"Movie Quality" Audio

themanwhoknows

themanwhoknows

Member
Theres no other way to put this question of mine except for giving you an example: ok, so i was watching matrix one day and the song "Breathe" came on by The Prodigy, great song by the way. Now, if i were to watch a short that i had made with the same song in it, that i took of The Prodigy cd, it sounds different. Its hard to explain, but the movie version makes all of their music sound "tame" (the only word i can think of). Does anyone know how to create this same "tame" effect??
 
Compress it.... I don't know how to explain it, but think about the waveform. It makes the highs lower and the lows higher, so you have shorter waveforms... It basically evens it out a little. They might also be using a different recording. Did you try looking for the Matrix soundtrack?

z

P.S. You need a program to compress it. I think Logic Pro can do it.
 
I have the Creative XiFi extreme fidelity sound card in my computer and it came with some wave editing software, could i use that?
 
Well, I would say that you will have to do more then compress it. I'm sure the way the song is worked into the scene (along with background tracks, Foley, etc...) affects it more then just slapping a compressor on it. Besides, if you rip it off the CD it came on, most likely it is compressed to snot anyway and more compression would make it sound like poo, not more "tame". Also, the guy behind the board has his/her hand in it ;).

Not trying to say you "cannot" do it, but there is no magic plug-in to make that polished sound you hear.
 
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I don't think they would compress the original source. If so, it would be sublte and barely audible mastering compression ala STC-8 or something of that sort. What does "tame" mean to you? Maybe it's as simple as having the track attenuated in the mix. Perhaps the highs are rolled off to make it seem distant?

Listen closely and decipher exactly what you're hearing and what is different about it.

Is it an alternate more meloow track maybe?
 
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Whenever possible, re-recording mixers will request music to be delivered in split tracks. For example: vocals, string beds, drums, hi-hats (in particular), horns, guitars, and synth may each have their own track (or tracks). That way, the music mix can be further tweaked to suit the need of the film's track. Music will generally be played much lower in the final mix, which makes the highs tend to jump out significantly. If the tracks are kept seperate, the higher-pitched instrument groups can be brought down without taking the bass elements with them. Vocals can be particularly problematic, in that they can interfere with the film's dialogue (dialogue being the highest priority in most film mixes).

If you have to use a stereo mix of your music (you did obtain the neccessary permissions, right?), start by roughing in the mix level of the music relative to the dialogue, effects, and foley. Next, apply EQ to smooth out any frequencies that are jumping out and making nuisances of themselves. Further compression may help you a bit, but pretty much any music that's mixed for radio airplay (except classical and some jazz) will be pretty heavily compressed to begin with. On the other hand, Film (and to a lesser extent television) mixes tend to be much more dynamic (ie. less compression).

As for the software, there's no shortage of "Protools vs. everything else" discussions on these forums, so a quick search will give you plenty of suggestions. Of course, any non-linear video editing platform worth its salt will offer audio plugins such as EQ and compression. Its also important that the EQ and compression be applied with the rest of the track in mind, so you'll need software that supports multiple audio tracks.

In the final analysis, though, much of your success in this undertaking will depend on the quality of your monitoring speakers, so at least consider a set of entry-level studio monitors (or at least pro studio headphones).

Sorry for the long-winded reply, but I hope this helps.
 
Just to add more credibility to the re-mixed idea, music is remixed all the time for radio. Lets say you have a band that might have alt-rock appeal, and additionally soft-rock potential. It would not be uncommon to mix up the drums and guitars for the alt-rock station version, and mix them down (adding a little more acoustic) for the soft-rock version.

Additionally any music you hear on the radio, regardless of any remixing from the version on the cd, will have additional limiting applied before it goes over the air. In most cases this isnt just a little safety limiting, but designed to increase the overall loudness.

If you want to crush the last drop of soul out of any recording, you really need a limiter, not a compressor. Try something like the Waves L2.
 
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i think that you might want to read Jay Rose's book on audio.

he goes into specific explanations about the sound mix and how different things are done to get certain sounds.

i don't have it handy or i'd be more specific but i know that his first book got into that subject pretty well.

or the other book i mentioned in another thread, "sound for digital video" by Tomlinson Holman is very useful as well.

plus there are tons of messages right here that answer a lot of questions about getting better sound but i think your question is very specific to the mix and the way software compresses the sound in certain frequency ranges.

matthew
 
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