ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 3 months ago - Susi Arnott

Has this 'voiceover' already been recorded, and/or can it be recorded again? Was the director the cameraperson themselves?
3 aspects come to mind:
Script (what's being said and why; is it responding to what's happening, 'then and there'? Point of view?)
Voice and delivery (calm, measured, or 'breathless' enough to be engaged in the scene?)
Sound perspective (is it 'dead' sound of a studio, or containing tiny but understandable reverb from being recorded in the same room as the action? Recorded on what microphone, and in what relationship to it? Why not encourage director to record the lines 'as if', on the same kit in same or similar room?)

8 years, 3 months ago - Matt Thompson

If you cannot record the audio again you could fix it to some extent by getting a sound mixer to play it through a reverb - convolution ones are far more realistic.

But for a more convincing effect do what Susi suggests as all the subtle movements and going off mike etc in real life will 'sell' it. Given that you already have to sell it as mock I would strongly recommend her method.

Matt

8 years, 3 months ago - Alan Deacon

if it has to be in the studio:

It could depend quite a lot on what mic you use - If you haven't actually recorded yet, then try to pick either a shotgun mic, or, if you only have large diaphragm condenser, see if it has a hyper-cardioid pick-up pattern available... Try to make the environment as dead as possible

If you have already recorded. Does it have any ambience from the studio, or is it dead sounding. The latter is better if you want to add artificial ambience/reverb. In the case of the former, you could always try a de-reverb plug-in such as SPL de-verb or iZotope RX, before you add ambience back on it.

Remember that EQ makes a huge difference to the perception of distance/mic quality, etc. You are almost certainly going to want to filter both low and high frequencies and perhaps any room overtones. You could also try some sort of EQ match to bring it into line with location sound. (all before you add reverb).

Is the VO supposed to sound like it's being picked up by the camera's built in mic? EQ, some reverb and a hint of distortion may be what's needed...

If you want to send me some files to try some of these techniques, then please do...

Cheers,

Alan