The only time this is possible to do, is if you have the instrument track that you want removed by itself, in which case we can invert the phase and remove it from the track as a whole.

Only other option is inverting the middle channel, which will more than likely get rid of vocals, kick, and snare, but leave everything else that isn't panned directly centre in tact. Kind of like 'Can you wipe the icing off of this cake?'

Yeah, I can, but it won't be pretty.

Was inspired by this pic from r/editors I’ve seen some people with an iPad/small monitor underneath their main monitor for picture. I’ve seen others with ultra wide displays.

What do you see while you work? Share a pic. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bedroom or a mix stage.

Ok not really BUT, had a huge scare today during my final sound mix with a client. I have been working on this movie for over 3 months. My audio software, Pro Tools crashed as well as the Finder on Mac OS. Then my mix session file would no longer open. I got the dread error code “Cannot open session because Magic ID does not match”. It has auto back ups, but none of those would open either! All the backups were corrupted as well! I called engineers at WB and Skywalker Sound and none could help fixing the session files. I called Avid help line and after extensive troubleshooting, still it was all GONE! The engineer at Skywalker did recommended to try a disc restoration app to restore more back up files that may have been erased by the system. I was able to recover 95 backup files and 4 of them were not corrupted! So I ended up losing only 4 hours of work instead of 3 months. Lesson learned to always back up to another drive every day. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

What were your thoughts on The Odyssey's sound mix? I thought it was WAY too loud. I normally don't wear earplugs in the theater but had to wear them almost the full movie.

Saw it in AMC Dolby for reference.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten an AAF for a short film project that just opened correctly the first time.

It’s always tons of troubleshooting. Things are out of sync, files are missing… about every imaginable problem you can think of.

What’s the solution here? Any tips on how to avoid this?

Thanks!

Dialog editors, audio students, and AIR QUOTE Sound Designers END AIR QUOTE, lend me your ears - I come to you with tips from the dub stage. Also, for you grizzled dialog vets and fellow near-deaf re-recording mixers, please add your own tips below to aide all of the greenhorns out there.

1. Put down the iZotope. Stop. Listen to what you are doing. Does it sound better than where you started or just different? Number one tip I can give you is do LESS processing, and more editing. If the scene/shot transition doesn't work without Spectral Denoising/Dialog Isolating the shit out of it, go back to your tracks and edit more. If you can hear the processing you've done too much. Leave the processing to the mixer! Chances are what you do will be met with a "That sounds... weird" from the director, producer, or mixer.

2. Back in my day, I knew this guy Phil. Sometimes Phil is hard to find. Phil can remove clicks and pops better than just about anyone. Phil is also good for smoothing out scenes. You should really get to know Phil. But too much Phil can be bad too, don't just ask him to fill every track for an entire scene.

3. Cut by shot/angle for booms, character for lavs, and BOTH if the lavs change between shots (hint, they do). Bonus points for keeping it consistent (establishing shot on top followed by a/b/c/d/e coverage, or characters on same tracks when possible).

4. Don't be afraid to use transients to mask edits instead of those wack ass 5 second crossfades.

5. Good dialog editors clip gain. Great ones clip gain and keep things around -27LUFS for the whole show.

6. Please for the love of Minkler make sure everything is in sync. Not just with the guide track but with the actual picture.

7. Split PFX wherever possible (though this varies by mixer) especially for clanky/loud stuff like plates, doors, etc.

8. For really tough clicks or other noises you can use the editor in iZotope Advanced to copy and paste specific frequency ranges to remove sounds. Really useful for bumps, high pitched clicks, rings, etc.

9. Include 2pops and tail pops in your sessions for each reel/episode.

10. Monitor on both headphones and monitors at a consistent level. Headphones are great for finding more clicks to remove and also give you a microscopic look at what the room tone is doing underneath the dialog between cuts.

That's all I got off the top of the dome, what are your tips for dialog editors?

I’ve been DX editing a gig since mid December, long days looking at RX and spectralayers. On the way home I looked at the sky and saw this spectrogram.

Couple of days off required soon I think.

Alright guys, this has been bugging me for years, and I need a second opinion:

In The Wolf of Wall Street, in the diner scene, Jordan is telling Donnie how much he made last month, and Donnie says "Get the fuck outta here." To me, it sounds like they left two separate takes of that line in the mix, one on top of the other.

I've never seen anyone else mention it online, and it seems like an insane thing to have made it into the final cut– Am I crazy?