How to....

[belovedmonster]

why cant you over lay sound later? To be expect good results with ignoring one of the important steps of the sound process seems silly.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 10, 2004 01:20 AM: Message edited by: belovedmonster ]</font>

[o2pb]

Errr will..... recording the dialogue as well as all other sounds and noises will be a pain in the butt. Plus, I don't have the proper equipment for sound recording.

[belovedmonster]

it really wouldnt be as much of a trouble as you think, both the recording process and the improving it later.

[Vlad the Impaler]

try using just the sound from one take over them all see if that looks any good?

record about 5-10 minutes of background noise to loop behind the dialogue to add consistency

[o2pb]

Hello guys! I read the site. A lot of useful information! Thanks a lot.
Im thinking od producing a short film during the summer, so im just doing research right now. I had some really basic expereince filming and editing in the past, if you can actually call it that.

Anyhow, I have a question.

Lets say when I film, I record sound at the same time, and don't do any overlays later on. When I do the cutting, during the scene changes the sound will suddenly interupt, since i will show an entirely different segment. If you film downtown, and background noise is inconsistent, I will end up with a very shitty result.

Is there anything I can do?

[o2pb]

Well.... since dialogue will be recorded with the video... I can't really put it "behind" it. It will have to go on top, and it can drown people's voices.

[Vlad the Impaler]

what i mean by 'behind' is basically put it at the same level as your background noise in your video? then you can hear the dialogue and won't hear the gaps

[belovedmonster]

this is why we use shotgun mics when recording film stuff. You could of had it pionted at the actors and got only very quiet traffic niose which wouldnt be a problem. If you dont use the correct equipment you cant expect good results.

Now as a post production way of improving it, putting a layer of ambiant traffic niose is the way to go, but it sounds to me like you are saying the dialogue is drowned out already. In which case you may need to dubb the audio aswell as add ambiant traffic niose.

[o2pb]

At this stage dubbing is not an option for me, since I have no way of recording high quality audio of the dialogue. Lets say I get a fishpole mic and use it while filming, and than add ambient background noise while editing. Is that gonna do me any good?

[shirt]

As an editor...

When on location shoot the scene using a boom and a shotgun mic. If that's not an option, have your mic pointing away from the traffic to decrease the sounds directiveness. If you're using the sound from your camera, and the mic cannot be removed (ie. consumer camera) go out and buy a mic right now and save yourself some trouble.

As for ADR (additional dialogue recording) and dubbing actors voicees, just record them in a large room with decent accoustics with whatever mic you have. Add ambience in post and voila.

Ideally, you should just use the sound you have... cut the scene without even worrying about the sound. Just remember to get good ambience while on location. I mean, you should do that anyways?!

A word of advice, remember this is a visual medium and although sound is extremely important, it's not radio... try cutting with the sound off... try telling the story visually, then after completing that, make sense of what you've cut by making the proper adjustments with accordance to your audio.