Ambient sound is atmospherical or background sound that originate from a certain space or location. It is the opposite to silence, and everywhere, no matter where you record, will have ambient sound. Every location or place you record sound will have its own original or distinctive sound. For example, sounds such as birds, wildlife, traffic, people speaking, raining and rustling leaves could be found in ambient sound. Ambient sound is usually recorded by the sound department in films.
Hard cuts in film is the change from one scene in a film to another with out any effects in-between. These so called hard cuts are bad for Ambient sound, as if hard cuts are used, the sharp change from one ambient sound to another in a different scene would sound odd and too obvious
There are many advantages of recording on location as opposed to not relying on a sound library.One of these advantages is that you can get the exact/precise sound you want, and can record the ambient sound with the footage. For example, if you are recording footsteps, you can make sure they're in sync instead of having to edit them in post production, also you can get the right amount of footsteps, and record them from the right distance away (for example, recording the footsteps where the camera is, and having the person walk towards the camera then means the footsteps get louder and there's no need for editing the volume and pace in post-production).
In the clip bellow, which is an interview with some of the sound cast from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, they mention the software they use to edit sound. The software they use is called 'Dolby Atmos', which allows the sound crew to edit the sound in a surround sound environment, meaning the acoustics can give the audience in the cinema the maximum experience as it makes the footage more life like.
Recording Sound
Looping, also known as 'Additional Dialogue Recording' and 'Post-Sync' is the replacement of dialogue which was recorded on set or location, with audio that is then later recorded in the studio (basically replacing poor quality audio in post-production).
Looping comes from the looped footage of the actors performances on the screen, which the actors then use to help them re-record their lines in the studio.
When shooting a conversation scene, it is extremely important to pick up ambient sound. This is because, if there's silence while two people are having a convocation, it is unrealistic and unnatural, and the dialogue sounds out of place, and naturally there is always ambient sound where ever you are. So to make the dialogue more natural, you need to make sure there is background sound in the background, which all just depends on where the two characters are talking. For example, say two girls are at a farm horse riding, it would look odd if in the scene there is ambient sound of birds, and animal noises in the background, and then as soon as they start talking it goes silent.
There are a lot of problems filmmakers face when shooting scenes with dialogue on location. One of the problems is the ambient sound distracting or in fact covering the dialogue, for example, the two girls at the farm are having a convocation, and then a large tractor drives past, or the animals begin to make noise, the scene will then have to be re-shot. Also the location, if outside, may be extremely windy on the day you decide to shoot, and dead cats can not always keep out the wind if the weather is extremely bad.
In the future, I will make sure I record my sound post-production if the sound recorded on set was poor quality, always remember to have ambient sound in the background, and avoid poor ambient sound by using dead cats or shields on the microphones.
Here is an interview with the Re-recording mixer, the Sound Designer, the Supervising Sound editor
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