YABADU behind the scenes:
cinema sound in two weeks
Six months in a camper van through South America, everything self-shot, no sound crew. That footage was meant to become a feature film. Yvonne Pferrer and Jeremy Grube came to us with "YABADU: Niemals Erwachsen", and there were two weeks left until the finished mix. In the end the film entered the German box office charts at number 3. This is how the sound came together.
The short version
Shot without a sound crew means: faulty microphones, distortion, scenes without usable dialogue. In two weeks we rescued dialogue, re-recorded lines, added sounds and ambiences, integrated the music and mixed, first in stereo, then in the Dolby Atmos final mix together with Stefan Heger at toruspost in Cologne.
Contents
1. The starting point
YABADU is not a conventionally produced film. Yvonne and Jeremy lived in a camper van for half a year, drove through South America and filmed everything themselves. That makes the film close and real. For the sound it means nobody watched out for wind, levels or microphone placement, because nobody was there to do it.
The footage reflected that. Faulty microphones, distortion in loud moments, entire scenes where the dialogue could not be used. All of it for a cinema screen, where you hear every flaw.
2. Two weeks, one plan
Two weeks of sound post-production is tight for a feature-length film. It only works with a clear order: first review and decide what can be saved and what cannot. Then dialogue, then sounds and ambiences, then music and mix. Every step builds on the one before, and none may hold up the next.
3. Rescuing dialogue
Dialogue carries a documentary. That is why most of the work went here.
- Restoration: Removing noise, closing frequency gaps, reconstructing recordings. The goal was never to polish everything. The film should sound like a journey, not like a studio.
- Dialogue editing: Assembling the best moments and smoothing transitions so scenes run without audible breaks.
- ADR: Where the production sound could not be saved, we re-recorded the dialogue. The craft: the new recording has to sound as if it was made on location.
4. Foley, ambiences, music
When production sound is missing or has been cleaned, the world around it is often missing too. Forest, city and everything in between: we added these sounds and ambiences so the scenes come alive again. Some of the sounds we recorded ourselves in our studios.
On top came sound design for individual scenes and the film composer's music. Our job was to integrate both so that music and sounds complement each other instead of fighting.
Your film, ready for the cinema
Send us your footage. We rescue the sound, edit, mix and bring your film to the big screen, in stereo, 5.1 or Dolby Atmos.
Request a film project →5. From stereo mix to Atmos final mix
We did the stereo mix ourselves and handed the stems to Stefan Heger, who created the Dolby Atmos premix from them. We then did the final mix together at toruspost in Cologne. That is where it shows whether dialogue, music and ambiences hold together on big speakers.
On a film with this schedule, pooling experience achieves more than doing everything alone.
6. The result
On 15 May 2025 YABADU opened in German cinemas and entered the box office charts at number 3. More than 21,000 people came to the cinema tour, echo24 reported. Today the film is available on Amazon Prime Video and on Blu-ray. The trailer gives a first impression.
Music has connected us with Jeremy for a while: for his song "Nie nie mehr" we did the production and the music video in Iceland. More in the case study.
7. What filmmakers can take away
Not everyone has a sound crew. If you shoot yourself, you can still save sound post-production a lot of work:
- Record room tone: Half a minute of silence at every location, with nobody talking. It makes edits inaudible later.
- Levels with headroom: Better a little too quiet than too loud. Quiet can be raised, distortion can hardly be undone.
- Take wind seriously: A windshield costs little and saves entire scenes.
- Carry a spare microphone: A defect often shows up days later. A second microphone as backup is the cheapest insurance.
- Talk early: If you speak to sound post-production before the shoot, you know what matters. After the edit, it is too late for a lot of things.
Research, source selection, and editorial responsibility: Rahim Erbil. We used AI while drafting and researching. Every sentence was checked by hand before it landed here. Made with Herzblut and AI.
Related reading:
The same name on every line.
Concept, composition, sound design, mix, master: at Campera Media your project passes through one pair of hands, from the first briefing to the last second of the fade-out.
Meet Rahim →Frequently asked questions about
cinema sound.
Often, yes. Restoration removes noise and closes gaps. Where that is not enough, the dialogue is re-recorded via ADR, as in several scenes of YABADU.
That depends on the footage. YABADU was fully mixed in two weeks despite difficult production sound. That only works with a clear order of steps and a team that can work in parallel.
Not necessarily. For cinema, a 5.1 or Atmos mix is common, for streaming stereo is often enough. YABADU had both: our stereo mix and the Atmos final mix.
Yes, when it helps the film. On YABADU, Stefan Heger created the Atmos premix and we did the final mix together at toruspost in Cologne.
Record room tone, set levels with headroom, protect microphones from wind and carry a spare microphone. And talk to sound post-production as early as possible, not after the edit.
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