Sound Mixing Basic Procedure?

A

aFox

Active member
Hi, i am recently cutting trailers as an exercise for myself. One thing i would also get handled is basic mixing. What are the basic things one has to do in order to make things sound better?

I don´t want to sound disrespectful, because i know mixing is an art in itself, and there are professionals that do it all the time, so no way i can match their quality fast... But still, i guess my question really is: are their any ways that are basically simple, but can still improve the overall mix, tricks of the trade, etc...

I use Final Cut Studio 2, and i have done a Film course for one year, but when i send my trailer from Final Cut to SoundtrackPro i don´t really know how to start. Is there a good resource for beginners on the internet?

thanks
 
Trailers are usually VO, Music, a few choice sound bites and splashy FX if you have any. It's relatively easy to tell you what a typical trailer sounds like but it's not an easy thing to accomplish.
VO you need a good voice actor/ announcer. Mic them close with a good announcer friendly mic (depends a lot on the voice and the trailer). Mix them very up front.
Music, usually very up front except when your ducking it out of the way for your sound bites, VO and splashy FX.
Sound bites are often pretty much a cut to final mix the back to the trailer. Usually everything else goes away while your watching the little "clip" from the film.
Splashy FX. Big loud and in your face. If you want it to sound loud you will need to get the levels down a bit before it hits so it's louder that what is just before.

The above is sort of Action/Drama, poss. comedy. If you have a quiet film your probably going to tone everything down and you wont have any splash FX.

The only real "trick" is you have to dance with the sounds, as a rule only one of the elements can dominate at a time. Even though trailers tend to be LOUD all the time it's not the same thing that is loud. It's sort of a relay race. That holds true at lower levels for quieter trailers also. Pick your star at any given moment and get the rest out of the way.
 
gco said:
That was great overview.
Thanks Noiz!
Click to expand...

Very good synopsis.

Every time I go to the movies and listen to trailers, frankly they all sound as if they were all mixed by the exact same trailer house and that they all use the same lame whooshes and clangs on everything. Overdone to inth degree.

Once in a while, there is a good new trailer that actually makes me want to see the film but more often than not, I look at the trailers and say, "wow, that's going to suck", then later I will see the film and will like it. I think it's just that the marketing people drive the trailers and often the marketing people are lame asses.

Dan
 
actually trailers are test marketed and tailored to appeal to the widest possible demographic. Blame the morons who insist on dumbing down the editor's work. I've seen some really smart, inspiring trailers tank when tested because joe average tends to freak when you put something unusual in front of him. This is why I left the trailer biz. Last trailer i worked on was for Sideways.
 
Hi thanks for you replies guys, but i have another question, is using a compressor something you would always do for a trailer?
 
on a trailer, yes. if you were ever to digitize a professionally mixed studio trailer you'd see the levels are pinned to the top with almost zero dynamic range. worth mention that i used to cut trailers for a living -- warner bros, dreamworks, disney, etc.
 
As Zak said yes, but not nec. in the way you think. There is a certain amount of overall compression on film tracks but not all that much. The compression is mostly on individual tracks or sub-mixes and a lot of the "compression" is mixing. So taking you stereo mix and just compressing it to hell and gone will get a track that "looks" similar to a commercial trailer mix but won't sound like it. You really should try to do most of your "compressing" with mixing and I would tend to use a limiter rather than a compressor. You are trying to cram the top of your sound track not bring up the quiet bits. Trailers are loud but VERY focused, if you slap a compressor over a regular mix you will get the loud but not the focus.
 
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