Services Pro > Audio > Soundtrack check and polish
Last update : 03/05/2017Version Française
Introduction
Figurativly speaking, polish mean : "Complete work with care. Perfecting, fine tuning".
I am meticulous and perfectionist, and I propose careful analyse of your soundtrack for detecting audio passages that can be improved. My experience in sound capture, mixing and soundtrack analyse allow me to detect large number of faults, even those that can be sometimes deemed as minor.
Soundtrack check and polish
The check and polish service I propose is not editing, nor mixing, nor mastering, nor restore. But an analytical listening of your soundtrack, with the goal to eliminate severe faults or simply improve perfectible points.Who is concerned by soundtrack check and polish service ?
My soundtrack check and polish service is intended for self-employed people or institutions creating audiovisual media's for public diffusion (radio, TV, Internet) or for internal fields (corporate) and that love and search the best sound quality :- Theatre, TV and radio...
- Public or internal events with recorded tracks...
- Voice-over : radio/TV, documentary, corporate...
- Demo files for internet, shorts for festivals or competitions, etc.
- that think something goes wrong, but can't explain why and so can't do any correction
- that think all is OK but prefer to get
a validation by "new" and external listening
- that are in a learning curve / educational step : beginners and studients in
audiovisual, radio, voice-over...
- sound operators working all the days in a sound quality process
- musicians that only want artistic feedback on their song
But my soundtrack is already perfect ! How can I improve it ?
Of course, you have already done all was needed to get the best of your soundtrack. But are you sure to have detected all subtle faults ? Are your ears enough educated for that ? Sometimes, things seem to be not significantly bad and certainly will be accepted as this. But what if the final listener hear an unsightly sound on a part of your soundtrack ? Would he be happy ? What about your brand image ?And if your goal was to fully satisfy him/her with an advanced checked and polished soundtrack ?
Change your ears - just time of analyse
Repeated listening of a same audio passage often lead in a "sound blindness", and it is not always possible to stop working several days to rest and refresh ears. In a number of cases, it is beneficial that analytical listening be done with new and external ears. It's why I propose my ears to do this analytical listening. Of course I'm not gifted nor foolproof. Just a picky human that love well worked sound, and love convey desire to make soundtrack easy and pleasant to hear.List of faults I can detect ?
Sorry, but I can't publish here a list of all the faults I can detect. Simply can say faults can be purely technical (level, balance or frequency related, background noise, etc) or "artistic" ones (rythme or transition problems, for example).My working methods
In most cases, I work near artist or sound engineer. But I can also do soundtrack check without author or sound mixer on my side. In both situations, I propose two working methods :- Working method #1 : I tell where faults or perfectible points are located (timecode markers) but I don't say what is wrong
- Working method #2 : I tell where faults or perfectible points are located (timecode markers) and say what is wrong
During listening phase, I use my TimelineMarkers home-made software to mark audio passages to re-adjust.
How to do if you can't work on my side ?
Simply send me a link to your soundtrack - don't send any file in attached piece. Audio formats accepted are WAV or AIFF 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz, 16 bits to 32 bits, or MP3 320 kbps (256 kbps is also accepted if soundtrack is for Internet demos). After listening your soundtrack, I send you a report that enumerate number of points that can be improved. I give you details of the first point for free.Note for video soundtrack : please do an export in very low video resolution (MP4/H264 prefered), or better do an export with audio only. If your audio track come from a video, please don't forget to give me the TimeCode start value.