sound manipulation in FCP

[Jack King]

Hi there folks,

Just wondering if anyone knows how to make non diagetic sound, sound like diagetic sound? I want to make my imported soundtrack sound like its coming from a stereo player in the room where the scene is set. I had assumed this would be a simple filter trick, but cant seem to find anything? Does anyone know how to best get this effect?

Thanks alot! Cheers, jack :)

[Mark Bournes]

Do you have soundtrack pro? If you do you might be able to manipulate the sound there.

[Martin Mayer]

Try adding the Reverberation filter, and choosing one of the many "room" presets therein.

(And crop off the extreme treble and bass frequencies.)

[David Tamés]

In addition to the reverberation and equalization that Martin Mayer suggests, you might consider other cues to inform the viewer that the sound is diegetic, for example, changing the volume slightly depending on the shot and the placement of the sound source in 3D space, other sounds related to the device, like the sound of a knob click when you turn it on, and the often used (at the risk of cliche) is static between stations as you change stations on a radio). Sound is half of the picture, so these considerations are all very important in narrative work.

[Jack King]

Hiya guys

Don't have soundtrack pro, but I think Martins and David's advice should work fine. The sound is supposed to be emanting from behind a closed door, so it worked well to crank up the volume once the door opens (although thats just common sense really!). I'll have a go with the reverb, i reckon it'll do fine.

Cheers guys! Appreciate your help :)

Jack

[Chris Hocking]

Another more traditional method that works fantastically is actually re-recording the soundtrack. For example, burn the sounds you need onto CD, play them on a CD player in the other room and record that. It's a bit of extra work, but it will sound real - because it is real. Back in the good old days (way before I was born - or even thought of!), audio designers used basketball stadiums as reverb units. The results are actually quite good. Although you can use filters in FCP, Soundtrack Pro, Logic, Protools, etc. it may take less time to just do the re-record than spending a great deal of time messing around with settings. Just a thought!

[David Tamés]

Chris' re-recording idea is an excellent one, if you can do it, it will, as he suggests, save time. And if you have a chance, consider going for the gold and recording it in stereo. I often use a consumer video camera w/ stereo mic for recording ambient sound, ambience in stereo will give your soundtrack lots of life. There are issues of perspective change when you go from wide to close in terms of the shot, the thing to do there is reduce the spread of the stereo field a little bit.