Feature film sound

[filmelife]

Hi,

just wondering how many of you actually do their own sound post for a feature sound mix. Say i got a distribution deal on DVD, would it be easier to track lay them myself and then take the mix to a post house or attemp to do it in sony vegas, will it sonically sound like the post's house protools setup

 

[Cool Lights]

Sonically given all other things being equal such as mixing environment and skill it wouldn't make any difference as digital is digital. But the real questions are as follows:

Is your environment setup for mixing? Will what you hear when you're mixing down be the same thing that someone else hears when they listen to it on their TV set in a totally different home environment?

Will you have all the same VST or DirectX plugins that a post house has? Will you know how to use them?

How much experience do you have in mixing?

Will you know how to cleanup any problems where sound was recorded on the set and its too late or impossible to go back and re-record it somehow?

I always do my own sound but then I also have a lot of experience with it and have been doing it for a long time. I also took the time to make my mixing environment tuned properly. If none of this is critical to you then it may not make any difference and you can do it yourself. If it is critical and you don't have the budget to upgrade your setup then the post house makes the most sense. Hope this helps.

 

[Noiz2]

Cool Lights, said it pretty much. Though digital is not nec. all the same. Things like jitter come it to play and the general quality of converters etc can make some difference. I'm assuming that your Vegas set up isn't using a multi thousand dollar interface and it's not all locked to master low jitter clock. THe mix house will have those things and it will make a bit of difference. But the BIG difference is people and experience. Also possibly other important items like sounds and facilities. The last two have a lot to do with what kind of movie your doing. An experienced editor / mixer will make a very big difference. They will also usually come with sounds and facilities or at least contacts for both.
A good sound track can make a very large difference in how your film comes across. Not just how it sounds. For instance the right background sounds well placed and designed to set the mood can make the picture look better. People often will see things that they hear. so It can make a very big difference and I would always recommend it. And it's not just because it's what I do. Your not likely to come down here to have me work on your film. It's because I have seen many films transformed by a good sound track, and a fair number of good films ruined by a bad one. Almost nothing will pull your audience out of your story faster than a bad sound track.