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recording voices in the distance
- Thread starter brianluce
- Start date
The easiest solution is to close record - making sure that you record the proper performance - and pull the volume back and add some a reverb. Using an IR reverb can give a great deal of realism to the effect, but a regular reverb combined with some EQ and slap echo can do the job; you'll just have to do a lot more tweaking.
By "the proper performance" I mean you don't have the character speaking in a normal voice if the character is in the end zone calling to someone on the 50 yard line. You see this "performance" problem all the time in club scenes; the club is packed and the music is pounding yet the actors converse as if they were in a living room at 2am.
One of the things that many DIY filmmakers don't do is spend a lot of time listening. And not just listening to films, but listening to the real world. As I opine often, we in the film biz have chosen a profession where we attempt to create believable artificial realities that quite often have nothing to do with actual reality. But our artificial creations have to be rooted in "real" reality in order for our enhancements to induce the proper emotional response in our audience.
By "the proper performance" I mean you don't have the character speaking in a normal voice if the character is in the end zone calling to someone on the 50 yard line. You see this "performance" problem all the time in club scenes; the club is packed and the music is pounding yet the actors converse as if they were in a living room at 2am.
One of the things that many DIY filmmakers don't do is spend a lot of time listening. And not just listening to films, but listening to the real world. As I opine often, we in the film biz have chosen a profession where we attempt to create believable artificial realities that quite often have nothing to do with actual reality. But our artificial creations have to be rooted in "real" reality in order for our enhancements to induce the proper emotional response in our audience.
I'm going to suggest the far recording option..
probably not as far from the mic as the image might suggest..
But a measured distance (provided you've got a decent condenser mic and a decent signal to noise ratio with your recorder) with some volume manipulation will sound natural quicker than fiddling with plugins - UNLESS:
you've got a system and effect chain setup that you know and are happy with, OR -
You're trying to do "The Man Who Broke The Bank From Monty Carlo" ala Lawerence of Arabia.. (a canyon echo sound) in which case I'd go with the close mic, IR reverb, volume manipulation.
often we get so wrapped in trying to create the sound that we forget to check if the sound needs to be "created" at all.
Of course the be-all, end-all is what it sounds and looks like in final mix..
probably not as far from the mic as the image might suggest..
But a measured distance (provided you've got a decent condenser mic and a decent signal to noise ratio with your recorder) with some volume manipulation will sound natural quicker than fiddling with plugins - UNLESS:
you've got a system and effect chain setup that you know and are happy with, OR -
You're trying to do "The Man Who Broke The Bank From Monty Carlo" ala Lawerence of Arabia.. (a canyon echo sound) in which case I'd go with the close mic, IR reverb, volume manipulation.
often we get so wrapped in trying to create the sound that we forget to check if the sound needs to be "created" at all.
Of course the be-all, end-all is what it sounds and looks like in final mix..
Being a control freak I dislike the far option as I have little or no control over the ambient noise.
Right, that was the one thing I was thinking.. unless you're going road tripping into a desert somewhere, it might be difficult to find a reasonable amount of silence.
Where is this character yelling from and to?
Maybe the ambient noise will be beneficial?
I seem to remember mention being made on one of the "The Social Network" special features a scene in a club in which they recorded the dialogue, ambient noise, and music all live and at authentic levels. Reasoning being they wanted the dialogue and ambient noise to fight for your attention in a realistic way..
I may be remembering that wrong but still -
How intimidating is the thought of mixing THAT? heh.
Where is this character yelling from and to?
Maybe the ambient noise will be beneficial?
I seem to remember mention being made on one of the "The Social Network" special features a scene in a club in which they recorded the dialogue, ambient noise, and music all live and at authentic levels. Reasoning being they wanted the dialogue and ambient noise to fight for your attention in a realistic way..
I may be remembering that wrong but still -
How intimidating is the thought of mixing THAT? heh.
There was a lot of talk amongst the prod and post audio folks that "Social Network" should have received the sound editing and mixing Oscars for that scene alone. The dialog was recorded on a "quiet" set and everything else was added later. The "trick" was to get the actors to converse in louder voices as if they were in a noisy club. Part of the on-set process was to initially have all of the noise so the actors would have their conversation as it would be in a club, then they reverted to a "silent" set for the takes; the actors "remembered" how they were supposed to speak for the situation.
This is just one example of what I mean by creating a believable artificial reality when it comes to sound-for-film.
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The scene is at the beach.
It's just a few lines so I'll record it both ways and see what happens.
btw, I watched some of the BTS stuff of "Cloverfield", they showed the bar scenes where all the actors are pretend party and talk loudly but in reality are mouthing or whispering to maintain quiet on the set for the soundies.
It's just a few lines so I'll record it both ways and see what happens.
btw, I watched some of the BTS stuff of "Cloverfield", they showed the bar scenes where all the actors are pretend party and talk loudly but in reality are mouthing or whispering to maintain quiet on the set for the soundies.
That's kind of the way you have to do it, unless you're feeling brave or experimental..
(which now that I think about it - using strictly on set sound sounds like an interesting way to make a movie.. )
I'm assuming you're adding the audio later, right?
Speaking of out of control, a beach seems about as out of control as you can get for audio.. with the wind and sound of the water.
BUT - depending on what you want to do exactly - you probably couldn't ask for a better mask for unwanted audio. (the sound of waves)
Good luck, anyway.
That's kind of the way you have to do it, unless you're feeling brave or experimental..
(which now that I think about it - using strictly on set sound sounds like an interesting way to make a movie.. )
I'm assuming you're adding the audio later, right?
Speaking of out of control, a beach seems about as out of control as you can get for audio.. with the wind and sound of the water.
BUT - depending on what you want to do exactly - you probably couldn't ask for a better mask for unwanted audio. (the sound of waves)
Good luck, anyway.
Actually, that was part of the Dogme 95 rules: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95
The movement isn't officially around anymore, but it's an interesting aesthetic to film creation. Werner Herzog had an interesting "response" set of rules, which I recall reading in a book of interviews (Herzog on Herzog).
As a philosophy of minimalism and "reality", it is interesting and as a creator, it's an interesting challenge to give yourself. However, I can't think of a single Dogme 95 film that I liked better than non-Dogme films by the same directors. At the end of the day, I personally like the hyper-reality of film!
I read once that the artist is not so much more qualified in their abilities in comparison to non-artists, but the artists "sees" things better. Alcove sees w/ his ears. great lesson.
A mentor of mine once said genius is the ability to focus on the task at hand. Really focus, that is ..
Would a 2 mic solution offer any help ? One close and one afar and you can blend, mix, tweak and match between 2 tracks ?
Im still a total hack when it comes to sound compared to the big dogs, but I see the up close as getting you the best clear sound and using audio tools in post will work.
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It would be great - in a perfectly quiet acoustic world. Many of the big dogs in the audio post world really love "worldizing", the practice of playing sounds in the real world and recording the results. The issue, as I have frequently mentioned, is control. It needs to be very quiet, and there needs to be little or no wind if you are working outdoors. You need a serious budget to be able to afford this. That's why IR (convolution) reverbs have become so popular with the audio post crowd.
My personal choice for an IR reverb plug-in is Altiverb XL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpUG7duEZYY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9LPt1n6IXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAKuMLu5Dus