Post production Audio Editing help

jambredz

jambredz

Veteran
are there any good Post production audio editing dvd's out there? I'd like to know more regarding this area and im more of a visual learner. I'm open to books...but dvd's first. I have the sound for film dvd sold here...and that sets a good foundation.


That said...I do have another question:

Dialogue is suppose to be around -9 to -15 (based on info on the sound for film and tv dvd)...however at what level is a soundtrack usually supposed to be for scoring? Also atmos sounds?
 
I don't know about DVDs on film sound. It's something I'm developing with lots and lots of practice. Regarding the level of ambience, it really depends on the scene, and overall tone of the movie. There are times when I drop out ambience completely, and there are times when I use it to bring the viewer into the setting as the scene opens. There are times when I bring it up to bring attention to something in the setting, and there are times when it sits very low in the mix if the score is being used for accent. The same is true for the musical score and for atmospheric sounds. I tend to let the story decide what is needed. All of this effort in meant to further the storyline. At no time should ambience, atmospherics, or the score draw attention to itself, but rather, further the story towards it's destination.
 
I haven't seen any DVD's on the subject, and it really isn't something that can be taught like that. You really need to just start doing it. If you can intern or apprentice at a post facility or with someone, do that. Some film schools have sound design classes (that's how the sound design bug bit me). There are some specific things that I've learned by asking around on forums, but a general "how do I sound design?" question isn't one that can't really be answered.
 
If the DVD is giving you numbers it's either what seems to be what they tend to be or it's BS. Films are not mixed to "a" level they are mixed by ear on a calibrated system. In theory you need to mix on a stage that is around the size of the theatres the film will show in. In practice you can cheat on that if you have some experience and or can demo your mixes in a larger space and then make corrections. But you do have to mix to calibrated monitors. It's not that hard to do you just need some Dolby Pink noise (free download) and a SPL meter (you can get the analog one at Radio Shack for ~$35). A mix stage would calibrate each speaker to a fixed level (85dB for the mains). In a smaller room you need to back that off. Most people set near-field (probably what you are using) monitors to 78 - 82 dB. The lower you set your reference the louder your mixes will end up assuming your going for the same "level" when your mixing. I tend to be at the low end of that (in my home studio) since I'm doing all the mixing and it's very easy to get ear fatigue if you don't mix at lower levels and take breaks.
 
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