[Bob Kessler]

It might help if we know what tools you have available.

The “simple” solution is to use AltiVerb or another IR reverb. Just select the appropriate preset – forest, office park, etc. – and you’re ready to go.

Other reverbs will require a lot of tweaking to achieve the effect, but it can be done. Before I had AltiVerb I would use several delays and reverbs in combination – slap delay, reverb, a different slap delay, another reverb – and would come fairly close. I would have to print the the final result as so many plugs at the same time were really hogging the CPU when it came time to mix.

[Bob Kessler]

“Cheap” is very relative. You could purchase a decent sound kit for around $1,000. Most indie filmmakers consider this an exorbitant amount of money, but professional production sound kits will include individual mics that cost twice that much. Going HDSLR is going to increase the cost of your sound requirements as they have seriously substandard audio implementation.

Going cheap on sound is a sure way to kill an otherwise quality project. An audience will forgive “substandard” visuals as long as there is solid sound, they will never forgive poor audio. As Ty said, hiring a qualified production sound professional and listening to what they tell you is probably the way to go.

[Bob Kessler]

All good suggestions.

A plug-in like SpeakerPhone or Altiverb will definitely do the job. Most probably out of your price range.

“Worldizing” by playing the track through speakers – anything from a boom box to PA speakers – works well even if you “close mic”; you get the tone that you want and add the reverb later. BTW, the reverb doesn’t have to be the exact ‘verb you see on screen. Filmmaking is all about creating a believable illusion, not recreating reality.

It, of course, depends upon the film and the requirements of the scene, but combining the processed signal with a little bit of the original signal can achieve some interesting results.

Making the signal mono gives it more realism, but I sometimes prefer the stereo spread as it leaves the center more open for the dialog

[Bob Kessler]

Now that you have recorded your VO it is time to start experimenting with audio plug-ins and signal routing. In all DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) you will have the ability to “plug” a virtual signal processor into the audio path. An EQ (Equalizer) inserted on the channel will allow you to shape the sound by increasing and decreasing the frequencies of the audio. A dynamics processor, such as a limiter or compressor, will control the dynamic range (loud and soft volume) of the audio. Then there are effects such as reverbs and delays. The sound is usually routed from its audio channel with a Send buss and returned to a separate submix return buss; the effect (reverb) usually is a plug-in on the return sub buss.

Audio folks like myself are, for the most part, real control freaks. Most of us prefer the raw audio data so that by using EQ, dynamics and effects we can shape the sound any way we want. That is why we don’t like “printing” effects and apparently the Konnect works on that principle. It is very difficult to remove unwanted sounds from audio. Think of it this way – you make a Jack & Coke for a friend and but find out he would rather just have a Coke; now you have to remove the Jack from the Coke. It can be done, but it’s just not worth the time, effort and expense.

As a personal preference – and a large percentage of my peers agree – it is better to record without any effects at all, even if they aren’t being printed. I want to hear every detail of the audio, good and bad, as it goes into my system. That way I know right away if it is fixable or must be recorded again.

[Bob Kessler]

CS4 should have dynamics processing (compressors and limiters) and effects (reverbs, etc.) plug-ins included, so you would not have to buy any additional hardware or software for that. All you need is an audio interface to capture your audio and you can do everything else in the box.

I’m a long-time Pro Tools user, and the M-box series is fairly inexpensive; it has most of the functionality of high end PT and is well supported by third party plug-ins. However, CS4 should do the job just fine; all you need to do is capture the audio with an interface.

If your budget for audio is $800 there are lots of nice firewire interfaces in the $200 to $400 range and other mics in that same price range. You should also get a nice mic stand, a shock mount and a pop screen. The Rode NT-1 ($230) is a really nice mic for the price. I’ve heard lots of good things about the Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 ($300); I’ve never used it but have some of their mic pres and love them. You should also make sure that you have some decent speakers.

[Bob Kessler]

I’m not a fan of printing dynamics processing or effects when doing VO, narration and ADR work; they cannot be undone later if you don’t like it.

Without mentioning what software(s) you are using or how you are getting the audio into the computer it’s a tough call on the Yamaha. I would be more inclined – in the $200 budget range – to get something from M-Audio or something like the TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6.

The AT2020 isn’t bad for the money.

[Bob Kessler]

For future reference:

JK Audio PS009 – $25

Rolls PI9 – $40

JK Audio QUICKTAP – $55

You can, of course, spend LOTS more; but these will do on a pinch.

[Bob Kessler]

Just curious…

How far away was the receiver from the transmitter? I don’t do live or production sound very often any more, but one thing that always worked well for me was placing the receiver as close to the speaker as I could and running a long cable to the mixer; it seemed to help A LOT.

[Bob Kessler]

When recording dialog the “atmosphere” – which we in the US call room tone when recorded indoors and ambience when recorded outdoors – should be recorded in mono with the same mic used to record the dialog. The dialog editor needs these recordings to smooth out the dialog edits.

Background sounds – also confusingly called ambience – are generally recorded in stereo and are added in audio post. In many cases they are not recorded at the same location as the production sound. The background ambience is usually constructed out of multiple layers of sounds rather than just one stereo recording. The reason is, of course, control; I have used as many as four layers of ambient sound plus dozens of other audio clips to create a background ambience.

[Bob Kessler]

And if none of the above are possible you can “write it in to the script” and have the characters react to it. Of course, when you do that, it will never make the noise…..