Soud editing apporach

[Brad Higerd]

Lou,

I’m using CS5.5 still, so please forgive me if there’s anything outdated in this approach…

First, yes, you absolutely should use Audition! In fact, I’d even consider the Izotope Ozone plug-in (VST), IF there is any music involved.

As for the practical approach to this, you really need to search Adobe TV for tutorials (CS5) on how to send your entire timeline to Audition, where you’ll be working with “stems” of the original files. Keep well organized in your folders, and things will go much better.

If you’re working on multiple sequences without a master, then you’re going to need to deal with every sequence where the audio tracks can be individually attacked, assuming there are problems.

As for a target “loudness,” -0.6 dB is a good place to STOP. If you go higher, say -0.3 dB, it’s PROBABLY going to sound okay. Just never go past/above zero.

Last piece of advice, for anyone new to audio editing, Izotope has a free PDF download that outlines the standard audio mastering process that’s as well written as anything I’ve seen since my days using Sonic Foundary software (now Sony). You’ll find it at: https://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/support.asp

I recommend the PDF as audio editing/mastering is fundamentally the same, with or without Izoptope software plugins. Lynda.com might also be a good resource (has been for me, as Adobe software isn’t always intuitive).

And unless you have a sound system capable of reproducing low-end bass (like lots of people do these days), be sure to gate off ultro low end bass.

As for Premiere Pro, please don’t do any audio there (except maybe normalizing tracks to -0.6 dB. Otherwise, it’s going to keep you from learning audio editing.

Lastly, having shot your footage, I hope no voice-overs are needed. But if they are, be ultra careful with this. If you have to go there, you better have a great ear for tone, use similar microphones, and be prepared for a lot of equalization adjustment.

My 3 cents (inflation)

Brad

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Sound editing is a world of its own, and it’ll never be taught in a single forum post and there is contention between those in the know over the order of how some things should go.

With that being said, here we go:

– I agree with Brad, if you have Audition, use it. it will make the process 100x easier just because it’s a dedicated program. Cut in Premiere and once you have the edit locked, move to Audition. When you export, make sure to export with long handles, like 20-30 seconds in case you need to hunt around for a noise reduction sample.

– If you have the time, process each cut of dialog rather than full tracks or any other crazy combos. It’ll take longer than a quick job on the track but you can deal with issues much easier if they do arise.

– Run all dialog through a light peak compression. This will soften any ambient peaks that might affect how the audio is normalized, it shouldn’t affect the “meat” of the dialog. This is so when you do normalize a track, you don’t just gain 1db because it hits a peak that gets in the way.

– Normalize each audio track to something like -1db. At this point they probably won’t sound good in-sequence.

– Run any noise reduction, noise gate, or dialog compression/expansion effects as needed.

– Roughly adjust the volume of each clip. Dialog should, for the sake of mixing, fall around -12 to -6 db; this allows you to mix things that are louder than dialog (like explosions). If this were a deliverable, there are guidelines which are lower (I’ve had to submit to festivals where peak was -24db) but it’s better to normalize the mix down in the future than up. Mixing at -12 to -6 also allows headroom for music, because once you start adding music beds, you increase the overall level.

– EQ as needed. It sounds like you recorded all on-set so you probably don’t need to do drastic EQing to match ADR or anything.

– EQ will affect the levels of your audio so do a final levels mix.

– Go out and get some studio headphones. You can get a passable pair for about $40-50 at Sam Ash or Guitar Center. Check out your final mix on a few stereo systems though, as headphones are still no replacement for high end studio speakers in a room designed for sound mixing because a lot of low end frequencies are more felt than heard.

Angelo Lorenzo
Fallen Empire – Digital Production Services

[Lou Williams]

Brad,

Thanks for your 3 cents. I went to the Ozone link to download the Mastering Ozone pdf. Is this correct?

Lou

[Lou Williams]

Angelo,

Thanks for taking the time to provide so much detail. My plan is to do each clip separately. I am sure I will have many additional questions as I go through this process. However my immediate one is the term “like peak compression”. I am little fuzzy here. How would do this in Audition.

Lou

[Brad Higerd]

Yes. And I totally agree with Angelo, especially about picking yourself up some studio headphones!

The Ozone mastering guide is just a nicely written document to help. I think those folks are top-notch…and no, I have no affiliation with their company whatsoever.

Brad

[Brad Higerd]

…And Lou, look for Adobe TV tutorials on Audition, especially the ones done by Jason Levine. He talks REALLY fast (like he’s on crack or something), but his tuts are likely to help you understand Angelo’s outline better, as it applies to Audition.

Brad

[Lou Williams]

Thanks — I will look into it