BY: Y E N G L E E

SOUND PRODUCTION FOR SHORT FILMS

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INTRODUCTIONDigital media has changed the way how sounds and audio are produced today. The Audio Post Productions market is gearing towards digital work station for their production needs.

WHAT IS AUDIO POST PRODUCTION

After the “locked cut”, which is the final cut of the film where there will be no more altercation to the pictures. The Audio Post Production covers all of these processes

Record and Design Edit Finalize

RECORD AND DESIGNSound designers/editors are responsible to finalize and design the these three in the record and design phase:

Dialogue Sound Effect Foley

RECORD AND DESIGNDialogues are to be recorded on site and sync by the editor. The good ones are synced into the videos while the bad ones are deleted. Actors/actresses will have to do automated dialogue replacements (ADR) at a studio to replace the bad ones.

Matching the recorded audio to the video sequence.

RECORD AND DESIGNSound effects are recorded on set. The will have to use what’s captured for these sound effects or ambient (wind, traffic, birds, door slam etc.) If it doesn’t work, they’ll have to do refer to “foley” effects.

Boom microphones are typically used on site to get dialogues or ambient recorded

RECORD AND DESIGNFoley are recreated sound effects. Due to problems that occur on site, designers will have to create or re-record sound effects that couldn’t be capture during the previous filming. These effects, human movements, (walking, chairs moving, coats rustling) are different from sound effects (ambient or background noise).

This scene involves a lot of ambient, we had to add in foot steps effects while he was running

EDIT

Cut and Insert Noise Reduction

Editors are responsible for touching up the audio to make them as high quality as possible by:

EDITCut and insert is when an editor syncs and cut all the dialogues, sound effects and foley into the appropriate clips.

Unwanted sounds are cut out because some of the movements weren’t noticeable in this clip. In able to edit the audio in in a smooth environment, they were converted to 44.1kHz and stereo (8 bit) before editing them.

EDITNoise reduction is when background or unwanted noises are edited out, making the main audio stand out more. This process is done by the editor, depending on the software used.

This scene captured too many unwanted background noise, so it had to be filter out to be able to the dialogues. The red line is the original audio while the green line represents the reduction.

FINALIZEThe final process involves putting everything together and exporting out the final version:

Mix Export

FINALIZEMix, also known as dub, involves balancing the different elements of audio/sound in the overall project. It can involve lowering the background music more so the foley or the dialogue audio can stand out more.

While mixing the tracks together, the master volume was being watched to make sure it doesn’t exceed -3 and -10 dB. If it’s out of that range, a distorted audio can be heard, harming the high quality audio experience.

FINALIZEExporting is when the finalized audio is being “Printmastered” for other purposes. In another words, it combines all the audio elements into a final composite soundtrack. The “Music and Effects” track (only original music and background audio) are sometimes composited here for foreign dubbing purposes.

All the audio tracks were print mastered while a plug-in effect overseas its limits before compositing. The final compression depends on what editors or producers. It varies from surround sound to theatrical sounds.

TIME FOR A QUIZ 1

Sound effects Foley

DialogueAutomated Sounds

Audio that are re-record to get the desired background noises or ambient is:

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TIME FOR A QUIZ 2

Foley Sound Mix

Noise ReductionAutomated DialogueReplacement

What’s the process of taking out unwanted background noises known as?

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TIME FOR A QUIZ 3

Locked Cut Editing

Finalized Opened Cut

When a film is in its final stage and there will be no more major picture edited, it’s in its _______ stage.

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TIME FOR A QUIZ 4

-10 and -3 -2 and 2

8 and 123 and 7

Between which level of dB (decibel) that’s safe to stay in to eliminate unwanted distortion?

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• http://filmsound.org/• http://

entertainment.howstuffworks.com/audio-post-production.htm• http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-audition-cs6/