How a man can watch Downton Abbey...

[rb1138]

Considered one of the worst sounding big budget movies after Public enemies.

 

Are we referring to Dark Knight Rises?

 

I remember when I saw it in IMAX there was a very distracting mismatch in the "room" in a shot-reverse-shot between Michael Caine and Christian Bale in the Gotham Manor. Michael Caine's shot sounded like it was a mile away. I was wondering why they kept that. 

 

Sometimes Nolan's too into the production dialogue thing. They should've ADRed those above shots of Caine. And Bane too. I could barely understand him the whole movie. ADR is not the enemy! Especially when masks are involved. James Earl Jones' lines as Darth Vader are amazing and I'll never forget how good they sound. However, admittedly there was probably something really simple that could've fixed Caine's shots regarding the production sound. Let's not forget that we're really fighting that, a lack of thought about sound in general by production designers, producers, and directors. I bet some clothing issue made Caine's lavalier unusable. 

 

On the other hand, I thought the The Dark Knight sounded fantastic. Later on, listened to it with headphones (which usually indicates subtle sound problems) and it sounds very clean for almost all production sound. 

 

 

Hi All

 

 Apologies a bit late in replying regarding the above posts.

 

I recorded Series 3 of "Downton Abbey", along with Boom Op Martin Ireland and Assistant/2nd Boom Jackson Milliken, I can say with my hand on my heart we have never worked as hard on a show..... the sheer amount of unwanted noise management is vast, when at Ealing Studios  (about 40% of the shoot) almost all of the servants sets are in the studio also Mary and Sybil's bedrooms, and any guest type sets, the servants sets have real flagstones throughout, and all SA's shoes need to silenced, we used rubber cork which lasted a few days before needing replaced, Jackson would do all these shoes each morning, we also of course matted and carpeted all offscreen walking entirely, the kitchen set has all the usual issues that cooking scenes can throw at you, steam fx, fire fx, pots, pans, plates, chopping and general chaos that needs to be managed in a way that allows the actors some freedom to be in the moment without having to over think their prop acting, always a fine balance.

 

The front & driveway of Highclere Castle (the family home) has very noisey gravel and this all needs silenced when out of shot, lots of carpets and mats, 

 

Radio Mics on all actors were requested by the production, this required careful planning, when there were big numbers Martin and Jackson were called 1 Hour earlier than call time, they would prep the all the Mics and Packs the night before, they were then put into a clear Make-Up type pouch with each actors name on it, initially each pouch contained a Black, Flesh and White Mic, the Transmitter and Ankle, Waist, Thigh NeoPax and Tubi-Grip, this way costume always had what they needed, through time we got to know the costumes and were able to be more specific about what was required in each actors pouch, the final Mic position was done once on set.

Despite all this effort the Radios were frustratingly noisey, corsets, jewellery, bow ties, starched shirts, lace, silk, also costume department were very clear about what positioning of the Mics was acceptable and what was not, and as such we were often compromised there.

 

Downton is one of those shows that often looks easy when you see the final product, however the reality of the coverage is unseen, when outside and for bigger set pieces a 3rd Camera will often appear, and as you know that can be a big spanner in the works,

the last thing you need is a sniper cam nailing a CU.

 

Schoeps CCM 41's on Cinela Mounts were used for all Interiors, and having listened back to it recently I can tell that in general it is those boom tracks that have been used, I know that the Producers and Nigel Heath the RRM wanted the dialogue to bite through and have mixed it with presumably some dynamic control to achieve this.

 

Wow so it is the boom track after all. 

 

 

 

That's because we need to understand the dialog.

Seriously though, if we played reality, and always used the boom with all the reverb and noise in it, it would sound like crap.

And indeed. Go back and listen to old movies and tv shows. And a lot of them sound horrible and midrangey.

 

 

Probably midrangey to EQ out all the junk. I do miss the reverb that lies with old movies and tv shows. Not sure if it's artificial or not, but there was some nice reverb on tracks in those days. Not sure if Izotope and Cedar have killed much of today's reverb as a side effect of the noise reduction process. 

 

 

 

Sawrab

Edited March 10, 2013 by srab1138

[Mirror]

6 Episodes is quite a lot of watching to "stomach".......

 

You're telling me...

 

I was trying to get interested in my wife's interests.  I wish she liked more interesting things.

[Christian Spaeth]

Kindest Regards

Brian

 

Thanks for all that inside info. From the first episode I watched I was quite certain that this must be a very stressful job for the sound crew. What with all the steadicam walk and talk shots up and down stairs and through various rooms. I didn't notice a lot of ADR so hats off to your crew... on some interiors (especially the first episode of season 3 I think) I noticed a familiar (and painful) sound: the whine of an HMI, cutting in and out with the closeup of one of the actors. Now I bet they were ARRIs, the sound is just too familiar to me. Not every HMI whines though, but I never understood why expensive professional lighting equipment can make that kind of noise that easily drowns out a RED camera fan. As little as one can do about it on set, I wonder why in this case post didn't filter that out?

[Marc Wielage]

I recorded Series 3 of "Downton Abbey", along with Boom Op Martin Ireland and Assistant/2nd Boom Jackson Milliken, I can say with my hand on my heart we have never worked as hard on a show..... 

 

You guys do a hell of a job on that show -- tremendously good-sounding! I've rarely heard a dramatic TV show that was this dialogue-intensive, with a dozen or more speaking parts in a single shot. Really good work.

 

I nit-picked earlier in the thread about the use of wires on an exterior with two people walking around the grounds, but only because a couple of the shots were very distant, and I felt like the boom would've sounded better. If that's the only nit I could pick out of 36 episodes, you're doing stellar (and I don't doubt it could well have been a re-recording mixer's decision). It's very possible I was just hearing a closely-placed boom combined with an extreme wide; it was only the perspective that threw me, not sound quality per se. [And this is a very common problem in American shows; realism goes out the window very often, and I get that it's not our decision to make.]

 

The show is a hoot, particularly Maggie Smith, who seems to get 90% of the snappy one-liners. It's amazing how well Americans have taken to this show, which -- believe me -- is a completely different world from life on this side of the pond. Watching this show every week is like time-travelling to another era: you really get caught up in it, and the work of the picture and sound crew makes the magic that much more believable. I don't doubt the show will sweep the Emmys again next year, and deservedly so.

[fieldmixer]

Brian, thanks to you and your crew for your work on this series. I enjoy it immensely. I have enjoyed viewing all three seasons multiple times. It will stand the test of time.

[jrd456]

It's sort of like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" only without the alien robots, the explosions, or Megan Fox, but by far the best thing about Downton Abbey is that it doesn't star Shia LaBeouf.

+1------How did LaBeouf ever become popular.He's weird looking and over acts.---POOP

 

                                                      J.D.