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Question about doing a sound mix.

H

harmonica44

The last short film I did, the sound mix cost a few thousand dollars and to get to sound good, and I took a hit... which is one of the reasons which I haven't done another one since. I was told on here to do a zero budget short, and just do the sound mix myself, but I haven been playing around with a lot of trial and error and find the sound mixing difficult to do.

I was able to learn a lot video editing and color grading on my own and feel I have gotten better in that department. But I find myself still struggling on how to do a sound mix. I got that book that was recommended to me on here before, "Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisible Art".

But I felt the book was more of a history lesson in dialogue editing, rather than giving actual instructions that would apply to a modern system. Plus of course, I want to do the whole mix, and not just the dialogue. Does anyone have suggestions on how to learn this stuff better, or any books that would help me do it on my own? Thanks for any input. I really appreciate it.
 
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Ryan!

You st%$$##5 do you keep track of that facebook group?
You got a response on january 22nd: "I tend to work weekends... But I am an audio girl!! I can try to help you out!!!"
So stop acting like you need to do audio on set!

And:
"Hey I'm located in stoon, cinematography is my dream/end goal. I have two DSLRs and a collection of video lights as well as 3 months worth of everyday all day video editing knowledge."

Now get a little script. Not that 15 pages script you don't understand. But something cool that can be shot in 2 days.
That is how you learn and build a team: with pieces you can chew.
Or go do that poem: ask those 2 people to help out. It will be a great practice for everyone, just don't spend months on it.
You pick a poem and ask them to join.
One can record it for you.
The other can help with the visuals.

I'm looking forward to see the video!
 
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Yeah I keep track of that group. Me and that audio girl have talked to each other about a project in private messages. I was just planning ahead in case something happened, where I had to do it myself later, and needed to have a back up plan ready to go. Why?

I showed her the 15 page script though, since it was the best one I had right now.
 
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How many days of shooting will it take?

Planning for desaster again, instead of success?
If you spend over 80% of your time and energy on worstcase scenario you will indeed need them.
 
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She hasn't got anything?

And you don't need to order equipment to make a good breakdown.
(I still don't think that 15 pages you don't understand will work for you. How many pages was your first short?)

FYI:
I'm starting preproduction on a 7 page short as we speak.
What it's about is a secret ;) but it has 2 main locations: living room and bed room.
2 extra locations: in a parked car and one scene/shot in an office.
Mostly 2 actor. 5 extras.

15 pages is a lot if you have little experience.
Whether or not you'll suggest the poem project is your decision, but I think you need to make something before shooting 15 pages.
 
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My first short was 11 pages.

She has lavs but she says my boom mics were better quality compared to hers. Plus I thought the lavs might be a challenge to hide on the actors. And I got three people in a scene, where as I only have two plug ins on my audio recorder.

She has an audio recorder as well, but I don't want to mix ours, because she has a zoom where as I have a Fostex FR2LE, and I don't want to deal the complication of the sound not matching enough, so I figured it was safer just to use one. Plus I am not sure if all her lavs are all the same and would therefore, produce different sounds, but will find out.
 
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Ah, I see.

Your 11 pages were hard to finish, right?
Did you learn enough to make the jump to 15 pages?
Or would it be better for you confidence and end result to chew a smaller piece and focus the energy of 15 pages on something smaller?
 
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Okay thanks. Well I figure that if the poem is narrated, I could just do that myself with my gear, and she wouldn't really be needed for a project like that, since it's just simple narration.

I haven't found a poem yet to do, cause every poem I have read so far in that list, contained either a type of location I could not use, or an animal that I did not have access to. So the poems were hard to do because of locations and animals I needed. I can look at some more, but as for utilizing her, I thought she would be much more useful on a set production, rather than doing narration, that I could do with my own equipment.

As for making the jump to 15 pages, this script is all one location, so I thought that might help. Not sure, but wanted to try. I could do a poem, I just need to find one with locations that I can use in my town.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I haven't found a poem yet to do, cause every poem I have read so far in that list, contained either a type of location I could not use, or an animal that I did not have access to. So the poems were hard to do because of locations and animals I needed. I can look at some more, but as for utilizing her, I thought she would be much more useful on a set production, rather than doing narration, that I could do with my own equipment.
Click to expand...

Here's a word for you too look up: adaptation
 
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harmonica44 said:
Yes I know what adaptation means. Are you saying I should change the poem around to fit my surroundings. I could but then the poem might not make as much sense.
Click to expand...

Another vocabulary word: abstract. As in...

Literal: the poem mentions a wolf in the forest, so you show an actual wolf in an actual forest.

Abstract: the wolf in the forest represents danger lurking in an isolated and threatening environment, so we visualize that with a menacing human figure in a dark, abandoned alley.

You don't change the poem, you adapt the visuals to a different context.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Plus I am not sure if all her lavs are all the same and would therefore, produce different sounds, but will find out.
Click to expand...

I've said it time after time after time:
Your next film won't be your last... unless you allow it to be.

So make a film, and if the audio mix sucks, learn from it and decide what you'll do differently on the next one.

There's not a film ever made that didn't have to compromise on at least one thing.

You want to be a Director. Imagine if you focussed all your energy on writing, and learning to tell stories visually. You'd be a significantly better Director now. Instead, you're worrying about every single possible distraction, like whether the lavs will match, or whether the lights will have enough power for you to shoot at a particular ISO, or whether you'll be able to do a sound mix.

The reason movies hire experts to do these roles is because no one person can be an expert in all of it. Focus on what you want to do and practice doing it. Meet up with others and have them take care of the other stuff.

If you're worried about the script, do a table read and see what the people think. See what you think having it read aloud.
 
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