Dr. Varney
Pimp
During this audio play, there's a long car journey, where the characters' minds drift off into their pasts, which are described by the narrator and then there are times when my characters talk amongst themselves, in the present day.
I've given my narrator an obvious reverb, like the one you'll hear on Richard Burton's, as he narrates Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds, for instance. It puts him in a completey different environment, to the world portrayed in the story.
During the car journey, I have the sound of the car engine and wind, etc ducking down underneath my narrator's voice to then slide back up to the fore while the characters are speaking. The idea is to get a sense of shifting from past to present; thought to speech. Throughout the play, I want most of the ambient background noises to duck behind the narrator and slide back up to bring the listener back into the present day.
I've already mixed the car scene, using an overdrive unit on the car engine and then pulling back on the post-filter, to duck it. This still allows a residue of the sound through, so the listener is still aware he's travelling along in the car with the characters - except here, there is a change in emphasis in the mid range and overall volume, to boot.
It's different to a common or garden volume drop, in that I'm essentially 'compressing the sound' to make it less obvious, rather than making obvious dips and rises (which I think could just be irritating).
Now I've come to mix it again, I feel I could improve on the ducking method. Maybe simplify it somewhat...?
It's also possible with a limiter but I'm not sure how to use it properly yet. It can be done with just a simple high/low pass filter. Didn't like the effect of the compressor. It's possible with simple EQ... So many possibilities...
I could go on all day and keep trying stuff but the old ears seem to have become jaded... It would be nice to know what you guys would use, when faced with the same or similar requirement. Maybe you do stuff like this to your drums...?
Cheers
Dr. V
I've given my narrator an obvious reverb, like the one you'll hear on Richard Burton's, as he narrates Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds, for instance. It puts him in a completey different environment, to the world portrayed in the story.
During the car journey, I have the sound of the car engine and wind, etc ducking down underneath my narrator's voice to then slide back up to the fore while the characters are speaking. The idea is to get a sense of shifting from past to present; thought to speech. Throughout the play, I want most of the ambient background noises to duck behind the narrator and slide back up to bring the listener back into the present day.
I've already mixed the car scene, using an overdrive unit on the car engine and then pulling back on the post-filter, to duck it. This still allows a residue of the sound through, so the listener is still aware he's travelling along in the car with the characters - except here, there is a change in emphasis in the mid range and overall volume, to boot.
It's different to a common or garden volume drop, in that I'm essentially 'compressing the sound' to make it less obvious, rather than making obvious dips and rises (which I think could just be irritating).
Now I've come to mix it again, I feel I could improve on the ducking method. Maybe simplify it somewhat...?
It's also possible with a limiter but I'm not sure how to use it properly yet. It can be done with just a simple high/low pass filter. Didn't like the effect of the compressor. It's possible with simple EQ... So many possibilities...
I could go on all day and keep trying stuff but the old ears seem to have become jaded... It would be nice to know what you guys would use, when faced with the same or similar requirement. Maybe you do stuff like this to your drums...?
Cheers
Dr. V
