Demo: Mixing Sound for a Short Film in Adobe Audition
In this week’s sound for video session I demonstrate how I mixed a recent short film from my friend Levi Whitney with Uphill Cinema - http://uphillcinema.com
I recorded the production sound. Levi directed and DP’d.
In this demo, I quickly demonstrate the overall idea of mixing dialogue, music, and effects for a short film. For serious projects I would definitely spend more time on the details but wanted to give you a quick example to show the basics. I hope you find it useful!
Gear Used:
Audio Technica AT4053b Hyper-Cardioid Microphone (the dialogue and effects in the film were recorded with this)
Sound Devices 633 Field Mixer/Recorder (the film sound was recorded with the 633)
Electrovoice RE20 Dynamic Microphone (Voiceover for this demo was recorded with this)
Antelope Orion Studio Audio Interface (Voiceover for this demo was recorded with this)
Sound for Video Session: EQ Basics
In this week’s sound for video session we cover the basics of EQ, a tool in your audio post-production kit. In this case, we’ll use Adobe Audition’s stock parametric EQ.
Apologies for my poor microphone technique which makes the loudness inconsistent. Also had to contend with a fair bit of noise in this recording - I was a little pressed for time and recorded in a busy office environment. Ah, the real world!
I hope things are going well and that you're learning more about audio. Happy Holidays!
Sound for Video Session: EQ, Choirs, Loudness, Run 'n Gun Sound
This week we discuss questions on EQ - how to get more bass and make one clip sound more like one another - recording choirs, loudness, and run and gun sound.
Other episodes mentioned in the session:
Recorder Meta Review
Loudness Normalization
Sound for Video Session: File & Project Management, Stereo Microphones
In this episode we addressed a couple of questions on file and project management for video production and stereo microphones for recording live music performances.
Sound for Video Session: Reduce Reverb, Lavalier Clothing Noise, Record Live Acoustic Bands
In this week's episode, we cover questions on these topics and more:
- How to reduce reverb in rooms with lots of hard surfaces
- Are there any special techniques for reducing clothing noise when hiding a lavalier mic under clothes
- Thoughts on recording live acoustic music groups
Here are links to a few videos we mentioned:
Using sound blankets to reduce reverb
Audio Recorders
Microphones
Sound for Video Session: Boom Mic, Lav Mic, Poly Wav Files, and Walla
In this week's sound for video session I discuss some of the practical things with a corporate video shoot:
- Boom mics vs/and lav mics (Which I typically end up using, bleed, etc)
- Poly Wav Files
- Walla, what it is and how I mix it with dialogue
Sound for Video Session: Loudness Normalization in Izotope RX5
For this week's session, we'll demonstrate how to loudness normalize your sound with Izotope RX 5.
Making your dialogue sound loud and present is a bit of a mystery for many independent filmmakers. It is surprising how many of the channels with large audiences have poor quality audio which is either very quiet so that viewers have to crank up the volume, or where the filmmaker cranked up the amplitude or gain of the audio in post to the point where there is plenty of distortion and clipping.
In this episode, we'll show one way to make loud, present sound without clipping or distortion.
Links we discussed in this session:
Free Compression Plugin: MCompressor
iZotope’s special deals on RX through November 14th 2016.
Sound for Video Session: Sound Design, Balanced vs Unbalanced Audio, Post Workflow
This week we talked about several interesting questions on sound design and mixing, balanced vs unbalanced audio, and post workflow.
Here are some of the links we discussed:
Wikipedia Article on Balanced Audio Signal Chain
Recent episode on Improving the Basic Filmmaker’s Sound using Sound Blankets and using Auto-heal in Adobe Audition
Producer’s Choice Sound Blankets (Save yourself some post production time, frustration, cost)
Sound for Video Session: ADR, dB, SPL, Cables, and Adverse Conditions
In our Sound for Video Session this week, we discussed several thoughtful questions:
- What are all the different dB scales and how do you just measure how loud sound is?
- Which cables do I need to connect all my microphones, wireless, and recorders?
- What are some tips for when you’re recording in very hot, very cold, or very humid conditions?
And here are the links we discussed in the session:
dB Definitions at Wikipedia
Overview of cables, plugs, connectors, power, balanced vs unbalanced
Sound for Video Session: USB vs XLR Microphones, Timecode Modes, Wireless Frequencies
In this episode, we covered several sound for video questions:
- What’s the quality difference between USB and XLR based microphones?
- Recommended XLR cable brands?
- What are the different types of timecode?
- When buying wireless transmitters and receivers, which blocks should I get for my area?
- What can I do to reduce pickup of reverb and street noise when shooting in a parking garage?
- Which digital audio workstation app is best?
Explanation of different types of timecode modes (Matt Price)
Hair wraps to hold external cable in place on a boom pole
Audio Technica AT2005 USB/XLR Microphone
Blue Yeti Pro USB/XLR Microphone
(some of these are affiliate links)
