Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/426326
www.postmagazine.com 39 POST NOVEMBER 2014 picture in The Cottage by setting up a mic in the dining room, in the camera's position in the shot, and running into diff erent rooms to make noise. "It sound- ed fantastic because you have all the natural echo and everything is just right," explains Paul. After some quick edits in ProTools to fi x the sync, the Foley sound dropped right in with no further process- ing needed. "It's a super effi cient way of getting something to sound better than you would be able to get it any other way. It really works," says Paul. Achieving realistic creaky wood footsteps can be challenging in a Foley studio, even with platforms purposefully built to simulate creaky wood. That's why Paul and Milano enjoy doing Foley in real houses and apartments, such as in Paul's 150-year-old building in a quiet section of Brooklyn, and in Milano's Manhattan apartment. Both locations are outfi tted with ProTools rigs, so recording Foley there involves simply running a mic line and a video feed out to the room where they'll perform the Foley. "I love real- world Foley," says Paul. "When you get the real thing, it just feels right. It's faster on the mix stage because you have the right sound, and so you can focus on other aspects of the mix. It's getting much easier to do these days with the available gear." Milano notes that occasionally he and Paul will go on-site to do Foley. On those records, they use an iPad for video play- back and a laptop ProTools rig. "There's a program called Air Display by Avatron that allows you to add a second monitor on your iPad, or smart phone, from your laptop ProTools rig," adds Paul. "You can literally have a portable video on your phone while you're walking around per- forming real-world Foley." Another option is to record the Foley on a portable digital recorder, such as the Sound Devices 744T, using high-qual- ity mics like Paul's favorite Neumann KMR 81, or Milano's choice of the Oktava MK-12. "The Oktava MK-12 has diff erent capsules you can change on the fl y. When you're doing guerilla Foley specif- ically, being able to change the capsule is wonderful because the sound is so dependent on the scene. If you want to capture the whole space you put on the omni capsule, but if you want to just cap- ture the footsteps then you put on the shotgun capsule with a super cardioid pattern that really just focuses on that one sound," says Milano. Recently, Milano and Paul used guerilla Foley for the upcoming fi lm Anesthe- sia, by director/actor Tim Blake Nelson. Paul notes one scene, shot in a Brooklyn Heights brownstone, where a girl comes down the stairs off -screen and then appears on-screen. The staircase has a specifi c, thumpy sound that would have been diffi cult to recreate on a Foley stage. "When you're coming down the stairs, you are vibrating all the fl oors above and below you because it's not just the stairs that you're moving. You're moving the stringers and the joists and making the walls vibrate. That's a sound you can't get in a Foley studio," says Paul. By recording guerilla Foley, they were able to capture the footsteps and the space. When the scene calls for heels, Milano admits he has several pairs for any occasion. "I have to say I do look pretty attractive when I'm wearing my gym shorts, tube socks, and a nice pair of heels," he jokes. Milano notes that footsteps in heels have a nice attack sound, which shows off the character of the space where they're being record- ed. "There's no shoe that brings out the sound of a room like heels. My Chuck Taylors really aren't going to bring a church hall to life anywhere near as well as my favorite thrift shop stilettos." Smaller and more powerful audio tools may have made guerilla Foley more effi cient and better sounding, but Milano feels technology isn't a substitute for skill. "You really need the experience and the ear to be able to come up with great results. Technology can't change and will never change that need, but it certainly does make it a lot easier for us to record guerilla Foley," he says. BEFORE NOON POST — PETER COLE CHRIS TRENT Re-recording mixer Peter Cole of Before Noon Post (www.beforenoonpost.com) in Los Angeles and sound designer/Fo- ley mixer Chris Trent handle everything audio post for fi lms, TV series and video games. Their small, effi cient team gets the job done even when budgets, source materials and time schedules are less than ideal. Exploring new audio tools, such as the iZotope RX 4, and ingenious- ly incorporating existing technology into their workfl ows allows them to exceed expectations while still meeting dead- lines. Cole, who handles ADR at Before Noon, sees the quality of recordings getting worse in the future as budgets and time schedules continue to be tight- ened. But he also feels that as the tools get better they will be able to perform more magic. "Producers will come to the sessions with lines recorded in all kinds of crazy locations and we will be able to pull it all together. We'll have new tools to help us pull off our jobs easier." One of Cole's new favorite tools is the Hofa IQ-EQ V3 dynamic EQ, a tool he doesn't often see being used but feels is the most powerful dynamic EQ he's come across. "It really allows for some surgical precision. There are lots of bands, it's fl exible and it sounds good." He also likes the FabFilter Pro-Q 2 plug- in for its EQ Match, which he used on poorly recorded ADR that was possibly captured on a built-in mic on a Mac. "I'm pretty good at matching EQ myself, but this was so out-to-lunch I decided to try the EQ match. It helped to get it there quickly," says Cole. For reverbs, Cole likes Exponential Audio, a new company start (L-R) Before Noon Post's Peter Cole and Chris Trent. Cole likes the EQ Match capabilities of the FabFilter Pro-Q 2. CONTINUED ON PG 44 ADR & FOLEY