Let's see if I can simplify some of my previous post...
If your talent is not speaking you need to record other sounds. What sounds do you "see" in the shot? Which one is the most important? That is the sound you should be attempting to record better than anything else. For example, if you're character is walking through the weeds, you boom the actors feet. If you have to create the sound(s) after the fact you need the footsteps (sneaker on dirt) and the sound of the weeds.
I also pre-record footsteps and cloths.
This means that you have to cut the sound to match the picture. Did you account for every possible movement? Even if you did (I always manage to forget
something) does the sound actually sync well? And if it does sync okay does
feeling of the sound match the scene/situation?
This is why doing Foley work while watching picture (the purists definition - Foley can only be performed in sync to picture) is so important; you mimic every movement rather than editing in prerecorded sound FX as best you can. Foley becomes very character specific once you start really digging in to it. It's one of my work habits to do each character continuously through the whole film; that way I start getting a real feel for the character and my performances reflect the character more fully.
As to the mix; this is one of the toughest parts to learn. A part of mixing is creating sub-mixes (stems). Create a sub-mix for each audio category, and sub mixes within each category - dialog (one sub for production sound, one for ADR), Foley (one sub-mix for each character if you have enough aux busses), one for sound FX (the sub-mix breakout is different for each genre), one for ambience/BG, and a sub-mix for score & source music.
When mixing multiple elements getting a proper balance is a tough gig. One thing to keep in mind is a "rule of thumb" for mixing sound for picture - the audience can only "hear" or concentrate on two and a half things. Now, obviously, there will be a lot more than two or three things happening at any given moment. What you have to do is prioritize. In your scene you have a character walking through a field of tall grass. You need the ambience/BG of tweeting birds and wind on the trees & grass. You need the character walking through the tall grass (the footsteps, the cloth and ?). When you see just the feet make the footsteps louder. When the entire actor is seen pull the FSteps back. When you see the character from across the field the FSteps almost disappear completely. Now, go back to my first post on this thread regarding reverb - yes, even outdoors. Put everything in the same sonic place/space.
One thing to keep in mind is that although you have multiple sonic elements only 2 1/2 take prominence at any time. Another thing to keep in mind is that multiple elements can make up one sound (FSteps and cloth) (birds, breeze, brook). Something like cloth is very subtle. When it's not there you miss it. If it's too loud it's annoying. Every mixer works differently, but one method that I use is to mix just the Foley elements - mute everything else. Get the cloth in perspective with the footsteps; when the ambience/BG is un-muted the cloth will probably "disappear" but if you now mute the cloth you will miss it even if you don't consciously hear it.
Mixing is a mostly an exercise in being very subtle. Go back and reread my original post and then read this one again, then take another shot at the mix.
