Post-Production : Adding Foley by James Dunn

James Dunn

Adding Foley

So I'm adding foley to a short film, doors/footsteps, the usual. When the dialogue was recorded certain things like doors opening are in the audio but not good enough to use as foley, but I can't get rid of it because it's was recorded along with the dialogue from the boom mic. What do you do when things like that bleed into the dialogue but aren't useful. Thanks, James

D Marcus

If there is no dialogue over the other sounds you can edit them out. If there is incidental audio under the dialogue tracks you replace the lines using ADR.

Bruno Coon

Hi, my editorial experience is mostly in music but I have done a few of these. Assuming you can't do the right thing, which would be ADR, you need to sweeten the production 'effect' you already have. Find something that blends with it or masks it. Use pitch and tempo manipulation to mix the two together and imagine that you are covering a ding in a fender with Bondo. Assuming you wish it was quiet behind the dx but an unwanted stage noise is there, look for an ambient bed that can come up a few db slowly, mask the offending noise and sneak out. A car-by does this sometimes or wind in the trees. Something believable in context but that can still disappear to the listener. Then play it for someone who doesn't know what you did. You will never be able to listen to that section without hearing it for what it is but to a neutral party it might be fine. Good luck.

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