DVD: Sound for Film and Television

Just wanted to add some more here - I FINALLY watched the post section. Sure I learned alot in the first few chapters. David totally steal the show in the post section as far as I'm concerned. Not having a clue what I am doing with audio usually he shows us from beginning to end a scene that has beautiful audio in the end and what it takes to get it there. It was so surprising and reassuring to hear audio with mismatched levels and this noise and that and to hear what adding some ambience can do for a scene. Was very interesting to see all the work required even though the audio was well done during production. And a few good tips on actual audio/video edits just to make it more interesting. And rotoing out the mic on a locked shot - that was great. Tried it this weekend in an interview just for fun. Worked like a charm. Wouldnt do it again if I didnt have to but it wasnt that hard to execute either. I was so proud I even though to turn off the refrigerator AND turn it back on. It was at my house (leaving the keys in wouldnt work so well) so I set an alarm on my phone to remind me. If you havent bought it - buy it now. I'm ready to sit down and watch this all again now that its had some time to digest and I've had some chances to put it into action. Can't wait to see what you all have planned for the next announcement.
 
Thanks, Jeff -- there hadn't been a whole lot of feedback about that section -- I'm glad you got so much out of it!
 
I really did get a whole lot out of it - I'd read everything about room noise and matching levels and doing this and that before but seeing and hearing the difference from beginning to end made it all work in my little head. Now I just want to record ambience and room tone everywhere I go! Been reading up on stereo recording... lots of options there apparently... now I have to go buy another mic... darn.

eta - seeing all the edits on your timeline for the entire video made me a tad sick feeling. Thats alot of editing. Nice work!
 
I also got a lot out of the post section. I learned a lot throughout the entire DVD, but I have a lot more experience in the production environment than I do in post. This is going to help me a ton. Thanks guys!:beer:
 
I just order . . . Finally . . . The most overlooked aspect of "finish". I am looking forward to learning. I worry about quality sound more than any other aspect of production. It is where I suffer the most from guesswork. Hopefully not anymore. Thanks
 
jdajda said:
I really did get a whole lot out of it - I'd read everything about room noise and matching levels and doing this and that before but seeing and hearing the difference from beginning to end made it all work in my little head. Now I just want to record ambience and room tone everywhere I go! Been reading up on stereo recording... lots of options there apparently... now I have to go buy another mic... darn.

eta - seeing all the edits on your timeline for the entire video made me a tad sick feeling. Thats alot of editing. Nice work!
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Yes, ambience is one of the few things you might want to record in stereo -- but even then, we do most of our room tone in mono.

We recorded the laughter in the classroom in stereo because it was necessary to the scene. But for the most part, all recording done on the disc was mono.
 
well thats good to know that stereo is definitely not always a necessity for tone and ambience. Still want to try it out and play with it though :) Is it easy to explain what made it necessary in the classroom scene?
 
For that, we needed stereo laughter, so the entire cast and crew sat there and laughed on cue. Was simply the easiest way to do it. However, it was recorded on two mono microphones, crossed in an X.
 
But how did you know you needed stereo laughter vs the diner where I guess all the chatter and what not was in mono. Do things like laughter that are more effects than ambience just sound more realistic in stereo? I'll have to go back and watch it all again and see if I can hear the differences.
 
Well, "needed" is a strong word. But the laughter in that scene isn't ambience, it was a "character" in and of its own self. So we preferred stereo so that it would sound like a fuller room.
 
Well, it wouldn't have sounded quite right if it weren't in stereo, and more than that, I just WANTED a full, stereo laughter effect for that particular shot. We could have recorded several instances of individual laughter and panned them around, but by far the easiest thing to do was just record it all at once, in stereo.
 
Ok that makes sense then. Why bother messing with it in post when you can get the effect during production with less effort and probably better results.

Calling it a character makes perfect sense to me now. Where the diner ambience or the street noise added to the drill sargeant scene was truly just background ambience and not a key player like the laughter.

Thanks for the answers gentlemen. When's the next announcement coming?
 
jdajda said:
Ok that makes sense then. Why bother messing with it in post when you can get the effect during production with less effort and probably better results.
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Ding ding! Give the man a cigar. :)

BTW, the diner walla is stereo. It's from an effects library, but it's stereo. It's just very quiet.
 
Ha so the diner track was never even recorded. Could've fooled me! Does that include the noises from the grill and the spatula noise or does "walla" refer to crowd talking only? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so excited to see how lively a scene can feel with all of this added noise I've worked so hard to keep out of the original recording :) During your sitdown interview work where you or Barry were talking on the greenscreen was there any added noise? A majority of my work is sitdown interview stuff and I'm not sure what I could do to make it feel less sterile.
 
The walla is the crowd. I think we recorded the sizzle on the grill before we started shooting any actual takes (the grill wasn't on while we were shooting), but almost every sound other than that and the dialogue was either stock or recorded later elsewhere.

There was one fork ding which was actually a stray sound in the dialogue recording, but it was clean enough to be usable. Sometimes you get lucky like that.

There were a few effects we added to the talking lesson stuff -- like the sound of the "screen" being rolled up, and a couple of the "interference" sounds -- but for the most part, no. That's pretty straight.
 
Cool. I'm starting to see how important it is to visualize what a scene should sound like (or not sound like for that matter) before you start to shoot. Very good info here David. Will have to start incorporating much more thought about audio into my preproduction now. So much info in just three hours. $65 seemed like alot to part with when I bought it and now it feels like I've gotten a steal and have sat through a $400 class that I can go back to any time I want.
 
Wow, I'm glad you feel that way!

Yes, thorough pre-production is vital for every aspect of production. Audio, of course, is the most overlooked in pretty much all respects. We're hoping that this DVD can help change that. :)
 
Serisouly just signed myself up for a summer class on protools and mixing in general. I'm hoping to get something out of it and learn the software and some mixing fundamentals but I doubt I'll get as much out of it as I have from this dvd. Its costing $294. Wish there was a $65 dvd on mixing with people on forums that are available as you all are. Thats what really makes it cool is that if you have a question you just ask the guys that did it. Way cool.
 
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