what is causing the hum and eliminate it before you start recording. Depending on what is causing the hum, there may also be harmonics which need removing as well as the fundamental.

Vows said:
Another thing, with one mic, I am recording only to one track of the tascam> Does that mean when I put my film together that , L and R will be equal, and I can add crowd noises with the tascams omni mic to simulate a stereo effect so a viewer doesn't have balanced noise in l and r. Or lastly, do films have sound balanced without stereo? Is it too bland, I can always add special effects to either l or r.
Click to expand...

You can pan a mono sound anywhere in the stereo sound field. The L and R will only be equal if you pan the sound to the centre, which as Alcove also said is true of virtually all dialogue. Whether the audience will perceive the sound as being in the centre is another thing entirely and depends on where they are seated when watching. It is for this reason that feature films are never made in stereo but most commonly 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1.

G
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
All this is achieved in editting. I only worked with Premiere on a doc. 12 years ago. You worked with the sound with bands, and more sound was dropped in other tracks. I did some reading about 5.1 and more, if I have a dialog track, an atmosphere track(background), sound effects track, music track, they all can be added into different layers of sound through the program? Am I close.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Editing is just picking the best dialogue take and sync'ing it, picking/sourcing/making and sync'ing the most appropriate sound FX and atmospheres. Positioning and processing of the sound occurs in the mixing phase rather than the editing phase.

Audio post professionals use dedicated audio post software (such as ProTools) rather than video editing software, so I can't help you with how Premiere functions with regards to it's audio processing. The tricky part is the processing and mixing of the layers to create depth, believability and perfectly coherent dialogue. BTW, I would advise you to steer clear of 5.1 and just work in stereo, if you need a 5.1 mix for distribution or a film festival you really don't have much choice but to get professional help.

G
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The small local festivals are usually stereo only but as you move up in size/stature of festival so there is more provision or requirement for 5.1 mixes. The major film festivals will require at least a 3.0 mix (on DCP) and will usually also accept a 4.0 mix (Dolby Stereo) on HDCAM or 35mm film but as it's really no more hassle to create a 5.1 mix than a 4.0 mix, so the vast majority just create a 5.1 mix. You'll need to check the delivery requirements of the exhibition copy for whichever film festivals you are wanting to enter.

For BluRay or DVD distribution, consumers generally expect a 5.1 mix but it's not uncommon to find very low budget films distributed on DVD with only a stereo mix. A 5.1 mix is required by most TV networks. I don't think most VOD and similar services require 5.1 mixes yet but I'm not sure about that. Theatrical releases require at least a 5.1 mix, although the bigger budget films are usually mixed in 7.1 or the recently released Dolby Atmos format.

G
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
It's not a simple proposition. (BTW you own an Oktava mic, not octavia.)

To do 5.1 properly requires A LOT of money. Your room needs to be properly proportioned, and sonically isolated & treated. Then, of course, is the expense of a calibrated audio playback system.

Just to give you some perspective, I've been doing audio post for over 10 years now. The only time I do surround mixes is when I'm flying second chair with (assisting) an experienced rerecording mixer at another facility.

You can fool around with a small surround system all you like, but doing "real" 5.1 mixes requires a huge investment in both time and money.

Here are what real rerecording stages look like:

skywalkersound.jpg


10927474-todd-ao-west-stage.jpg


MainStudio1.jpg


Maybe A.P.E. will post some pics of his place???
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Without insult to the experts, would recording my dialogue, my ambient sound, the live musical soundtracks, and all sound effects, narration, to the best of my ability, would then visually edit the film, then go to a sound guy to edit and apply sound correctly. I can get the sound for my taste(this will takes hours), then go to the pros. How, I guess does the sound get put in order of editting the entire film?
Thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Don't take this the wrong way, but your take on sound is overly simplistic. On average I spend about six (6) hours per linear minute of a decently funded project. So if your film is 100 minutes that's 600 hours from someone who has the proper gear, software and listening environment - and lots of experience. Recording sound effects is an art form; recording Foley is an art form; recording score is an art form - that's on top of the technical aspects you will have to learn. And we haven't even gotten to equipment selection.

The best thing that you can do for an audio editor is to send an OMF of the project plus all of the audio from the alt/unused takes. It will save him/her the time of undoing everything you have done to the audio.

There are lots of threads about production sound and audio post by AudioPostExpert and myself; I would suggest that you read a few. Here's a few for a start:

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=46198
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44668
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=45351
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=42870



I would also suggest that you read:

The Production Sound Bible - Ric Viers
Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound - David Yewdall
The Sound Effects Bible - Ric Viers
The Foley Grail - Vanessa Ament
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks...i read all of those posts and watched the snip....i thought i had an idea of what my film would sound like. Each week I reread my script, make changes, camera angles, slight dialogue changes...no more...that has to be put to bed...the greatest improvement now, is to create sound layers to every scene, every shot.....think of how and where the sound is and where its going...at this point in my project its the most important thing i can do to improve somelifeless dialogue. I will order The Production Sound Bible - Ric Viers, and put to rest for this project my sound exploration.
I want to thank you
Vows
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Vows said:
It looks as though I'll give myself a crash course on 5.1. I hope I could learn basics to make it happen, your opinion?
Click to expand...

My opinion is the same as Alcove. As per Alcove's suggestion I've posted a pic of my mix room at the end of this post. Even after spending several hundred thousand dollars on my facilities, there are still limitations to what my facility is capable of! It's perfect for 5.1 mixes for all budget levels of TV broadcast, BluRay and DVD distribution but for theatrical screening in a film festival I would still want to check my mix in a certified theatrical mix stage and for theatrical distribution the mix would have to be completed in a certified theatrical mix stage.

Vows said:
Without insult to the experts, would recording my dialogue, my ambient sound, the live musical soundtracks, and all sound effects, narration, to the best of my ability, would then visually edit the film, then go to a sound guy to edit and apply sound correctly. I can get the sound for my taste(this will takes hours), then go to the pros. How, I guess does the sound get put in order of editting the entire film?
Thanks
Click to expand...

This depends on what you are going to do with your film, where you are going to screen/distribute it. If you're just going to put your film up on Youtube then do the sound yourself in stereo. If you are going to give it to pros to complete then do NOT try to mix it "for your taste", you have no way of knowing what your mix will sound like. You might get your mix to the point where it sounds good to you on your laptop, desktop, TV or even studio monitors but it will NOT sound the same when played on someone else's system. So there's no point in you creating a mix, leave that to your pro/s. Just record your dialogue, edit it roughly along with your picture, record ambiances/room tone and then give your audio pro an OMF/AAF of your edit along with all your sound files. Leave the other SFX (unless you want to use temp SFX to help your picture editing process) and everything else to your audio pro.

G

GregMixRoom2.jpg
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top