question about recording audio on set.

H

harmonica44

I don't quite get the concept of using blankets on set to mask out reverberation. I mean, you want that room reverb to match the room, yet we are all told to add the room reverb afterwords. But I mean, most movies are not shot entirely on green screen for example. Most of us feel it's best to shoot a scene, in the actual location, rather than add the location into the footage afterwords.

So since it's a good idea to shoot the location with the scene live, why isn't a good a idea to record the room reverb live, since you'll just be adding it later, and you're killing two birds with one stone anyway?
 
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It's an issue of control.

Sounds that are reverberant tend to "fall back" into the mix; in other words the ambient reverb conflicts with the "dry" sound source, making it less distinct. This problem is greatly magnified as you start adding other layers of sound, especially score and source music. And you still have to match the reverb added the Foley and sound FX to the ambient reverb of the production sound tracks. Matching takes a lot more time and effort than creating an "artificial" ambient reverb.

Production sound dialog that has a lot of ambient reverb is difficult to get to "pop out" of the mix, so you end up compromising by bringing the level of the music and other elements down so the audience can understand the dialog. This often robs the scene of the emotional impact that can be imparted by the other elements of the sound track. It's a balancing act where the compromises are never wholly satisfactory.

This is why rerecording mixers like the dialog to be dry (without any ambient reverb). I love ADR because I have total control over how it interacts with the other audio elements. I hate ADR because it so often lacks the emotional content of the production dialog. With dry dialog I can have a character standing in the middle of a gymnasium and still have completely intelligible dialog because I can completely control the amount of ambient reverb and how it interacts with the dialog and other audio elements. With very "wet" (lots of ambient reverb) production dialog I always end up fighting to have the dialog heard, especially when there are other audio elements present.

Once again it's the problem of perception. If you and I are standing in that notional gymnasium we are hearing with our ears all of the reverb bounce coming from all directions and our brains can "edit" out most of it. Recording in that same gymnasium the mic is only picking up what is directly in front of it so the ambient bounce becomes greatly exaggerated, and the play back is also artificial as it is in the center speaker or the center of the stereo field.

So as an audio post geek I want dry, dry, dry because it gives me the most control over how it is mixed.
 
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Oh okay so you have to bring the music down so it can be heard better. I personally like the reverb and feel it adds more realism to the dialogue sound. I recorded a scene without blankets in a reverberating bathroom with the door shut, to add to it. I hope the audio turns out well but it is just a fight scene with screaming so I guess the audience would still be able to make that out of course. Would it be better to move the playback of the dialogue to a different speaker for those reverb scenes therefore?
 
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I don't know exactly what your fight scene entails, but punches, kicks, etc. will sound over the top if they are too dry when compared to the production dialog (even if it is only screaming), and may lose their impact (sorry for the pun) if you put too much reverb on it.
 
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Most of that stuff is gotten from libraries or custom created for the film in audio post, layers upon layers of it. Remember what I said about control? Again, filmmaking is all about visual and aural illusions, it has nothing to do with reality.
 
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