Dialog Editing is a key focus area at SoundMAX3D and we leave no stone unturned to make sure each projects dialog gets the treatment it deserves through our experienced team of dialog editors.
Dialogue is the most important part of the film because it makes the film seem mature and solidly crafted. … It can elevate a movie to a new level. Good dialogue creates better characters because it shows their depths. Bad dialogue can make characters seem bland and boring just like a regular person.
Our workflow at SoundMAX3D
The best dialogue starts with the use of proper recording techniques during production but once we get the files from the picture editors our process looks a little like this:
- Organizing files within each set of audio tracks
- Sorting through tracks and removing regions so only usable or preferred/best mics are remaining.
- Once the appropriate mics are in place: adjusting fade ins, fade outs, cross fades, and filling in holes as necessary.
- Removing unwanted sounds such as pops, clicks, hums, thumps, or other noises that can’t be removed by real-time mixing. Sometimes the dialog editor can remove other non-desirable sounds like dogs barking or sirens.
- Repairing sounds that can’t be fixed by real-time mixing (such as mic dropouts)
- Editing ADR (actor’s lines that were re-recorded in the studio) and voice-over narration
The fundamentals of dialog editing - Notice how in this example there’s a long fade in and fade out. This is to help make the ambience come in and out naturally.
- In the middle, the original dialog had a hole between two regions. The dialog edit “filled” that hole and added a crossfade.
- Towards the end of the clip (the 5th region), an edit was moved slightly to clean up a bad dialog edit in the middle of a word.
- At the end, the original audio had some unwanted noise. That was replaced with clean audio from earlier in the track then faded out.
What is the main goal of a dialog editor
A dialogue editor is responsible for every sound that was recorded during the shoot. He takes the more or less finished film from the picture editor, makes sense of the edited sounds, organizes them, and finds out what works and what doesn’t. The dialogue editor wades through the outtakes to find better articulations, quieter passages, sexier breaths, and less vulgar lip smacks. He replaces washy wide-shot sound with clean close-up takes, establishes depth in otherwise flat scenes, and edits tracks for maximum punch and clarity.
Specialize tools we use
At SoundMAX3D our editors are well versed in the art of noise reduction using the latest industry standard tools including Cedar, Waves and Izotope software in efforts to provide the cleanest, sonically un altered dialog that we can achieve in order to aid the story telling process by removing any unwanted and unnecessary sounds that can distract from the narrative and which does not complement the storyline.
