Final Sample: Mitigating Acoustical Reflection & Unwanted Noise, Guarding On-Set Virtual Production Dialog

While capturing in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) or ‘final pixel’ remains a primary goal of On-Set Virtual Production (OSVP), recording usable performance dialog that carries over to final sound mix or ‘final sample’ is its casualty. Production sound mixer/recordists, inexperienced and illsupported in this newly constructed, sonically hostile environment are left to trial and error. Compared with traditional production sound stages, the acoustical environment created within an LED volumetric stage is highly reflective and sensitive to unwanted noise. Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR) is a solution of last resort. ADR comes at great budgetary, logistics, and creative costs. Achieving zero-ADR (ZADR) is as creatively and economically valuable as is the goal of ‘final pixel.’ — This preliminary study demonstrated that today, with education, a sound mitigation specialist, specific mitigation equipment, and cooperative/collaborative inter-departmental communication, mitigation of reverberation and unwanted noise on a volumetric stage can be managed such that post-production sound editors can effectively process (‘clean’) the recorded tracks to serve in the final sound mix, significantly minimizing ADR usage. Early and consistent collaborative inclusion of sound mitigation professionals, future technologies, and interdepartmental training development and implementation will further reduce reverberation and noise, providing better results more quickly.

Published

2022-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

Final Sample, Sound Mitigation Specialist, Production Sound Mixer/Recordist, On-set Virtual Production (OSVP), Volume or Volumetric Stage, In-Camera Visual Effects (ICVFX), Final Pixel, Reverberation, RT60, Speech Transmission Index (STI), Acoustical Camera, Parabolic Microphone, Array Microphone, Acoustical Array, Noise Cancelation, Artificial Intelligence, Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR), Zero Automated Dialog Replacement (ZADR), Zero Reflection (ZR) Screen, Echo Shader (ES), Image-based Lighting, Conical Frustum, Keyboard, Video & Mouse (KVM)

DOI

10.5594/M001975

ISBN

978-1-61482-963-8