Foley & ADR Project Blog, replacing movie audio.

Friday 2^nd Nov 2018

I’m using this blog to outline my study and preparation for a project for my ADR and foley module, for this project I will need to recreate all audio from a 5-minute clip (excluding music). This includes all dialogue, foley and environmental sounds.

Today my classmates and I chose which film clips we would use. Knowing that there had to be a reasonable amount of dialogue to meet our criteria for ADR my group and I elected to use a scene from the film Gladiator. This is as the film is filled with strong, well-paced dialogue while also taking place in a variety of environments. The scene we’ve chosen features 3 environments, dialogue from 7 characters and a variety of sounds which will need to be replicated. Unfortunately, there were some issues which needed to be addressed with the rate of playback which prevented us from progressing any further this week. By the 9^th I hope to have marked all of the audio queues in our ProTools project and to have studied some more of the functionality available in ProTools to improve my workflow when it comes to producing my final piece.

Friday 9^th Nov 2018

Since my last entry my group and I have plotted all audio queues for our project and categorised them based on whether they’ll need to be recorded in the studio or with field recorders. This was mainly divided by whether the sounds were environmental or not. We also discussed how we intended on recreating some of the sounds we needed to capture, below are the notes I took during this session.

As shown here we intend upon recreating the audio as realistically and faithfully as is achievable within our limited timeframe. I personally also intend upon using a limited collection of audio processing (such as EQ and compression) in order to make the sounds more similar to those in the film. I’ve also been studying hotkeys available in ProTools since my last update which have proven useful in the audio plotting process.

By my next update (16^th Nov) I hope to have begun the recording process and to be gathering some of the resources required to recreate some of the more complex audio.

Friday 16^th Nov 2018

Since my last update my group and I have prepared more for the recording process by creating a list of every audio queue, whether we’re recording it in the studio or with the field recorder and how we intend upon recreating the audio.

Friday 23^rd Nov 2018

Since my last entry Connor (another member of my group) and I have been out and done field recording for our project in an array of environments from quiet libraries to noisy halls, while not all of them will be used in the scene we hope that we’ve captured a span of environments large enough to cover all bases for the scene we’re working with. While recording we did focus on noise levels and realistic usability. We made sure our environments were always a similar volume to an environment from the scene that we had in mind, we also made sure to avoid any unsuitable recording environments. We got a map off the Edge Hill website and used it to mark where we could record, their likely noise level and any interfering sounds we could think of.

(Map available at https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/about/campus-developments/future-developments/)

(When noting sounds which may interfere with our recordings we elected not to note sounds which could be present anywhere outside of the relative ambience such as people being excessively loud.)

While we had marked a 7^th location on the map, the Sports Centre, we elected not to use it as it’s primarily a leisure facility and we didn’t want to disturb people.

In the end our best recordings were taken at the roof garden of location 1, the silent rooms in location 2 and in location 6.

By my next entry I hope to have applied these sounds to the clip and to be trying to find potential voice actors. Before that I need to consider the characters voices in the original clip and consider vocal ranges. My reasoning for this is for the sake of the voices matching the characters.

Wednesday 28^th Nov 2018

I’m writing this entry as an update on the progress of finding voice actors. Below is a screenshot of the spreadsheet for voice actors and their respective characters.

After I spoke with my group, we elected that voice actors would be a second thought once we had the rest of the scene recorded, as this project is more of a test of our technical skill than ability to recruit voice actors. Having said this, it’s still useful to have this table as a simple plotting device for when we get around to the voice acting.

Friday 30^th Nov 2018

Since my last entry Connor, Nikita and I have recorded in the studio, we mostly captured footsteps and clothing, to provide a touch of realism before continuing to work on the clip. We’ve also recorded a lot of the drumming in the clip we’ve selected. While this is only a small dent on the list of overall sounds we have yet to record, it does make an impact in the overall clip.

This week I’ve also been researching sound design more, perusing the sound effects bible in my spare time. So far I’ve begun to understand the relevance of balancing Foley, ADR and music to maximum effect. Simply distinguishing between hard sound effects and foley sound effects has been a massive assistance in the recording of sound effects, understanding that for Foley it is the performance in the recording process that sells the final product (Viers, 2008).

Friday 14^th December 2018

Since my last entry I’ve applied the environmental sounds that Connor and myself recorded, while they don’t suit every environment in the scene we’ve chosen they are widely useable throughout, I intend upon finalising these decisions and then going on another recording session to cover any environmental sounds that haven’t already been addressed.

I’ve also been reading on sound design in 3D environments in preparation for the project, most notably “Sound Design to Enhance Presence in Photorealistic Vitrual Reality” a brief write up on a section of the International Conference on Auditory Display, Sydney, Australia, July 6-9, 2004. The section focuses namely on virtual reality environments, however a lot of the auditory methods discussed have their origins in film sound. Some interesting techniques I intend upon utilising that I drew from this excerpt include; using stereo panning to track noise origin movement, exaggeration and emphasis of sound effects to capture viewer attention and utilising low frequency sounds to immerse the viewer in the world and give it tangible presence (Serafin and Serafin, 2004).

I believe this link between low frequency audio usage and immersion stems from the physical presence that loud bass-oriented audio can present in terms of vibrations. Having a physical reaction occur in the viewer through audio, at the same time that an event happens on screen is invaluable in selling the believability of the audio we’re recording in my opinion.

However with all of this in mind, it’s also necessary for the audio to hold up in mono, and on a variety of speakers. These two contrasts of playback environment, in my mind and with the knowledge that I have of sound design, seem to create a form of balancing act, one that’s present in the mixing and mastering of music. Hopefully my abilities in that field will transfer well into sound design for film.

By my next entry I hope to have recorded ambient environments for the rest of the clip using the field recording kit and also to have further researched the field of sound design for movies.

Friday 28^th December 2018

Since my last entry I’ve been attempting to make arrangements for voice actors to come in and record in the New Year however it would appear the majority of students in my class have had a similar idea and as a result of this the majority of acting students I’m able to get in contact with are already busy throughout the new year. At this point I’m considering one of two options, either publicly advertising the position throughout university campus in the form of posters and fliers (although I assume this would require getting permission from the department or university). Or, recording the dialogue in-house using the voices of myself and my friends. Although this second method offers the disadvantage of less than professional voice acting, it does offer a lot more flexibility in the recording process, in theory this flexibility would allow us to capture as many takes as needed to get a professional result.

I’ve also attempted to borrow the field recorder for the sake of capturing the ambient environments I spoke about in my last entry, however this was to no avail due to being out of term-time. Luckily a friend of mine had a high quality lavalier microphone that I was able to borrow and use to record with my laptop.

By my next entry I intend to have started the recording process for the dialogue within the clip using my own personal set-up. Obviously, this isn’t ideal compared to the facilities provided by the university however the deadline for the work is closing in and at this stage I’d like to be working on it in any capacity that I can. If by the time the work’s complete we have an opportunity to re-record the dialogue I’d be more than happy to discard the recordings, I’ll be making over the coming week.

Friday 4^th January 2019

Since my last entry I’ve travelled back to my home studio and recorded some of the dialogue for the chosen clip using my own voice and the voices of some of my friends. In my last entry I spoke about how ideal this process would be, stating how audio quality and the quality of the acting would suffer. While this is somewhat true for the quality of the acting within the clip, the overall sound quality is very usable. The sound profile of the voices is well-rounded and warm, and while there are technical issues with some of the audio (plosives and sibilance related) the entire process has been successful and would provide a good backup, should we not get the chance to re-record before the deadline.

However, this could be indicative of a bigger problem. Reading through multiple informational sources on sound design in movies paints one overarching theme, the practise is a matter of taste and while there are certain standards to be met, for the most part there is no definitive “right” or “wrong”. Following this train of thought, how can I ascertain that the only reason that this audio sounds fine to me isn’t because I have terrible taste? With little experience in the field and having never been educated on it, unfortunately I cannot ascertain this.

By my next entry I intend upon having pieced together as much of the audio as possible and showing it to people, in multiple environments and through various sound systems (phones, televisions, studio monitors and headphones) to get a general consensus on the overall quality of both the recordings and the acting.

Friday 11^th January 2019

Since my last entry I’ve shown the clip to multiple gatherings of people and spoken to them after about any improvements they thought could be made. A few noted the voice acting, stating not that it seemed out of sync but that it wasn’t a convincing portrayal of the character. None mentioned audio quality and it seemed to hold up in a variety of situations to the average listener.

With the deadline closing in next week I don’t think there’ll be a chance to re-record the dialogue in it’s entirety, however we can re-record any of the characters which are most problematic acting wise.

An immediate problem being faced at the moment is the deadline, unfortunately we’ve not completed our list of audio required for the clip yet and are still missing multiple hard sound effects and foley sound effects. As a result of this Connor and I intend upon getting studio time next week to finish the recording. At this moment the situation is disheartening but I believe it can still be done, one of the issues I believe that will make itself most apparent in the final stretch will be managing to meet the technical specification in the amount of time we have to do so. However this is something which I could stay up all night doing if need be and really the nature of the project demands that this be left until last anyway.

By my next entry I hope to have read more on sound design to help prepare for our final recording session and to get the most out of it.

Tuesday 15^th January 2019

Today Connor and I went onto campus and booked studio time for Wednesday the 16^th (tomorrow) for a final recording session before the work is due. I’ve been reading The Sound Effects Bible front to back over the weekend in preparation for this and believe I have the majority of the ideas presented in the book retained in my mind.

While I feel confident about the level of preparation I’ve done for this project, I’m less confident in my time management skills and it’s shown throughout this journal. This, combined with a lack of communication up until this final week between myself and my group, has ultimately led to a rush to get work done before the deadline. While this hasn’t been great for overall stress and morale it has seen a massive increase in productivity from all members within our group.

Provided that Connor and I can get all the recording done that we need to tomorrow, then throughout tomorrow evening and Thursday evening I can work on my own individual mix of the project to ensure that it meets technical specification. I am however worried about my fellow group members and am afraid they may not have the time to work on this piece before it’s due in as I do.

By my next entry I’ll have been through the final recording process with Connor and will be preparing for final work on my mix of the clip.

Wednesday 16^th January 2019

Today Connor and I went to the studio and recorded the final sounds we required for recreating the scene. Over the next two evenings I’ll be working on the piece for submission on the 18th.

By my next entry I hope to have finished the process and be ready to submit my work.

Friday 17^th January 2019

Since my last entry Connor and I added in some more sounds which he’d recorded externally in his studio for a further amount of detail in the piece to hopefully aid the immersion. In the evening we rendered the Foley and Sound Effects to their own stem and the ADR to its own stem ready for our final studio session this morning.

This morning Connor, Nikita and I went into the studios to normalise the overall volume level of our piece. Our piece had to match the European standards stipulated by European Broadcasting Union R128 standard, to measure this we used Izotope’s Insight. We made sure our audio levels remained tightly within the range of 22.5 to 24 LUFS, (EBU R128 stipulates 23 LUFS with a 1 LUFS headroom). Unfortunately after this we faced a prominent issue in that the audio playback was drifting from the video. Not only during playback but also during rendering, causing our audio and video to be wildly out of sync. To fix this we took the files out of the studio and to a Macbook pro which we’d been working on the file on without issue. We rendered it on there and it corrected the error we’d ironically been labouring on for a few hours downstairs.

After this we submitted our work. Overall the process was difficult at times but ultimately successful. Were I to do anything differently I’d have prepared better for the process with more external reading and have started working on the project earlier. Ultimately, I believe my biggest weakness was mediocre time management, causing a sizeable amount of pressure in the last few days of the process. It by no means compromised the work, but it did cause an amount of stress within the group.