After working with audio now for most of my adult life, I think I know a thing or two about how to shape it, move it and make it move people. Unless your Spielberg’s son you have to start somewhere and on the way up, we all work on low budget films to put ourselves out there, meet new creatives and show people our passion and creativity for film. Every project is a learning curve and you should treat it as such, as Einstein once said, “Once you stop learning you start dying” and he’s not wrong. After watching thousands of Indie films, audio capture on set, sound design and the mix, are almost certainly what makes them really stand out to be a low budget/amateur film. Even without a fully qualified sound department, there are things you can do to sweeten your films sound so that it doesn’t overshadow your great editing, shooting, or story telling skills. You can generally tell within the first couple of minutes of a film whether you are going to like it, at least you should be able too anyway I think. So, don’t ruin it with terrible sound ok?!?
We are going to share with you some of the tips and tricks we’ve learnt over the years to bring context and quality to your production.
1) If you have budget, allocate it. Post-production (edit, colour, sound, music, VFX, to put it simply) should usually take up around 35% of your overall budget. No matter what kind of genre you are working on, if you don’t allocate enough budget to post, your film will suffer and all that money you spent on production is somewhat a waste, if you aren’t willing to put the time, budget and creativity into post. Within that 35% we would recommend about 5-8% of that going into your sound department, depending on genre and how it important it is to tell your story. This may seem like a lot but cutting corners will be doing your film injustice. Don’t ruin all that time spent in production and your chance of a Netflix licensing deal because the mix and sound were sub-standard. Anything distributed to a major broadcaster or streaming service all have to go through QC (quality control) and if your mix isn’t up to scratch you will have to start again. Bear in mind mixing specs when talking to your dubbing mixer about final delivery of mix, see here sound mix specifications & best practices from Netflix. Even if you’re not intending your first short documentary to be out on prime, your process and final delivery should be as if it was.
2) Be organised from day one. There is a lot you can do to make your job, or your sound departments jobs much easier in post. First of all, soundcheck your location- distorted audio, depending how severe, is nine times out of ten un-fixable. So do your future self a favour and make sure your audio isn’t clipping, a couple of claps and check one, two will suffice. This alone will save you a lot of money and stress in the future, replacing distorted audio with ADR is time consuming and costly. If you have the budget, invest in a qualified sound recordist, cheaper is never better and it’s a process you really don’t want to cut corners on. Badly captured sound is going to cause a lot of complications and cost you a lot more money to fix in post than paying a professional in the first place. If you do have budget for a good sound recordist, make sure they’re labelling microphones properly with names and mic etc. It will make mixing dialogue a whole lot easier knowing which mic is which.
If you’re a self-shooter and don’t have budget for the above, invest in a quality versatile microphone and suitable wind screen. This small investment will save you time and money replacing audio. It’s also really important to study your scene or environment and use the correct microphone to capture it, premium beat have written a great article here to explain different polar patterns and how you should use them on set. Take a look at the video at the bottom of the article which gives solid audio examples too. Lastly, if you have time and I always recommended this, spend some of your shooting day recording atmosphere and room tones from your locations, this will come in super handy in the edit, but make sure your crew is silent.
3) Make your dialogue volume and mix consistent. No matter how big or small your production is, for an optimal viewing experience, it’s essential that you gate your dialogue and mix so that from scene to scene it is not excessively dynamic. Meaning you are not having to constantly turn your volume up and down to compensate from jumps in volume, between dialogue, atmosphere and music etc. As a rule, we generally mix our dialogue between -14db and -5db with an aim for the majority to sit at around -10db. Mixing your dialogue this way means that you’re going to have consistent dialogue levels throughout the film and it also sets a precedent for the rest of the audio surrounding your dialogue, giving a solid gauge of how much you can push everything else in the mix. Loudness delivery specifications for many streaming platforms is around -27LUFs. Nine times out of ten when mixing my dialogue at -10db, my final mix with everything else thrown in(music, foley, design etc), is either perfect or sits a couple of db below or above this final loudness level.
4) Perspective, consistency and being intentional. One thing I have noticed over the years when watching smaller budget indie films with little or no sound department, is that perspective is completely off. If for example there is a three- or four-minute scene in a forest, unless intentional, make sure that when the camera angle and perspective changes, that your sound perspective is also changing. It takes nothing to automate volume on a field recording or add a little E.Q when trying to show distance. For me, moments like these are all about the subtleties and adding little movements and ear candy bring the picture to life. Next consistency, if your production is based around repeated locations or themes your sound cues should reflect that and bring context to the story. Be consistent and use similar or recycled sounds to add familiarity and a theme to your story. Lastly question yourself and your sound team: is it intentional and what does it bring to the story? You don’t want to over stimulate viewers all the time and you certainly don’t want your sound to confuse or mislead your audience, so always think, is this intentional.
5) Finally, invest in a sound library. If you aren’t going to pay a professional sound designer at least buy a professional sound library. There are thousands of options out there for film makers at all levels of their careers, it’s usually a one-off payment that will add quality to your productions for years to come.
Update 2025 - Checkout this Instagram - “This is one thing you’ll need to get right or you’ll wreck your chances with film festivals”
If you want to know more please get in touch, we’re always happy to advise young film makers on their journey and we think understanding sound is a very important one.