tips n tricks

[nuendoness]

hey guys
newb here

just wondering if u guys can give some advice to the newbies in the post world!

advice that has helped you and tips and methods you couldn't live without!

advice on anything.basicly.

[dogandpony]

Tips:
Read everything you can get your hands on about post
lurk in all the forums
experiment, experiment, experiment
Don't mix everything "to 11"
Have fun
ask specific questions
listen, listen, listen

[SiliconAudioLab]

Originally Posted by dogandpony

Tips:
Don't mix everything "to 11"

I don't know, I hear mixes mixed at 15 and the clients seem to love that.

Just kidding, try to avoid the L1 L2 L3 trend.

[J Wubz]

Keep the flow...and if u have time...try everything that comes to mind...u can always delete stuff!

[CommunityMart]

Originally Posted by SiliconAudioLab

Just kidding, try to avoid the L1 L2 L3 trend.

Can someone please elaborate on this?

Do you mean: Left 64, Left 32, Left 16 (L1, L2, L3)

[gsilbers]

take your time if their is no set deadline or far off deadline and they pay u by the hour..


muahahhaha (evil laugh)


as for a real tip:

just make it sound as it should, dont over think it like u would do in music.
"maybe bringing down 2dB at 500hz wiill make the voice of the male actor stand out a little more against the female and the music in this scene..... psss shut up and ship it!!!!

another tip: its by law to pay interns or give college credit. (shame on you hollywood)

another tip:

Shift+comand+K in Pro tools.

another..

Learn ProTools inside out

another:

be fast at Pro tools

another:

think one or 2 steps ahead in pro tools.

splice, fades and consolodate region... u know the key comands for that right?
so when u cut u know its "B" but think that after that its D or G or fades and shift option 3 for consoloidate and apple S (Always apple S) .
if u are just cleaning up dialog for an hour TV show those type of thoughts cuount so u dont spend 5 minutes looking in menus ...ohh but wait... u DO want to spend some extra time cause u are being paid by the hour hahahaha

liked how i brought it back... muahahahah (evil laugh)

another tip

be nice and dont say wired stuff or wiseass jokes and/or jokes if u dont know well the client.


u can see that the tips and trick are a bit different than in music side of things.

another...


learn about digibetas, D5's DA-88 and video formats, TV and film levels and procedures...

u know they pay a guy to dialog edit TV shows and Film? or a guy to cut backgrounds if the "sound designer" is too busy and another guy to do laybacks? heck i even know a guy who gets paid to do footsteps all day using a midi keyboard and about 20gb of footsteps for TV shows.

another tip:


sometimes, the people recording the audio dont know what the hell theyre doing... maybe they are the assistant of the asskisser and they want to be part of the project so they grab a mic and swing it by the camera .


another

people joke less at this post forum

[C Heat]

Originally Posted by CommunityMart

Can someone please elaborate on this?

Do you mean: Left 64, Left 32, Left 16 (L1, L2, L3)

No, as in Waves L1, L2 and L3.

www.waves.com

[introvert]

Don't be afraid to commit to things. I know too many people who obsess over their undo history, and are terrified to bounce things or print things. Do it. Don't be scared. Print your plugins. Bounce stuff around. Don't stress over saving every revision or plugin patch you whip up. It will help to keep you from overthinking things (as someone else mentioned).

But make sure you have a backup of your source recording, just in case :)

[nuendoness]

Cool!! I'm liking the feedback! :)


I have one off topic question tho...


Why aren't ameks made anymore?


Besides that,

KEEP POSTING!! :)

[nuendoness]

.......heck i even know a guy who gets paid to do footsteps all day using a midi keyboard and about 20gb of footsteps for TV shows.



hahahahahahah

[londontown]

SAVE


BACKUP

[Jim vanBergen]

1) Back up your work consistently, and with notation that you will be able to read ten years from now.

2) Save your work every five minutes. And then save again. Then save a copy every hour (I actually save AM and PM dupe backups)

(not original, but the gospel)
3) show up on time

4) tell the truth

5) do your job

6) LISTEN (instead of talk) to your clients

And my personal favorite:
7) Don't fart in the control room (unless you are alone )

8) before you start the session, know the sample rate, clock rate, and SMPTE frame rate. Believe me, it's worth asking when the final product might be PAL or DV!!!!!

9) Be honest with yourself and your clients. It makes a difference, even if you have to be a d*ck sometimes, at least you have been honest.

[sedohr]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

1) Back up your work consistently, and with notation that you will be able to read ten years from now.

2) Save your work every five minutes. And then save again. Then save a copy every hour (I actually save AM and PM dupe backups)

(not original, but the gospel)
3) show up on time

4) tell the truth

5) do your job

6) LISTEN (instead of talk) to your clients

And my personal favorite:
7) Don't fart in the control room (unless you are alone )

8) before you start the session, know the sample rate, clock rate, and SMPTE frame rate. Believe me, it's worth asking when the final product might be PAL or DV!!!!!

9) Be honest with yourself and your clients. It makes a difference, even if you have to be a d*ck sometimes, at least you have been honest.

Now, those should be the 9 commandments of engineering. I can really think of one or two of my favorite engineers when I read this..And now I realize what the others are doing wrong.

Kalli

[maddog]

Backup.....backup.........backup, Always Print your effects. this has saved me many many times. Frame rates are very important. and most importantly don't let film/video editors tell you what to do audio wise. 90% of the time they are wrong

[Nicola_W]

Originally Posted by C Heat

No, as in Waves L1, L2 and L3.

I am a newbie May I ask why to avoid these? I use the maximisers for mastering tracks. Is there something better I should be using instead?

Thanks

[RainbowStorm]

A) Take Gearslutz for what it is, a forum for enthusiastic and bored engineers. Sometimes this board is inspiring, but often threads in this board also turn into joke threads driven by bored people, which sometimes is not fun at all. Sometimes the people that reply lack respect for the one that started the thread.

B) Use the price tag on things as a measure for quality. In many cases that's not true, but in the case of music business it mostly is.

C) Make priorities. You know you'll have to spend a lot of money, but be selective and don't spend a lot on everything.

D) Stay disciplined when it comes to educating yourself on recording issues. Scan music magazines each month for interesting topics and buy the magazine(s) that you think will be valuable for years to come.

E) Stay influenced and active. In order to fuel your creativity and inspiration you need to surround yourself with new music tunes/records and book new music events on a regular basis.

F) Be patient. It takes time to fulfill your dreams.

[Stephen Muir]

Get a digital field recorder and make a habit of recording interesting sounds. If you stumble across a couple of racoons fighting, you'll be glad to have something like a Zoom H4 in your pocket.

[Michael Cardillo]

1) Leave OMF tracks intact - always copy sound files to new tracks before editing anything. Then make OMF tracks inactive and hide them. (this applies to any original tracks that you receive. If you receive a full ProTools session, "save as" with a different name.)
2) Learn ProTools (...was that mentioned?)

3) When mixing in PT, don't create a bunch of tracks that go straight to the output - use aux tracks for subs. Lots of subs...

4) Consider automating the volume on your VO track, and THEN add a compressor to the VO sub.

5) Listen to the difference between using a compressor before EQ vs. after. I have my opinions on this subject.

6) HPF on just about everything (feel free to put them on the subs)

7) If any compressor in your chain is applying more than 6dB of gain reduction at any time, be sure you have a reason. (personally, I strive for under 3dB - unless I have a reason!)

8) Don't allow yourself to become a "sound effects placer". Process everything. Even if it's just EQ or pitch. And more importantly, use original sounds whenever possible.

9) If you find yourself using a sound that you used yesterday - change it! If you can record a new sound instead - do it. Don't spend 15 minutes trying to find the perfect gasp in your FX library if you have a microphone and a record button.

10) HAVE FUN! If you want a job, go get one - do this because you enjoy it.

[Sparks6505]

I like to keep my session files organized by resaving the EDL with the date each day, so at the end of a project you have a chronological order of the session - combined with a well kept log its an easy, efficient way to work.

btw today is 4/30/07, if I was going to type that into my file name I wouldn't use any slashes or dashes that can confuse some platforms - I would type it like this, jazzmix043007. Anyways I found that works best for me, good luck

[AnAverageJoe]

Learn ProTools inside out

another:

be fast at Pro tools

another:

think one or 2 steps ahead in pro tools. - gsilbers



He Uses Nuendo, Not ProTools... IMO He has a better setup than an LE and possible better sound than an HD system... I use Nuendo and I have Protools but I got tired of Digidesigns limitations, You may not get sessions that go over 32 or 48 tracks but I do so I don't have time to or money to spend over 10,000 grand just to get more tracks and features!!!!!!

[Michael Cardillo]

Originally Posted by AnAverageJoe

He Uses Nuendo, Not ProTools...

Without opening up the debate of ProTools vs. Nuendo, I think it's fair to say that a self-described newbie looking for any tips to get into post needs to learn ProTools. You can work all day at home with Nuendo, but when that post house calls you to come in and build some spots or mix that TV show, it's going to be in ProTools. The beautiful part... you can get ProTools for a few hundred dollars to learn at home with basically the same software as the biggest HD system.

[smsjr]

Originally Posted by Michael Cardillo

1) Leave OMF tracks intact - always copy sound files to new tracks before editing anything. Then make OMF tracks inactive and hide them. (this applies to any original tracks that you receive. If you receive a full ProTools session, "save as" with a different name.)
2) Learn ProTools (...was that mentioned?)

3) When mixing in PT, don't create a bunch of tracks that go straight to the output - use aux tracks for subs. Lots of subs...

4) Consider automating the volume on your VO track, and THEN add a compressor to the VO sub.

5) Listen to the difference between using a compressor before EQ vs. after. I have my opinions on this subject.

6) HPF on just about everything (feel free to put them on the subs)

7) If any compressor in your chain is applying more than 6dB of gain reduction at any time, be sure you have a reason. (personally, I strive for under 3dB - unless I have a reason!)

8) Don't allow yourself to become a "sound effects placer". Process everything. Even if it's just EQ or pitch. And more importantly, use original sounds whenever possible.

9) If you find yourself using a sound that you used yesterday - change it! If you can record a new sound instead - do it. Don't spend 15 minutes trying to find the perfect gasp in your FX library if you have a microphone and a record button.

10) HAVE FUN! If you want a job, go get one - do this because you enjoy it.

Well done Michael!

So I have to ask, what is your opinion about using a compressor before an EQ? I tend to put a HPF > compressor > EQ. Not always this combination, but that seems to be the way it goes a lot of times for me.

Steve

[C Heat]

Originally Posted by Nicola_W

I am a newbie May I ask why to avoid these? I use the maximisers for mastering tracks. Is there something better I should be using instead?

Thanks

Search for 'The Loudness Wars'

[Michael Cardillo]

Originally Posted by smsjr

Well done Michael!

So I have to ask, what is your opinion about using a compressor before an EQ? I tend to put a HPF > compressor > EQ. Not always this combination, but that seems to be the way it goes a lot of times for me.

Steve

I'd say that's my standard as well. I feel that subtractive EQ before compression is a great idea, but if you're pushing your high-mids by 6dB +, then you're just asking both the EQ and the compressor to work too hard.

I may skip the HPF before compression if it's not messing with the dynamics and just pick it up with the EQ, and occasionally, I'll EQ before compression for effect (like punchier bass or something) - especially with a multi-band compressor. I tend to run these after other processes but I don't work them very hard, as they can completely color your sound.

If I had only one plug-in, I think it would be the Waves C4 or the Linear MultiBand (although I only have that one as Native/RTAS and the latency is incredible!)

Thanks for the kudos, Steve.

[Dumb-Ask]

Here's a cool thread from the Logic forum that might help Logic Pro Help :: View topic - cool tips for creating soundtracks!!! MUST READ

[pan]

Originally Posted by Stephen Muir

...If you stumble across a couple of racoons fighting, you'll be glad to have something like a Zoom H4 in your pocket.

Was this the start for your screamo-metal-chipmunk-project?

[petessound@hotm]

if your migratin from music dont brag about it. i found the tranisition quite easy as i already had protools down and good recording a technique. but people didnt want to know that, you have to pay your dues to the movie Gods

i found people didnt take me seriously if i said i was from a music background, so im just really saying whats already being said...

shut up and listen!

[Chris G]

"7) Don't fart in the control room (unless you are alone ) "

i laughed out loud at that one!!

[Geert van den Berg]

Originally Posted by nuendoness

Why aren't ameks made anymore?

Is this a serious question? Amek is bankrupt. Service now goes via Soundcraft which has all the schematics and spare parts...