Processing audio
- Thread starter Azmyth
- Start date
Chadfish
Veteran
It depends.
Usually with dialog in a situation where there is background music, compression is helpful to keep the volume constant. Many times if you listen to a track on it's own it sounds fine. It's when you get in context with other sounds where you decide what it needs. And yes, the usual is compression, then EQ. EQ will get rid of unnecessary rumble in the low end, or it can add life to a dull mic by boosting the high range just a tad. It can take an overly bright mic. It depends on the situation.
For tv ads I export the location audio, then put it into Cubase, process it with compression & EQ, then put music under, then add any special effects sounds. Then if there is any reverb necessary I do that. Usually there is a VO in there recorded in the studio.
Then I mix out a stereo mix file.
Then I take that into an audio editor (WaveLab) and apply mastering processes to the whole file, which is usually an EQ for the whole mix, then Maximizer/Limiter to boost everything to a higher level without clipping. It helps if you have a few (or a lot) of audio spilkes that would clip if you turned everything up to a decent level. I try to match the perceived volume of TV projects, which have a more compressed dynamic range than a Feature film.
Then I'm done! I mix/master all my video projects as I would a song. Many people don't even know about mastering, so they skip it and their stuff is way too quiet, and not too gelled together. Or they just use the camera audio, add some music in the video editing app, then export the final video file without doing anything to it beyond some volume. The processes I do are the any professional audio producers would use, but the apps and plugs they use vary greatly.
Play around with compression! Hear what it does to a dialog track. Just don't try it in FCP. Audio plugs are a drag to adjust in FCP.
{{{{UPDATE}}}}
Just because I use all these processes, doesn't mean I use large amounts of them. It's all for sweetening what you hopefully captured well to begin with.
Usually with dialog in a situation where there is background music, compression is helpful to keep the volume constant. Many times if you listen to a track on it's own it sounds fine. It's when you get in context with other sounds where you decide what it needs. And yes, the usual is compression, then EQ. EQ will get rid of unnecessary rumble in the low end, or it can add life to a dull mic by boosting the high range just a tad. It can take an overly bright mic. It depends on the situation.
For tv ads I export the location audio, then put it into Cubase, process it with compression & EQ, then put music under, then add any special effects sounds. Then if there is any reverb necessary I do that. Usually there is a VO in there recorded in the studio.
Then I mix out a stereo mix file.
Then I take that into an audio editor (WaveLab) and apply mastering processes to the whole file, which is usually an EQ for the whole mix, then Maximizer/Limiter to boost everything to a higher level without clipping. It helps if you have a few (or a lot) of audio spilkes that would clip if you turned everything up to a decent level. I try to match the perceived volume of TV projects, which have a more compressed dynamic range than a Feature film.
Then I'm done! I mix/master all my video projects as I would a song. Many people don't even know about mastering, so they skip it and their stuff is way too quiet, and not too gelled together. Or they just use the camera audio, add some music in the video editing app, then export the final video file without doing anything to it beyond some volume. The processes I do are the any professional audio producers would use, but the apps and plugs they use vary greatly.
Play around with compression! Hear what it does to a dialog track. Just don't try it in FCP. Audio plugs are a drag to adjust in FCP.
{{{{UPDATE}}}}
Just because I use all these processes, doesn't mean I use large amounts of them. It's all for sweetening what you hopefully captured well to begin with.
unclebob6958
Well-known member
Of course, also it depends upon the system you are using for playback. It may sound fine on your laptop speakers or computer speakers; what does it sound like on a really nice system or on a mix stage? (This is not aimed at you specifically, Azmyth, since I don't know what audio system you have.)
I've had lots of folks book time at my place tell me that "the audio sounds great. It just needs a little tweaking and to be mixed with the music." It was, of course, a complete disaster requiring hours of noise reduction, etc., not to mention extensive Foley and sound FX work which they do not want to pay for.
I've had lots of folks book time at my place tell me that "the audio sounds great. It just needs a little tweaking and to be mixed with the music." It was, of course, a complete disaster requiring hours of noise reduction, etc., not to mention extensive Foley and sound FX work which they do not want to pay for.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
I would change that to "music rather than "audio". That is not generally speaking a feature film workflow.
But that brings up a very good point. Which is that what is "common" depends a LOT on what your working on. Feature films aren't "mastered" in a separate process the final mix is it. You do make a "print master" but that is just the recording of the final mix. Music is pretty much always "mastered" in a separate pass that is not part of the "mix". A lot of ad's are much closer to the music flow, though most of the ones I have worked on are not "mastered" in a separate pass but they are mixed closer to pop music than films. I'm using "pop music" to be pretty much anything that's not classical. TV shows fall in between the two, much more dynamic that ad's (generally) and much less than features. Also everything aimed at broadcast needs to meet specs set by the network so they tend to be mixed more to the meters than features which are not mixed to the meters at all.
And yes it is possible that you can use your tracks with out doing anything to them, but it's not likely unless your doing a very plain interview doc. Even then you would probably want to do some of what's been talked about so the dynamics are more limited.
Chadfish
Veteran
So Films don't do anything beyond the mix?
News to me, but I don't have any film industry up here in Humboldt County Ca. Maybe that's why the dynamic range is so great between the explosions and the dialog that I have to ride the volume on my system to hear what people are saying. My home system has a switch for "Night Mode" that actually puts some mastering effects on the audio to squeeze in the dynamic range a bit so you don't get blown away after adjusting the volume to hear dialog, then there being a gunshot that hurts your ears.
News to me, but I don't have any film industry up here in Humboldt County Ca. Maybe that's why the dynamic range is so great between the explosions and the dialog that I have to ride the volume on my system to hear what people are saying. My home system has a switch for "Night Mode" that actually puts some mastering effects on the audio to squeeze in the dynamic range a bit so you don't get blown away after adjusting the volume to hear dialog, then there being a gunshot that hurts your ears.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Well you would be watching the video mix which isn't the same as the theatrical mix and should be closer to the dynamics of a TV show.
And just to be clear I didn't mean that a lot of the same things were not done to the tracks. Dialog is almost always run through compression and EQ and lots of editing and clean up etc. Music is pretty much left alone (other than levels) but then it's coming in as a finished 5.1 mix (usually). FX will have been adjusted in a premix (usually - old school) or the "premix" may be virtual and done in a souped up edit room and then delivered to the stage. But the overall mix is not "mastered" separately from the final mix. The "mix" getts printed to Stems (multi track submixes) and the stems are played back to create the Printmaster. The Dolby Digital or SDDS encoding is usually done as you printmaster. After that you do "versions". So there will be some "versions" done right away like a Video version there is probably DVD versions done now also. Those are remixed (or just plain compressed) for less dynamics and usually a stereo version. Then you do things like D,M & E, and TV versions (swapping out language that networks won't air) and airplane versions (a VERY PGized version), etc.
And just to be clear I didn't mean that a lot of the same things were not done to the tracks. Dialog is almost always run through compression and EQ and lots of editing and clean up etc. Music is pretty much left alone (other than levels) but then it's coming in as a finished 5.1 mix (usually). FX will have been adjusted in a premix (usually - old school) or the "premix" may be virtual and done in a souped up edit room and then delivered to the stage. But the overall mix is not "mastered" separately from the final mix. The "mix" getts printed to Stems (multi track submixes) and the stems are played back to create the Printmaster. The Dolby Digital or SDDS encoding is usually done as you printmaster. After that you do "versions". So there will be some "versions" done right away like a Video version there is probably DVD versions done now also. Those are remixed (or just plain compressed) for less dynamics and usually a stereo version. Then you do things like D,M & E, and TV versions (swapping out language that networks won't air) and airplane versions (a VERY PGized version), etc.