Half 7: Publish-Manufacturing | So You Need to Make a Fiction (or Any) Podcast?

Observe: Multitude is a podcast collective and manufacturing studio. This piece is a part of a ten half collection by them that can assist you create a fiction (or any) podcast. Did you see half six? Be sure to test that out and are available again subsequent Tuesday for Half Eight.

Within the earlier sections of this collection, we’ve given you concrete recommendation on writing, casting, directing, and recording your fiction podcast. Whereas on the floor, these abilities could appear particular to podcasting, actually, they’re all tied collectively by ideas of communication which can be helpful it doesn’t matter what {industry} you’re in.

With post-production, nevertheless, you’re wading into the territory of a really particular ability set. Individuals spend years finding out audio engineering to study in regards to the stuff the remainder of us don’t perceive, like preamps, cables, and Professional Instruments. Due to this, it’s not possible for us to inform you all the things that you’d have to know to create a lush audio panorama on your fiction podcast, which brings us to our subsequent piece of recommendation…

At the start, relating to the post-production of your podcast, your finest guess is to get your palms on an professional who is aware of what they’re doing. Rent a sound designer with expertise and belief what they are saying. Would you rent simply anybody to design your emblem? No, you’d rent a graphic designer, and it’s the identical with an audio engineer. Make it their job to use their years of expertise and sense of tone to your podcast. In return, you’ll be rewarded along with your scenes sounding EXACTLY like what you suppose they need to sound like.

However hiring an professional is just step one. To get issues sounding excellent, you’ll want to clarify your imaginative and prescient to this individual you employed, which requires endurance, planning, and good communication. To assist in that course of, listed here are some issues we realized whereas making our audio fiction podcast, NEXT STOP.

So that you employed a post-production individual. Good job! The primary dialog you’ll need to have with them is in regards to the model you envision on your audio fiction podcast. We will break this down into three principal conventional fiction classes:

• A Radio Play: Assume the BBC or a 1950s radio cleaning soap opera. Everyone seems to be recording in the identical room, nobody ever talks over one another, and sound results are sometimes carried out reside with the actors. It’s a traditional, however it could really feel old-timey.
• Tv: On this model, the primary forged is performed by a couple of individuals, with visitor actors taking part in supporting roles. Whereas much less huge and plush than movie, the pacing is usually a lot sooner. There’s a problem in apeing a visible medium with an audio one, but it surely signifies that the viewers has a stronger tether to the type of fiction you’re taking pictures for. Inside the TV class, take into consideration what sort of present you’re aiming for. Is it a single-cam comedy, a multi-camera sitcom, an HBO-style status present, a community 42-minute drama starring David Boreanaz?
• Movie: The main focus right here is on aesthetics and in-depth character research. It’s stunning and emotional and infrequently expresses the artistry of a single filmmaker. This additionally tells one concise story, so it could lend itself to a smaller run of episodes. Additionally, it’s freaking exhausting to do.

For NEXT STOP, we wished to make a TV present. A sitcom is a TV present product and the viewers would work out what we’re doing from the primary goof. As we defined what we wished to our sound designer, Brandon, he advised us that from a sound design perspective, it was fascinating to suppose {that a} TV present shouldn’t be immersive. We watch it on a display screen at residence, as a substitute of being immersed at a movie show with {surround} sound, and we all know it’s a comedy present. With the intention to lean into that style, Brandon used a binaural mic, which captures audio on a horizontal aircraft. That mic created that sense of audio on a “display screen,” as a substitute of a surround-sound feeling. We additionally agreed on the quick tempo with no breaks from the jokes and leaning into the tropes of a sitcom, like scene stingers, a theme music with lyrics, and no scoring under talking.

We additionally had this preliminary dialog throughout pre-production so we might file the actors and most sound results in the identical room. Bear in mind within the final part after we mentioned how superior it was to have the actors bouncing off one another, conserving the vibe up and giving them props? That is the place that concept was locked in.

As soon as the tone of the sound design is about, work out what the function is that the sound designer will play. If they’ve expertise, they’ll understand how they like to work, what they’re chargeable for, and a supply schedule that is smart. As soon as the supply schedule is about, then each events can alter it if wanted as they work on the primary few episodes.

Talking of what they’re chargeable for, let’s speak about selecting takes. That is the director’s job; they ship a listing of takes of strains that they need and provides it to the post-production crew. However that is the start of the dialog between the sound designer and the director. The sound designer ought to positively converse up in the event that they suppose a take alternative doesn’t work, and the director will ask to listen to the edits and sound design because it’s occurring.

Sound designers may even ship drafts of what they’re engaged on to the manufacturing crew searching for suggestions. Suggestions must be clear and sort, and written all the way down to be as easy-to-follow as doable. That is additionally a part of the director’s job as a communication hub. They’ll take all of the notes and convey them again to the sound designer to have one, clear voice.

In case you can, attempt to study some vocabulary! It’s the job of a composer or sound designer to correctly interpret what you’re asking of them, however there are particular phrases that imply commonplace issues in post-work.

• Boxy: It appears like it’s in a field, there’s a construct within the lower-mid frequencies
• Not soiled sufficient: It’s not natural-sounding sufficient
• Clipping: A digital distortion may be heard in a take, like if one thing received too loud.
• EQ: The software you utilize to control the frequency content material of your combine in order that all the things is balanced and clear.
• Compression: Lowering the span between the softest and loudest sounds so the common sounds louder and clearer.

What ARE they doing in ProTools? And why does it take so lengthy? Right here’s a breakdown of what goes on in post-production:

• Audio Restore and Cleanup: The post-production individuals have loads of software program that routinely removes undesirable sounds. These processes take away plosives, dangerous mouth sounds, buzzes and hums from the studio, and assist restore actors’ mics bleeding into one another’s tracks.
• Dialogue Edit: As we talked about earlier, it’s as much as the director to decide on and ship the takes to the post-production crew. Then, it’s that crew’s job to assemble all of the takes collectively into one cohesive story. In addition they lower elements or add silences to enhance pacing and timing.
• Including the sound results: This will likely appear simple, however actually, it’s not — this course of takes a complete lot of time and has many steps that you could be not concentrate on. There are environmental sounds, which play within the background to make the scene sound like its correct setting. For example, if a scene is about on a subway platform, listeners ought to be capable to hear individuals murmuring, trains breaking, different trains driving by, and perhaps some birds for good measure. When contemplating what sounds a scene wants, remember that these results have to be discovered, purchased, or made in the event that they weren’t recorded as foley throughout manufacturing.
• Mixing and Mastering: It’s necessary to separate these two processes. Mixing is attaining a stability between all the things within the session, so every sound has the precise quantity within the listener’s ear. So, shouting is louder than whispering, but it surely should not be so loud that it blows out your ear. Mastering is the ultimate step. Its principal course of is bringing the general quantity stage of the podcast to the -18 to -16 LUFS (Loudness Unit Full Scale) industry-standard stage.

The manufacturing crew will normally give notes after the dialogue edit, after including the sound results after which after the ultimate mixing and mastering. Once more, this all will get filtered via the director because the communication hub.

We by no means mentioned something about making music; that may be a completely completely different job. We have now seen in loads of productions that they anticipate the sound designer and the composer to be the identical individual. It is a big burden, and the sound designer will not be the very best at making music. That’s why, to attain NEXT STOP, we reached out to a composer.

After we first contacted our composer, Evan Chambers, we adopted the identical steps that we listed above for working with a sound designer. We gave him a common sense of tone for the present, and despatched some examples of works we preferred and didn’t like from the sitcom style. This step is particularly necessary; matching a method with a kind of music is a troublesome process as is, and the method is even tougher when a composer has no examples to go off of. After we despatched them these examples, we set clear supply dates, deadlines, and expectations, which match with the discharge schedule and the composer’s work schedule.

Getting into, we knew NEXT STOP was going to be a sitcom with a sound that was like traditional 90s and 00s sitcoms. This meant Buddies and Boy Meets World themes, however not Full Home.

Here’s what we requested our composer for:

• Full theme, as if it had been a full 2-minute music.
• Brief theme, the thirty second clip that might play earlier than episodes
• Theme, however no lyrics
• Stingers to separate scenes
• Montage music for a sequence in Episode one
• Faucet music for a dream sequence later within the season

All of these belongings had been delivered as 24/48 WAV format, plus the stems, or the person tracks from the classes.

All through the method, our sound designer and composer had been in fixed communication. The sound results and the music have an effect on each other, so it was necessary to guarantee that they had been in sync all the time.

Now that you just’ve communicated clearly and set a smart supply and suggestions schedule, simply step again and let your post-production crew get it finished.

Subsequent up, we’ll offer you tips about advertising and marketing your fiction podcast, so you may get as many listeners as doable. Come again subsequent Tuesday for these, and till then, remember to return and take a look at any items within the collection you could have missed.