With the Academy Awards just around the corner, we’d like to take a closer look at one of the films that has numerous Oscar nominations; Les Miserables. Specifically, we’d like to delve deeper into the sound recording process for the recent film adaptation of the classic story.
If you’ve paid any attention to the news surrounding the popular movie that came out on Christmas Day last year (and the film’s press was all but unavoidable), you probably heard that all the actors in the film recorded their vocals live. Instead of following standard film protocol and recording songs in a studio then lip-synching in the film, actors sang in real time, which presented a unique problem for sound engineers working on the musical.
Recording Live Movie Vocals
Here’s how the process worked: when filming a scene, actors would sing to a feed in their ear of a live piano player working off screen. This gave the actors the ability to adapt a live and natural performance, and the pianist followed along. The tracks were then overdubbed by an orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.
But the audio mastering geek in us wants to know how the sound crew got a vocal sound good enough for the final product in a live shot. Now we have our answer.
50 Lavalier Microphones
Production Sound Mixer, Simon Hayes, told ProSoundWeb.com that he employed 50 lavalier microphones (lapel mics) that the actors wore when singing. He also said that he would normally prefer to record such performances with boom mics, but the extravagant production prevented this method.
“Normally when I am recording a film I prioritize boom mics, especially if the scene is being shot with a single camera,” he said. “But with Les Miserables, [director] Tom [Hooper] wanted all angles covered from all sides to capture the perfect performance. This meant we couldn’t rely so heavily on the booms because the wider angle coverage would stop them getting close enough. Our solution was to come at the recording from a different angle and make lavalier microphones our priority.”
Though Hayes says he normally only works recording dialog, but enjoyed the challenge of determining how to record live singing in such an extravagant production, and said that the small mics were the perfect solution, even in adverse conditions like scenes with rain (the crew was apparently drying the mics with hairdryers between shots).
Discretion is Key
But how did we moviegoers not notice any of those numerous mics, which certainly would have stuck out in a production that otherwise perfectly encapsulates early 19th Century France? Simple, really.
“We collaborated with the costume designers to conceal cables within the clothes and to disguise the microphones that were positioned on the outside of the costumes,” Hayes said. “[The microphones’] mini concealers allowed us to mount them perfectly so they were virtually undetectable. This solved the problem of clothing rustle and, on the rare occasions when they were in shot, we were able to paint them out afterward using post production techniques.”
So that’s how you dream a dream – when you need that dream to be recorded live.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
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- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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