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Music video audio question.
So I’m editing a music video to the album track, here’s my situation.
The song is spacey, dreaming, acoustic, female vocals with male backup (LOTS of reverb on vocals). Acoustic guitars, tambourine, kick drum, violin, and ambient electric guitar.
The video is set under a big oak tree in middle of a grass field at night. Lit by a chandelier and string lights. Everything just glows beautifully!
My problem is, the vocals just don’t quite match the video. I know if I where there the vocals would be very clean and dead sounding, but the master track has TONS of reverb on the vocals, making it very spacey and dreamy sounding.
Is this something that I just notice because I know or not?
I haven’t done any color in post yet, do you think coloring will pull it together? Or should I ask for them to remaster the track with less reverb?
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3 Replies
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I’m sure that “they” saw and heard the shots at the shoot. The track you have was mixed and approved by “them”. That you don’t think it fits with the images is not important. You can ask of course but be prepared for a NO.
Eric
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Hello Dave and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
Check out the song “Under the Milky Way” by The Church. In my opinion, it has enough reverb for three or four songs but it’s an artistic statement.
Instead of trying to bend them to your will, why not try offering options that work with the reverb.
Break the song down into parts; verse, chorus, instrumental, any other sub parts like intro and outro. Have something different in mind for each of them.
Colorization, streams, soft, hard, etc.. Most non linear systems have a HUGE palette of effects. If you haven’t worked this way before, it’s easy to throw too much in and later wonder what you were thinking, so temper your new found creative effort with some restraint….or not. 🙂
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
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I’ve been involved in the mixing of a few albums and, usually, no decision is taken lightly. That reverb has probably been discussed, rediscussed and rerediscussed. If it’s there on the final, it’s that the decision was taken to pile it on there. The mixing engineer maybe didn’t like it either, but the producer / artist / label / whoever called the shots wanted it on the final. That is the song. You’re editing the video for that song.
With all due respect, it’s not your place as an editor of the music video to ask for a remix. You can talk about it subtly to the caller of the shots if you have a good relation with him, but a few music industry types I’ve worked for wouldn’t take kindly to that while others would welcome the input. It’s you who knows who you’re dealing with. Bringing up the fact that the sound and visuals don’t match may raise a flag no one thought of, so you should inform them, but you should be proposing things you can do on your end to make it work. If you ask for a remix, you will very likely be ignored. Remember, the song is the product, the video is the advertisement.
JC Boulay
Technical Director
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com
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