A fantastic video is about more than just camerawork. Audio and video production work together to create an effective piece of content that captivates your audience and helps you achieve your business goals.
Casual Films offers a comprehensive range of audio production services. As a full-service video production agency we’d be thrilled to take your idea from concept to social cut-down, but also offer our audio production services in isolation.
Find out more about each service here, and how they can contribute to an outstanding video for your company.
Dialogue is the single most important element of sound in any video, it’s what gets your message directly to the viewer. Capturing great sound on set is a full time job, the sound recordist will be constantly monitoring audio to make sure that it’s free of any unwanted noise like clothing rustle or overhead planes. It’s also their responsibility to make sure microphones are well placed, hidden out of view but still close enough to give a natural sounding recording.
The main focus for sound recording on set is always dialogue, any other sound in the environment like passing cars, footsteps or opening doors can be added afterwards in post production.
A great voiceover is one that not only gives information to the viewer, but also gives them a sense of your brand and conveys emotion. You might want the viewer to feel reassured that they’ll be in safe hands with your services, or that they’re hearing about a new product from a trusted friend. The delivery of the script will frame how the viewer thinks about the information they’re given.
At Casual Films, we get the most out of our voiceovers by directing sessions as a team with our clients, keeping the message on brand.
Sourcing the right artist for your video can be tricky, but between our extensive industry experience and wide ranging network of talent, we can help your brand find its voice. We’re able to offer options and direction that you may not have thought of, in order to make your video more engaging and stand out from the crowd.
The sound mix is where your video really starts to come to life and becomes a polished product. We take the dialogue recorded on set and clean it up, correcting for an echoey room or removing background noise. We apply EQ to make things sound more natural and improve intelligibility. If there’s music in the video we smoothly lower the volume when there’s dialogue so that two elements aren’t fighting for attention.
Edits that have been made already by the editor are looked at in much more detail. For example, we might very subtly change the speed of the music so that key hits match up precisely with the visuals.
We’ll also add sound design at this point, particularly if it’s an animation. This means placing in extra sound effects like whooshes to lend more weight to movement or rising tones to increase tension. We’ll also put in sound effects for things visible in the video that didn’t have sound recorded for them on set. Adding in footsteps and suitable background atmospheres like the hubbub of a cafe or gentle birdsong can really heighten the authenticity of the video for the viewer.
For animation, sound design can really complement the visuals and bring them to life. We have a blank canvas, and the sounds we choose to add don’t necessarily have to be realistic. We may want to use sounds that have a more playful quality or that evoke cutting edge, futuristic technology.
The best way to evoke an emotional response from the viewer is to use a music track to frame your message. It’s one of the prime examples of audio and video production working together to drive your message home. Whether you simply need to grab people’s attention with something high energy and fun, or set a more contemplative tone, music is the best tool for the job.
At Casual Films, we search a wide variety of premium production music libraries to find the right track for your video. However, sometimes you need something more bespoke. In those situations we’re also able to compose a custom music track in house to give your video it’s own unique voice, perfectly complementing the visuals. A composed track enables us to tightly synchronize the music and the visuals, emphasising key points in the video, resulting in a final product that is more engaging and effective.