Dialogue Editing

102 GETTING STARTED ON DIALOGUE EDITING
“It’s only dialogue so the listening environment isn’t critical” is an argument
bound to blow up in your face.
Within reason, always work at the same listening level and start each day
aligning your monitoring equipment. If you’re monitoring through a mixing
console, make sure your signal is aligned throughout the entire path. Just
because your −18 dB reference reads “0 VU” on the output side of the console,
you aren’t necessarily avoiding overlevel distortion within the console. If you
don’t know how to align the console you’re working with, ask someone.
Forgo the Filter
Despite temptation, don’t monitor your dialogue through a fi lter. Some editors
listen through a high-pass fi lter in order to eliminate the low-frequency mess
that causes shot mismatches. Their argument is that since low frequency is
usually reduced in the dialogue premix—across all dialogue tracks—there’s
no harm in doing so. You’re not going to hear those low frequencies anyway,
right? Well, maybe. Unless you edit dialogue in a fi lm mix room, you don’t
have the bass response necessary to make good bass-related room tone decisions.
If you fi lter your monitor chain, you’re going to encounter surprises in
the mix.
Moreover, dialogue editing is about resolving problems through editing. It’s
not about fi ltering. This sounds pedantic and infl exible, but it’s the only way
to look at it if you want good results. If you can get a scene to work despite
unsteady bass in the room tone, you stand a far better chance of getting good
results in the dialogue premix. Cutting through a fi lter is akin to washing
dishes without your much-needed eyeglasses. Of course it goes easier; you
just can’t see the spots you’re missing. 2
Sync Now!
Before you begin editing or organizing your material, make certain that every
region of your session is in sync with the guide track. Normal human laziness
will tell you that since there’s ample opportunity to check sync why bother
now. Here are some reasons you should bother now rather than later:
Your session is now as simple as it will ever be. As you work, it will
become more complicated, heavier, and more diffi cult to manipulate.
2 There are times when you have to fi lter a soundfi le before you can edit it. A very lowfrequency
tone (say less than 40 Hz) may make glitch-free editing all but impossible, so
removing it with an AudioSuite high-pass fi lter may be necessary before proceeding.