Empty Rooms and Production FX

M

Max H.

Member
Hi everyone-
Got a shoot coming up and I could sure use some advice. The short takes place in a house that is up for sale, so it's devoid of any furniture. Moving blankets on C-stands going to be of any use? I'll be using a Schoeps CMC6/MK41 Hyper.
Also, some scenes are free of dialogue, just a lot of movement and rummaging through boxes. Would you recommend the same mic for the PFX?
Cheers- Max
 
LOTS of C-stands and LOTS of sound blankets. Don't stretch them out, LOTS of folds. Keep them a few feet from the walls if you can. Use them on the floor as well (when you can't see the actors feet) or use carpeting, the thicker the better.

Is a complete audio post being done, or will it be primarily the production sound? Either way, the Schoeps will be fine, but if you have time you can experiment with a different mic.
 
yep and I'm doing the post as well, so I only have myself to blame... i think ADR budget will be minimal.
thanks for the recommendation.
 
Schoeps 641 would be fine. Had the same situation yesterday where one mic picked up two folks from a distance of 6 feet in a very reflective house. Better yet, go for a 2nd boom op or even 3 boom ops with the same mics and you'll do fine.
 
If the ceilings are high you could get away with a tighter shotgun like the MKH70, but even those aren't going to sound as natural as the the mic you're planning on using. Furni the closest reflective walls/floors and aim your mic so that the back lobe is at least pointing at one of your blanketed surfaces. Try to get it as close as possible. If you have a soft talent and a louder talent make sure the mic is pointing directly at the softer speaker and let the mic ride somewhat above the louder speaker off-axis. Regardless of how you 'proof or boom you're going to get the room in your tracks even if its a lav. It's expected to hear the room when you see an empty room on screen.

Situations like this would probably require ADR but your ears will thank you for sticking with the production tracks because it sounds the way it looks. Alternatively, get a RIR (room impulse response) reading and use that effectively within Altiverb to dirty your ADR tracks.
 
I don't think he has Altiverb :-p

And I would say the same: close as possible, prefer the "weakest link" (voice). Don't let them shout to loud... let them speak clearly... could help also.

In post, do some EQ, if you use a parametric EQ (the one where you can move it and have all frequenties and have that sjoooww whoooos effect), around 800Hz pull it down there with a Q facor of about....0,4 or so. Best is to find the "low reverb level, rumble-hearing sound of the room" by pulling up the EQ and then go back and forth to find it

It's difficult to explain.... Just sent it to me that's more easy :-p The time I need to explain this I've done it already 98780899709 times :-p

Noise reduction could help maybe...

But then again as Alan said, it's normal to see an empty room and hear ....an empty room.
 
In very empty rooms I've found that blankets might not be enough for anything but the highest frequencies, in which case it can still sound boomy (depending of course on the kind of blanket used - mine are ordinary household blankets and are not up to it). In that case I believe duvets will work better, and if the location and transportation allows, matresses can be good.

If it's a big room where parts of it are not in frame, see if you can use blankets or some other form of cloth to close of that part of the room, to make it a little smaller acoustically (though as Chang says, if you see a big room, it should sound that way).

Either way, as unclebob suggests, keep plenty of folds and try to have them at some distance from the walls, as both these things makes them much better at reducing lower frequencies. Also remember that people are quite good at absorbing sound - as long as they themselves can keep quiet...
 
all good advice, thanks. i don't mind hearing some room, but the cleaner the dialog the more flexibility in post. and yes i have altiverb, not sure why you'd assume i wouldn't dre83.
 
aaah ok. I always go for the most negative thought first...so it's more easy to go up to the positive....
 
Ha dre83 .. I'm from 'the glass is half full' brigade.

Max, when you're shooting interior dialogue with a boom mic, once you establish the mic position for the start of a take, note an eyeline from you to the mic to a spot on a wall.

So for retakes you start from that position, even more important in an empty room.

Cheers.
 
If you have time, record a couple takes of the PFX/rummaging on set. Less work on splitting out PFX from DX for a possible M&E stem.
 
Just wrapped tonight. Got everything sounding good and in the can. Moving blankets did the trick, and boy do I love that Schoeps mic. Cheers everyone- Max.
 
If the shots are fixed, with the camera not moving, you can boom as close as you can, even in the picture. Let the dop take a clean-plate from the same camera position and the boom can be whipped our in post.
If the camera is on a dolly track or handheld, this is not possible. Then go for the maximum with the carpets and the blankets.
 
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