Advanced Audio Post Introduction

Advanced Audio PostIntroduction

Advanced Audio Post What is Audio Post? Why are you here? What brought you here, and where do you want to end up? Why do you think Audio Post Production is necessary? How will this class differ from your previous post education at IAR, and what do you hope to get out of it?

Advanced Audio Post What is Audio Post? Create a brief list of problems you’ve encountered that you are interested in learning to solve or specific things you want to learn how to do.

Advanced Audio Post What is Audio Post? The current state of the industry -How has audio post evolved over the past 20 years? -Where are we now and where are we going? -How can we prepare ourselves to be successful as the industry continues to evolve? Introduction to Active Listening

Advanced Audio Post What is Audio Post? Rules/Specs vs Creative Choice How do we remain creative within the confines of specs and requirements? How do we create content that stands out when all content must be produced under the same governing principles?

Advanced Audio Post Mixing Strategy Mixing is all about making choices and with the added speakers the surround configuration offers, comes a number of creative choices, most notably panning. There are 2 directions we can take the art of mixing. We can choose to either strive for authenticity in a sound space or a heightened dramatic interpretation of reality. Both directions are entirely valid, but the most effective approach to mixing in general is to find the proper balance between the 2 directions that is correct for each specific project.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast The main difference between mixing for theatrical release, and for broadcast is the knowledge the engineers have over the playback environment. In theatrical environments the room is controlled and calibrated similarly to the mixing stage. Because of this, the engineer can feel fairly confident that the mix will translate well when played back in the theatre.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast In the broadcast field control over the viewing and listening experience is lost in multiple ways. The most notable is the multitude of playback systems available to consumers. -Old Televisions and Mono -Stereo, ranging from small speakers on a tv to a large stereo system. -5.1, from 5.1 “Sticks” to full speaker systems with varying subwoofer setups.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast Consumer systems have become very sophisticated but often rely on the consumer to properly set them up. Human errors in the setup of these systems is common and can greatly impact their audio experience. Some consumers may not ever be aware that their system is incorrectly configured.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast In addition to hardware differences among consumers, broadcast television also plays varying content produced by a range of sources with varying levels of quality control. In film the engineer has the advantage of knowing what will play before and after any given moment in his mix. This gives the film mixing engineer contextual advantage over the broadcast engineer.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast It is because of this difference that the rules and specs governing theatrical film mixing differ from both theatrical trailer and commercial mixing, as well as broadcast mixing.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast In theatrical film work, correct levels are achieved by properly calibrating the mixing environment and mixing to ear. For theatrical trailers and commercials a higher level of scrutiny is applied. Similar to broadcast television these “short form” pieces are produced by varying sources and a volume war was beginning to take place. The result of which was the ever increasing volume of these pieces. To cap this, a maximum average level of 85Leq(m) was instituted for all of this media.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast In broadcast television and even higher level of governance is instituted. Broadcasters define both average level and peak level and in many cases additionally average dialogue level. This scrutiny is sure to increase due to the recent passage of law through congress in an attempt to curb loudness issues on TV.

Audio Post In Different Medium Theatrical Vs. Broadcast Some Level Concepts we will discuss Leq(a) Leq(m) Dbfs Dbv LKFS Dbspl

Audio Post In Different Medium The Audio Post Studio The audio post studio has gone through a revolution in the past ten years. In Hollywood the large “dub stages” still dominate the business. These resemble movie theatres and are reflective of the fact that most film post is done on the west coast in the united states. With the exception of few massive stages the New York post production environment mostly consists of smaller studios that

Audio Post In Different Medium The Audio Post Studio With the exception of a few massive stages (sound one) the New York post production environment mostly consists of smaller studios that resemble music studios and often exist in editorial facilities. This is reflective of the large commercial and broadcast market in New York City. Other notable cities for post are, Atlanta, Chicago, and Vancouver.

Audio Post In Different Medium The Audio Post Studio The most recent development is the home post production studio. Largely made possible by increased internet bandwidth, and faster computers, many engineers have begun doing unsupervised mixing sessions from their homes. With the proper equipment and a relaxed client this can be a very viable option for broadcast mixing.

Audio Post In Different Medium The Audio Post Team The west coast attitude being largely driven by the film market consists of teams working on each stem. Often the soundtrack is not heard in its filled state until the final mix. These larger projects require an additional level of planning and time management by the Supervising Sound Editor in order to deliver the elements efficiently and on time.

Audio Post In Different Medium The Audio Post Team The east coast attitude is geared more towards broadcast tv, though there are many films posted in NY. Typically this means tighter deadlines and smaller teams. It is not uncommon for an episode of a reality tv show to only have one person handle the audio post and for the mix to be completed in 1-3 days per episode. Shorter form projects like commercials are virtually always handled by just one engineer and are expected to be completed often in only a couple hours.

Audio Post as a Career Working There are 2 ways to earn a living doing audio post. The first and most stable is to work on staff at a facility, or movie studio or broadcast network. Starting out this way is a good way to make the connections and relationships you’ll need to build a career. Often these jobs offer salary plus benefits.

Audio Post as a Career Working The other option is to work as a freelancer and travel from facility to facility in addition to working from home. This is difficult to do until you have established yourself with a wide variety of clients as being a viable option. It is because of this that the freelance option is one that engineers usually choose after working in the field for some time. The advantage of this lifestyle is control over your schedule. The disadvantages involve lack of financial security and benefits.

Audio Post as a Career Working Whichever route you choose, your career will probably at one time or another involve both methods. Expect at the beginning to work for free or near to free for 3 months to a year. Take on as many student projects as you can and meet as many people as you can that are on their path to becoming producers, editor and directors. These are the people that will hire you years down the road.

Audio Post as a Career Working You can expect to earn $50-$150 an hour once you are well established. Salaries for well experienced engineers range typically from, $50,000/year to $150,000/year plus benefits. Engineers working on commercial material often make more per hour than engineers working on promo material or even programming.

Audio Post: Practical Application Industry Tools Much of Audio Post is done in the box these days because of the many workflow advantages. It is common still to see console workstations in post studios. The euphonix system is probably the most common of these workstations. Pro tools is often configured with a console. Consoles lend themselves more towards longer form mixing where slower, less precise fader moves are more common.

Audio Post: Practical Application Tools We Will Be Working With Pro Tools 9 and The DV toolkit -Increased Track Count (128 mono @ 48kHz; 96 mono @ 96kHz -Hybird Synth & Eleven amp emulator for Sound Design -Time Code Ruler -DINR plugin for production audio restoration -TL Space convolution reverb for realistic sounding reverb -Digibase Pro for keeping track of project assets -Digi Translator 2.0 for importing/exporting OMF files

Advanced Audio Post Introduction