Can you hear what they're saying?

[quaidbrown]

I've been watching a lot of short films and am trying to learn from them. One thing I've noticed is that some of the sound is absolutely horrible.

I suspect that it may be my local settings or plugins causing the problems, but I want to know for sure so I can either fix it or avoid it in my own films.

Here is a clip that has horrible sound for me. It sounds very distorted and 'tinny'

Expired -
I can hardly understand a word they say, it's so bad. First the voices are too quiet to hear. Later they're loud enough, but just unintelligible.
http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/expired


I guess, just post if you can hear the sound alright, and if not what you think the problem is.

Thanks!

 

[MattinSTL]

When you can't hear the voices well it's because the mic was too far away. I absolutely guarantee it. That's what I hear.

Once you accept the specific rules of getting good location audio you understand why a good sound guy has so many tools on tap... For every person you want to hear well you need to MIC well. Sometimes that means a good boom op with a long pole that can get the mic over the speaker, regardless of who the speaker is... sometimes it means running several wireless mics at once... and sometimes it means ADR or selective editing and framing. One way or another you MUST get a mic within just a few feet of everybody you want to hear clearly... and the closer the better... between ONE foot and 18 inches you'll get easily better sound then even 3 feet.

So solve those problems and you'll get the sound you want.

There's a lot more to it then that... such as quality of mic and pattern of pickup... a long shotgun MIGHT have been able to pull off the parking meter discussion (when the girl w/ stuffed animal chides him)... but an omni or even cardioid would sound too distant.

If I was to guess I'll bet this film was done with an me66 or even less directional mic.

I won't get into specific mics and why to use each one at a given time... the archives are LOADED with this information already. Check it out.

 

[Baluardo]

you are right. the audio sucks. but not just the dialogue recordings. the whole audio mix is of a much lower quality with respect to other aspects. fades, music to dialog ratio, inteligibility are all pretty bad...

it's a pity, because it's a nice short film with a nice basic idea and, IMHO, good photography. the story is good (well, the ending not so much maybe..). This shows how a poor audio can ruin and make look quite amatorial even an otherwise fairly enjoyable production.

Andrea

PS that guy has no idea on how to hold a gun