Dialogue Editing

Working with More Than One Channel of Dialogue 157
recording on multitrack tape as early as 1975 with Nashville, but two-track
location recordings remained the norm until very recently.
As hard-disk recorders become the standard, multitrack fi eld recordings are
changing the way everyone works, not just the pioneers. Now when you get
an OMF or EDL from the picture department, it’s not at all unusual to be
confronted with four, six, or more tracks per take, plus a mono track or splittrack
mixdown of the solo tracks. Given enough time, you can exercise great
control over the tracks, bringing them to the mix well planned and highly
focused. But how often do you have the time to sort through so many
options?
When you’re facing a scene in which every shot has several channels of original
audio, it’s easy to lose your perspective and choke on the abundance of
sounds. Do you pick one track or play them all? Do you play two tracks at
the same time? The answer, of course, is “it depends.”
Many shots—a close-up of a talking head, a two-shot of seated characters,
even a group of people—can be recorded perfectly well onto one channel
using a boom, a directional microphone, and a skilled boom operator. Any
of these scenes can sound great on one track if the recording team is nimble.
Assuming that this single track is well recorded, nothing could be easier for
you. Just fi x the head and tail of the shot, remove any unwanted noises, and
you’re done.
On the other hand, it’s really satisfying to have at your disposal every
microphone—radio mic and boom—so that you can choose exactly where
you want to focus. You have fewer overlap problems and no worries about
the location mixer or boom operator missing his cue. Again, the problem is
having the time to sift through the material.
Deciding Which Track to Use
Despite the recent proliferation of hard-disk recorders, most low-budget fi lms
are still recorded on two tracks, whether on DAT or another media. Typically,
you’ll fi nd a boom on the left channel and a radio microphone or a mix of
radio microphones on the right, but this will vary by location mixer, and it
will all be written down in the sound reports. (Throughout this section, let’s
assume you’re using the OMF. However, the same rules apply when working
with tracks generated from an auto-assembly.)
No offense to our friends in the picture department, but the last thing you
want is for the picture editor to decide for you which track to use for each
shot. As long as you don’t lecture her on montage, she can stay out of your