In this week of class, we continued with dialogue editing, expanding on our newfound knowledge from last week. When you are handed a project (such as such as what I am tasked with for example), you are almost always working with a strict time constraint. Which is why in today’s class we had a look at time saving techniques to make the mixing and editing process easier and quicker, while still being able to produce the same quality product.
Starting where I left off in our last studio session, the aaf had been uploaded and synced perfectly with the timecode and all the audio files were assorted into groups (MX, DX and FX) and subgroups (for each character, etc.). As I mentioned last week, dialogue editing is not always easy and it can take a lot of time, which is why in this session I created a mix template. Creating a mix template will be greatly useful for me with future ADR mixing sessions as I don’t have to spend extra time creating new folders and subgroups, it will all be there for me when I open a new session.
Because I have assorted each of the dialogue clips to a track for each character, I am able to use plugins like a de-noiser for all of each characters dialogue at once, rather than going clip by clip to save a bunch of time. However, this doesn’t mean I don’t have to add additional plugins or editing directly to the clips themselves, if required I may do so. In this short clip I was given there are some vocal lines from the same characters that need balancing together. Some lines of dialogue from the operator have a pre-existing radio vocal effect placed on them, I had to make sure that any clips without this effect that needed it, were mixed to sound similar enough to each other to not distract potential viewers. Initially I tried using fab filters eq match setting to accomplish this task but I could not get the plugin to work correctly. Instead, I used the stock pro tools eq plugin to emulate the radio vocals, eliminating everything but the midrange frequencies to create this boxy vocal effect.
Certain elements of the dialogue are slightly louder than others within each vocal delivery. To deal with this I use the clip gain to balance out each syllable where needed. In certain cases this can be vastly time-consuming, To combat this and save precious time, I wrote in automation changing the volume levels of the actors voices as the clip played. Using the digital desk in studio 3 and the touch / latch function on protocols I was able to automate the vocals to the optimal smooth level that i was content with.
Learning all these techniques from this week’s class and implementing them into my project will be a great aid to me when it comes to sound designing the short film I chose. Since I have a strict deadline to abide by, these techniques I have utilised today will guarantee I use my time in the studio effectively.