# Things I Learned from a Trailer Placement



## karelpsota (Oct 28, 2018)

A while back, Universal gave me some acapellas to do some trailer remixes. I picked _Portugal The Man_ because I thought the lyric "_Hit me like a tidal wave_" had potential.

Just found out it was used in this trailer! (1:05 till end)
All the sounds are custom (personal library and a bit of AVA - Instinct)

​

Looking back at it, I made a few mistakes that might help others.

I exported my stems with *side-chain baked in*. So when they isolated my pulse, you can hear the ducking. Probably should have exported stems with and without SC.


When I was mixing, my master compressors was *smashing loud elements* like the sticks. So when they used the stems alone, the sticks became obviously too loud.
On the upside, this was also a mixing test for me. I used to master very loud with dipped mids (to simulate the Fletcher-Munson curve at loud volumes). I realized that's fun for music on its own... but that doesn't leave room for sound effects.
In a cut, the SFX really are the heavy lifters, they need bass and high real-estate. Therefore, I mixed my track with a mid emphasis (not relying on bass, sub).

Lastly, my master was compressed for color but wasn't actually that loud. So I don't think the loudness war is that important for trailer music. Editors need to see transients to work faster too.

But you know what? Maybe all I wrote is irrelevant and they just picked the remix based on the vocal :D


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## Nico (Oct 29, 2018)

Definitely does the job! Félicitations


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## thov72 (Oct 29, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Maybe all I wrote is irrelevant and they just picked the remix based on the vocal :D


+1


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## Soundlex (Oct 29, 2018)

Nice one Karel! Maybe they really enjoyed the side-chain ducking! It makes some rhythmic parts come to life sometimes... Also, out of curiosity, what is the reverb you use for trailers? Here, did you send the stems baked in the verb or you sent it dry and they applied theirs? Lots of questions, sorry...


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## Akarin (Oct 30, 2018)

Dude... thanks for the side-chain tip! That's something I wouldn't even have considered!


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## SillyMidOn (Oct 30, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> I exported my stems with *side-chain baked in*. So when they isolated my pulse, you can hear the ducking. Probably should have exported stems with and without SC.:D




... ah yes I remember we spoke about this on a different thread and I suggested not ducking any stems. If the editor wants to use a stem in isolation, he might end up with the one with ducking on, which would sound a bit odd on its own. As a general rule, make the stems as useable on their own as possible, like you are giving the editor a box of lego bricks to build something with.

Congrats on your placement, and your sound design always sounds awesome !


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## NoamL (Oct 30, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Editors need to see transients to work faster too.



+1

nothing worse than trying to music-edit a brick!


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## karelpsota (Oct 30, 2018)

Soundlex said:


> Nice one Karel! Maybe they really enjoyed the side-chain ducking! It makes some rhythmic parts come to life sometimes... Also, out of curiosity, what is the reverb you use for trailers? Here, did you send the stems baked in the verb or you sent it dry and they applied theirs? Lots of questions, sorry...



Thanks for the kind words @Soundlex!

I send stems with everything baked (reverb, sidechain, master bus chain). It should sound as close to the master as possible.

Regarding reverbs, I split my process into 2 parts.

In the *mix session*, I'm very lazy.

I use Valhalla Room's default preset. But any algorithmic reverb can do the job. It's more about getting the right settings, than getting the best quality.

Usually no more than 7-20% wet.

Decay 2-3 sec.

I'll cut the reverb highs to make my transients punchier/cleaner. (If I feel I'm losing high-end energy, I'll layer a cymbal).

All reverbs are inserts. It's a time saver when batch exporting stems.
In the *sound design session*, I only create one sound per session. So it gets a bit crazy.

I have 10+ sends with different reverb colors.
_Altiverb's - FOX / Teldex / Todd AO / Sydney / Disney / Vigeland._
_Valhalla Room - 1s / 2s / 3s / 4s_
_Valhalla Shimmer - Default_
_Blackhole - Default / Sigur Ross_
_NI Guitar Rig - Spring Reverbs_
_Stock Delays - Ping Pong / Haas / Dimension Expander_
_FF Pro R - Custom Presets_

I have Ableton's audio tracks set to resampling, so it prints whatever comes out of the master bus to a new track. Then I resample that... again... sometimes up to 15 times. So the final sound is a sum of parallel and daisy-chained reverbs.
I'll also process the baked reverbs in between stages with compression, imagers and harmonic exciters.
I reference a lot of trailers to prevent tunnel vision and to make sure my sound is mix-ready.
I guess the bottom line is: *creative during sound design, conservative during mixing.*


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## Soundlex (Oct 30, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Thanks for the kind words @Soundlex!
> 
> I send stems with everything baked (reverb, sidechain, master bus chain). It should sound as close to the master as possible.
> 
> ...




Thanks for taking the time to explain all that Karel, I really appreciate it!!
It's very interesting and for where I stand right now, the most interesting thing you explained are how you cut the reverb highs.
I never touched the highs of any reverb...
Also, the Altiverb settings you quote here are the ones I use for my orchestral parts, absolutely not for any sound design work.
So, it might be time for me to re-consider these on my sound design session also...
Do you think putting your sound design in Todd AO or such is an essential part of what makes a signature sound feel like Hollywood while others sound like a cheap video game trailer?


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## kurtvanzo (Oct 30, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Thanks for the kind words @Soundlex!
> 
> I send stems with everything baked (reverb, sidechain, master bus chain). It should sound as close to the master as possible.
> 
> ...



Sounds great. It actually helps the impact your music makes to hear the trailer from the beginning. Gives it a long lead up which is very nice. 

I'm starting to stack reverbs as well (kind of like stacking string libraries). At first I thought 2 or 3 were enough (one algo and one convo for instance) but now I find shaping different reverbs to add different colors really works best. Sometimes I use inserts (especially for specialty reverb or fx) and sometimes sends, but I always separate out stems, so one Altiverb setting can become 5 or 6 instances, which can be helpful when mixing and the reverb needs adjustment, I just adjust individual stem reverbs as needed and not all at once. 

Having many different fx chains ready to go in a templete is a great idea, at least then you have some starting points and your not spending time setting up but just changing what's there. I've got some PT presets to make! Cheers.


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## karelpsota (Oct 31, 2018)

Soundlex said:


> Do you think putting your sound design in Todd-AO or such is an essential part of what makes a signature sound feel like Hollywood while others sound like a cheap video game trailer?



Yeah, I would agree with that statement.

Convolution reverbs bring flaws unique to a location. One of these flaws is *comb filtering* (or just random narrow notches). That usually comes from the acoustics and the speaker used when recording the IR. I think the ear perceives these complex EQ shapes as "*color*".

A good way to learn about this is *EQ matching*. Try different reverbs on the same sound, and graphically compare the spectrum.

Altiverb's Disney vs. Sydney Concert Hall. Same source. 100% wet.​
​

Coincidently, a lot of signature sounds also use guitar amps and *cabinets*. Amps provide distortion, and cabinets provide EQ curves full of notches - ultimately giving all the color.

The second flaw is the *various decay time for each frequency*. A room with no bass traps will not only boost the sub but also extend its duration. That has a huge influence on percussion since 90% of the percussion tails that we love are made of the room reflections.

A crap location like my studio will boost and extend 100 Hz while dipping 50 Hz.
Great sounding halls are... not perfectly balanced either... but offer more tasteful decay times. (Extending the sub at 50Hz but shortening the mud at 300Hz for example).

Ultimately, all these flaws are what makes a reverb more *colored, expensive, "Hollywood"* than another.

EDIT: Once the color is locked, algorithmic reverbs are great to extend the tails in a lush, clean and balanced fashion. That's why you'll see orchestra mixers route convo into algo.


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## Soundlex (Oct 31, 2018)

karelpsota said:


> Yeah, I would agree with that statement.
> 
> Convolution reverbs bring flaws unique to a location. One of these flaws is *comb filtering* (or just random narrow notches). That usually comes from the acoustics and the speaker used when recording the IR. I think the ear perceives these complex EQ shapes as "*color*".
> 
> ...





What can I say besides...thank you Karel!!
I see exactly what you're talking about and I underestimated this until recently.
One more question, when do you sleep??


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