How To Mix Dialogue with Music for Film and Video

I’m mixing a scene from a feature length film and one of the challenges is that the dialogue and music in this romantic scene are sort of competing with one another which makes for a rather distracting experience. To help the two get along, I ended up using a technique that almost every music mixing engineer uses all the time: EQ. I just cut some of the mid frequencies from the music track to make room for the dialogue because the mid frequencies is where most dialogue sits. And now, they get along so much more nicely. The romantic scene feels romantic!

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Gear used to produce this episode:

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Audio Technica AT4053b Hypercardioid Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphone (Used to record intro)

Amazon: https://geni.us/vtwVAxW
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/642499-REG/Audio_Technica_AT4053B_AT4053b_Hypercardioid_Condenser_Microphone.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/AUAT4053B/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xAUAT4053B

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Tascam DR-60DmkII Audio Field Recorder

Amazon: https://geni.us/dwGFXtb
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1084690-REG/tascam_dr_60mkii_portable_recorder_for_dslr.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/TADR60DMKII/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xTADR60DMKII

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Panasonic GH4 Camera

Amazon: https://geni.us/mITUU
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1028453-REG/panasonic_dmc_gh4kbody_lumix_dmc_gh4_mirrorless_micro.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/PADMCGH4B/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xPADMCGH4B

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Olympus 45mm f/1.8 Lens (My favorite m4/3 lens)

Amazon: https://geni.us/4zQWOAW
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/971404-REG/olympus_v311030bu000_m_45mm_f1_8_lens.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/OL4518B/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xOL4518B

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Atomos Shogun 4K HDMI Recorder

Amazon: https://geni.us/7IxHFf
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1046387-REG/atomos_atomshogun_shogun_7_4k_hdmi.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/ATSG/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xATSG

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Shure SM-58 Cardioid Dynamic Microphone (used for voice over)

Amazon: https://geni.us/AnX9L
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/68463-REG/Shure_SM58_LC_SM58_LC_Cardioid_Dynamic.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/SHSM58LC/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xSHSM58LC

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Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP Audio Interface

Amazon: https://geni.us/56ajHk1
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/654238-REG/Focusrite_SAFFIRE_PRO_24_DSP_Saffire_PRO_24_DSP.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/FOSP24DSP/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xFOSP24DSP

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Photoflex Starlite QL Softbox Kit (this is my key light):

Amazon: https://geni.us/tNAew
B&H Photo: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/132309-REG/Photoflex_FV_SL1622KIT_Starlite_QL_SilverDome_1.html/BI/19904/KBID/12941/kw/PHSLSDSK/DFF/d10-v2-t1-xPHSLSDSK

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Music copyright Curtis Judd 2012

Ethics statement: Some of the links above are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links.