Barton Fink Footsteps Editing and Mixing

I took all of the files that were in the session and began to cut them down. I have been trying to fit the Foley into the same timing as the video. Since most of my footsteps lined up closely to that of the the clip I decided to use the polyphony option on Pro Tools to make rough amendments. This included using the analysis options and warping the files to sync up exactly. Some of the cue points didn't sync up perfectly with how it felt the sound should come across. To keep the flow and the pace it was sometimes better to leave the Foley as it was and make minor adjustments around that. This kept Barton's pace to the rhythm of his walk.
I took out any footsteps that didn't have the full heel/toe motion in them as I wanted every step to be distinct to get that clarity and overly articulate sections to the footfalls. I replaced some of the footsteps with other ones that synced better with the visuals.

Buscemi's footsteps can be heard well in advance and as though they are bellowing from the depths of some underground chamber. Gives a creepy sense of lots of passages under the hotel and the mystery of where was he and what do they do down there. As well these footsteps change over two surfaces, wood and carpet. The change happens out of the view of the camera shot so I had to use my judgement on where it sounded like the right place to change the sound. This was important for me to keep the change realistic and not have the audience feel it was too soon or late and break immersion.












For all of the footsteps I added some automation to the volume as they were too static and loud in the mix at points where Barton wasn't close enough to be heard properly. I wanted to keep this realism as it felt too unnatural and off putting when listening to such intense footsteps breaking the immersion as mentioned before. In the foyer and hallway there are very distinct instances of Barton walking towards the camera and away again. To give the audience the perspective of getting closer and farther away with him I automated the footstep volume and pan as he walked by.






I added an EQ to the footsteps as I wanted to highlight certain frequencies. These included 50Hz, 2kHz and 8kHz as it resonated through the mix making it feel like the footsteps could be heard for a lot longer than they were actually there. This helped when they were run through the reverb for each part of the hotel as well. It also was a creative choice as these can be quite irritating frequencies and are not typical of a footstep. This helped draw particular attention to them and point out that the hotel was particularly quiet and shows the strange ambience of the place I wanted to create.
I also added a little compression to the footsteps to stop any of the forceful ones altering the mix too dynamically.