In my 12 years of work on audio for documentaries, I have learned how to craft the soundtrack to tell stories. Sometimes this is not only connected to what directors like but also what is necessary for a successful festival submission in terms of audio. These 5 tips are the cornerstones of what needs to be done in sound to not raise any flags when submitting to a festival.
Consistent production sound
As a sound editor, my goal is to let voices sound consistent. Production audio consists of the voice part, production sound effects like a passing motorbike, and the general background. One of the hardest recurring scenes is a dialogue in a driving car, with lots of different RPMs from the car’s engine. I’d like to work on production sound until the quality of voices is not only consistent but also that production sound effects and the background flow seamlessly from one shot to the other. Sometimes I break this rule intentionally to let the listener be aware of the documentary aspect.
Audio volume
Although there are no written rules for audio volume for festival submissions, there are conventions. With your documentary, you’d like to stand out with clear voices and a full spectrum of music. To mix a film over 90 minutes or longer and keep track of the overall loudness is an art that mixers learn over many years. I’d like to keep voices intelligible (until we intentionally want to create ambiguity). Festivals manually increase or decrease the volume of films, even within short blocks where each film has an individual audio volume relative to the speaker system.
Stay away from stereo
Especially with larger screening rooms, there arises an issue if you submit your audio in stereo. People sitting closer to the screen hear the voices from either the right or the left, not from the center of the screen. I once heard somebody say that the greatest addition in immersive sound (Surround, Atmos, etc.) is not the surround speakers behind you, but the grounding of dialogue through the center channel. Make use of the center channel to keep your audience focused.
Noises that distract from voices
Our ears are fantastic at filtering useful information and blocking all the rest from our perception. However, this costs a lot of resources for the brain, and we don’t want to oversaturate its algorithm. Instead, make sure that the voices are free from useless artifacts like exaggerated mouth clicks, lavalier rustling, too much bass, and too little high frequency in the voices.
Fades and volume automation
One of the most painful experiences is noisy transitions between audio material. There is the chance that you can’t hear an issue with your speaker system, but in a larger theater you might hear a terrible noise. That can happen at the end or start of audio clips or when transitioning between them. A rule of thumb here is to always use fades, even if you do not hear any issue. Sudden volume changes in a music track can also be very frustrating for your audience; be gentle in transitions between music and try not to bump the music track too much.
I hope these 5 tips help you decide on your soundtrack for your documentary. Reach out to me if you have any questions.