Looking for a sound editor for a short voice over

Faybel · Feb 24, 2015

Hey guys,

my name is Jan and I´m a 23yo German filmmaker. In May 2014 I was in Chernobyl/Ukraine to document the aftermaths of the nuclear catastrophe in 1986. The 10 minute documentary is more an artistic approach than a real informative documentary.

The film is kind of experimental , because although it´s actually a documentary, it´s structured as one great visual poem, consisting of 3 parts (stanzas). Each stanza will be introduced by a short lyrical poem, written by an American screenwriter friend of mine and recorded by a British narrator.

Now the reason for this post: I received the .wav file of the narrator a couple of days ago and I tried to edit and mix the narration into the sound mix of the film. Unfortunately my results are not satisfying at all. Therefore I´m now looking for someone who is able to handle Comps, EQs, Reverbs and who understands his work. The narrator´s recording needs to be altered so that it fits into the sound mix of the documentary. It´s only 1 minute voice over in total, so it won´t be too time consuming (hopefully ;D).

If anyone out there feels up to a new challenge, I´d be so glad if you could help me out. Unfortunately I can´t pay you anything, but your work will be credited in the credits of the film (the least I can do). Furthermore i really think that it´s an exiting and interesting project to work on.

I´ll provide all interested parties with a unreleased LQ version of the film.

Many thanks in advance,
Jan

Alcove Audio · Feb 24, 2015

You can send me PM. You may want to contact APE (AudioPostExpert) as well, who is also on this forum; he's in the UK, so is quite a bit closer than I am.

Tiko · Feb 25, 2015

I can also do this. Professional quality guaranteed. Pm or email me: tiko [at] rokki.net

In addition, if you're missing any music I can help with that as well. Check out my work here: www.soundcloud.com/colasola

- Tiko

AudioPostExpert · Feb 25, 2015

Faybel said:
The narrator´s recording needs to be altered so that it fits into the sound mix of the documentary. It´s only 1 minute voice over in total, so it won´t be too time consuming (hopefully ;D).

Unfortunately, I don't have free studio time at the moment to offer my help. I'm a little confused by your description of what you're after though. As a general rule, narration does not fit in the mix as such but sits on top of it. It would be rare for example to add reverb to narration to get it to sit within the mix.

Tiko said:
Professional quality guaranteed.

Careful about offering guaranteed professional quality Tiko! You seem to be a music composer and unless you have experience working in a commercial audio post house (as a re-recording engineer) in all likelihood you don't actually know what creating a professional sound mix entails. For example, do you know what R128 is and how to achieve it? In all probability the OP does not need a professional sound mix, he probably just needs a mix which sounds decent on Youtube or a similar online service but: As a rule, you need to find out the specifications of the mix/audio deliverables required and whether or not you have the equipment/knowledge to meet those requirements before guaranteeing "professional quality".

G

Tiko · Feb 25, 2015

AudioPostExpert said:
Careful about offering guaranteed professional quality Tiko! You seem to be a music composer and unless you have experience working in a commercial audio post house (as a re-recording engineer) in all likelihood you don't actually know what creating a professional sound mix entails. For example, do you know what R128 is and how to achieve it? In all probability the OP does not need a professional sound mix, he probably just needs a mix which sounds decent on Youtube or a similar online service but: As a rule, you need to find out the specifications of the mix/audio deliverables required and whether or not you have the equipment/knowledge to meet those requirements before guaranteeing "professional quality".

G

You're probably on the right track here. So I'll clarify myself:

When I said professional quality - I admit I used the term too lightly - I didn't mean I'll take indie production audio and make it sound like a big studio film with a huge budget. I meant I can do what the OP needs, using the tools I use every day to make a living with no problem. We're talking about mixing in a minute of narration. Do I need to be an expert on broadcast audio to do that?
Audio production is what I do for a living (on the music side), but I haven't worked in a commercial audio post house as a re-recording engineer (nor any other position). I'm not sure I agree that it means I don't know about mixing audio though.

Anyway thanks for pointing that out and my sincere apologies, I had no intention of stepping on your profession.

Musically,
Tiko

AudioPostExpert · Feb 25, 2015

Tiko said:
We're talking about mixing in a minute of narration. Do I need to be an expert on broadcast audio to do that?

Probably not but it depends on what/where the OP is intending to use the piece.

Tiko said:
Audio production is what I do for a living (on the music side) ... I'm not sure I agree that it means I don't know about mixing audio though.

I never said or meant to imply that you don't know how to mix audio. However, mixing sound for TV/film is a very different animal to mixing other types of audio and especially different to mixing music! I was a music producer/mixer for a number of years (and still am on rare occasions) and the learning curve from music mixing to TV/film mixing was a long, steep and expensive one!

Unfortunately, music producers usually don't even know that there are significant differences between music mixing and TV/film mixing, let alone know what those differences are or actually being able to implement them. This can cause severe problems for low budget filmmakers who think they can save a few bucks by getting the composer/music producer to mix the sound as well as the music. I'm sometimes asked to fix these problems but usually there is no easy fix and starting again from scratch is the only solution. This costs the filmmaker far more than if they'd just gone to an audio post specialist/re-recording mixer in the first place and on more than one occasion has resulted in the filmmakers having to shelve their film!

I'm not saying that you should not offer audio post or re-recording services, I just think you should at least know what professional TV/film specifications are before guaranteeing professional quality.

G

Faybel · Feb 25, 2015

AudioPostExpert said:
I'm a little confused by your description of what you're after though. As a general rule, narration does not fit in the mix as such but sits on top of it. It would be rare for example to add reverb to narration to get it to sit within the mix.

G

Hey there,

yes, you´re absolutely right with what you´re saying. I rather meant it should harmonize with the rest of the sound mix, however, when I edit the sound, the voice over is more a foreign body sitting on top of the rest of the mix. It just sounds wrong...

Cheers,
Jan

aspiringsoundguy · May 29, 2015

is this still available by any chance? would love to give it a try