dead air!!! HELP!!! at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > The Tools of DV and HD Production > All Things Audio
Register FAQ Today's Posts Buyer's Guides

All Things Audio
Everything Audio, from acquisition to postproduction.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old January 29th, 2006, 11:43 PM   #1
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Booklyn NY
Posts: 95
dead air!!! HELP!!!

Hi,
I'm just finishing up a short film and I'm having some audio issues. There is no music in the short and in additional to the actors lines there is a strong voice over. The film has a film noir type of vibe.

My biggest problem is that I didn't shoot with great mics. I used a crapy sony wireless, the XL-1s camera mic (pointless, I know) and a Iriver lav set up.

The silence is very important and I have some dead air noise on both the VO and the lines. I took room tone and tried using that to bed it but some of the dead air still pops on. I've played with some audio filters (I'm working with adobe premiere, I have no other sound programs) but really have no idea about sound editing.

Does anyone have any tips where I should start? Where would you start noise gate or equalizer setting? Is there a filter that I would have that I'm not thinking about?

Please Help!!!!
Thanks for any help ahead of time!!!
__________________
Brian Doyle

XL1-s
Bogen 503 head
Sony wireless
Adobe Premiere 6.0
Matrox RT2500
Brian Doyle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 30th, 2006, 02:13 AM   #2
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Honolulu, HI
Posts: 2,054
An important rule is to always monitor sound. It's just as important as looking through the viewfinder to ensure proper framing. Knowing the quality of your audio, especially when audio goes bad, is invaluable during any production.

That said, you might want to go to that same location and record additional environmental sounds to fill in the dead spots. It should be possible to use your edit system's audio tracks to build a convincing audio environment. Then have your talent ADR their lines.

Not sure what you mean when you say there's a problem with "dead air" but "dead air" should mean "absolute silence" which is not hard to fix. If you mean there's loud bursts of static then you'll have to cut out the noise and replace it with your new audio environment, VO and ADR.

What you need to do isn't difficult. Just tedious.
__________________
Dean Sensui
Exec Producer, Hawaii Goes Fishing
Dean Sensui is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 30th, 2006, 03:13 AM   #3
Major Player
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 532
If it's film noir why wouldn't it have music? Film noir movies like chinatown etc. love stuff like smooth jazz.
Evan C. King is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 30th, 2006, 06:09 AM   #4
Wrangler
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: DFW area, TX
Posts: 6,117
Images: 1
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Doyle
Hi,
I'm just finishing up a short film and I'm having some audio issues. There is no music in the short and in additional to the actors lines there is a strong voice over. The film has a film noir type of vibe.

My biggest problem is that I didn't shoot with great mics. I used a crapy sony wireless, the XL-1s camera mic (pointless, I know) and a Iriver lav set up.

The silence is very important and I have some dead air noise on both the VO and the lines. I took room tone and tried using that to bed it but some of the dead air still pops on. I've played with some audio filters (I'm working with adobe premiere, I have no other sound programs) but really have no idea about sound editing.

Does anyone have any tips where I should start? Where would you start noise gate or equalizer setting? Is there a filter that I would have that I'm not thinking about?

Please Help!!!!
Thanks for any help ahead of time!!!
If what you mean by 'dead air noise' is unwanted noise between lines or VO passages, you'll need to apply a 'noise gate' filter to the audio. You will adjust the threshold of the noise gate high enough to get rid of the noise, but not high enough to clip the beginning and ending of desired audio passages.

-gb-
Greg Boston is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 30th, 2006, 11:09 AM   #5
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 5,742
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Doyle
Hi,
I...

The silence is very important and I have some dead air noise on both the VO and the lines. I took room tone and tried using that to bed it but some of the dead air still pops on. I've played with some audio filters (I'm working with adobe premiere, I have no other sound programs) but really have no idea about sound editing.

...
Remember you can use the same audio clip over and over again in the timeline. Set up a separate track - premiere allows as many as you need - dedicated just to the room tone. Trim the room tone clip so there's no silenceat the start or end, so if looped it would sound continuous with no gaps. Put as many occuarnces as you need to the entire time reuqired, under the other tracks and covering all the silences. Lets say we have Jack and Jill talking. Set up three tracks:

1: jack-silent-jack-silent-jack-silent
2: silent-jill-silent-jill-silent-jill
3: roomroomroomroomroomroom
__________________
Good news, Cousins! This week's chocolate ration is 15 grams!
Steve House is offline   Reply With Quote
Old January 31st, 2006, 06:43 AM   #6
Inner Circle
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Baltimore, MD USA
Posts: 2,337
Good explanation!

Ty Ford
Ty Ford is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > The Tools of DV and HD Production > All Things Audio


 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:14 AM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network