Session Brief:

This is a scene from a film that you'll be mixing much later in the course. Here's what you'll be doing to this uncut scene. Dialogue edit, foley and ambience. It's a relatively quiet scene, which are harder to do than you think.

Dialogue will be a little tricky because one actor sounds ok as far as perspective goes, but the other actor that has his back to you sounds way too present and close to the mic.

Work on the dialogue first by isolating it from any production sounds. Production sfx are any movements, props or sounds made by the actors. A lot of the time those are replaced by foley. Save your production sounds on some "inactive" tracks. Your not going to use these sounds as I want you to foley everything yourself.

You'll record body movement by doing what I call a "cloth" pass. Find a shirt or a fabric that has the quality of what the actors are wearing and record movements to picture. Made sure you get the distance to the mic right.

Then record footsteps, envelope and paper movements too.

Consider this, when the door opens, let some of the outside sound in. Street sounds, crowd walking on the sidewalk outside? This is a period piece, so no modern sounds ok?

Watch my video to see how I would do it.

Deliverables:

Part of working through this curriculum and experiencing it as a real job in and audio post facility is the final and most important step; the deliverables. Create your logical stem busses and print into your session.

Backup

Don't forget to backup your session.

*Please note; if you decide to purchase the APCA before you are finished with the free content, you must "Complete and Continue" all the lessons in the free week to move onto the paid Week 01 content. After that, new content drops on a weekly basis for 40 weeks.

Student Conversations:

During the course, you may encounter discussions I've had with students at the conclusion of certain lessons. My aim is for you to gain knowledge from these conversations. This course is continuously evolving, and it will consistently present you with novel ideas and concepts as you proceed.

"Hi Joe. I forgot to mention that in the ballerina scene I didn’t fix the hammering action; I don't want to contradict you, but isn't the shoemaker scraping rather than hammering?"

"Ahhh, this is a good question. I've seen the entire film, and it later parts I seem to recollect him hammering or tapping. This is a good question to bring up though. In a scene like this where the movement is subjective, what would help tell the story? The pounding of a hammer or scraping? Should it be a more aggressive sound to help show the monotony of the job or feelings of the shoemaker, or a softer sound that exemplifies satisfaction? The literal sound or not? Ultimately, this would be a conversation with the director where I would have 1. my choice-ie; what I think is best for the story 2. an option with the literal sound (saved on optional tracks). This is exactly why I created this course, so we can have these conversations and learn from them. In sound, nothing is ever, or sometimes, as it seems... and whatever serves the story is best. So maybe the lesson here is to just be aware of your constant collaboration with the director. This is what sets apart people just starting out in audio post... and veterans that understand that the collaboration should always be prevalent in your mind while working. So dont ever worry about contradicting me, your opinion is as valid as mine and we both grow together in this curriculum!"

"Thanks Joe for your fast reply Joe! This is giving me the tools to think beyond technical aspects only. See you soon!"

"You are very welcome!"