Dialogue Editing

190 DAMAGE REPAIR
How do you learn to spot noises before someone else does? After all, it’s
pretty embarrassing to screen your seemingly perfect tracks—that you lovingly
massaged for weeks—only to have a friend of the assistant picture
editor comment, “What about those dolly sounds?” Sure enough, three scenes
with fl agrant dolly noises. No professional heard them because they were
captivated by the story, but someone who walked in off the street noticed
immediately. It’s your job to hear and correct these sounds, so you must fi nd
ways not to fall victim to the story’s siren song.
Evaluating Noises
Question every noise you hear. Don’t fall into the trap of “Well, it was part
of the location recording, so it must be legitimate.” Obviously, if the gaffer
dropped a wrench during a take, you replace the damaged word. However,
when an actor’s footstep falls on a delicate phrase, you might be reluctant to
make the repair, thinking it’s a “natural” sound.
Remember, there’s nothing natural in the movies. To see if it’s a good decision
to lose the errant footstep, fi x it. Either you’ll miss it, fi nding the rhythm of
the scene suddenly damaged and unnatural, or you’ll see a new clarity and
focus. If removing the footstep results in a rhythmic hole but greatly improves
articulation, you can call for Foley at that point so that the necessary footstep
is in place but controllable. Better yet, fi nd another, quieter production footstep
to replace the offender.
The most rewarding part of careful listening is that once you’ve heard a
noise or had it pointed out to you, you’ll never again not hear it. It’s just
like the “Young Maiden/Old Woman” illusion, where if you look at it one
way you see an old woman but when you look at it another way, you see
a beautiful maiden. For some it takes a long time to see the maiden as
well as the hag, but once your brain has identifi ed both, you will always
be able to quickly separate the two. Just so, you can listen to a track many
times and never hear the truth. But once your brain wakes up to it, you’ll
hear that click in the middle of a word and wonder how you missed it
the fi rst few times around. Ignoring the meaning of the dialogue and
focusing on the sounds is a useful tool when searching for unwanted
noises. Listening at a reduced monitor level can help you hear beyond the
words.
The following sections describe the most common origins of the noises you’ll
encounter. Use them to learn how to locate unexpected infi ltrators.