I did the location sound for a film which won an award in a film festival (yay!) However, upon repeated viewings, I'm not really satisfied with the sound. There is an 'electronic sound' all the time, except where sound was not used, and silence was in several shots, or just before/after music. At those times, there was dead silence.<br><br>I didn't do the editing, so I'm not sure what went on there, but I didn't like the 'floor' of noise ever-present.<br><br>My equipment on this shoot (mainly indoors) was a Sennheiser ME66 and a Marantz pmd661. The dialog sound itself was fine, but I'm wondering if they had to boost up the sound to get the dialog heard. When I recorded, I got adequate volume (just below peak, red on this Marantz), or so I thought. <br><br>I know when electronics are used, there is going to be some 'floor' of electronic 'sound'. There was no hum, no distortion, etc. But this was noticible.<br><br>What gives?
Not happy with the sound on my last project
- Thread starter scottfs
- Start date
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
Can you post a sample that we can listen to?
GaryNattrass
Veteran
Could it be that the audio was produced on a computer and the output was from the sound card as they can have all sorts of nasty electronic noises on them ?
Richard Crowley
Veteran
The term "electronic sound" isn't going to work as a verbal description.
You will have to post a sample that we can hear.
Preferably, a sample that includes normal dialog, music, SFX, Foley, "noisy background", and absolute silence.
Are you saying that when you reviewed your original recordings, this noise was not present in the original tracks?
How carefully were you monitoring and metering during recording?
How good were your playback conditions when you checked the tracks before sending them off?
You say "The dialog sound itself was fine" but then you say...
"but I'm wondering if they had to boost up the sound to get the dialog heard."
Did you set the recording levels properly during production? Where was the dialog peaking?
Presumably, if there are sections of "dead silence", then you aren't hearing compression artifacts or something.
Did you record and submit "room tone" so that the sound editor could fill in the spaces with natural background instead of dead silence"
What is the experience and skill level of the editor? Did you get any feedback from the editor?
You will have to post a sample that we can hear.
Preferably, a sample that includes normal dialog, music, SFX, Foley, "noisy background", and absolute silence.
Are you saying that when you reviewed your original recordings, this noise was not present in the original tracks?
How carefully were you monitoring and metering during recording?
How good were your playback conditions when you checked the tracks before sending them off?
You say "The dialog sound itself was fine" but then you say...
"but I'm wondering if they had to boost up the sound to get the dialog heard."
Did you set the recording levels properly during production? Where was the dialog peaking?
Presumably, if there are sections of "dead silence", then you aren't hearing compression artifacts or something.
Did you record and submit "room tone" so that the sound editor could fill in the spaces with natural background instead of dead silence"
What is the experience and skill level of the editor? Did you get any feedback from the editor?
DPStewart
Veteran
And if I may stick my WAY OVERSIZED nose into this - I would offer that the sound mixer BLEW-IT.
Without hearing your sample, it sounds like it's one of the many typical underlying hums or buzzes that show up all the time.
With today's CHEAP and abundant audio software there is no excuse for missing this.
Unless this was a case of "The zero experience audio person will do it for free" which plagues so many low-budget/no-budget films, in which case there really is no solution because it's the scenario that was the underlying problem.
Without hearing your sample, it sounds like it's one of the many typical underlying hums or buzzes that show up all the time.
With today's CHEAP and abundant audio software there is no excuse for missing this.
Unless this was a case of "The zero experience audio person will do it for free" which plagues so many low-budget/no-budget films, in which case there really is no solution because it's the scenario that was the underlying problem.