Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401019
If you suspect there may be lavs and/or boom mics, ask. Request the sound reports or a lined script. These can be very helpful in your detective work. I've done many a film where I've suspected there were separate mics by looking at the waveforms. A film that I worked on thought they were going to have to ADR 90 percent of the film because the editor had used the combine mic track. I ended up having to hand-sync all the lav mics because the editor also lost the way to link the metadata and other mics! And they ended up only doing ADR for additional lines! The sound was saved! And everyone always loves production sound—no matter how bad it sounds! You have to retain the integrity of their choices but also make it smooth to the ear. Also, don't rely on sound effects to "fix" your dialogue! Remember that stereo background effects will not help your dialogue issues! Dialogue will always come out of the center channels. The mixers I've worked with on TV will mix the show as if it's a feature film. Then they will play it back on a mono speaker—emulating the standard TV sound. (Though I think a lot of people have some very elaborate home theater systems, especially during COVID when theaters were not open!) A hint I use and mixers like, is when I find a solution to a problem line, I want to present it so the mixer has options and knows right away it's different from what the director is used to hearing. It's like when you hear your favorite group doing your favorite song and you know every note and pause and nuance. Then you go hear them in person. Same but different! This is what it's like for directors and editors who get used to hearing their choices. Perhaps you've found a sound problem that they are not aware of and you change it. Now they have a reason not to trust you! To present alternates or adds, I create two new tracks: an ALT/ADD track and an ORIG track. The ORIG will be like an X track but they're consecutive. So the mixer can play all the other edited tracks with EITHER the ADD/ ALT or the ORIG. That way, everyone knows it's either something you've added, like a goodie you find in the take as you go through looking for good fill, OR that it's an ALT version of that line. TV and film dialogue editing are different animals. I agree with what was said earlier—ask the mixer if there is a template. Coordinate with the ADR department. When you find an alternative and you can't present it to the director before ADR is done, then let them ADR it and their choices can be made on the dub stage. Often, we will find great alternates or clean up dialogue that in years past, we would have to ADR. But we often don't get the time to investigate so ADR is done anyway, "just in case." It's much less costly to the production if you do your job well before it gets to the stage. Their time is much costlier than ours! To recap: • ABL (Always Be Listening) • Ask the sound supervisor and/or mixer if there is a template to use • Keep the same session setup for each reel if you're editing in reels • Always use Academy standard head leader or anything with a one frame POP two seconds before the first frame of picture and two seconds after the last frame of picture • Remove non-diagetic sounds (clicks, pops, off-stage noises) • Put similar ambient background noise (the ambience under the dialogue) on the same tracks • Check with the mixer about how much noise reduction and/or plug-ins you should do • Think outside the box. What will make the most continual, non- noticeable change of angles? Filling the lighter noise floor with the heaviest angle and carrying it over the lighter dialogue? Or maybe you can get away with overlapping fill from one track to another • Overlap fill up to dialogue so the ear can't hear the change in angles. Hide the change by overlapping tracks up to words • Always do the best you can because your work is your reputation. Don't just say, "Oh, it's TV—it's not that crucial—no one will hear things that clearly anyway." That is NOT the point! The mixers will know what you did. They will know that they can concentrate on mixing instead of fixing. The dub will go smoothly and your work will sound great because it IS scrutinized on the mix stage and mixers will sing your praises and maybe give you a good recommendation • If you find a good alternative for a line, try and preview it for the director or editor. It's okay for the line to be both ADR'd and either cleaned up or find an alternate Remember, if it SOUNDS GOOD, it IS Good! Be a Dialogue Detective and solve those sound problems! While editing platforms may change, the principles of dialogue editing that I've laid out here will always be around. A really great and helpful book that I've used for my sound classes is John Purcell's Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisble Art (Second Edition). In this example, the mixer would play all the dialogue tracks (the orange ones) with EITHER the ADD/ALT Track (yellow) or the ORIG track (green). You can see by the scene and take number that the yellow track is a different take than the original choice. I usually keep the ORIG track muted and let them hear the ALT choice (or an additional dialogue or sound).