Let's assume that I won't have enough money to hire a seasoned professional.
It might be a good idea to look at the commercial workflow and work backwards. The first question is what is this for? TV broadcast, low tier film fest, high tier film fest/commercial theatrical distribution, Youtube/Amazon/other similar self distribution? For anything other than a low tier film fest or Youtube/self dist., audio post would never be done by "a seasoned pro", there would always be an audio post team. For a 90-100 min feature one would normally allow 12-16 weeks. Strangely enough, this time-frame never really changes much (for a 90-100 min film), regardless of whether we're talking about a 6 figure micro budget feature, a 9 figure action blockbuster or anything inbetween. What changes is the size of the audio post team, anywhere from about 6 or so for a very micro budget feature up to 35 plus on a med/high budget feature (biggest I know of was Armageddon, with over 70).
Obviously, it's not just the number of audio post personnel required but the equipment/facilities. To match the required/expected standards for Youtube or even a low tier film fest, a home basement or even bedroom studio might be sufficient. At the other end of the scale (commercial theatrical features), specifically designed and constructed facilities costing many millions are required and obviously that too has a very significant impact on the rates they have to charge.
Realistically, I would only be able to hire somebody who is in similar shoes with me; somebody who is relatively inexperienced, looking to increase their contacts to get more work, etc., and that I'd only be able to pay them just barely enough money so that they don't starve to death while working on my project.
Realistically, for them not to starve to death on the sums I presume we're talking about, they would have to be both relatively inexperienced and have invested relatively little in equipment/facilities. Realistically then, we're looking at someone who's going to do a marginally better job than you would, given the same amount of dedicated time. Stepping the budget up a little is fraught with difficulties as well though, because you might actually attract a someone half decent who charges (or is prepared to charge) a very low rate but you'll also attract most of the same applicants as with the near starvation rate and as a filmmaker it can be very tricky to separate the wheat from the chaff, especially as the wheat is likely to be greatly out numbered.
Or, if I'm lucky enough to get a seasoned pro, it would only be because they like the project, so are willing to work for cheap (which would of course mean that it would not be their top priority, time-wise).
If a seasoned pro does take on a job for a very low rate, it would pretty much never be because they like a project! Or rather, how much they like a project would virtually never be the primary consideration.
Not an sfx-driven movie, so no crazy sound effects or anything. But definitely want foley.
Obviously an action movie requires a lot of work to create all the hard action SFX. On the other hand though, all those hard FX can help mask weaknesses in other areas of the audio post. So with fewer hard effects, a lot more thought and effort has to go into the sound design (because there are fewer options) and into the dialogue and atmos' tracks. In other words, although the workload for a simple drama is lower than for an action flick, it's usually lower by a smaller amount than one might suppose.
I want a full-blown original score. Different person, of course, then I would use for dialog editing, foley, and mixing. Could I have my composer working on his stuff while dialog is being edited, and foley recorded?
This is exactly the usual professional workflow. The composer, dialogue editor, Foley team, ADR team/s and SFX team/s all more or less working on their areas concurrently and then they all hand-off to the mixing team when the pre-mix phase of audio post starts. I agree with Alcove that the composer would appreciate working with the edited dialogue but in practice this never happens (in my experience). Like the composer, the dialogue editor can't start work until there is a locked-off edit and with only about 9-12 weeks, the composer simply cannot wait 3 weeks or so for the dialogue editor to finish editing the production sound.
At the lo/no budget level, sound is the most difficult filmmaking area to deal with, for a number of reasons but not least because no/lo budget filmmakers are usually neither interested in nor know much about sound. Relatively experienced no/lo budget filmmakers often know a fair amount about cameras and photography, they therefore often have a fairly reasonable idea of how to identify and allocate resources: Not only at least a rough idea of the equipment needed but also a rough idea of how to identify an appropriate level of competency in those applying for positions in the camera/photography department. However, this is virtually never the case when it comes to sound, particularly audio post. I often see passable, good and sometimes even near professional quality visuals from experienced no/lo budget filmmakers but, with very few exceptions, passable is the highest level of achievement reached with the sound!
BTW, someone who is just starting out will take longer, possibly a lot longer, as they are still figuring things out ...
As usual I agree with almost everything you've said but in the case of this quote, we both know that instead of the word "will", you should have used the word "should". It might sound like semantics to others but you and I both know the reality and consequences of the difference!
Cracker: At the extreme micro-budget level, there are effectively 3 main variables to the equation of time (and cost) required: 1. What do you want to end up with (Youtube vid/low tier film fest, higher tier film fest standards, Broadcast standard TV/DVD, etc.)?, 2. What equipment/facilities are realistically required to achieve number 1, and 3. Who are you employing to do the work.
There are a lot of people out there who have good general audio knowledge (relative to a newbie) and some experience of audio post who will answer: 1. Doesn't really matter. 2. This doesn't really matter either, quality of hearing and talent is all that really matter... And who will happily to quote you 4-6 weeks.... Achieving "passable" quality is extremely unlikely and whatever your budget is, will you be getting value for your money? All tough issues to ponder/solve and there are no good or easy solutions at this level.
G
