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Basics of Audio Editing for Indie Film Project by Mary Parker
As someone who simply can’t live without great cinematic pieces of art and, at the same time, someone who lives from music, I could never understand how filmmakers consider the sound to be the least important factor of their creation. Just take a look at any blockbuster at the cinema and you’ll get the point. Sounds, music and the atmosphere of the film are just as important as the screenplay, acting and camera work.
It’s impossible to compare box office releases with indie films, but it’s also not hard to achieve a good quality of sound on the kind of tight budget that independent movies usually have. You can either do it yourself with a little bit of effort or let the pros do the work for you if you want it to be top notch.
Make a “Sound Screenplay”
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Just as the actors have to know their lines before shooting a scene, your sound engineers should know what they are dealing with before any recording takes place. Make a list of scenes you are about to shoot in order to avoid any possible obstacles on the set. This way, you’ll know what kind of sounds you’ll have to pre-record and how. Imagine your film with nothing but sound in it. Your sound guy will have a good idea about which micks would be perfect for the location and what type of gear you will need on the set.
The sound screenplay will cut both costs and time spent on recording and post-production. Also, it will give you the body of your final sound, so you can immediately start thinking about what will happen during the editing process.
What Kind of Gear Will you Need?
In order to capture a quality recording, you’ll be using a few devices and combining them together. There is no need for excessive money wasting, since you’ll do just fine with a simple recorder, boom mike, and a receiver. All of them are quite affordable, just look them up to find the right fit for you. The most important thing is to get a healthy sound without any or with minimum noise. You’ll achieve this by testing each of the components on the set or in the studio, depending on what you are recording.
When it comes to studio hardware, it’s even easier. Whatever PC or Mac you use, it will do the trick. In addition, sound cards are quite cheap these days, and the software you’ll be using can be downloaded for free.
Tips and Tricks
The first thing you should pay attention to is the levels of the peak in your recording. This means your sound should never go to those red lights. This will help you avoid noise, which is the trickiest part to fix in the mix. A great way to do this is by reducing all of the background sounds to the minimum. Another method used by professionals is lowering your recording input levels to -12 decibels and then turning them up if needed. Just be sure your sounds don’t go above 0 decibels, because they will be too hard to fix.
Foley is something you should always do far away from the actual set. Foley is that sound that brings your scene to life. Background sounds like footsteps, door slamming, chatter, the wind, etc. You can capture all of those in an isolated room and afterwards just put them in the mix when you are editing. There are tons of plugins for the software you will use that include these sounds, but natural sound recorded just for your needs is always better than something you received pre-packaged alongside your software.
Doing any art nowadays is much easier than it used to be. First of all, it’s affordable for any average Joe with an idea. It’s just up to you to decide whether you will spend a few days learning the new skill or not. All of the equipment needed is readily available and with some basic computer knowledge, you’ll be able to perform any task from shooting to editing. It’s up to you to decide if you will do it yourself or let someone else do the work for you.