Where are the blockbuster movie riffs????

[eegah]

I think part of my problem with VOD's is that the sound mix isn't "how I would do it."  I guess I'm just picky.

It bugs me too. They've gotten much better, but they still have a tendency to make the riff audio too quiet and overcompensate by over-ducking the movie/short audio. Instead of making the experience similar to watching a movie with funny friends in the same room, it's like they're talking from down in a well, hitting the mute button on the remote when they talk. Not as enjoyable. You should never have to strain to hear a riff, and ducking shouldn't make it obvious that a joke is coming. I wish they still let us have the original audio files, or at least make improvements when this happens.

To repeat, though, they've gotten much better lately. Most of the recent VODs have been fine, and the ones with issues aren't really that bad (just a bit annoying). It's definitely nice not to have to sync and author a DVD. I sure do miss blockbusters, though.

[TheUnabeefer]

My only problem with syncing was that I'm a sound snob.  I like 6 channel sound.

Syncing is easiest on a computer, so, no 6 channel sound.  My first reauthors were 2 channel and I was never happy with the way they sounded, so I learned to do 6 channel reauthors as quickly as I could.  I can now do one in 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  That's a lot of time to dedicate to being able to watch a movie the way I want to, but once it's done, I never have to do it again.  I can watch my ID4 riff any time I want, and I want to fairly often. 

I think part of my problem with VOD's is that the sound mix isn't "how I would do it."  I guess I'm just picky.

For both the 6-channel movies and the VOD's, I do the same basic built-into-Cool-Edit audio compression with volume adjustment for everything,..... so it all tends to come out about the same.  Although it does END UP in stereo (despite the source being in surround sometimes), but if I wanted the great movie audio, I wouldn't be watching it with the riff.  I watch the riff to hear the riff, and as long as I can hear the dialogue from the movie, I don't care if explosions are behind me or not.

[Danecho1967]

My only problem with syncing was that I'm a sound snob.  I like 6 channel sound.

Syncing is easiest on a computer, so, no 6 channel sound.  My first reauthors were 2 channel and I was never happy with the way they sounded, so I learned to do 6 channel reauthors as quickly as I could.  I can now do one in 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  That's a lot of time to dedicate to being able to watch a movie the way I want to, but once it's done, I never have to do it again.  I can watch my ID4 riff any time I want, and I want to fairly often. 

I think part of my problem with VOD's is that the sound mix isn't "how I would do it."  I guess I'm just picky.

For both the 6-channel movies and the VOD's, I do the same basic built-into-Cool-Edit audio compression with volume adjustment for everything,..... so it all tends to come out about the same.  Although it does END UP in stereo (despite the source being in surround sometimes), but if I wanted the great movie audio, I wouldn't be watching it with the riff.  I watch the riff to hear the riff, and as long as I can hear the dialogue from the movie, I don't care if explosions are behind me or not.

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I think I'll put up a vid on YouTube that shows the same scene riffed in two channel, and again in 6 channel so people can hear the difference.  The riff sounds more as if it's part of the soundtrack as opposed to being forcefully shoved in on top of the soundtrack.

[TheUnabeefer]

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I think I'll put up a vid on YouTube that shows the same scene riffed in two channel, and again in 6 channel so people can hear the difference.  The riff sounds more as if it's part of the soundtrack as opposed to being forcefully shoved in on top of the soundtrack.

I'd like to hear that!

How much do you duck!? I usually duck 7dB or whatever it is in Audacity.  I think a fresh install/config of the program defaults at 12-14 or somewhere in that neighbourhood.... I always do mine at 7 though, so it doesn't do such a hard ducking.  THEN I compress the whole thing in CoolEditPro, so it all just becomes a block, visually.... then drop the volume down to a set level that allows me to keep my stereo volume where I normally would for movies or tv shows.

I do like that once you get your own re-author "template" the whole process becomes a million times faster and easier.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I did one reauthor with the guys on the rear channels and used the standard stereo track for the front speakers, no ducking used. It was interesting, worked well, but it took several tries to get the levels right so it was too much work to do it again.  I also remember having to use blank center and sub-woofer files to get the 5.1 file to encode, just took one of the regular files, zeroed it and saved 2 copies.

[TheUnabeefer]

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I did one reauthor with the guys on the rear channels and used the standard stereo track for the front speakers, no ducking used. It was interesting, worked well, but it took several tries to get the levels right so it was too much work to do it again.  I also remember having to use blank center and sub-woofer files to get the 5.1 file to encode, just took one of the regular files, zeroed it and saved 2 copies.

When I took some riffs out to Seattle when I visited my friend Greg, he put the "auto-surround" dolby whatever setting on his stereo, and that actually worked reeeally well for my 2ch downmixes.... with the riff being mono and all, it defaulted to the center channel and sounded really good.

[Edward J Grug III]

I think what it comes down to is if you prefer a certain thing you're willing to put up with the annoying aspects of it.  I prefer the blockbuster riffs, so it's not a big deal to occasionally have to resync it.  If somebody prefers the crappy movie VODs they're less willing to put up with minor irritations associated with mp3 riffs.  I think this is why I was having trouble wrapping my mind around the complaints.  It's not that mofos prefer crappy VODs over mp3s because of the sync issues, they have a problem with the sync issues because they prefer crappy VODs over mp3.

That doesn't hold - my favorites are MP3 riffs, just not the boring this-will-sell blockbuster ones. I prefer the Over the Tops, the Roadhouses, the High School Musicals and the Karate Kids.

But, VODs are still easier.

[TheUnabeefer]

I think what it comes down to is if you prefer a certain thing you're willing to put up with the annoying aspects of it.  I prefer the blockbuster riffs, so it's not a big deal to occasionally have to resync it.  If somebody prefers the crappy movie VODs they're less willing to put up with minor irritations associated with mp3 riffs.  I think this is why I was having trouble wrapping my mind around the complaints.  It's not that mofos prefer crappy VODs over mp3s because of the sync issues, they have a problem with the sync issues because they prefer crappy VODs over mp3.

That doesn't hold - my favorites are MP3 riffs, just not the boring this-will-sell blockbuster ones. I prefer the Over the Tops, the Roadhouses, the High School Musicals and the Karate Kids.

But, VODs are still easier.

I agree with SquareBob!!

[ShadowDog]

Sure, easy in the sense that a peanut butter sandwich is easier to make than ... ah, screw it. I give up.

[Danecho1967]

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I think I'll put up a vid on YouTube that shows the same scene riffed in two channel, and again in 6 channel so people can hear the difference.  The riff sounds more as if it's part of the soundtrack as opposed to being forcefully shoved in on top of the soundtrack.

I'd like to hear that!

How much do you duck!? I usually duck 7dB or whatever it is in Audacity.  I think a fresh install/config of the program defaults at 12-14 or somewhere in that neighbourhood.... I always do mine at 7 though, so it doesn't do such a hard ducking.  THEN I compress the whole thing in CoolEditPro, so it all just becomes a block, visually.... then drop the volume down to a set level that allows me to keep my stereo volume where I normally would for movies or tv shows.

I do like that once you get your own re-author "template" the whole process becomes a million times faster and easier.

When I was doing two channel reauthors, I ducked about 8db with a half second attack before and after the riff, and a two second pause, so the sound wouldn't be going up and down between riffs that were close together.

Now, I only duck the center channel, which usually only contains talking, so I duck about 17dbs with a fast attack of a tenth of a second before and after the riff and a one second pause.  The fast attack sounds better with this method and the 17db duck means you always here the riff, and never have that "what did he say?" moment when the movie audio is the same volume as the riff.

A few other things that are important for my method: before I do anything else, I drop the volume of all channels except for the center channel by 5db.  7db for ridiculously loud mixes, like the transformers movies.  Then I duck the center channel and mix it with the Rifftrax.  Then, I mix the front left and right channels with the Rifftrax (unducked), with the Rifftrax volume lowered by 10db.  I did a lot of trial and error - and wasted a few DVDs - and I really like the way my method sounds.

I'll try to get a video up, maybe this weekend.  I think I have a few of my old two channel reauthors that I can compare with my 6 channels.

[losingmydignity]

You guys duck too much. You're all a bunch of quacks.

Okay, I'm going to bed now.....

[MerryWanna]

It's not so much the surround that I'm after.  When I do a two channel reauthor, all sound drops in volume just before the riffers talk.  With 6 channel, I only auto duck the center channel, so, usually the only sound has to drop in volume is the actors talking. 

I think I'll put up a vid on YouTube that shows the same scene riffed in two channel, and again in 6 channel so people can hear the difference.  The riff sounds more as if it's part of the soundtrack as opposed to being forcefully shoved in on top of the soundtrack.

I'd like to hear that!

How much do you duck!? I usually duck 7dB or whatever it is in Audacity.  I think a fresh install/config of the program defaults at 12-14 or somewhere in that neighbourhood.... I always do mine at 7 though, so it doesn't do such a hard ducking.  THEN I compress the whole thing in CoolEditPro, so it all just becomes a block, visually.... then drop the volume down to a set level that allows me to keep my stereo volume where I normally would for movies or tv shows.

I do like that once you get your own re-author "template" the whole process becomes a million times faster and easier.

When I was doing two channel reauthors, I ducked about 8db with a half second attack before and after the riff, and a two second pause, so the sound wouldn't be going up and down between riffs that were close together.

Now, I only duck the center channel, which usually only contains talking, so I duck about 17dbs with a fast attack of a tenth of a second before and after the riff and a one second pause.  The fast attack sounds better with this method and the 17db duck means you always here the riff, and never have that "what did he say?" moment when the movie audio is the same volume as the riff.

A few other things that are important for my method: before I do anything else, I drop the volume of all channels except for the center channel by 5db.  7db for ridiculously loud mixes, like the transformers movies.  Then I duck the center channel and mix it with the Rifftrax.  Then, I mix the front left and right channels with the Rifftrax (unducked), with the Rifftrax volume lowered by 10db.  I did a lot of trial and error - and wasted a few DVDs - and I really like the way my method sounds.

I'll try to get a video up, maybe this weekend.  I think I have a few of my old two channel reauthors that I can compare with my 6 channels.

And they call this easy? Sounds like it would take forever.  And I am familiar with audio software and to an extent, video software.

[Danecho1967]

The entire process for me (demuxing, sound editing, remixing, creating a disk image, then burning) takes about 4 hours.  It's just a matter of moving a few sliders around and choosing a few options from a menu.  I bet I could teach a ten year old to do it.

Best part: you only do it once.  You can watch the DVD as often as you like.

[goflyblind]

Best part: you only do it once.  You can watch the DVD as often as you like.

^ this. i don't burn a disc, but i have the combined video file for all time now. so much nicer.

[Danecho1967]

Best part: you only do it once.  You can watch the DVD as often as you like.

^ this. i don't burn a disc, but i have the combined video file for all time now. so much nicer.

I do the full DVD thing, but I do also a 6 channel mp4 for streaming to my TV or iPad.  The DVD's are really just a backup if my hard drive takes a power surge and I lose both sides of the RAID.