Room echo

...
So, it is a give and take situation. How to accomplish the most by using half of the resources? Well, I can't get a boom operator, and can't buy another mic. So, based on the suggestions on this board, picked up some PVC pipes and went to Wal-mart and bought 3 more blankets at $4.97 each.

....

BTW, moving pad blankets are more effective than bedding and almost as cheap.
 
BTW, moving pad blankets are more effective than bedding and almost as cheap.

A few years ago I found a supplier who
carries sound blankets that are actually better than the $50+ matthew's blankets.

$16.50 each
and 1 side is black, one side is white which makes it a little easier to convince
the DP/gaffer to get it in closer (you can let them make the choice if they want a fill or a negative fill)
Its a little easier than a blue one where you're gonna get a blue'ish bounce,
which obviousy is a bad thing.
 
Well I'll give you one thing. Socio-emotionally and word choice-wise, this is the weirdest thread I've ever been a part of. I'm going to write it off to the strained economy making people a little off center. That and possibly that the emotional component of words typed on a screen can sometimes take on a very unintended meaning.

Have a great day folks.

Regards,

Ty Ford
 
ADR rules. I use it all the time and my audio sounds up close and amazing. it does take a certain talent though. You need to have a good ear for timing and rhythm. But you will not get better audio then well executed ADR
 
ADR rules. I use it all the time and my audio sounds up close and amazing. it does take a certain talent though. You need to have a good ear for timing and rhythm. But you will not get better audio then well executed ADR

Depends on what you're recording. Dramatic dialog is far more difficult for an actor to do, delivering a convincing performance and maintaining perfect sync, than voice-over would be, for example.
 
Blankets that come with grommets already punched in are also a big help.

Unless you have the ability to do that on your own, it's worth a few extra bucks.

Regards,

Ty Ford
 
Has no one here suggested doing wild tracks? This cuold probably be the best bet for a quick solution.

Record all the sound with the microphone up close, do like 5-10 takes of the entire dialogue and then for the shots that require the microphone to be placed further away, creating noisy room echo, stick in the wild track sound and match it up in post.
 
Killing Reflections: I remember back in the 1970s hanging shag carpet in my studio when I needed to kill reflections. It worked great, almost too well, I got that dead quiet sound so sometimes I had to use my Spring reverbs to add a little life back into the track, but that shag carpet stuff worked, it was heavy to hang, a total pain and not practical at all. But that was the 70s!....fun!

Do you shoot only CUs? The problem I see with production sound in echoey rooms using sound blankets is that this only helps solve shooting CUs. What will you do about the other shots, or will the film maker be forced into CUs only? Answer: ADR , or wild [wild can be helpful but the echo is still somewhat present]. The clean audio tracks produced by ADR will giveyou all sorts of flexibility in the mix; somewhat echoey tracks will give you: echoey tracks.

Mixing Prod & ADR tracks within a scene: When the ADR & Prod sound tracks are cut together [sometimes] there will be a noticable & distracting difference between the two. On the Prod track there will be the echo wash in the background. If it sounds bad [doesn't help the story any], well that's just too bad, you'll have to live with it. But on the wide shots it won't be there, you have clean ADR and won't notice any sync problems. But when the two are cut together it might be distracting having that echo in the CU background so all shots must be matched to the poorest audio track, even if you hate it. After much frustration, the choice will be to use full ADR for all shots in the scene [for audio continuity] and treat the dialogue to sound slightly echoey here & there to pull off the illusion.

ADR Techniques: ADR can be done by playing back 3 to 4 words of dialogue at a time and then having the actor immediately repeat/mimic. These snippets can be moved around into sync. Underneath this dialogue track lay down a layer of room tone and below that lay down stems of foley. Each track completely independent & adjustable from one another. The illusion is complete.
 
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