Sound Mixing a Short Film: Post Production Walk Through

Dear viewer, thanks to many of you for pointing out that this is not the best way to teach. I originally figured that you could watch the short film first then come here to have a walk through of how I approached the mix. But I see that I should play back examples in the walk through. I promise to do that next time. 🙏

Trying to learn more about this after working with music for a while.
I want to know what do you have in mind when you EQ, do you wanna make most cuts possible or leave the all the frequencies you can (except when with specific cases like high pass inside of the car and fxs)

Thanks for sharing your workflow Cutis! Great short film!!!

Well, I found audio tutorial without actually letting to hear things as pretty useless

Great video! Do you think you could show us an updated version of this process? Do you use isotope RX in this process.

Did you do anything else to the music other than the EQ drop to avoid competing with the dialog? For example, is it common to push the music far left and right keeping the dialog and FX in the center to make room for everything?

once you're done with this in audition how do you personally export to send it back to NLE? do you just put it in a single wav?

It would be nice to hear what your explaining . It’s killing me that your describing all of this but can’t hear it ! I cannot believe not one second of what you said or did you actually played to hear what your doing ?? Is this on purpose ? I’m blown away by the fact your an audio engineer but did not let us hear one second of anything? Am I missing something? Please explain

I was curious how a "pro" does it, especially in Audition,, as I have been recording and mixing two small projects as of late - in Audition. It is fascinatingly similar. I'm happy my intuition is correct. Thanks for some good tips along the way. Always appreciate this.

Hi mate! What's your tip on matching the sound of lav/boom when you need to use them both for the same person in one scene? Just eq?

Did you press the Play button at least once in this clip? wtf

Thanks for another great video mate. Also, really liked the film.
I am about to shoot a 2min short. Quick question: how to do you mix dialogue when the scene cuts from a wide (from a distance) to a close-up then over-the-shoulder shots facing the talents who's speaking and then the one who's listening. So, basically the dialogue keeps on going whereas the camera keeps cutting from one angle (or distance, focal length) to another. How do you mix to make it sound more spatial and realistic ?

Hi Curtis!!! Nice video. A few questions. 1st, In the car scene, I mean inside the car, you could have also used a shotgun mic like NTG4+, Azden etc. instead of a lav. mic, right? 2nd, Is a shotgun mic used for picking up background sounds as well as dialogue? 3rd I want to shoot my 1st short film in my house, so can I use a shotgun mic like NTG4+, bcz my house is not very echoey. Lastly, upto what distance can outdoor shotgun mics like NTG4+ and indoor shotgun mics capture audio?

What software should I use for sound mixing

Could you make a video about loudness of very loud effects like gunshots compared to doalogue? How many lufs can I go beyond dialogue?

Excellent work. I noticed that you did not apply compression to individual dialogue tracks. Would you recommend applying dynamics processing to overall dialogue/sfx tracks instead of individual elements? Thanks you for sharing your workflow

Nice tutorial. Q: you spliced your music track into clips to add EQ to bring down the mids?

This was an amazingly insightful video, thank you very much for sharing! As a composer, I also freak out when mixers carve out a -10dB notch in my work hahahaha, but I get why it happens

Hey Curtis - great video, excellent tips. Just wondering if you have any tips for doing sound mixing / design / music specifically for documentary film or factual TV?

Hello Curtis, it's a great job! Why don't you play the sounds you're explaining? I guess it might be even more informative that way :)

There's a new update for Avid Media Composer, version 2020.10, allowing for ProRes RAW support (linking and playback, but not export) via its Universal Media Plugin. The update also supports macOS 10.15. 7

i absolutely loved this video, thank you!

Great video. Question: For those terms like DX/FX/MX, where can I find a comprehensive list of what they mean? I'm new to this field and got a bunch of audio files to work with, and they all have these abbreviated terms in the file name. Would be really helpful if I can get some guidance on this. Thanks!

A video about sound which does not let us hear anything... Pretty frustrating. :(

It would be awesome to hear your ppa video.

Iwant make short flim but I'm thing how can i set my sound like dialogue 'foly 'sfx' ambition sound all together work how set multipletrack sound set wich is increase and which sound is discreas...sir plz tell me about that thing how set all sound set in my software I'm waiting your answer sir ...

Good tutorial! I personally started using TrackSpacer to carve the Dialog out of music dynamically. Very effective tool.

Weird not to hear what it sounds like.

Thank you for your time and all the detail, but since we are heavily talking about sound, but not actually playing it..this whole video defeats the purpose. I hear you, but no examples. Hard to 'visualize'. Just a future advice.

Is this a regular workflow for a feature film? I mean, having one track for each scene?

As I'm making it up a I go along this is very useful, thanks.

I’ve been sooo waiting fir something like this! Thank you

Great stuff Curtis. For the car audio I wonder why you place the lav in the sun visor rather than on the talent? Was it to avoid potential issues with clothes noise or something else? Cheers!

A SOUND MIXING" video with no actual sound of the mix?

really interesting, would be really good to have the actual audio as a reference as i watch. I know i could watch the film and try to remember each part like you've said in other comments, but im never going to go and hunt for a moment in a film to see what you did then try and reference it back to what you are showing. What would work great is to pick your fav bits and go " and here i rolled off the top and bottom to make him sound far away" and give an A B to illustrate why. Otherwise really good video.

Grt video. Thanks!

Hello,

Great video.

I would like to know if you made a video about surround sound post production. I have not seen one in your channel.

Thank you.

not to hear a single sound !???????

Please please make more of these. I absolutely loved this video, I am working on a short film right now and I don't know anything about editing and mixing. This video helped a lot and I will definitely use this as a guide when I get into mixing. But more videos on sound will be very very appreciated. Thank you.

One issue for me is you explained it very clearly, but without playing the audio meantime i could understand only half. I have watch the film and I am a newbie, so...

Do you have a dedicated tutorial for clock / time code? Would love more details on setting that up and how important it is for swapping between editors.

Hello Curtis I need your help once again. I need to find out how to Jam Sync Mixpre 6 to my Panasonic S1H for timecode. Can you please help... I’m willing to even pay you for your time over a phone call. Let me know

Hi Curtis This is an awesome go through detailed tutorial!
I noticed that you zoom the screen record to show the detailed of the audition, but there seems no resolution lost, how do you do that?

Hey Curtis, one big thing I'm still working on understanding (I'm coming from an FCPX background, but trying to learn how to use the Adobe CC apps better): How and where do you work on selecting and mixing the different mics recorded by your 633? When using polywav files in Premiere Pro, I feel like my timeline gets insanely cluttered because each audio clip can have between 4 to 8 tracks (I also use a 633, so Mix_L, Mix_R, Boom, Lav for example )...does Audition have a more streamlined way to view those polywav files and help you mix tracks? Have you already done a video on this subject? I was kind of surprised looking at your Audition timeline in this video that the production audio files (which you talk about using both boom and lav from the day) only take up one track in Audition vs the many tracks they take up in Premiere.

TL;DR - Do you mix your production sound dialogue tracks in Premiere or Audition? How do the polywav files from your 633 become single track dialogue elements here? Is there a video you've already done where you go over this?

Hello Curtis, I'm a sound engineer and work a lot as a dialogue editor. First, congrats on making good content on all sorts of topics. Although this is far from my workflow (Pro Tools), its nice to see other perspectives.
About the EQing on the music to fit the voice, sometimes it's better to throw in a multiband compressor and trigger it with the DX aux, that way you get a softer and more dynamic cut on the frequencies that are interfering with the voice and only when dialogue is happening... it's less destructive than cutting down all the midrange.

I'm beginning a mix for a 20+ minute film, and this video is exactly what I was looking for. Your walkthrough of the mix helped me identify many practices and processes to keep in mind as I work. Very thorough, well explained, and well paced. Thank you so much!

I do appreciate your effort, watching this pos is an unique experience that teaches me incredibly. Thanks again Curtis and greetings from Colombia.

Do you have to adhere to any overall loudness guidelines for this to be broadcast or shown in a cinema?