Dialogue Editing

154 NOW, THE ACTUAL EDITING
Figure 10-22 This room tone region tends to get louder with time, so looping it
will result in a sudden drop in level followed by a slow rise. The same problem
can arise when the level is even throughout the region but there’s a steady change
in pitch. Either way, there’ll be a bump at the edit.
Figure 10-23 Assuming there are no sounds with patterns (voices, birds, car horns,
etc.) or with a clear attack and decay, you may be able to loop a room tone with a
pitch or level pattern by reversing the soundfi le.
life (nondescript background traffi c rumble is an example). Merely repeating
the cue will result in a “reset” of the pitch at each loop edit. Even though you
carefully removed the noises, your loop still sounds like a loop. (See Figure
10-22.)
You can often create a good loop from a pitch-periodic room tone fi le by
copying and reversing the room tone. (See Figure 10-23.)
Make a copy of your clean room tone region. Make sure there are no
acoustic sounds such as footsteps, birds, or voices in the clip.
Use your DAW to create a new, reversed region.
Trim a small amount from the end of the original fi le and the beginning
of the reversed fi le. Edit these shortened soundfi les together and
crossfade as necessary.
Consolidate and name the resulting soundfi le.
The room tone will still have a cyclical pattern, but it will be smooth and
complete rather than cut off in mid-period. In a pinch, it will work fi ne as
long as you don’t overuse it.
Matching Room Tone and Dialogue
Go to great lengths to avoid applying EQ or other processing to a room tone
during editing. If you have to change the room tone to match a shot, there’s