audio sweetening at DVinfo.net

Reggie Moser · June 29th, 2008, 02:22 PM

Can someone explain the process of acheiving or closely achieving mastered high quality sound like in the big budget movies with dialog and other sound efx?(what is workflow, plugins, applications, etc etc....) And can this be down using soundtrack pro and other applications or will I need to involve a post production house?

Pietro Impagliazzo · June 29th, 2008, 03:17 PM

please mods, delete this message.

Steve House · June 29th, 2008, 03:35 PM

Soundtrack Pro should have the necessary tools, especially when you couple it with various plugins. Not personally familiar with it so I can't go beyond that. The Hollywood standard would have to still be ProTools (and Avid for picture) but Steinberg's Nuendo and Wavelab are coming up strong on its tail. Waves and Izotrope are publishers of some commonly used plugins. Workflows are too complex for a simple posting - take a look at Thomlinson Holman's books on sound and sound design for film and video and John Purcell's book "Dialog Editing for Motion Pictures" for excellent discussions of various workflows. I will say that the final product is usually a complex mix of many, many tracks - the various characters all go on their own dialog tracks mixed with stems made up of multiple tracks for score and practical music, practical FX, foley, sound design elements, etc, all chosen, edited, and balanced meticulously. I think the most important ingredient for that holloywood blockbuster sound is taking the time for the painstaking assembly and attention to detail that is required to blend potentially hundreds or even thousands of discrete elements into the final mix. Plugins are just tools, there are no magical ones that make or break a production.

Pietro Impagliazzo · June 29th, 2008, 09:02 PM

Today I was searching for some decent audio courses to take.
But the all of them had too much theory and things I already know.
Steve (post below), Nice book indications. I'll take a look on these.

I'd be interested on a nice introduction. On what plugins are used the most. And why. What are the effects on the audio. These things...

June 29th, 2008, 02:22 PM	#1
Reggie Moser Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 113	audio sweetening Can someone explain the process of acheiving or closely achieving mastered high quality sound like in the big budget movies with dialog and other sound efx?(what is workflow, plugins, applications, etc etc....) And can this be down using soundtrack pro and other applications or will I need to involve a post production house?

June 29th, 2008, 03:17 PM	#2
Pietro Impagliazzo Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rio de Janeiro, BR Posts: 170	please mods, delete this message. __________________ Pietro Impagliazzo flickr.com/photos/impagliazzo Last edited by Pietro Impagliazzo; June 29th, 2008 at 09:01 PM.

June 29th, 2008, 03:35 PM	#3
Steve House Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Posts: 5,742	Soundtrack Pro should have the necessary tools, especially when you couple it with various plugins. Not personally familiar with it so I can't go beyond that. The Hollywood standard would have to still be ProTools (and Avid for picture) but Steinberg's Nuendo and Wavelab are coming up strong on its tail. Waves and Izotrope are publishers of some commonly used plugins. Workflows are too complex for a simple posting - take a look at Thomlinson Holman's books on sound and sound design for film and video and John Purcell's book "Dialog Editing for Motion Pictures" for excellent discussions of various workflows. I will say that the final product is usually a complex mix of many, many tracks - the various characters all go on their own dialog tracks mixed with stems made up of multiple tracks for score and practical music, practical FX, foley, sound design elements, etc, all chosen, edited, and balanced meticulously. I think the most important ingredient for that holloywood blockbuster sound is taking the time for the painstaking assembly and attention to detail that is required to blend potentially hundreds or even thousands of discrete elements into the final mix. Plugins are just tools, there are no magical ones that make or break a production. __________________ Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!

June 29th, 2008, 09:02 PM	#4
Pietro Impagliazzo Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Rio de Janeiro, BR Posts: 170	Today I was searching for some decent audio courses to take. But the all of them had too much theory and things I already know. Steve (post below), Nice book indications. I'll take a look on these. I'd be interested on a nice introduction. On what plugins are used the most. And why. What are the effects on the audio. These things... __________________ Pietro Impagliazzo flickr.com/photos/impagliazzo