the perfect dialoguesound

[Robbis]

Ok, this is not really a Protoolsquestion but hopefully there are some filmsoundveterans out there with some answers and advice.

I´ve done a couple of shorts, where I´ve been both on set and in post/mix. Understanding that I´m not being fair to myself comparing my work to big-budget-hollywood-like productions, I can´t help but feeling frustrated. How do they get that perfect, smooth, crispy dialoguesound?

What mics do they use on those bigtimeproductions? I use is sennheiser 416 and MKH50, wich is pretty much more or less standard here in Scandinavia from what I understand. It sounds ok, but it´s still not close to the result I´m looking for.

Is it in the mix? My philosophy is to be carefull with the EQ. Still I find myself "turning knobs" in some desperation to find what I´m looking for. In the end I always find the not so dramatic EQsettings to sound better. (I´m of course exaggerating, but i think you get the picture). Do I need to record the dialogemix to tape, or use some expensive vintagefeel plugin?

Blablabla, I think you know what I mean. Of course there´s no recipe to the golden EQsetting. I´m just curious how it´s done.


/Robbis

[MissHiss]

Sometimes they use wireless mics, and have a lavalier on each performer. This is quite common in television, less so in motion pictures.

When they use the 416 for location audio (you'd be surprised how often they do), they often do dialogue replacement (also known as "ADR" and "looping") in post. So what you're hearing is somebody repeating their lines into any number of microphone/pre combinations, not the original audio.

[dr sound]

Robbis,
First off you should post this in "Pro Tools TDM Post and Surround". Since it started here let me give you my perspective. It all starts with great Production. You will find the level of very good Production Mixers delivering well above average tracks in the bigger budgeted Movies. Add to that the Sound Editorial is a much bigger issue in the bigger budgeted Movies. If you are lucky as a Dialog Editor in Features there will be numerous takes to choose from so you can cut and paste fixes from alt takes. Then there is the amount of hard FX and Foley. Add to that numerous levels of Background tracks and then glued together with Music Scores that at times are wall to wall. Then you add the experience of the Dialog Re-Recording Mixer to EQ and adjust frequencies to fit the scene or to match ADR to Production and you end up with an outstanding track. Not to take away from the Dialog Re-Recording Mixer (I'm one) but when all the things are working, it sounds great!!
Hope this helps,

[MrKnewitAll]

If I may offer my opinion: Don't dispair.

I work on big-time Hollywood movies, and DR.Sound is right. The thing is, we work the dialogue track to death, using every trick we know, and sometimes we succeed.

I and my crew spend HOURS and Hours on each scene, eeking the best bits out of everything. When words have clunks and bumps, we search for those same words from different takes, hoping to replace the parts with bumps in them. If a line is off-mike, we search for another take, or another angle which we can replace the bad one with. If nothing at all works, we can usually ADR the line(s).

The dialogue re-recording mixer then spends as much time as he can working the tracks further, trying different EQ and noise-reduction settings, doing the best he can with the time and tracks given him.

But none of what we do is impossible for you to do on your ProTools. There's some great tools available, though the best tools are your two ears, and your clever brain.