Subject:make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Posted by: iggymac
Date:5/19/2004 11:59:01 PM
I am pretty new to Sound Forge 7 and sound editing in general, so this is probably a really stupid question (my apologies if so): I am dubbing some dialog in a film project, and the original sound is fairly muddy and reverb-y, etc., so I need to take the new dialog that I record and make it sound more like the original dialog (I can't improve the original anymore because the original recording was pretty bad). That is, I need to make the new dialog sound worse! I have played around for several days: adding reverb, adding camera noise, comparing the graphic analysis of both tracks and trying the EQ the new one to match, etc. I know I will never be able to get the dynamics of the new sound to sound like the original completely, but does anyone have any suggestions on better ways to do this type of thing? I'm not even explaining this correctly, terminology-wise, so, again, my apologies. Thanks. Bret |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: iggymac
Date:5/20/2004 8:49:44 PM
Anyone? I have been trying to match the Spectrum Analysis of both old and new sound, but I still cannot get them to even sound close. Any ideas? Thanks. Bret |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/21/2004 8:30:34 PM
I'm not of much help here, as I'm not an über-engineer like Rednroll is. The only thing I can suggest is to listen to the characteristics of the old recording and try to apply them to the new. For example, if the old recording sounded muddy, than more than likely the mids to highs were cut off, so you could try cutting out (or limiting) those frequencies in the new recording. Iacobus ------- RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid mD's ACIDplanet Page Guitars 4 Kids |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: iggymac
Date:5/21/2004 9:16:23 PM
Thanks very much for replying. Unfortunetly, that's the type of thing I have been trying, and apparently I'm no good at it, because I get mediocre results. I would think there would be a way to get a Spectrum Analysis of one track, and apply that to a new track, to automatically make the spectrums of both tracks identical. I guess not. Anyway, I'll keep trying. Thanks! Bret |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: MJhig
Date:5/21/2004 9:43:24 PM
As I said to someone who also does video posting a similar question currently, your best bet is to render representative samples of each about a minute long in 128 kbps MP3 format and provide a link if you expect constructive answers. Audio is far from step one, step two, there are too many variables based on the source and desired results. A visual comparison would be like asking a blind man "I have color A, it sucks, I also have color B, how can I make color A more like color B?". MJ |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: iggymac
Date:5/21/2004 11:11:24 PM
I know. I expected there is no easy solution. And, unfortunetly, I don't have any way to serve test files currently. I am getting together with a film professor I know this week and he will take a listen and offfer some suggestions. Thanks. Bret |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:5/22/2004 10:15:21 AM
It sounds like you're going at it with the correct approach. The better you can listen to each and identify the EQ and Compression differences on each, the better you will be able to adjust the EQ and compression to get them to match better. Having one with background Reverb and another without, is a much harder task to get them to match. You're looking at a nearly impossible task from the sounds of it. I would have to listen to both recordings to hear if it's remotely possible to match them. The only other thing I would suggest is if you have material from both recordings that may overlap. You could overlap both recordings and do a long crossfade between them, so the transistion is not as obvious to the listener. This probably won't be possible with dialog, because this would mean the inflections and timing of both recordings of the same material would have to be nearly identical also. Actually, this is kind of entertaining to me, because it reminds me of a TV commercial I had worked on over 3 years ago, that is still being aired today and I had the same task. You've probably seen a lot of "Scott's Lawn and Garden" product advertisements, since it's that time of year again. If you happen to see one of these Scott's TV commercials that has an older husky gentlemen with grey hair, listen for this. The original recording was done onsight with him on his lawn. The producers wanted to change a few of the words in the advertisement. It just happened the words they wanted to replace, where when the guy wasn't speaking on camera. So we recorded these in the studio. The most important part was that we had to make sure he listened to his previous record to ensure the inflection in his voice was the same. I matched them up pretty well tonally, and the inflection was good. The only part that really doesn't match up is the reverb/ambience from the original recording you can hear under his voice. There wasn't any blank space to cut some of this under the new record voice, but this didn't matter too much, because the part we replaced didn't have him synced to picture onscreen. If you happen to see this commercial on TV, pay attention to it. You'll hear the short part replaced during the commercial when you don't see the guy's face, and you see the Scott's Logo promo pop up. |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/22/2004 12:04:21 PM
Now I'm going to have to run to the TV if I hear a Scott's commercial. :) Iacobus ------- RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid mD's ACIDplanet Page Guitars 4 Kids |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:5/23/2004 6:45:42 AM
There's like 3 of them currently being aired, I've done work on all 3. The cool thing is, that the people used in the commercials are real everyday Joe's that take care of their lawns. They're not actors and have never done any voice over work in their life. They did a pretty good job, for never doing any voice over type of work before. Most people always turn off commercials or run to the bathroom during that time. I'm the guy sitting there, with my wife going..."honey!!!! check it out, I did this one." My wife, "Yes, honey...that's great....can I change the channel yet?" :-) |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: iggymac
Date:5/23/2004 9:57:07 AM
Rednroll: Thanks very much for all the advice, and I'll keep my eyes open for the commercial. I appreciate it! Bret |
Subject:RE: make two different dialog recordings have similar dynamics
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/23/2004 1:27:59 PM
LOL Iacobus ------- RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid mD's ACIDplanet Page Guitars 4 Kids |