Post-production sound can be split into 5 categories: Voice-over, Dialog, Sound FX, Foley, Music. Voiceover Voiceover, or VO, is audio that is typically recorded in the studio. In a show (or film), it’s the featured voice that is explaining something to the viewer but you don’t see on screen. A good example of voice-over is … Read More
Working with vocals (for music) is similar to working with voiceover. Both are recorded in a recording studio with a stationary mic appropriately placed for the best sound quality. There’s not a lot of background noise or bleed of other sounds and if there is, the engineer can usually do something about it. Production dialog … Read More
Even though specs and stems apply mainly to the dialog mixer, it does affect how a dialog editor does their work, too. Stems Even though the goal of a mix is the balance all the tracks and elements together, we also have to output each of the sound categories individually. When you route all the … Read More
Where do I get materials from? The audio should come from the picture sequence by a format called AAF. If you’re not familiar with AAF or the process of opening and “splitting” one, check out my blog post: Post-Production Basics: What Is An OMF Or AAF, And Why Does It Matter? Indie Projects If you’re … Read More
The dialog editor is responsible for going through all of the dialog tracks for the following: Organizing files on audio tracks Sorting through tracks and removing regions so only usable or preferred/best mics are remaining. Once the appropriate mics are in place: adjusting fade ins, fade outs, cross fades, and filling in holes as necessary. … Read More
Dialog organization There’s a lot of different ways to organize dialog and the style can change depending on a few factors (like the genre of the project or the mixer you’re editing for). Here’s a general overview. Documentary/Reality tv When working on reality tv shows (or documentary), it helps to have two sets of dialog … Read More
While you’re editing, there’s a few things to look out for: Shifts in Ambience The ambience is the background sound of production dialog. What you need to listen for is: Shifts in ambience when switching between mics Background noises that come and go unnaturally (like an airplane noise or lawnmower that come and go because … Read More
A frankenbite is a slang term used typically in reality television. It’s when a picture editor assembles together dialog from multiple sources or interviews to make someone say something they didn’t actually say. While that sounds bad (or potentially unethical), you have to consider that sometimes picture editors have hundreds or even thousands of hours … Read More
If you are delivering an audio edit to a mixer, the process is fairly simple. Save session as a new file name (for your own reference, so using the same naming convention with “delivery” at the end) Delete Unnecessary Tracks Do a Save Session Copy Get copy to the mixer The goal of this process … Read More
