Dialogue Editing

Fixing Noises 195
Clothing We’ve seen how clothes rustling against a body mic can be a
nuisance. Many other common clothing noises are just as bad and require a
sharp mind and a keen ear.
Inappropriate or annoying shoe sounds, whether footsteps or squeaks
Corduroy pants or jackets, which often make a rustle when moving
Anything made of plastic
Coins and keys
Large earrings and bangles
Actors and Microphones You’ll inevitably encounter places in the track
where the actor sounds a plosive consonant, such as a P or B or the equivalent,
in whatever language you’re working in. There’s no point getting into why
this happens; your job is to fi x it. Usually, you’ll have to replace that section
of the contaminated word, but there are some fi ltering tricks that may work.
Fixing Noises
Once you’ve trained yourself to listen for the countless rattles, pops, clicks,
and snorts squatting in your tracks, the next step is to decide what to do with
them. There are two basic editorial tools for removing unwanted noises: room
tone fi ll and replacement. Noises falling between words or action can almost
always be removed by fi lling with appropriate room tone, whereas noises
falling on top of words or actions, or even just before or after dialogue, require
searching through alternate material to fi nd appropriate replacements.
Let’s look at these two techniques, remembering that there are many ways of
fi xing noises and as many opinions as there are editors. With time you’ll
settle into your own way of working, synthesizing all of the techniques and
creating your own private stockpile.
Room Tone Fill
Small electrical clicks, individual clothing–mic collisions, lip smacks, and the
like, are easily removed with room tone, but only between words, not within
them (or only rarely within them). (See Figure 12-1.) Here’s what you do to
remove these tiny noises:
When you hear the unwanted noise, stop and note its whereabouts on
the timeline.
Use a scrub tool to localize the noise. Set your workstation preferences
so that the insertion point will “drop” wherever you stop scrubbing, so