Dialogue Editing

To Process or Not to Process 229
suffers. No way around it. Clever manufacturers offer options between
frequency resolution and time resolution, giving you control over this
dilemma.
Ambient Noise Complexity
Very few background noises have but one component. A typical noise fl oor
will have harmonic elements from air conditioners or other machinery, ticking
noises from microphones or cables if not from speech and broadband, random
elements. Labeling a simple noise like air conditioning as “simple” is misleading.
In addition to the obvious hissing air (solution = broadband de-noise),
there’ll be harmonic sounds from the motor (solution = notch fi lters) and
perhaps clicking from ineffective isolation springs or other causes (solution
= de-click interpolation). The answer is simple: Don’t run straight for the
broadband. Think about the source of the noise and appropriately plan your
processing.
Knowing When to Stop
Aside from picking the wrong noise reduction tool for the job, the most
common way to bungle the process is not knowing when to quit. When you
repeatedly listen to a noise, trying to get an even cleaner signal, you inevitably
lose touch with the audio you’re processing. Almost certainly you’ll overprocess
the tracks.
The antidote is annoyingly obvious: Process less. You can always do more in
the mix. Also, when you’re happy with the noise reduction on a fi le, leave it.
Do something else. Take a walk and rest your ears. Listen to it later with a
fresh ear to see what you think. If it passes this delayed listening test, it’s
probably acceptable.
To Process or Not to Process
A running battle exists between editors and rerecording mixers about processing.
While there’s something to be said for tracks arriving at the mix relatively
clean, it’s rare that an editor in a cutting room has the experience, tools, or
acoustics to properly process them. Few things are more humiliating than
listening to a mixer repeatedly say, “If only I could get my hands on the
original tracks.” In my experience, it’s rare for a mixer to like the processing
I’ve done in the cutting room, and more often than not my charmingly cooked
tracks are greeted with disdain.