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Post sound is a difficult world to get into. I tried to go the "no school" route before I gave up and enrolled. I learned more in my first quarter than I did from a year of teaching myself. I know for a fact it's do-able because people make it in without a degree. I'm just not entirely sure how they manage to teach themselves everything they know.

There are lots of very specified jobs that require different sets of skills.

Based on what skill set you want to focus on, you'll need access to different types of equipment.

There are two ways you can go in post production, you can either work for a post house, or work as a freelancer as a supervisor.

I'm going to focus on a post house route.

If you choose to work at a post house (in America), you'll need to know Pro Tools. In many places in Europe you will need to know Nuendo. There's slim to no wiggle room in this regard. Both of these programs are designed for the types of workflows required in post production from receiving an OMF to delivering editing sessions built for a mixing stage.

In a full fledged tv editing job, you'll need to be able to turn over a 30 minute tv show in 2-3 days. Frankly, the type of people who can do this have been working on television for the last 10-20 years. I personally have a huge admiration for these editors. A lot of people criticize how bad television shows sound these days, but knowing what's happening behind the scenes you really have to admire what they're able to pull of in such a short amount of time.

Independent features in a post house have similar frames of time. You might have a day or a week depending on what the producers set aside as a budget for post sound

Probably the lowest prerequisite job in a post house is an assistant editor, or a tech. They're surprisingly hard jobs to get, but they're great for getting your foot in the door.

Assistant editors are often the people who clean up sessions, re-label sfx, archive tapes, and perform session conforms. A lot of this work is deceptively difficult, and is worth reading about more in depth.

Techs are usually the people who keep things running properly. I can't remember too much about the common pre-reqs for this job, but I know that having pro-tools certifications are helpful to have. (In America at least)


Most editing positions are the least hardware intensive

If you decide to work in sound effects or BGs editing, you should know Sound Miner. As far as I've experienced so far, it's the industry standard for sound effects management and editing.

These two jobs are extremely stylistic and rewarding jobs, but it's a two edged sword. You're in service to a director and a sound supervisor. Your job is to give them what they want, and you need to be the type of person who can keep their opinions to themselves and do what you're told. You might work meticulously on a scene only to have one of these two people say they hate it and have to start over again. You'll find more and more when you work in these positions your job becomes more about good communication than actual editing.

Foley editing is pretty simple and usually doesn't have a single dedicated editor unless you're working on a very foley intensive film.

Dialog editing (aka the dark arts) requires a very specific type of mind set. Creatively it's fairly limiting unless you have a fair amount of time on your hands. Almost every production needs dialog editors, but it's pretty difficult to get into without some form of mentorship. It's impossible to practice unless you're already working on a film. I haven't checked out the new Purcell book, but I really hope the offer an OMF/AFF of a reel to work on.

____

Now on to your specific questions
>
> Is it possible to pick up some books off amazon and start developing a demo reel?

Yes! I think the biggest first step is to get a firm idea of post sound, and the physics involved with audio. I'd strongly recommend
Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound and Audio in Media

I think the biggest thing you need to know about making a demo reel is to get hired at a post house it needs to have original content. No one cares if you re-dub a youtube clip of a movie you like. If they've seen the movie you're re-dubbing, you already lost. It could be an awesome sound replacement, but they know what it's supposed to sound like, and they're looking for a multimillion dollar sound from an amazing sound studio. It's definitely worth adding something that shows you can edit for explosions or action heavy scenes, so in that regard, redoing a youtube clip would be useful.

I would start out with re-doing audio though! It's a good practice, and it helps build a portfolio for freelance clients when you're starting out.

> Any resources that i should look at before i pursue this?

Check out the blog designing sound. A lot of the masters of sound design hang out on this blog. Sound stack exchange You'd actually be surprised who hangs out on this forum. There's a number of knowledgable people who hang out here. I pop in time to time while browsing Reddit to see if anything interesting is happening here, though it's pretty slow.

I saw your exchange with KarateJesus. Be careful how you talk to people online. It doesn't matter now too much, but if you're getting into a field like post sound that's a people's business, you need to treat people as best as you can all the time. He didn't say what you wanted to hear, but a lot of this business is luck. You need to know the right people at the right time. The freelance jobs out there usually come from people you already know in the business. Otherwise keep looking on Craigslist until a job shows up. Another good route is to do work pro-bono for your local college to meet people.

> Would a $1200 online class at berklee be worth it/ help me get started?

No, probably not. I think a one year school could prepare you for how involved post sound is. A four year school couldn't even prepare you really. A class or education can help you better understand what's expected of you in the professional world though. I think most of those programs are designed to make you technically proficient with programs and to get an understanding of the pipeline of post sound, which is not at all what's important. Workflows and technical proficiency change work place to work place. What's most important is that you're a good story teller, and a compatible co-worker everything else is just luck and adaptability to the situation.

TD;LR
Post is demanding, and requires very archaic skill sets. I hope I didn't scare you away from post, but it's good to know what you're potentially getting into.

you write the film, it is your decision how the audio of the film will sound. "movie realism" does not necessarily need realism at all. the viewers will expect to here some kind of degradation of the movie very similar to old cassette tape or something like this. the emotional response of the viewer should be more important than realism just for realism's sake, imo.

the video linked is pretty realistic, but you might want to play with the balance between the amount of degradation and the intelligibility of the played back sound - just like our memory can be very selective of what we remember can be very specific the playback could be "washed out" and somewhat unspecific for some sounds while certain "key sounds" remain much clearer.

i can highly recommend getting a copy of michel chions book "audio-vision" - it has a lot of great thoughts on sound for film and especially on the diegesis of sounds and "semi-diegetic" sounds like radio or telephone sounds in film.

in my opinion, there is a lot of potential in using these kinds of sounds in a movie - you can really establish a lot just by changing the sound perspective:

e.g.: you can hear the sound as it would play in the room (with degradation of the film recording + reverb perspective of the room it plays in) and then have it change to a "direct perspective" -- how the sound would have been for someone who is present at the recording of the video -- which would for most viewers/listeners have a strong effect of suggesting that you change from simply "watching a film" to actively "remembering" / from "outside" of the protagonist to the inside -- just by simple sound perspective changes.

> this sub has kind of ignored it

Sorry, but you are mistaken. The subreddit itself is open to all facets of the topic of Audio Post. Nowhere are the mods removing or discouraging artistic discussion in any way. We've certainly tried to encourage discussions regarding artistic choices via some of the automated posts in the past. Therefore, if one part of it is not being addressed by the random decisions of people coming here enough to your liking, then please do post about it more.

In the wiki (which people are free to add things to), the Specializations page has several links applicable to this, starting with the fifth link down

> Book - Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisible Art [Paperback]
> http://www.amazon.com/Dialogue-Editing-Motion-Pictures-Invisible/dp/0240809181/

there's also

> Book - Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema [Paperback] - http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Design-Expressive-Effects-Cinema/dp/0941188264/
> YouTube Sound Design Videos Tutorial on Organic Textures - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuAYMv5tpL8
> Tutorial on Atmosphere Sounds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPR_Xjwccv8
> Tutorial on Impact Sounds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMgovfQjxUA

The Links page in the wiki offers numerous blogs and podcasts to check out and many cover the art of audio quite extensively.

If you think there is a lack of opportunity in the posts here for artistic discussion, it is only because you've chosen to see it that way. Any one of these could have been opened up to that facet of AP

• Several posts on the mixes of films and shows
  
• Several posts on making SFX
  
• Several posts regarding choices in mixing
  
  For instance, posts like these would be great for opening up artistic discussion / interpretation
  
  
• How to Make an FPS Sci-fi Rocket Launcher - [02:44]
  
• Underwater filter for sound effects?
  
• How would you make a convincing alien noise / screech with everyday objects?
  
• Cloth for crowds: yea or nay?
  
• Sound design plugin recommendations
  
• Trying to create some 'natural' teleport sounds
  
• Create Emotional Dark Bells/Mallets in Massive
  
• Sound design for flashbacks?
  
• 60's -70's styled rock music sources
  
• Exterior scenes and ADR
  
• I'm doing an AMA in the Bates Motel sub as the Supervising Sound Editor if anyone is interested.
  
• Processing ADR to be consistent with production dialogue
  
• How to "bed" dialogue in "dirty atmosphere"
  
  These posts were more specifically about artistic choices or were extremely applicable to them;
  
  
• 1st page - Will turning that recording level volume down still capture the same emotion?
  
• P2 - How do you analyse TV/Film scenes?
  
• P2 - How do you make single-location features interesting for BGs?
  
• p4 - Is it necessary to add room tone to a very quiet scene, or does this just add noise?
  
• p4 - AP Sticky April 01, 2017 - April Fools in Post. What funny sounds have you added to productions?
  
• p5 - Ways to make a scene unsettling
  
• P5 - As a sound designer, I'm noticing America has a much harsher soundscape than Europe. Anyone have any other examples?
  
• p5- How clean should "messy sounds" be
  
• p5 - How to keep sub punchy during busy battle scenes?
  
• p6 - Advice for producing from an "art school perspective"
  
• p6 - Underwater Sound Design?
  
  
  TLDR - Look again
  
  
  

Whoosh.....

It's like if you asked a musician how to write a song and they responded...play notes.

There is a lot to post audio. Here are the broadest strokes...

​

Dialogue Editing - Use fades to smooth out transitions from one clip to the next. This helps with room tone shifts and hard edits. If there is a gap in audio between two lines of dialogue...add room tone that matches both sides to fill the space. Clean out clicks/pops and any unwanted sounds...cloth rustling, mic hits, radio mic breakup, director talking.

Sound Effects Editing - Add sounds that you either record or find in a sound effects library. These can be broken down into a few categories.

• Hard Effects - .door close, phone ringing, car engines and things like that.
  
• Design Effects - Sounds that are less tangible. Like whooshes or other synthesized sounds.
  
• BGs (backgrounds) - Room tones, wind, eerie tones, birds, crickets, rain. Anything that is used to create atmosphere.
  
• Foley - Very specific and sometimes subtle sounds that are usually too specific to find in a library. Footsteps, cloth movement, prop movement like belts clothing accessories, things that the actor holds and interacts with. A glass being set down on a table for example.
  
  Music/Score:
  
  This is usually handled by a composer but an editor may need to smooth edits between music transitions.
  
  After all of the audio has been editing to your liking it's time to mix.
  
  Mixing (just a few bullet points) -
  
  
• Balance dialogue levels so they are even from one clip to the next. Two people having a conversation should be relatively the same loudness. There are obviously situations where someone is softer or louder based on what is happening. But the mix is the time to set these levels.
  
• Use EQ to enhance dialogue. This could be to make the audio from two different takes or mics sound the same or it can be used for creative effect to make someone sound further away or behind a window or something like that.
  
• Set music levels. It could be really loud to carry a scene or loud at the start and then comes down when people start talking...or it could be music that is supposed to be coming from a radio. In which case you would use EQ and some other treatments to make it sound like it is coming from a speaker.
  
• Balance sound effects
  
• Pan whatever you want to be panned
  
• Futz things....make it sound like it's coming out of a phone or TV.
  
  This is a very basic look at what post audio entails. I suggest you use this to look up how each of these things is done individually. There are many different techniques and everyone has their own way of doing things. People spend their entire lives mastering this craft. It's really not something that can be summed up in a single post.
  
  Resources that have helped me over the years....
  
  
• www.pro-tools-expert.com
  
• www.groove3.com
  
• www.lynda.com
  
• Dialogue Editing For Motion Pictures (Book)
  
• Sound Effects Bible (Book)
  
• Audio Blocks....A cheap way to start finding sound effects. Not great but a good start.
  
• SoundSnap....Another sound effects subscription website.
  
• Also check out the related subreddits on this sub.

Each book approaches sound design from different angles. Sonnenschein and Chion talk more about sound design theory than technique, while Yewdall covers more of the post-production process in Hollywood (though is becoming sightly dated since technology and working conditions are still shifting).

They're all good books, and there are others as well (see http://amzn.com/1932907483), but I'm inclined to recommend Sonnenschein's book - besides giving a peek into the minds of some excellent sound designers, it does a good job of explaining a lot of the "why of sound design" that you may be looking for.

Well the 'in the wall' part is just the wire, and as long as it is 3 conductor shielded wire designed for balanced audio and approved for in wall use- you're good.

Then that wire needs to be terminated. There is no difference between XLR and TRS connectors in terms of the signal it is carrying (both are 3 conductor connectors designed to carry the hot/neutral/ground of balanced audio lines). It's just a matter of preference or budget.

If you were planning XLR wall plates and the speaker controller/selector you choose only has TRS -- you can just run short cables of TRS to XLR between the controller and the wall-- the balanced signal is the same regardless of TRS or XLR so you can adapt between them easily. (I'm in the same boat: my controller interface only has TRS outputs and my speakers are XLR inputs only so I use these. Obviously there are cheaper versions out there than the Mogami, but you get the idea).

You could also consider wiring combo jacks for your wall plates, letting you connect either XLR or TRS to the same jack as needed.

Hope that helps.

Check out this book, it's very good and explains the process in great detail. Even though I had previously done a lot of dlg editing, I still learned a lot!! I highly recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Dialogue-Editing-Motion-Pictures-Invisible/dp/0415828171/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549700412&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=dialogue+editing+for+motion+pictures&dpPl=1&dpID=51Sch4Y7zgL&ref=plSrch

Better fans in your computer. Big noctua fans are very quiet for a lot of airflow.
AMD CPUs are crazy crazy hot, so get a massive water cooler for it. You can buy closed-loop systems that are very little work to install. If you can fit a 360mm radiator in your case, and load the radiator up with nice quiet fans, you’ll likely cool the processor better than with a simple heat sink based radiator and quieter.

Something like this will help keep your processor cool

As for your GPU, whatever you can do to keep it not working too hard while you’re recording. You may need to disable some of your displays while you’re recording.

Power Supply can also make a bit of noise. My audio computer uses an EVGA Gold power supply that has an “eco” switch on it that supposedly makes it quieter by disabling the fan in it. It does disable the fan, but the unit makes a high pitched ringing sound. However, with eco mode off, it’s a very very quiet power supply as the fan does not spin very fast.

This one is pretty good:

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Science-Fiction-William-Whittington/dp/0292714319

It touches on horror a little bit, but is a great read either way. It's more about the philosophical approach to genre sound, rather than the practical approach.

/u/jpellizzi outlines the basic workflow well in his answer. For a more in-depth primer, consider getting John Purcell's book on dialog editing.

Good luck!

Michel Chion's Audio-Vision is about as definitive a book as we're likely to get about the use of sound in film and its analysis. There's an edition with a foreword by Walter Murch that I recommend. These two writings by Murch are also good tools to have in your arsenal. David Sonnenschein's book on Sound Design will add even more robustness to your analytical ability.

John Purcell has a handful of nice tutorial's online and an amazing book on dialogue editing: Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures: A Guide to the Invisible Art

If that means it will only pay attention to the 'left' signal, then yes. However, if it sums the two inputs together, you wouldn't record anything at all.

A better solution may be to get a proper adapter cable that is designed to take two XLR balanced signals and combine them in stereo to one unbalanced TRS connection. You wouldn't need the 'right' channel, obviously, during mono voiceover recordings, but you'd have the option in the future if you are trying to capture a stereo source. Here's a link to an example: https://www.amazon.com/HOSA-RT-ANGLE-3-5-LENGTH/dp/B000068O5K/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506093409&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=2+xlr-f+to+1%2F8%22+trs

Either way, it does make more sense to record a voiceover in mono, but just make sure that if you're doing it with your current adapter you consider the two scenarios at the beginning.

Great for basics:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578201160/

Advanced:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0240803833

Here's what I propose:

1. get and read John Purcell's book on dialogue editing
   http://www.amazon.com/Dialogue-Editing-Motion-Pictures-Invisible/dp/0415828171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412346038&sr=8-1&keywords=john+purcell+editing
   
   dialogue is THE most challenging and important thing about the audio post process for film, and John's book lays out an excellent workflow for approaching what is going to be the majority of your sound post work.
   
   also, recognize that on proper film projects the post audio is executed by TEAM of SPECIALISTS who have honed the specific part of their craft over years of effort. Because you are not a team, and because you are not a specialist in each of the disciplines being attempted, you will not be able to execute on that level. adjust your expectations accordingly.
   
   
2. Once you've read the book, re-evaluate whether you want to tackle the dialogue edit yourself. If the answer is no, then make sure whomever you find to do this for you has AT LEAST the basic skill set described in the book. if yes, then begin work.
   
   3)work patiently and dilligently through the edit. The worse your location audio is the more difficult this will be. Don't get fancy, but also don't let problems linger. Bring in a trusted set of ears to evaluate your work periodically. Don't have them evaluate the mix (you haven't mixed dialogue yet), have them listen for editorial problems.
   
   4)with the dialogue finely edited, do a basic levelling pass. Make sure you're listening at a calibrated and consistent level, then ride the faders to taste across the entire film. NEVER change the level of your speakers. Recognize that this basic levelling pass is not a dialogue mix.
   
   5)with the dialogue roughly prepared, do a music editorial pass. listen to ONLY the music, and make sure that all of the ins, outs and transitions are to your liking. then do basic levelling as with the dialogue, but do not consider basic levelling to be a mix.
   
   
3. shop for a studio with an appropriate mix environment and engineer to do the ACTUAL dialogue mix. Look for a facility with a mid to far field 5.1 speaker setup, and an engineer that specializes in dialogue mixing. Pure music mixers will take your money and F your film up, so avoid them. find a film shop.
   
   -yes, i'm advocating you spend even more money on this step. its worth it. If your dialogue is pristine, you can get away with all kinds of craziness elsewhere in the sound track and in the film in general. if it has blemishes, no amount of perfection elsewhere will reduce the impression of amateurism that it will convey. If you can't afford to get your dialogue mixed, then you can't afford to release your film. find or raise the money and get this ONE step handled professionally. Mixing in this context should consist of appropriate volume riding, EQ, denoising, panning and reverb. These are the types of parameters that really do have to be evaluated in a proper listening environment. That's what the money goes to.
   
   
4. With the dialogue mixed, re-balance the music against your final DX stem. Keep your speakers calibrated and set.
   
   8)now you have a DX and MX track, leaving you with FX to get handled. Go minimal here. don't cover everything, only cover what you feel needs a sound in the context of DX and MX. Start with BGFX and do a pass through the full film. This could take 4-5 days. Next will be foley (foley is recorded sound performed to picture), and finally you'll have spotted fx (doors, cars, guns, etc)
   
   
5. Do a basic levelling of all of the FX, and bring your trusted friend back to re-evaluate. Make revisions as necessary. If you can, book two hours with a studio to playback the mix in a proper listening environment and make change notes on a notepad against timecode as the film is playing back. make more revisions and re-evaluate once more.
   
   ----
   
   this will get you as close as you can get to making something show-worthy. Its an immense effort for even a seasoned pro to take on alone - and that's with no learning curve. Be patient and don't cut corners.
   
   good luck.

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Film-Television-Tomlinson-Holman/dp/0240813308

Is actually an awesome book on Sound, location and post. It starts with a basic explanation of sound propagation and frequency range, but then moves into booming techniques and other sorts. Highly recommended.

I have two of these and they are excellent.

They're probably just going to be boiled down versions of this.

Which you can read and apply if you're pretty technical about it. Then you can compile with youtube/google lessons on software.

Thank you. At the very least, I won't have to worry about taping a lavalier under my clothes are having it visibly clipped on.

Would this be a decent shotgun mic without breaking the bank?
https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT875R-Gradient-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B000BQ79W0/

https://www.amazon.com/Location-Sound-Bible-Record-Professional/dp/1615931201/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=55240551519&hvadid=274750187689&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9031148&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3927373311879752157&hvtargid=kwd-301681682621&keywords=location+sound+bible&qid=1555682498&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Start here: Purcell

"Dialogue Editing for Motion Pictures" by John Purcell

http://www.amazon.com/Dialogue-Editing-Motion-Pictures-Invisible/dp/0240809181/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368159453&sr=8-1&keywords=dialogue+editing+for+motion+pictures

There is in fact a book called The Sound Effects Bible

[similarly informative: the carl stalling project] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Carl-Stalling-Project-1936-1958/dp/B000002LJE)

Trackball can't be beat for editing. For setting sliders/pots/clip positions they're invaluable, because your clicking finger isn't also resting on the device you're using to point with, so when you release the click, it doesn't move or bump the mouse. Plus infinite scrub, just keep on rolling the ball.

Kensington Trackball Pro
They're in Every. Single. Studio. I've ever worked in. Some boards even have a hole cut specially for them. I've seen some editors who literally have never used a computer without one, they can't use a "common" mouse.

I've got a stockpile at this point in case they ever stop making them.