I can't believe what I've just watched! This's one of the most helpful audio-post-production tutorials I've come across so far .. gonna watch the whole Audio Post Production 101 playlist right away ... Can't thank you enough ^^
All I can say is A BIG THANK YOU & GOD BLESS YOU :) In todays world giving so much information / knowledge for free is really commendable... THANKS AGAIN!!
Thomas, your videos are absolutely excellent. I'm a third year Audio Engineering student focussing on audio post production, and your videos have been absolutely invaluable to me. I have watched the whole Post 101 series, and all your information is incredibly detailed and digestible. Keep up the great work, thank you sir!
I'm a cinema picture editor that has to sometimes do basic audio exports, but I don't know only really basic stuff about audio and this video really helps me understand the whole pos-production audio process. I can now understand what I'm getting as far as stems and can understand some of the terminology of the sound mixer/editor. Thanks much and on to the next module!
Just discovered this. Great video. I am a mix tech on maternity leave so just reminding myself of workflows. Thank you immensely, very kind of you to put this together to share.
Being a parent is a way more important job than anything we get paid to do! Enjoy your time with your family, the work will always be there for you to come back to.
Thank you very much! I am actually looking to do a more wfh work option (sound editing) as being a mix tech mum is a no-no for me. I would never see my child! Your videos are really helpful for me to brush up on skills as they are industry standard. I am in UK but it’s very very similar.
This is excellent. It would be good to look at this for managing audio for a series of video outputs, eg Amazon, Vimeo, Netflix, etc etc and how one could set all this up in in this as an example. Thank you again 🙏
I learned so much from you for our Action movie with the jackie chan stuntteam it's incredible! You taught me dialogue editing the correct way, thank you a million times 👍
I cant say how much I appreciate your videos, i think Ive watched the whole series. Would be great to see how you mix ADR in to match the scene as well
I will share what little I know. For me the best inspiration in post audio is an Australian YT series called The Big Lez Show. Season 1 is a masterclass in overmodulation, using disjointed mix levels to create a sense of tension, and liberal use of the c-word.
At 27:50 some explanation by example is given of the industry term "Futz". A mere indie, I had never come across it before, so I looked it up. From websearching, its non-industry meaning (maybe more US than UK english?) seems to be "to do something in a carefree/careless way". From further websearching, it seems to mean "processing the audio so that it is consistent with the context" (i.e. in scene). From 27:50 and looking at the website of (the referred-to) FutzBox it seems to mean degrading the audio in various ways: "Typical post productions require distorted, or ‘futzed’ versions of dialog and other tracks. Simulations of radios, cell phones, and televisions...". This, for me, raises the question of how best to use the term, as a verb e.g. "to futz up"? 😏
Great stuff. Picked up a couple of super handy tips, especially the memory location view settings; I had no idea you could do that, it’s going to change my workflow massively!
Great series Tom! Since this video have you made the jump into PT folders, within folders? eg. Narration, DX, DX FX1 tracks going into sDX folder which is nested into a MIX BUS folder.
Thank you for your videos, They are great. Could you consider making a video on how you automate your tracks. You do it very smooth and fast and would like to know a little more about your technique.
This is has been SUPER helpful and informative. at times, a bit hard to wrap your head around, but regardless, this video is invaluable. I do have one question, for the DMX auxes. on those auxes, do you have to mute them? would you happen to know why when the dmx auxes are unmuted, they send signal to my print tracks, in turn end up pushing the meters into red. seemingly about 6-10db more gain when I have the DMXs unmuted. When I do MUTE them, the print track seems fine and levels are spot on.
That’s awesome to hear. I started out in the machine room at a post house. If you keep your head down, work hard, and step up when needed it is really easy to advance quickly. Half or more is your attitude and relationships. Skills are important but people skills are too.
Thank you, Thomas, for the reply to my questions below. Really appreciate it! I thought of a few more if you have some thoughts: 1. Spectral Speaker Calibration with plugs like Sonarworks, ARC, or hardware like Trinnov or JBL Intonato. Some use sine wave sweeps, but my understanding is that for film it's best to use the Dolby pink noise file and a real time analyzer. Do you use any of these in conjunction with the SPL reference meter? I have some great rock wool panels, but I've found this to be very helpful though think bigger studio get the process off your Master (monitors) fader in the session and into an external box like the MTRX. 2. Budget: A unique part of your series is that you're literally doing all the sound editorial and mixing (aside from foley) which reflects a lot of indie post sound engineers. This may be a bigger topic for a separate video, but it would be so helpful to get some context of this film in a business sense: the total budget for this film, what percentage you were able to negotiate for the job, was it bid as a package or did you itemize, do you prefer calculating hourly/daily/project rates, are you union, how long this project took to complete, have/did you subcontract out, etc. I realize numbers are sensitive information so an estimate or % would work, but this is an area that is difficult to gauge the "work effort/pay" and "managing expectations" part of our industry. Hands down your comprehensive work on this film exemplifies what I strive for, but negotiating the deal and managing the business side is tough. Chicago's indie scene is bountiful, but trying to make a living is like pinching pennies from your neighbors. I suppose that topic may segue into your perspective on networking or how you've navigating growing in the industry. Apologies these are super long and certainly any perspective shared within your comfort zone is great insight. Cheers!
These are great topics that would benefit more advanced posties. The rates thing is tough since I have to protect client relationships, but even with me living far away from any market I am able to make a good living at it. The long term relationships are key for that and I am really thankful. Generally I try to aim for $100/hr as a rate, but that will go up or down depending on the details. I don’t sub out much. Every time I have tried that the work fell short of my expectations. But working as one part of a bigger crew is also great as I don’t have to take all the responsibility. Most of the jobs I do I am just a sound editor or mixer on, not each position. The business side is something I used to hate, but I like it now. Negotiating is my favorite and I am often surprised how much money there is for certain projects. Maybe a q and a video would be a good project someday.
Amazing Stuff Thomas! Can't wait to try this setup on Nuendo 11. It's the DAW we use in our studios lately. I'm sure we can find a way to use all the Protools mixing techniques you share here and get an equivalent and bussing and workflow. I think you are a great communicator and the way you explain things is just so very precise and clear! Thanks for sharing!
@@ThomasBoykin I'd love to hear more about reference levels and frequency spectrum you apply for different platforms like TV, TH-cam, Netflix etc. For instance in one of your video you talk about keeping the dialog around -27lufs. Is that short term on integrated? Is it the same levels for Netflix? When you export a Web version do you mix at -14Lufs for instance or just put a limiter and bring up the level of your -24Lufs mix to you reach -14Lufs (integrated)?
question 18:10 If you put your -2 -2 limiter on the PM SUM track do you have in final -4 on the stereo tracks ? because you did - 2 on 5.1 track. and another -2 on the stereo.
Absolutely loving it so far. Just 12 minutes in, but already loving the idea of all the bussing to be able to deliver to multiple formats at once. Apart from grasping what exactly is needed for that, I will have to rewatch this again to nail the busses. Do you know how to send a track to multiple busses on a windows machine? Tried shift+ctrl, ctrl+alt, shift+alt, alt+windows. Or maybe it is something that is not available in version 12?
Hello, greetings from Peru. I was wondering if you could tell me, What is the equipment you use so that pro tools does not stop or issue error codes? And thank you very much for this channel. Here in Peru, you would have to go to another country to get this kind of information. So i cant are express how very grateful I am to you for this information.
I have a powerful custom built computer. It has an i9900k processor, 64gb of ram and an RX580 gpu with multiple ssd drives. I still get errors every so often but it is very rare. Peru is a beautiful country and someday I would like to see it.
Hey Tom, the 5.1 DX, 5.1 MSX and 5.1 SFX Subs in your Buses Setup Window have little arrows next to them...Just curious if you used the box you can check that auto-creates sub paths, or if you made your own, in which case, what do they look like? Thanks!
Hi Thomas, I've been building off this video for weeks (I'm quite slow!) So thank you very much, It's a real game changer for me, and it will hopefully help me do my first 5.1 job before too long. I see in a later comment you say you have changed your template quite a bit since this video, I'm a bit worried I'll have to change a lot, are there any of your videos you would recommend to help update this template/I/O Routing or will I be okay to start out with this? Thanks again.
Great info and series! Are you planning on doing a video on gear you are using? Would be interesting to see your speaker, control surface and computer setup. Keep up the great work!
This is so unbelievably useful. I presume you would have gone through and organised and named all the raw tracks beforehand? Also, if there is dialogue that is recorded in a room with intentional room sounds on the mic, how do you categorize this as it technically has dialogue AND background noise? Many thanks!
I have been loving and appreciating your post production series beyond measure thus far. I will look forward to pt 2 if you post it but I still will go ahead and ask now and hope you respond. How do you manage mixing various sound effects that end up on the same track? For E.g..if you have multiple sounds that share one track as time goes on but they all sound different tonally but each needs their own eq and compression work how do you sort that? I am asking this because sounds like electricity zapping and sparks sound very harsh and need a lot of eq treatment but what if you had another fx on that same track that didnt need as much treatment or was a completely different sound to a spark..what happens then? I cant imagine every single sound effect having its own track that would be hundreds or thousands. So how do you compress a sound effect that is too dynamic whereas another sfx on the same track is fine and doesnt need compression or much eq without affecting ALL of the sfx on that one track? I hope I am making sense.
That is covered in automation in Pt2 and 3. Basically you put automation into Preview mode, get the settings you like, and then Write to Selection. It will only change the settings in the time range and tracks you select.
@@ThomasBoykin First of all I have seen too many videos for post production but your videos are like a treasure and i can't wait for the next two parts. So. I have a similar question like Alex Fenty. Before final mix and during the processing work for dialogue or adding sfx, foley, music etc. don't you make any changes in the volume or adding any EQ?Im asking you that because if all the files are at 0db and without any EQ will probably be sound like a mess and you will be with a permanent headache all the time until final mix.For example, if you are in a scene (before final mix) with room tone, Dialogue and you are adding sfx like closing doors,static noise, footsteps, props etc will probable be everything very loud and almost in the same level plus to many low/high frequencies?Don't you make any lets say premix before the final mix or you just fix all that in the end? Once again keep on the good work!
Thomas, you are a rock star. I've looked for off and on for 3 hours now on a better explanation of using the automation tab and preview to apply a plugin setting for a selected amount of time (of the clip) so you can have changing eq on a single track as it is changed with automation...but I can't get the full automation box when I click Cmd+4 (number pad) it only shows suspend, plugin, vol, s vol, pan, s pan, mute, and s mute....doesn't ever show the rest of the box as I see when you pull yours up. Not sure if it has something to do with grouping or using VCA's...any idea where I could look to get an intro to applying settings to the track with the one plugin with automation? Thanks dude.
Thomas, thanks for great videos again! I am confusing that i only have the wave NX plug in for 5.1 Mix, am i need to just set the I/O as 5.1 path for the begging of the project (which before dia edit step) ?
Thank you Thomas for your great tutorials. I have a question that I’m sure many post production engineers have. I would just like your opinion if it’s possible. Do you think that Fab EQ3 has more advantages than DMG Equilibrium when you work on post for films?
Hi there Thomas! Thanks for great videos. I have a question. Why do you use Vca tracks and not regular aux group tracks? What is the benefit off using Vca tracks? /Benny
Hey Tom, I'm almost done with my 5.1 I/O setups, but I can hear back Music and Sound Effects for some reason. I've downloaded your template and noticed that the thinking process for the setup is different. If I mute all the ST prints and leave the 5.1 unmuted, I can only hear the Sound Effects and Music. I've gone through the Subs many times, and everything is routed the way you did in the video. Also, the input monitoring is on in all the print tracks. Here's the routing you've done in the video: - 5.1 PRINTMASTER AUX: 1. 5.1 Printmaster RX 2. ST Printmaster DMX - 5.1 MnE Aux: 1. 5.1 MnE RX 2. ST MnE DMX - 5.1 DX Aux 1. 5.1 DX Stem Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. Dx DMX - 5.1 MSX Aux 1. 5.1 MSX Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. MSX DMX 4. 5.1 MnE Sub - 5.1 SFX Aux 1. 5.1 SFX Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. 5.1 MnE Sub 4. SFX DMX - 5.1 PRINTMASTER AUX: 1. 5.1 Printmaster RX 2. ST Printmaster DMX - 5.1 MnE Aux: 1. 5.1 MnE RX 2. ST MnE DMX - 5.1 DX Aux 1. 5.1 DX Stem Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. Dx DMX - 5.1 MSX Aux 1. 5.1 MSX Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. MSX DMX 4. 5.1 MnE Sub - 5.1 SFX Aux 1. 5.1 SFX Print 2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub 3. 5.1 MnE Sub 4. SFX DMX Is something wrong with them? Thank you for your time and keep up with the good videos :)
Perfect video my friend! Is it possible to give us the routing diagram in a text or photo file to show us where the tracks are going and why? This would be very helpful because after a few minutes I got confused and lost you, but if I have the routing diagram in a file, it would be like a guide to look at it every time I want to do something similar with you. We really appreciate that you sharing us your knowledge!!
Hi thomas, Thanks for your vidéos and your nice tricks ! so i just have a simple question, can you explain why did you choose to compress dialog track on the bus instead of adding a compressor on each dialogue track ? Thanks :-)
It will vary by project. Some I will have track compressors. But for a regular film I am not compressing with plugins, except for stray peaks. I am riding faders. I find that I prefer the sound of riding into the compressor a bit versus riding a compressed track up or down.
@@ThomasBoykin I,m mixing my new film in fairlight atmos and I'm trying to get the best way to mix for -27 for cinema, one for -14 for web. what is the best way to go for that. like automation as you go along to make sure you are always under? is is better to go lower to have lead room for louder sound etc.. if you can go in details about all that stuff that would be great
Hey Tom, thanks so much for these tutorials. For the mix session, it seems that you've built the session around your editing session. Do you do your editing in separate sessions and then import data into your mix template? Or do you also do your editing within your mix template? Thanks!
Just for more accurate limiting on all stems + Dmx , Create master tracks for all stems + Dmx busses, & put limiter or Dmx plugins on all that masters instead on aux.
Hi Thomas, I just had one more question. I'm routing the Verb tracks, the cascading inputs e.g DX 5.0 Verb, and that was fine, but coming to the outputs you mention the "5.1 DX Sub 5.0 that you made earlier" I can't see this in the I/O setup section of the video, so I've made them in the I/O bus window but I wasn't sure if I needed to also create tracks for them, and then what their Input/output would be? Apologies if I've gotten this wrong and any help would be greatly appreciated!
@@ThomasBoykin @ThomasBoykin Thanks so much for your time, I'll be purchasing your 2023 5.1/stereo template once I've got my head around this! So I've created the '5.1 DX Sub 5.0 (5.0)' in the I/O Setup for the DX verb track's output, and then I've made a 5.0 DX Submaster track/Aux called 5.0 DX Aux (following the same naming scheme as the other submaster tracks). I've then put the Input for that 5.0 DX Aux track as '5.1 DX Sub 5.0 (5.0)' but now I'm not sure where to send it, you mentioned it is for the stems, so should the Output of the 5.0 DX Aux go to '5.1 DX Sub (5.1), which would then feed the dmx and prints etc?
Thank you! Really awesome to see your approach, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installments. A few questions: 1. Any reason you prefer using multiple outputs for the subgroup AUXs vs using AUX sends? I think I've seen Paul Maunder or similar reduce the track count by using AUX sends. 2. What computer and interface are you using? I'm presuming at least an HDX or HDX3 rig to handle the track count and print within the session. I seem to max my 1 HDX card so quickly. 3. Mixing at home has been tricky. I have stereo monitors, but am mixing through the DTS Neural Downmix so that my session is more compatible when I get back to my 5.1 rig. I keep running into this conundrum with stereo SFX. They work for "stereo", but in 5.1 I'll have a phantom center. If I use divergence to blend in the center channel, the downmix spreads it back out to the LR! Some SFX I just split and toss 1 channel to make it a true mono Center (which also makes panning easier). Curious your thoughts? 4. Do you ever use multi-band compression on your DX tracks or DX-FX-MX subgroups? Another TV Mixer interview on Tonebender's Podcast seem to have them everywhere. 5. Do you think your workflow would ever incorporate Folder Tracks for the main subgroups? Apologies if any of this is covered later, but any perspective is greatly appreciated. Cheers!
1. AUX work but I like using multiple outputs for simplicity. But an aux will allow for more flexibility if you need to change levels for some reason. 2. I use a custom built machine, 9900, 64gb, rx580 and multiple ssds. All native! 3. I have a 5.1 setup at home and rent out a local theater for bigger shows. I usually prefer mono sounds if the source needs to be panned or tied to the screen. I dump a channel or toe in stereo tracks to achieve this. 4. I used to use mb comps, soothe, spiff, and in general a ton of plugins. But it did not make my mixes sound any better. I do automate bands on an EQ often, so it’s a sort of manual mb compression. The less tools I use but the better I know how to use them, the better the mix. 5. I haven’t played around with folder tracks. They are on my list of things to check out, but I’m old and afraid of change. For example I used dark mode for about ten seconds, then switched back.
@@ThomasBoykin Can you do a video showing your setup on your machine, explaining the custom built machine and how you setup. Thanks! Your videos are amazing I´ve learned so much!
Thank you for your great tutorials. I have been following along and this episode is a bit challenging especially for the routing part. I am still trying to understand it. I have a question: you go through the output buses for the aux tracks and what should be the input for the aux tracks? (e.g. for 5.1 DX Aux should it be 5.1 DX sub?)
I put my template up for sale to help people get past the routing. But you need a sub master input on the aux and then that gets routed to the stem record and print master tracks.
Regarding routing: so from what I understood you do not "Bounce" out of Pro Tools then but always "record" 1:1 into the respective audio tracks for each mix and downmix? Doesn't that prevent having a quick half time rendered out of the master or is there any trick how you speed up printing into this audio tracks?
@@ThomasBoykin Awesome! Thanks for coming back on this a million. One last more on this if you don't mind: Does these recorded tracks compensate plugin delay like bounces do to keep being lip sync with the voice talents on screen or do you watch this manually by the (traditional) beep signal recorded with it? We still use it often here in Germany by session imports between sound and film editing stage. EDIT: Or do you set these tracks "blue" regarding Delay Compensation?
Hello Thomas! I have finally set up a Printmaster Aux, DMX AUX and 5.1 + ST Printmaster recordtrack, took me a while to nail it down, but thank you or the diagram - I think I have got it right finally. Is there a way to get the playback to work without having to record enable the audio track and hit record? For now I am just doing to bypass the audiotrack (Printmaster record track) until I need to bounce anything as I scroll through the projects and makes adjustments, dont want to record anything just yet. Anyways, thank you for keeping these videos up!
I use input enable on my printmaster track. As an option you could setup an aux and monitor through that, muting the record track. You can also then use this aux for clever things like monitor EQ or loudness monitoring.
Hey man love these videos, I am a beginner. How the hell did you learn all of this? Do you have any suggestions for learning I can do to even be able to fully comprehend what you teach? I mean. I get it slightly but it's still flying by. Id there like a community or sites to go to to start from the bottom at learning audio post??
Hi! I’ve never done a 5.1 mix before and I wanted to do it on the next project. From my understanding I need to edit everything in stereo first and then create another session in 5.1 like in this video when I started to mix?
@@ThomasBoykinThank you! and thank you again for posting this video series. Without these I would never know how to do a post production sound properly.
Biggest pain in my *** I can think of is getting the audio from multiple days and scenes to be consistent loudness (LUFS) over the entire timeline. I suppose that's extraordinarily obvious, but I've always had the problem of a slowly declining LUFS integrated loudness figure over time. It's a nice, steady decline with the end of the project being the quietest. It's usually 2 dB or so quieter at the end compared to the beginning.
I can't believe what I've just watched! This's one of the most helpful audio-post-production tutorials I've come across so far .. gonna watch the whole Audio Post Production 101 playlist right away ... Can't thank you enough ^^
Delving into audio post from a studio music background. These videos are giving me a real leg up. Thank you.
Same lol
All I can say is A BIG THANK YOU & GOD BLESS YOU :) In todays world giving so much information / knowledge for free is really commendable... THANKS AGAIN!!
Thomas, your videos are absolutely excellent. I'm a third year Audio Engineering student focussing on audio post production, and your videos have been absolutely invaluable to me. I have watched the whole Post 101 series, and all your information is incredibly detailed and digestible. Keep up the great work, thank you sir!
Thanks man that means a lot
LOL re the Christopher Nolan Film comment. Thank you for these tutorials! They're fantastic.
I'm a cinema picture editor that has to sometimes do basic audio exports, but I don't know only really basic stuff about audio and this video really helps me understand the whole pos-production audio process. I can now understand what I'm getting as far as stems and can understand some of the terminology of the sound mixer/editor. Thanks much and on to the next module!
This is the best content of its kind on the internet, period. SO MUCH CRITICAL INFO HERE!! Thank you!!
Just discovered this. Great video. I am a mix tech on maternity leave so just reminding myself of workflows. Thank you immensely, very kind of you to put this together to share.
Being a parent is a way more important job than anything we get paid to do! Enjoy your time with your family, the work will always be there for you to come back to.
Thank you very much! I am actually looking to do a more wfh work option (sound editing) as being a mix tech mum is a no-no for me. I would never see my child! Your videos are really helpful for me to brush up on skills as they are industry standard. I am in UK but it’s very very similar.
This is excellent. It would be good to look at this for managing audio for a series of video outputs, eg Amazon, Vimeo, Netflix, etc etc and how one could set all this up in in this as an example. Thank you again 🙏
I learned so much from you for our Action movie with the jackie chan stuntteam it's incredible! You taught me dialogue editing the correct way, thank you a million times 👍
I cant say how much I appreciate your videos, i think Ive watched the whole series. Would be great to see how you mix ADR in to match the scene as well
Sure! This film doesn’t have any on screen adr but I can find one that does and try to get permission.
@@ThomasBoykin That would be great, a lot of times I have a hard time matching ADR especially outdoor scenes..
Great series Thomas. Always nice to pick up other’s little tricks. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I will share what little I know. For me the best inspiration in post audio is an Australian YT series called The Big Lez Show. Season 1 is a masterclass in overmodulation, using disjointed mix levels to create a sense of tension, and liberal use of the c-word.
At 27:50 some explanation by example is given of the industry term "Futz". A mere indie, I had never come across it before, so I looked it up. From websearching, its non-industry meaning (maybe more US than UK english?) seems to be "to do something in a carefree/careless way". From further websearching, it seems to mean "processing the audio so that it is consistent with the context" (i.e. in scene). From 27:50 and looking at the website of (the referred-to) FutzBox it seems to mean degrading the audio in various ways: "Typical post productions require distorted, or ‘futzed’ versions of dialog and other tracks. Simulations of radios, cell phones, and televisions...". This, for me, raises the question of how best to use the term, as a verb e.g. "to futz up"? 😏
As a verb you would say “why don’t we futz this?”
Great stuff. Picked up a couple of super handy tips, especially the memory location view settings; I had no idea you could do that, it’s going to change my workflow massively!
So much knowledge in a video! Thank you once again for teaching us!
Thanks for watching. If I can help one person with these videos it is time well spent.
Great series Tom! Since this video have you made the jump into PT folders, within folders? eg. Narration, DX, DX FX1 tracks going into sDX folder which is nested into a MIX BUS folder.
Yes I go through that in my mix template video
Hi Thomas,
Your videos have been greatly helpful!
Is there any particular reason as to why you use a mono reverb for the dialogues?
I've watched this 5 times already. LOL - thank you - this is such a huge help - Love your template!
Glad to help
Very informative! did not understand most of what was going on, but I've only been doing this for like 8 months at this point.
Go back to the first vid in this series and start there. You can’t fly until you can walk
Thank you for your videos, They are great. Could you consider making a video on how you automate your tracks. You do it very smooth and fast and would like to know a little more about your technique.
Excellent. As good as I've seen anywhere.
This is has been SUPER helpful and informative. at times, a bit hard to wrap your head around, but regardless, this video is invaluable. I do have one question, for the DMX auxes. on those auxes, do you have to mute them? would you happen to know why when the dmx auxes are unmuted, they send signal to my print tracks, in turn end up pushing the meters into red. seemingly about 6-10db more gain when I have the DMXs unmuted. When I do MUTE them, the print track seems fine and levels are spot on.
Thank you so much for these videos, starting out at a post studio in a few months and am learning so much from your videos. Thanks man
That’s awesome to hear. I started out in the machine room at a post house. If you keep your head down, work hard, and step up when needed it is really easy to advance quickly. Half or more is your attitude and relationships. Skills are important but people skills are too.
Thank you, Thomas, for the reply to my questions below. Really appreciate it! I thought of a few more if you have some thoughts:
1. Spectral Speaker Calibration with plugs like Sonarworks, ARC, or hardware like Trinnov or JBL Intonato. Some use sine wave sweeps, but my understanding is that for film it's best to use the Dolby pink noise file and a real time analyzer. Do you use any of these in conjunction with the SPL reference meter? I have some great rock wool panels, but I've found this to be very helpful though think bigger studio get the process off your Master (monitors) fader in the session and into an external box like the MTRX.
2. Budget: A unique part of your series is that you're literally doing all the sound editorial and mixing (aside from foley) which reflects a lot of indie post sound engineers. This may be a bigger topic for a separate video, but it would be so helpful to get some context of this film in a business sense: the total budget for this film, what percentage you were able to negotiate for the job, was it bid as a package or did you itemize, do you prefer calculating hourly/daily/project rates, are you union, how long this project took to complete, have/did you subcontract out, etc. I realize numbers are sensitive information so an estimate or % would work, but this is an area that is difficult to gauge the "work effort/pay" and "managing expectations" part of our industry. Hands down your comprehensive work on this film exemplifies what I strive for, but negotiating the deal and managing the business side is tough. Chicago's indie scene is bountiful, but trying to make a living is like pinching pennies from your neighbors. I suppose that topic may segue into your perspective on networking or how you've navigating growing in the industry.
Apologies these are super long and certainly any perspective shared within your comfort zone is great insight. Cheers!
These are great topics that would benefit more advanced posties. The rates thing is tough since I have to protect client relationships, but even with me living far away from any market I am able to make a good living at it. The long term relationships are key for that and I am really thankful. Generally I try to aim for $100/hr as a rate, but that will go up or down depending on the details.
I don’t sub out much. Every time I have tried that the work fell short of my expectations. But working as one part of a bigger crew is also great as I don’t have to take all the responsibility. Most of the jobs I do I am just a sound editor or mixer on, not each position.
The business side is something I used to hate, but I like it now. Negotiating is my favorite and I am often surprised how much money there is for certain projects.
Maybe a q and a video would be a good project someday.
Amazing Stuff Thomas! Can't wait to try this setup on Nuendo 11. It's the DAW we use in our studios lately. I'm sure we can find a way to use all the Protools mixing techniques you share here and get an equivalent and bussing and workflow. I think you are a great communicator and the way you explain things is just so very precise and clear! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. The daw should be irrelevant to the final product!
@@ThomasBoykin I'd love to hear more about reference levels and frequency spectrum you apply for different platforms like TV, TH-cam, Netflix etc. For instance in one of your video you talk about keeping the dialog around -27lufs. Is that short term on integrated? Is it the same levels for Netflix? When you export a Web version do you mix at -14Lufs for instance or just put a limiter and bring up the level of your -24Lufs mix to you reach -14Lufs (integrated)?
question 18:10 If you put your -2 -2 limiter on the PM SUM track do you have in final -4 on the stereo tracks ? because you did - 2 on 5.1 track. and another -2 on the stereo.
Absolutely loving it so far. Just 12 minutes in, but already loving the idea of all the bussing to be able to deliver to multiple formats at once. Apart from grasping what exactly is needed for that, I will have to rewatch this again to nail the busses. Do you know how to send a track to multiple busses on a windows machine? Tried shift+ctrl, ctrl+alt, shift+alt, alt+windows. Or maybe it is something that is not available in version 12?
I don’t know the windows shortcut sorry.
@@ThomasBoykin It is windows key press before clicking on the bus to select multiple buses for anyone interested.
Hello, greetings from Peru. I was wondering if you could tell me, What is the equipment you use so that pro tools does not stop or issue error codes? And thank you very much for this channel. Here in Peru, you would have to go to another country to get this kind of information. So i cant are express how very grateful I am to you for this information.
I have a powerful custom built computer. It has an i9900k processor, 64gb of ram and an RX580 gpu with multiple ssd drives. I still get errors every so often but it is very rare.
Peru is a beautiful country and someday I would like to see it.
Very nice! Just wondering, what's the benefit of keeping PFX on dedicated tracks and not within SFX tracks ?
During the dialog predub I like to mix the pfx since they often need similar processing
Hey Tom, the 5.1 DX, 5.1 MSX and 5.1 SFX Subs in your Buses Setup Window have little arrows next to them...Just curious if you used the box you can check that auto-creates sub paths, or if you made your own, in which case, what do they look like? Thanks!
I’m pretty sure I made my own but my template has changed a bit since I made this video
Hi Thomas, I've been building off this video for weeks (I'm quite slow!) So thank you very much, It's a real game changer for me, and it will hopefully help me do my first 5.1 job before too long. I see in a later comment you say you have changed your template quite a bit since this video, I'm a bit worried I'll have to change a lot, are there any of your videos you would recommend to help update this template/I/O Routing or will I be okay to start out with this? Thanks again.
You can totally start with this. Templates evolve over time
@ThomasBoykin Amazing thanks Thomas, yeah definitely, I'm just trying to add masters/submasters for BGs to break up the SFX a bit now
Why do you use EQ before Noise Reduction?
EDIT: Wow you answered it 30 seconds later. Thanks for this video, you're such a help.
Thank you so much Thomas!
Glad to help
Very nice video, thank you so much! I use the WLM meter plug in but do you think that a radio shack sound meter would be more precise ?
Yes, absolutely
Great info and series! Are you planning on doing a video on gear you are using? Would be interesting to see your speaker, control surface and computer setup.
Keep up the great work!
Maybe but I would prefer to teach skills. The tools are less important than knowing what to do.
Great video Thomas, thanks a lot ! Very good idear to have VCA controlling other VCA ;)
Lifesaving stuff for a film maker man amazing video
looool the nolan jab
This is so unbelievably useful. I presume you would have gone through and organised and named all the raw tracks beforehand? Also, if there is dialogue that is recorded in a room with intentional room sounds on the mic, how do you categorize this as it technically has dialogue AND background noise? Many thanks!
Please check out my dialog editing videos
I have been loving and appreciating your post production series beyond measure thus far. I will look forward to pt 2 if you post it but I still will go ahead and ask now and hope you respond. How do you manage mixing various sound effects that end up on the same track? For E.g..if you have multiple sounds that share one track as time goes on but they all sound different tonally but each needs their own eq and compression work how do you sort that? I am asking this because sounds like electricity zapping and sparks sound very harsh and need a lot of eq treatment but what if you had another fx on that same track that didnt need as much treatment or was a completely different sound to a spark..what happens then? I cant imagine every single sound effect having its own track that would be hundreds or thousands. So how do you compress a sound effect that is too dynamic whereas another sfx on the same track is fine and doesnt need compression or much eq without affecting ALL of the sfx on that one track? I hope I am making sense.
That is covered in automation in Pt2 and 3. Basically you put automation into Preview mode, get the settings you like, and then Write to Selection. It will only change the settings in the time range and tracks you select.
@@ThomasBoykin First of all I have seen too many videos for post production but your videos are like a treasure and i can't wait for the next two parts.
So.
I have a similar question like Alex Fenty. Before final mix and during the processing work for dialogue or adding sfx, foley, music etc.
don't you make any changes in the volume or adding any EQ?Im asking you that because if all the files are at 0db and without any EQ will probably be sound like a mess and you will be with a permanent headache all the time until final mix.For example, if you are in a scene (before final mix) with room tone, Dialogue and you are adding sfx like closing doors,static noise, footsteps, props etc will probable be everything very loud and almost in the same level plus to many low/high frequencies?Don't you make any lets say premix before the final mix or you just fix all that in the end?
Once again keep on the good work!
Clip gain and clip fx take care of that before the predub.
Is there somewhere I can download this as a template for protools?
Thomas, you are a rock star. I've looked for off and on for 3 hours now on a better explanation of using the automation tab and preview to apply a plugin setting for a selected amount of time (of the clip) so you can have changing eq on a single track as it is changed with automation...but I can't get the full automation box when I click Cmd+4 (number pad) it only shows suspend, plugin, vol, s vol, pan, s pan, mute, and s mute....doesn't ever show the rest of the box as I see when you pull yours up. Not sure if it has something to do with grouping or using VCA's...any idea where I could look to get an intro to applying settings to the track with the one plugin with automation? Thanks dude.
Could be your version of Pro Tools. It might only be in ultimate.
Amazing amount of useful information. Thanks so much for these
Thomas, thanks for great videos again!
I am confusing that i only have the wave NX plug in for 5.1 Mix, am i need to just set the I/O as 5.1 path for the begging of the project (which before dia edit step) ?
You should put that plug-in on your monitor bus
Amazing video as always. What is RX abbreviated for here? I know DX, MX AND FX but what in 5.1 PrintmasterRX does the RX stand for?
Record
@ThomasBoykin Amazing thank you!
Thank you Thomas for your great tutorials. I have a question that I’m sure many post production engineers have. I would just like your opinion if it’s possible. Do you think that Fab EQ3 has more advantages than DMG Equilibrium when you work on post for films?
I prefer fabfilter even though I was an early adopter of dmg. To me the automation seems more stable with ff which is crucial in a mix.
Thank you Thomas, I really appreciate your answer.
Hi there Thomas! Thanks for great videos. I have a question. Why do you use Vca tracks and not regular aux group tracks? What is the benefit off using Vca tracks? /Benny
If I automate the aux it’s post limiter. So the peaks on that stem may go over
@@ThomasBoykin Great now I understand, Thank you.
Hello, thanks for your teachings, they are incredible, I would like to know what is the gearlutz article to calibrate that you mention.
www.gearslutz.com/board/post-production-forum/604616-speaker-calibration-tutorial-students.html
high quality content
Hey Tom,
I'm almost done with my 5.1 I/O setups, but I can hear back Music and Sound Effects for some reason.
I've downloaded your template and noticed that the thinking process for the setup is different.
If I mute all the ST prints and leave the 5.1 unmuted, I can only hear the Sound Effects and Music.
I've gone through the Subs many times, and everything is routed the way you did in the video.
Also, the input monitoring is on in all the print tracks.
Here's the routing you've done in the video:
- 5.1 PRINTMASTER AUX:
1. 5.1 Printmaster RX
2. ST Printmaster DMX
- 5.1 MnE Aux:
1. 5.1 MnE RX
2. ST MnE DMX
- 5.1 DX Aux
1. 5.1 DX Stem Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. Dx DMX
- 5.1 MSX Aux
1. 5.1 MSX Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. MSX DMX
4. 5.1 MnE Sub
- 5.1 SFX Aux
1. 5.1 SFX Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. 5.1 MnE Sub
4. SFX DMX
- 5.1 PRINTMASTER AUX:
1. 5.1 Printmaster RX
2. ST Printmaster DMX
- 5.1 MnE Aux:
1. 5.1 MnE RX
2. ST MnE DMX
- 5.1 DX Aux
1. 5.1 DX Stem Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. Dx DMX
- 5.1 MSX Aux
1. 5.1 MSX Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. MSX DMX
4. 5.1 MnE Sub
- 5.1 SFX Aux
1. 5.1 SFX Print
2. 5.1 Printmaster Sub
3. 5.1 MnE Sub
4. SFX DMX
Is something wrong with them?
Thank you for your time and keep up with the good videos :)
Start with a signal generator and track down the issue from there. Could be that you don’t have your center channel setup.
Great Video Thomas! such a great content!
Thank you for watching y saludos desde los estados unidos.
Perfect video my friend!
Is it possible to give us the routing diagram in a text or photo file to show us where the tracks are going and why?
This would be very helpful because after a few minutes I got confused and lost you, but if I have the routing diagram in a file, it would be like a guide to look at it every time I want to do something similar with you.
We really appreciate that you sharing us your knowledge!!
I could make one when I free up. Or maybe even provide a session
@@ThomasBoykin That would be great!
Hi thomas, Thanks for your vidéos and your nice tricks ! so i just have a simple question, can you explain why did you choose to compress dialog track on the bus instead of adding a compressor on each dialogue track ? Thanks :-)
It will vary by project. Some I will have track compressors. But for a regular film I am not compressing with plugins, except for stray peaks. I am riding faders. I find that I prefer the sound of riding into the compressor a bit versus riding a compressed track up or down.
@@ThomasBoykin Thanks for your answer ! i tried both on many projects and for the moment i'm agree with you ;-)
Can you explain why backgrounds are fx and not its own category?
Very interesting video thanks for sharing your skills. Could you just tell me what MNE and MSX means please ?
Music and Effects / Music
Hi do you have a video or can you make for mixing for lufs for delivery , how you do it etc
Sure I can do that
@@ThomasBoykin I,m mixing my new film in fairlight atmos and I'm trying to get the best way to mix for -27 for cinema, one for -14 for web. what is the best way to go for that. like automation as you go along to make sure you are always under? is is better to go lower to have lead room for louder sound etc.. if you can go in details about all that stuff that would be great
@@ThomasBoykin hope you can release it soon :)
Hi I just got a atmos film template like i talked to you about. Can we go over it together to see if it's great and if we need to make it better?
Hey Tom, thanks so much for these tutorials. For the mix session, it seems that you've built the session around your editing session. Do you do your editing in separate sessions and then import data into your mix template? Or do you also do your editing within your mix template? Thanks!
I edit in separate sessions. Helps me keep focused and also listen to the raw tracks.
@@ThomasBoykin Thanks :)
Just for more accurate limiting on all stems + Dmx , Create master tracks for all stems + Dmx busses, & put limiter or Dmx plugins on all that masters instead on aux.
Can you explain why this is more accurate?
Awesome tutorial. Learned a lot.
Hi Thomas, I just had one more question. I'm routing the Verb tracks, the cascading inputs e.g DX 5.0 Verb, and that was fine, but coming to the outputs you mention the "5.1 DX Sub 5.0 that you made earlier" I can't see this in the I/O setup section of the video, so I've made them in the I/O bus window but I wasn't sure if I needed to also create tracks for them, and then what their Input/output would be? Apologies if I've gotten this wrong and any help would be greatly appreciated!
Yes you’ll need submaster busses for stems
@@ThomasBoykin @ThomasBoykin Thanks so much for your time, I'll be purchasing your 2023 5.1/stereo template once I've got my head around this! So I've created the '5.1 DX Sub 5.0 (5.0)' in the I/O Setup for the DX verb track's output, and then I've made a 5.0 DX Submaster track/Aux called 5.0 DX Aux (following the same naming scheme as the other submaster tracks). I've then put the Input for that 5.0 DX Aux track as '5.1 DX Sub 5.0 (5.0)' but now I'm not sure where to send it, you mentioned it is for the stems, so should the Output of the 5.0 DX Aux go to '5.1 DX Sub (5.1), which would then feed the dmx and prints etc?
Hi Thomas ! Thanks for sharing all this knowledge, that was very help full. I was wondering which cpu do u use to get over 200 tracks?
My machine has an i9900k
Thank you! Really awesome to see your approach, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next installments. A few questions:
1. Any reason you prefer using multiple outputs for the subgroup AUXs vs using AUX sends? I think I've seen Paul Maunder or similar reduce the track count by using AUX sends.
2. What computer and interface are you using? I'm presuming at least an HDX or HDX3 rig to handle the track count and print within the session. I seem to max my 1 HDX card so quickly.
3. Mixing at home has been tricky. I have stereo monitors, but am mixing through the DTS Neural Downmix so that my session is more compatible when I get back to my 5.1 rig. I keep running into this conundrum with stereo SFX. They work for "stereo", but in 5.1 I'll have a phantom center. If I use divergence to blend in the center channel, the downmix spreads it back out to the LR! Some SFX I just split and toss 1 channel to make it a true mono Center (which also makes panning easier). Curious your thoughts?
4. Do you ever use multi-band compression on your DX tracks or DX-FX-MX subgroups? Another TV Mixer interview on Tonebender's Podcast seem to have them everywhere.
5. Do you think your workflow would ever incorporate Folder Tracks for the main subgroups?
Apologies if any of this is covered later, but any perspective is greatly appreciated. Cheers!
1. AUX work but I like using multiple outputs for simplicity. But an aux will allow for more flexibility if you need to change levels for some reason.
2. I use a custom built machine, 9900, 64gb, rx580 and multiple ssds. All native!
3. I have a 5.1 setup at home and rent out a local theater for bigger shows. I usually prefer mono sounds if the source needs to be panned or tied to the screen. I dump a channel or toe in stereo tracks to achieve this.
4. I used to use mb comps, soothe, spiff, and in general a ton of plugins. But it did not make my mixes sound any better. I do automate bands on an EQ often, so it’s a sort of manual mb compression. The less tools I use but the better I know how to use them, the better the mix.
5. I haven’t played around with folder tracks. They are on my list of things to check out, but I’m old and afraid of change. For example I used dark mode for about ten seconds, then switched back.
@@ThomasBoykin Can you do a video showing your setup on your machine, explaining the custom built machine and how you setup. Thanks! Your videos are amazing I´ve learned so much!
Thank you for your great tutorials. I have been following along and this episode is a bit challenging especially for the routing part. I am still trying to understand it. I have a question: you go through the output buses for the aux tracks and what should be the input for the aux tracks? (e.g. for 5.1 DX Aux should it be 5.1 DX sub?)
I put my template up for sale to help people get past the routing. But you need a sub master input on the aux and then that gets routed to the stem record and print master tracks.
Hi! Quick Q, where are you inputting your 5.1 DX Sub, 5.1 MSX Sub, 5.1 SFX Sub?
They go to the printmaster, MnE and stems.
Great video, thank you for sharing.
Regarding routing: so from what I understood you do not "Bounce" out of Pro Tools then but always "record" 1:1 into the respective audio tracks for each mix and downmix? Doesn't that prevent having a quick half time rendered out of the master or is there any trick how you speed up printing into this audio tracks?
I do both. I have punched into offline bounces for years without issues
@@ThomasBoykin Awesome! Thanks for coming back on this a million. One last more on this if you don't mind: Does these recorded tracks compensate plugin delay like bounces do to keep being lip sync with the voice talents on screen or do you watch this manually by the (traditional) beep signal recorded with it? We still use it often here in Germany by session imports between sound and film editing stage. EDIT: Or do you set these tracks "blue" regarding Delay Compensation?
thank you very much! great video!
Hello Thomas! I have finally set up a Printmaster Aux, DMX AUX and 5.1 + ST Printmaster recordtrack, took me a while to nail it down, but thank you or the diagram - I think I have got it right finally. Is there a way to get the playback to work without having to record enable the audio track and hit record? For now I am just doing to bypass the audiotrack (Printmaster record track) until I need to bounce anything as I scroll through the projects and makes adjustments, dont want to record anything just yet. Anyways, thank you for keeping these videos up!
I use input enable on my printmaster track. As an option you could setup an aux and monitor through that, muting the record track. You can also then use this aux for clever things like monitor EQ or loudness monitoring.
@@ThomasBoykin Wonderful, thank you! It is the small things. Just had to press this I icon, now I know - cheers!
I have a question, what command is to send a track to multiple buses? And thank you
thanks for sharing
such a great video. Thank you!
thank you so much for this
Hey man love these videos, I am a beginner. How the hell did you learn all of this? Do you have any suggestions for learning I can do to even be able to fully comprehend what you teach? I mean. I get it slightly but it's still flying by. Id there like a community or sites to go to to start from the bottom at learning audio post??
I learned from other post dudes. That’s the best way. Internship or getting hired as an assistant is a great first step
How do you re-set all plug-in & reverb settings when moving on to the next scene? Or do you start over again as another session?
Start over
"unless you're watching a Christopher Nolan fi-"
Hey Thomas, thank you so much for all greats videos you make! How many hours do you spend for a film like that (including all the edit and the mix) ?
If I do the dialog edit, sfx edit, and mix it will take me at least 200 hrs to do a good job.
Gracias... me ha sido de gran ayuda,,,, thanks, a lot of thanks...
De nada. Buena suerte con su trabajo y saludos desde los eeuu.
Hi! I’ve never done a 5.1 mix before and I wanted to do it on the next project. From my understanding I need to edit everything in stereo first and then create another session in 5.1 like in this video when I started to mix?
That is how I normally work. But you can edit in 5.1 as well
@@ThomasBoykinThank you! and thank you again for posting this video series. Without these I would never know how to do a post production sound properly.
Have you tried symphony or stratus?
Yes. Both great verbs
can you clarify 'P' fx are they practical effects
Production FX- recorded on set
Biggest pain in my *** I can think of is getting the audio from multiple days and scenes to be consistent loudness (LUFS) over the entire timeline. I suppose that's extraordinarily obvious, but I've always had the problem of a slowly declining LUFS integrated loudness figure over time. It's a nice, steady decline with the end of the project being the quietest. It's usually 2 dB or so quieter at the end compared to the beginning.
2db isn’t enough to worry about
Can anyone help me with understanding track Input and Outputs shown in this video plz....
very helpfull
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
The Chris Nolan joke was great
Should I normalise DX ?
No