dialog

[AdamFrick]

Hello.

I'm with Big Idea Productions, makers of VeggieTales videos for kids. I'm looking into more film-oriented production methods, and I'm researching dialog recording.

this being animation, we record our dialog first, and then the characters are animated to that. In the past, we've used a smallish voice-over type booth, which requires placing mics pretty close to the characters, and then compressing to keep levels normal, and it can end up sounding like a voice over instead of natural dialog. Plus, we often end up hearing the sound of the little booth if we try to mic a little wider and more naturally...

What tips can you give me as far as mic choice, placement, and especially room size and talent placement in the room for recording dialog that doesn't sound like its in a booth?

Thanks for any tips!

-adam

[MAProTulz]

Hire me to sort out your audio! *grin* Seriously; use a mic with a cardioid pattern, a condenser preferably. A good pre will give you lots of clean gain. EQ a little on the way in if you want, boost the upper mids slightly (2-3 db from 3500 or so on up, nice and wide Q) and do a little bass cut (3-6 dB below 75-80 Hz). I usually compress about 2:1 on the way in - with about 3dB of gain reduction.

Mic should be 6-12" away from your talent, I start with it head on pointing at their mouth, and if that doesn't work I put it above and aim it more or less down their throat - that gets a little more chest resonance sometimes..

Hope that helped!

Dan Roth
Audio
Charter Media
Worcester, MA
(508)853-1515 x2222
[email protected]

[spigots]

Adam,
Off topic, but thanks for being a part of a VERY well done kids program.

Being the father of 2 young boys, I am blessed with watching certain videos REPEATEDLY. The high attention to detail and the bits of humour obviously aimed at adults make the 96th viewing tolerable.

Frank

[Qburn]

Adam,

The idea is to record direct sound from your talent, and reduce reflected sound from the room.(I know you know this, but I had to start somewhere).

Take a mirror(I have a little pocket mirror), and place it on the hard surfaces in your booth....window glass, countertops, copy stand, places where talent will hold copy paper.

If you now stand where your talent will stand(in front of the mic), and you can see the mic in the mirror--that represents a surface that will be reflecting sound back to your mic.

I've ended up tilting the copy stand slightly so that there are no reflections. Obviously, windows perpendicular to the axis of the mic present a problem. Exactly where your talent holds the copy can make a big difference in reflections.

Although room size is important, small rooms can sound great(great isolation) if reflections from hard surfaces are reduced.

[ballerina]

I've built a small booth in a big room for being able to record acoustic instruments in sessions with live drums.
The carpenter was quite confused when he saw the sketch, but he finally agreed to build a booth with no parallel surfaces. It looks like a Picasso actually. Even the ceiling is tilted.
We damped all surfaces exept for the door and two windows to avoid early reflections in the high frequencies.

Now things sound great recorded in there. Acoustic guitar, vocals, anything.

Of course I use the bigger room in case a little ambience is suitable.

/Nils Johansson, Ballerina Audio AB