conleec

Just for the sake of clarity, if you purchase ProTools, you'll need to use RTAS or AAX plugins, not VST. I'm sure this was a typo, but wanted to make sure it didn't confuse. For post-related plugins, I recommend McDSP's ML4000. It's amazingly versatile and can be used for everything from noise gating, to noise reduction, to positive expansion. Once you get your head around it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. And +1 on Altiverb and Speakerphone 2 (although if on a budget there are cheaper alternatives). Check out McDSP's Futzbox; it comes on sale once in a while. Not as full featured as Speakerphone 2, but good nonetheless. I also recommend ProTools, especially if doing post in the U.S. However, as others have mentioned, if you're doing projects that don't require a tremendous amount of interaction with other ProTools users, then I say use whatever system you're comfortable with. If you're interested in doing surround on a budget, then honestly Audition is hard to beat. Reaper is fully capable of doing surround, but it requires a pretty deep understanding of routing and setting up your channels properly. ProTools and Nuendo will both do surround VERY capably, however, ProTools requires the Complete Production Toolkit which will bring your total cost upwards of $2500 at retail. Nuendo isn't cheap either at $1800, but comes out of the box, ready to mix surround. Good luck! Chris Conlee

I had forgotten that a lot of modern televisions have some form of auto gain, which will ride the quiet sections and make 'em sound REALLY funky, as some others have mentioned above. I learned this lesson a couple years ago after doing a small video project for an indie producer and then he called saying my "mix" sounded like crap. Eventually, I ended up driving to his house and I figured it out. Now I tell every client to make sure than damn setting is turned off, because if you have any dynamics at all in your mix, that setting will screw with it big time. I assume on commercially produced DVDs and broadcasts folks just aren't aware of it, because they're not personally attached to or familiar with the source material. Either that or what they're typically watching has been so compressed that it doesn't trip the triggers anyway.

Srab, Actually the tool I mentioned will cause EXACTLY the problem you're mentioning if not used carefully. Basically what I've been doing is using ML4000 to drop the backgrounds by a predetermined amount when the overall sound falls below a certain threshold. That can definitely cause backgrounds to "pulse" under the dialog. Using a multiband expander helps somewhat because you can choose to a degree what sounds you want to attenuate and by how much. But this should also be used with careful high/low pass filtering, etc., to minimize the kinds of ugliness you're describing. Also pay careful attention to the attack and release of your expander settings. Depending on the qualities of the sounds you're capturing (dialog vs sharp foley, for example) these settings will make a huge difference in how effective the technique is. There's definitely no one-size-fits-all setting. Chris

Say what you want, but that movie was still better than Dark Knight Rises, IMHO. At least it didn't take itself so f'ing serious, and I could understand what the characters were saying. Chris

As a television and motion picture editor, I can tell you I almost NEVER get room tone to work with. Occasionally it makes the sound report and I can order it up. But it definitely seems to be something that isn't often done anymore. And as has been mentioned numerous times, it really only helps if it's done for each setup, because every time the camera or lights move, the sound changes. Age old problem, made better (and worse) by the fact that we now have a bunch of tools to help deal with it. Chris

My new favorite plugin for minimizing even broadband noises is McDSP's ML4000. The multi-band compander is fabulous for this sort of thing. Granted, I'm only cleaning up my own recorded SFX most of the time, but the ability to attenuate a frequency range by 10-18dB below a certain threshold is great for making ugly BGs dissapear between spoken words or intended SFX. It can take some tweaking, but it's worked miracles these past few days. The other morning I recorded some crows going bat-sh*t crazy in my Los Angeles neighborhood, and was then disappointed by the amount of traffic wash that was spoiling the recording. But between some high-pass filtering, some strategic EQ and some ML4000 magic, I ended up with a doggone clean version of crows with nary a sound of traffic anywhere. Add a little McDSP Analog Channel mojo to phatten it all up, and I have a SFX that I'm proud to file in my growing library. Chris

Yeah, I have iZotope RX2 and love it as well. But, just to be fair, Spectral Layers works on the Mac too. Although not as a plugin.

Marc, I think you're mistaken about the price, right? Isn't it less than $300 street?