Helping a friend with a mix

[hki]

HI guys,
A friend of mine has asked me to help her out by mixing 3 of her shorts films. 2x 8min,1x 12min. I was cutting efx's and bg's for these shorts when she asked if I could also mix them. She needs my help because of budget and the person that agreed to help flaked...

Now I know mixing for film and mixing music are two different worlds. I also consider myself a efx's, BG editor NOT a re-mixer.(You pro's out there are too good)

What I want to know is, aside from making sure the dia plays clean (which I will clean up) and remembering that dialogue is king, what other obsticles should I look out for? I think I have a good ear (at least that's what the doctor said!) I am used to volume graphing my efx's and bg's so that they play correctly when I do these smaller projects, which I find helps the re-mixer at least the one's I'ved worked with. I will have to set the music levels and make sure that it plays well in the mix. I also need advice with the final mix/bounce..reverbs,compression..etc..

I wish I had someone I could hand this off to, a true mixer, but there is no money left and I want to help her out, can you all help me with advice?
Thanks in advance,
William

[RadioFilter]

There are others here with far more experience than me, but I'll offer what I can. And yes, mixing film is very different than mixing music - I have quite a hard time with music.

Are these films to be shown in a movie theater? That will require some degree of mix room calibration - a whole other topic.

I agree with your assessment about the importance of dialogue. Without clear dialogue you can't tell the story. I approach short films by leveling/repairing/cleaning the dialogue first. An audience will be more forgiving if the dialogue is good, IMHO.

Once the dialogue is solid I then start making choices for each scene about how to mix everything else around the dialogue. What is carrying the scene? Most of the time it's dialogue with support from the Music/SFX. But, especially in action scenes, something else may better convey the emotion. A scare moment of a dog barking will need to be louder than the dialogue, for example. Car crashes convey more shock when louder, unless it's a flashback or memory scene in which that shock has faded somewhat.

If you have lots of loud stuff, find places for your ears to rest, because constant loudness is annoying and results in ear fatigue. Immediately before loud SFX, consider dropping the volume of everything somewhat. For example, explosions have more impact going suddenly from quiet to loud than they would have had going from sort-of-loud to loud.

These are a couple of ideas that sprang to mind (which may or may not help). I look forward to reading other people's ideas and learning more myself.

[hki]

Thanks for the reply. I will find out Thursday if it wiill screen at a small movie theatre.

[hki]

Can I get some other suggestions please.. I really need some suggestions.

[Eric L]

Just briefly, off the top of my mind...

1. Get a good sounding dx edit that is smooth and could play on it's own if it had to. Add fill and other benign bgs to fill out the dx stem.

2.Bg's and sfx should complement the dx not compete with it. If there is a conflict between sounds, dx wins. Always. (as you said, DX is king)

3. Music is meant to enhance the emotion of a show, when appropriate. Many times, a mixer with music recording experience who is mixing in post for the first time, pushes the music too much. Again, music should not compete with dx and needs to be woven into the soundtrack around other sounds, not just over them.

Once you have a smooth dx stem, do a couple of mx passes to fill in around the dx, then mix in any sfx. If you have a lot of sound design, depending on the sounds, you may have to re-mix the mx with the sound design.

As stated already, find out the playback venue and this will determine calibration and levels. Good luck.

[hki]

Eric,
I was hoping I would hear from you, I have read many of your post/responses and have visited your site. Thanks for the advice it is really appreciated..

Btw,the shorts will play in a theatre. They want a stereo mix only.

[hki]

I finally got a call from the editor and she said I should deliver with Left total / Right total. per Regency theatre L.A.