Mihail Sustov – AP1 Production Blog

When editing the dialogue for the documentary I asked industry professionals that were available to have a listen to the work in progress so that I have a clear idea of what I need to change and what I’m doing right. I was very lucky that at the time Location Sound Recordist Grant Bridgeman was at the University of Lincoln giving guest lectures and workshops to the level 2 Audio Production Students and I met him in the Sound Theater during his preparation for a workshop. He Listened to my edits and audio and gave me specific tips on how to improve some of the clips –
As most of the location recordings were made in a live environment the main issue was that there was a constant crowd noise and low end rumble – Grant Suggested that I make a harsh 100Hz Cut with a noise reduction plug-in or EQ which would sort it out. He also told me to be careful with the lower frequencies of the music tracks as the room had a bass trap and could be quite tricky.
Most of the dialogue in general had that low/low-mid rumble due to the crowd noises so I made harsh cuts at 100Hz like Grant Suggested and slight dips in the lower and higher mids which sorted out the problem.
The audio clips have been checker-boarded for easier edits and for the achievement of better fades/transitions.
All of the dialogue tracks run separately and are rooted to individual SUB faders for each sequence which send the sygnal to a Dialogue Master Fader – I did the same for the musical tracks.  The musical level automations throughout the documentary I did using the touch/latch option in pro-tools which involves manual fader operation. This gives me more control over the levels and a more natural feel for the flow of the music – this way I can quickly react to what is happening on screen and adjust the levels to my preference instantly. This technique was shown to me by Chris Hainstock when I asked him to give me feedback on my work in progress.

These are techniques that were taught to all Audio Production Students throughout levels 1 to 3 of our course by professionals such as Grant Bridgeman, Chris Hainstock , David McSherry etc. I have also used these techniques in previous projects and have achieved good results with great feedback.
Phil Stephens – Documentary and Film Producer, Chris Hainstock – Sound Editor with extensive experience within the industry also had a listen to the audio at a different stage of the post-production. They noticed some issues with the sync. of the audio and also some inconsistencies with the dialogue levels in a couple of scenes. After a few quick edits and changes they listened to it again and approved.
Having others (especially industry professionals) listening to my work while it’s till in progress helps me determine whether I’m going in the right direction and how I can improve the quality of the production – LO4 + LO6