Mixing | Episode 8: Indie Film Sound Guide | The Film Look

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The Indie Film Sound Guide is a step by step series teaching you all of the basics to achieve better audio for your films. This includes preparation, recording, and mixing.
The guide uses a scene shot specifically for the guide, and follows a proper workflow from start to finish. This is everything you will need to know to start recording great sound for your short film!
Anything we didn't cover? Leave us a comment and we'll create a wrap up episode at the end of the guide, answering any questions we missed!
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Episodes released weekly:
Introduction: • Want to Get Better Sou...
The Scene: • The Scene | Indie Film...
Positioning: • Position is Key | Epis...
Dialogue: • Dialogue is Priority |...
Minimise Noise: • Minimise Noise | Episo...
Gain & Room Tone: • Gain & Room Tone | Epi...
Wild Takes: • Wild Takes | Episode 5...
Foley Art: • Foley Art | Episode 6:...
Organise and Sync: • Organise and Sync | Ep...
Behind The Scenes: • Behind the Scenes | In...
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Website: thefilmlook.com
Twitter: / thefilmlook
Facebook: / thefilmlook
Instagram: / thefilmlook
Freesound: www.freesound.org/people/TheFi...

[@felipedardis8794]

Hey, I came back to this video for this, maybe it will help you too: Dialogue Levels: Between -6dB & -24dB Room Tone: Around -50dB Hard Foley and SFX: Between -5dB & -25dB Character movement foley: Between -45dB & -7dB Ambience: Between -50dB & -40dB Ps.: This is no a rule everything should be change depending on the scene.

[@TheFilmLook]

I'll pin this so people can see it! Cheers Felipe!

[@felipedardis8794]

@@TheFilmLook Four years now and you yet care about the comments here. Beyond great content! You guys are awesome. Thank you!

[@TheFilmLook]

@@felipedardis8794 No problem! It's great people like yourself are coming back to the video and getting something from it :) keep up the good work!

[@WeAreEnderley]

Seriously, how have I only just found this? This series is seriously incredible, so helpful and gorgeously produced, hats off to you guys for making this incredible series, and it beats me how this does not have a huge amount more views!?

[@TheFilmLook]

Really happy to hear it's helping you out :) We have a bunch of other videos that cover sound too, some a bit obscure

[@mps11397]

Loved the series, I learned a bunch. Thanks for sharing the knowledge. Keep up the great work fellas!

[@TheFilmLook]

Awesome, thanks for watching! Currently working on another short series going into detail about recording footsteps and other foley, including the setup, recording etiquette, etc. so stay tuned!

[@FilmmakerTery]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I came here to mix my short film and they were EXTREMELY helpful. You may not be a sound guy but as a filmmaker you're an expert in it to us. Thank you again for this

[@TheFilmLook]

Happy we can help you along :)

[@lanayashina]

This was brilliant, thank you!

[@SisterIndica]

Very well done...you covered so much info I've been trying to find!

[@seventysevencats]

Very useful video, it gives me a clearer idea of what I have left to do - I've heard about the room tone recently but forgot to do one. I never thought Audition was used or can be used to entirely do the final mix, I'll have to look into this.

[@TheFilmLook]

Hope this helps!

[@derariirama]

i learned from this video, thank you !

[@TheFilmLook]

Great stuff! Glad we can help :D

[@redstoneranger1404]

Great video. Would have been great to hear the final result.

[@richardmichalak]

an absolutely perfect tutorial.

[@pr4vus.studios]

Nice vid, this should help people getting started

[@impetus5232]

Very helpful. thank you

[@LyricistRightHere]

Thanks man very useful information 🙏

[@TheFilmLook]

No problem :) hope it helps!

[@marlofilms6239]

great vid mate thanks for this

[@TheFilmLook]

No problem 👍

[@proyectoerizo]

Excelente guía, felicitaciones! Espero que hagan guías de realización ó fotografía en el futuro! Abrazo grande desde Argentina!

[@TheFilmLook]

gracias, proyecto!

[@Alexanderthetitan]

Thanks for the info. You saved me 100 hours at least.

[@TheFilmLook]

Glad to hear it!

[@dspoet1]

Are these levels for youtube or Netflix?

[@lahoreevinezvlogsandinfo2684]

I am expecting an episode on ADR. I wanna know the process right from recording it to mixing it to sound natural. I will be huge help as i have some clips where the audio quality isnt as good.

[@TheFilmLook]

We have a video that delves into ADR and mixing here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKvEdoN-d952f80

[@zilipendwa-club-covers]

great

[@TheFilmLook]

Hope it helps!

[@jessicalovao9520]

two thumbs up 👍 👍

[@TheFilmLook]

Thank you 👍 👍

[@trivialattire8911]

Quick question: How do you get royalty free tracks if you don't have money?

[@TheFilmLook]

There are many royalty free tracks online which are completely free of charge. One place to get free tracks is the KZbin Audio Library. We use this library for our Sunday show: kzbin.infomusic

[@sambitmukherjee9064]

get some money... did it ever occurred to u, How do you get FOOD, if you don't have money? or How do you get some CLOTHES, if you don't have money? hey dude, someone is back there, working hard, making those TRACKS, so dat he can have sum FOOD or CLOTHES...

[@Thejoshuacarter01]

I was surprised this video didn't include anything about music and where it sits as well.

[@TheFilmLook]

Sorry, Joshua - this was a big mistake on my part. Music can fluctuate depending on if it's dominant in a scene or as background music. If your dialogue is balanced, you can set your music to something between -22dB and -32dB as background, and rack it up to -10dB if you want it filling the sound space.

[@Zegmaar_Bas]

@@TheFilmLook Some words about mono and stereo would have fit in the video as well :D But was still really helpful

[@prasadpurum3514]

Please, let me know the audio level for the background Music.

[@davetinoco]

I prefer to do this in Adobe Audition.

[@tomsouzas]

Legal!

[@Geodessiaable]

great. But I need a mixing tutorial for when the they don't slate takes, don't record separate roomtone, and the roomtone between dialogue is coming in at -30db.. so far I've only got down step 1: cry.

[@TheFilmLook]

Have a look into auto-sync apps like Pluraleyes if you don't have a slate marker. If you can re-enter the location, you could return and record room tone, if not, find a moment during a take when everyone is quiet and try to use that. You should only need a few seconds when mixing between dialogue. If the natural room tone is excessively loud, try using a De-Noiser to bring that down: www.cinemasound.com/adobe-audition-new-denoise/

[@Geodessiaable]

@@TheFilmLook dude. Thank you! :)

[@user-ru1ju3tg2k]

Great video! How did you export the video from Premiere to ensure great audio? Or did you use audition directly from premiere?

[@TheFilmLook]

We tend to export a mixdown in Audition and place it onto the Premiere Pro timeline. There are better dynamic links between Audition and Premiere these days so it might be worth looking into that. We just do it the way that's always worked. Export it as a stereo file and place it on the timeline.

[@user-ru1ju3tg2k]

@@TheFilmLook Thank you! But ehm, when you use the audio you guys sync the audio in Premiere Pro, do you then export it as a whole and open it again in Audition. Because there is also this feature where you directly link a Premiere Pro Audio channel with Audition so it automatically saves to the Premiere Pro Project.

[@TheFilmLook]

@@user-ru1ju3tg2k Yeah I've seen that as a feature a while back but it never worked very well. How is it these days? Does it work okay?

[@user-ru1ju3tg2k]

@@TheFilmLook Not that great, lot of mixups between the original files and the files edited in audition. Do you guys just export the whole image or just the audio when you are done with editing and export to audition to start sound designing. Love this channel btw!

[@KelzVisuals]

thanks for the knowledge pls i will appreciate it if you can add the actual video tho the tutorial after done. instead of one searching for the actual video used in the tutorial. Thanks

[@TheFilmLook]

Usually we would include it in a tutorial but since this was an 8 part series, we didn't want to waste people's time with watching the clip over and over. But I appreciate the suggestion, and will implement it next time! Cheers!

[@aswinjohn1259]

Is music for a short film is imported into one track

[@TheFilmLook]

I would usually import it onto one track. Unless you are adding different effects to multiple music layers, of course! Then separate them out.

[@wondrlush]

If have $100 for shotgun microphone. what mic would you use? What software iPhone app would you use for mixing? Can I get pro quality audio with $100 and mixing?

[@TheFilmLook]

I hear the Rode Video Micro is a strong piece of kit for its price. If you go for that, you can get a boom pole and an extension cable so you are set for recording production audio. Haven't used any iPhone apps for mixing so can't say.

[@wondrlush]

The Film Look can I use it on camera than with boompole for recordings production I am a one man crew and why do filmmaker use boompole than just use on camera mic

[@TheFilmLook]

You can get the microphone a lot closer to the actor if you boom it overhead. This means you can drop the gain and record a much cleaner audio file.

[@senormcdoofus2231]

6:27 would be so much easier if you had those tracks grouped. Which I don't know if Audition supports.

[@TheFilmLook]

Yeah Audition is way behind on grouping and things like that. I wish it had groups. I've been considering doing sound design work in Ableton recently because of how easy it is to use

[@versatile1684]

What is the name of this short film that you were showing the clip of? I have tried hard but couldn't find that on your channel..

[@TheFilmLook]

Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mninaaN_hN1lotU

[@versatile1684]

@@TheFilmLook Thanks

[@worldofwiz]

Everything I've watched so far made sense except mixing with headphones. Why use that instead of studio monitors?

[@TheFilmLook]

Headphones are just the example we used, studio monitors would work best but it is something most people don't have. Once the film is finished it should be tested on how it sounds on a phone with and without headphones, even test cheap headphones, really anything that can play you film on. This will help to show you if the sounds can be head on different devices since people view content on many different platforms.

[@PixDoom]

Yeah, but did you have to use those game razer headphones?

[@swashyhimself3488]

how are you reading the db when its just a green line no numbers

[@ethanhall208]

Anyone else think he resembles Tom Holland?

[@robertosalas1511]

No

[@victorfilm_]

Yes!

[@sandeep251545]

Yes 😅😅

[@amandagilliland7040]

Yes. All in yes

[@shamimfilms9607]

from episode 7 to episode 8 you moved very fast we want another episode how you mix the diaoulge scene

[@bluerabbit1236]

It would be helpful if we could hear wtf you were doing instead of having to watch you do it at 600% speed.

[@XkztyIpKtHrwmNxlKhPy]

Hello, I edit and mix sound for a living. One thing: I work with monitors calibrated @83dB SPL. If I play a mastered song from an album on this volume my ears will explode. That's is a very counter productive tip. Instead of focusing on the full scale meter you should be using a loudness meter instead. Also in the foley part, you shouldn't use dBFS as a guide to anything in post... Also, I cringed a little at the "how to edit production sound" part. You shouldn't be crossfading different shots or crossfading production sound with room tone that wasn't recorded on the exact same shot as these will be mixed separately. You threw away good portions of room tone in those edits that would make the transitions much smoother. Anyway, I know that this is a 9 minute video intended for beginners. You kept it simple which is good, but some of the content was just not the right approach at all. The video is well produced, but the content is not so much.

[@TheFilmLook]

Couldn't agree more. I've learned a lot in the last 3 years, maybe I should make an updated sound guide!

[@TryptychUK]

A pretty pointless demonstration if you can't hear what the hell is going on apart from irritating music.

[@TheFilmLook]

This tutorial is more of a demonstration of balancing out using the on-screen level metre, and where to balance each component of the film sound. That way, you are working towards a balance on many devices as every audio device will sound slightly different. Apologies if the music is too loud. We have the finished scene if you want to listen to the end product: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mninaaN_hN1lotU

[@TryptychUK]

I don't think you are getting my point. We never hear ANY of the project you are describing. Considering this video is supposed to be about sound, it's utterly pointless. All we get is talk and music. Let us HEAR the edits, HEAR the room noise in place, HEAR the foley and FX. Teach by example.

[@TheFilmLook]

I understand you completely. We chose to leave out the "before & after" segments from the mixing episode because we didn't want the video to be a 40-minute live tutorial. The video gives little pockets of advice for those who would like a rule of thumb on where the sound should be balanced and how to prepare for mixing, i.e. volume referencing, dialogue sitting between -6dB and -24dB. The actual SOUND when mixing will be different for every project, but by hitting certain numbers (-6dB & -24dB) it gives a baseline for beginners to go and try it themselves. Listening to the dialogue getting louder in a tutorial is all fair and good, but since everyone has a different method of listening, it might not translate to some devices. I feel there is some good advice in this video, but mostly as a baseline guide and not a fully-fledged tutorial. I'm sorry this video hasn't helped you with mixing.

[@TryptychUK]

I understand your approach, and setting baselines is important, but it is also worth hearing the additive effects of mixing tracks to ensure good signal to noise and adequate headroom, and that is something meters can only do so much with. It is far more about "suck it and see". I have edited and mixed plenty of pro video, so I didn't expect to learn anything, but simply see your approach. Thanks for commenting anyway.

[@KBFilms2]

moving to fast and not explaining well enough for me to grasp what you are saying :(

[@TheFilmLook]

Will defs slow it down and go through the steps better when we do an updated video. Sorry I spoke too quick. This was quite an old video, I was still working out how to convey the steps.

[@cameronbelcher2609]

adjust the playback speed in your youtube player to .75 or .50 speed.