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This is a student short i recorded sound for and now got to do the sound post. What do you guys think?

http://vimeo.com/31074340 password is socialsounddesign

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Hahah, 21 views and no single word? I know it's in polish, so you probably do not understand a word, but is it that bad? :) – Bartosz Idzi Oct 25 2011 at 17:45
vimeo.com/31871635 new version, same password! – Bartosz Idzi Nov 10 2011 at 9:55

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For a student film, excellent overall, but a few things that could stand be improved (mostly from a mix perspective).

At the beginning, when the younger attendant is doing whatever business he's doing on the ground by the bike, it seems there's no sound for it. His movements are quite big, and he's obviously doing SOMETHING, so there should be some sound associated with it. If there is, it needs to come up in the mix

Overall the mix is inconsistent in terms of levels - Dialog lines that pop out, whole scenes that are considerably louder than those before and after (when we cut to the ext. of the van after the girl runs out for example), and as @mattdesl said there's a fair amount of low end that seems to come out of nowhere on some of the dialog and fx. In a mix, CONSISTENCY, is king. It's far better to make a full line sound thin so it matches the line next to it, then to try and make the thin line sound full (which never really works). Did you mix in a calibrated room? Learning how to calibrate a room can make a HUGE difference in your mixes. GO to the DUC or gearslutz.com for some excellent tutorials. Even inexpensive speakers can do a good job, when properly set-up.

I did like the sound design itself - it felt"right" for the scenes and the film - I REALLY liked the stereo rain ambience when he's in the truck on the radio, actually all the ambiences were nice (I'm a big BG guy). I also liked the sound of the Dialog from other rooms - very well done there, whether production or your work.

Good job!

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@Sonsey Thank you so much for your thorough answer. I'm using Blue Sky Pro Desk monitors in a regular but quite good sounding living room that i am about to treat soon, i hope. Should i treat the room first then calibrate or calibrate asap? Thanks again for all the input, you were really helpful. – Bartosz Idzi Oct 27 2011 at 9:04
@Sonsey actually the rain ambience with lighting strikes i recorded outside my window this year i'm pretty proud of it :-) – Bartosz Idzi Oct 27 2011 at 10:23
@Bartosz Idzi - You SHOULD be proud of it. That's the kind of thing that really lifts a soundtrack. As far as your speakers go, you've got quite good ones (I use the Blue Sky myself). Calibrate them now - even in an "untreated" room you'll be amazed at the difference. Be sure to recalibrate after you treat the room as well. – Sonsey Oct 27 2011 at 15:15
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The film froze for me at 3.54 but its really good work on your side. I'd say in the scene with the girl and son you can hear a difference in ambience which could've done with some more noise reduction, I also felt her footsteps were quite loud. Everything else from what I could see was brilliant. Perhaps some of the dialogue was very loud and best to try keep that top end free for something special?

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@edmatthews82 Thank you very much Edwin for taking your time. By ambience change you mean her being in the other room is too obvious? I agree on the footsteps, will look into that. – Bartosz Idzi Oct 25 2011 at 19:14
@bartosz Sorry no, I mean the noise floor of the recordings when the camera changes from one shot to the next you can hear a change, could fix this with some noise reduction if you haven't already used some. It's only minor. – edmatthews82 Oct 25 2011 at 19:26
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Loud hissing in the outdoor scenes... Very noticeable when the sound cuts out for the titles. Why not ADR?

Getting a weird click/pop at 1:05-1:06 or so.

Seems to be a lot of low-end on some things here and there, like some of the footsteps in the house and the bumping around at 4:03.

Otherwise sounds fantastic.

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@mattdesl Thank you very much, The outdoor hissing is probably the atmosphere i added, with a lot of summer insects. No budget for ADR, sorry. – Bartosz Idzi Oct 26 2011 at 10:28

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