Audio Post-production doubt (putting ADR on "local")

C

carlosff17

Member
Hi!

I need some advices about a sequence that i am working in.

I am editing and mixing the audio for a movie that had been done.

My great doubt is the following. There are a conversation between 2 people appearing on the screen. The easiest part, is that they are backwards towards the camera, so their mouths doesn't appear. The sound originally recorded is trash, because it was raining and the shot was a little wide.

Now, i have the ADR version, but the actors aren't professional, and that sounds really like studio. What do you advise me to do? Well, i tried to cut of highs, because as their direction is the opposite, the wave lenght and the highs frequencies could never be heard, but i don't know what to do more...

Thanks for all your possible help.
 
Give it a little reverb that matches the room or area that the two people are standing in. Don't make it too noticeable though. The trick is to only notice it if its not there. This can help put the audio back into the natural area. Also EQ it so that it doesn't sound like the studio.

Early reflections are the biggest part of a reverb that's done in a room. People hardly tend to notice that when a person speaks you aren't hearing it from just their mouth, but also from the floors, ceilings and walls slightly after the fact.

So make sure to give it some short reverb or extremely short delay, 30ms or less. Whatever is appropriate for the room.
 
Take out some of the low end (Hi Pass, around 120Hz) and experiment with the freqs around 4kHz. And definitely some 'verb; an IR reverb is great if you have one.
 
Even in a wide-open field, you're going to get a bit of subtle reverb. A good convolution reverb will help a great deal, as most have IRs for a variety of exteriors.

In addition to the techniques already mentioned, I've found that a tiny bit of added grit can often bring super-clean ADR back in line with the production sound. If its extremely subtle, the analogue distortion modeling from something like amplitube or Digi's Eleven may help match the ADR with the dialogue on either side.

Another trick is to record foley for the sequence. Even if the ADR's perspective and performance are dead-on, it'll still sound wrong without foley coverage. Even if the scene doesn't require footsteps or specific foley, a cloth pass will make a huge difference.
 
Hopefully Noise2 will chime in here, since he's does this all the time.

My 3 cents: inflation is hitting me!

Add a little room tone (ambient environment) underneath the dialogue on additional tracks. Try and match the BG room tone levels of the location recordings. Don't dull the sound just because their backs are turned away from the camera. Movies are Illusion/Fake, what counts isn't reality, it's if the audience gets connected with the story and stays connected with the suspension of disbelief. Play around and see what sells the scene best.

For ADR sometimes one needs to use the same type mic, mic distance to source and mic position, i.e., overhead, underslung, etc. This can help match the new ADR recording to existing location recordings.

Also, I highly recommend listening to some good DVDs on headphones with the picture off or keeping your eyes closed. It's a great way to learn some things about cinema sound. If you watch the screen you'll lose track and get sucked into the story. Keeping the screen away will help you focus on the audio. After listening a few times over with eyes closed I then like to watch a scene over a few times and ask myself, "what does a location such as the one on the screen really sound like?" Usually in real life there's a clutter of all sorts of unwanted sounds occurring, but not in the movie, it's clean and to the point! From this one realizes how much the sound editor removed and what audio they artifically built up in the scene in order to sell the illusion.
 
Thanks to all advices until now, but the ADR has already been done, and now i have the background sound, then i have my dialogue recorded in ADR, in an open ambience.

The thing is, i can't do, because i don't know what is the tool that allow me to do it,

it's a little frustrating, because i know what i want, just i don't know how i can do it.

And yes, i hope Noiz2 could give his advice on this topic =).

Thanks
 
jeez, I'm blushing. If the scene is out doors and you already recorded the ADR and it's "roomy" you have a big problem. It's very hard to get rid of the room sound. There are a lot of high tech ways to go about it but the easiest (and one of the best sounding, if you can do it) is to "worldize" the recordings. Play back the ADR on speakers in a space that is similar to the scene and rerecord it. If you can get the right space it works wonders. Otherwise... Reverb doesn't generally work for outside in the open, you usually need less reflection that the recording already has. Other than convolution reverbs with outside Impulse responses the "yardstick" is the only box I know that has a believable "outside" preset. If you have a lot of walls around then a touch of slap back echo might help. Also if you want it to fit in with the rest of the dialog you often have to "dirty it up" a bit. But if you can do it worldizing it is the fastest and best.
 
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