Production sound design: Picture Lock, Dialogue, Sound Design, Composition, Mixing, and Mastering, and the team of film artists that executes them.
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IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
1. There is no substitute for good location sound
2. Post Sound is a project unto itself
3. Post Production Sound mixing is an art
The 6 Steps of Post-Production Sound
At this introductory level, we can’t go into every single detail of each formal step in a post-production workflow. However, it’s to get a grasp on the steps we would go through on a professional project. That way we can have a goal to shoot for as we strive to improve the quality of our projects.
The six steps in the Post Production Sound workflow could be described as the following:
No work can begin on the soundtrack until the picture and dialogue have been completed, or locked, by the editor. Picture lock is a milestone when the director (or producer, as the case may be) formally signs off on the edit.
There should be no changes to the image after the picture lock. If changes are made to the picture, the sound designer and the composer will have to reset and retime their work, which is wasteful, frustrating and unprofessional.
If you work in post-production audio, always make sure that the movie’s picture that is delivered to you is “locked”. before you work on timing or cues. If the picture changes afterward, your tracks may have to change as well.
Mastering Dialogue
Although the location sound department will make every effort to capture a clean, strong dialogue track, many production environments are less than ideal.
Humming, pops, hisses, or other noise may have been introduced to the soundtrack and need to be cleaned through the use of filters or equalization. Also, two actors in the same scene rarely have the same delivery volume. Adjusting relative levels of dialogue may be necessary.
At this point, a determination can be made whether the audio is usable or not. Dialogue that is too low in quality or was not recorded in production can be recorded at this stage with ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement).
Sound Design
The post-production sound designer is tasked with determining the placement of music and effects, as well as finding or creating all the necessary sound effects. We will expand on this task further in Sound Design and Effects.
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
1. Sounds Effects Add Richness and Detail
2. Ambience is Key to the Effects Track
3. Sound Effects Have Many Sources
The film sound designer serves and enhances that fantasy or hyper-reality that is your film which exists in its own universe, and a big part of that universe is complex and multi-dimensional sound.
Two Approaches to Film Sound Design
The sound designer is responsible for creating a rich and layered audio experience to accompany the picture, dialogue, narration and music tracks in a movie.
Two different extremes could define a moviemaker’s approach to sound design:
Use the ‘production track’ (audio ALL recorded on location within the scene) for as many sounds as possible – ambiance, doors opening or closing, the rustling of clothes, and only add sound effects where needed.
Use only the dialogue from the production track, and replace everything else. Every single other sound is created and/or sourced in post-production.
Of these two options, which approach should you take?
If you’re strapped for cash or time, go for the first option and do your best. However, for greater control and creative freedom, opt for number two.
Strive to only use the dialogue track from production and replace as many other sounds as possible.
You will need the production track for reference to get an idea of what happened in production and when.
The sound designer is also an artist whose great joy is in designing a ‘soundscape’ of fiction; to create a fantasy world that owes nothing to the world outside of it.
The story exists in its own universe, and a big part of that universe is complex and multi-dimensional sound.
Types of Effects
When beginning this task, the sound designer can utilize a variety of different effects to realize the multi-dimensional fabric of the sound effects track. These different types of effects can be described as:
The composer’s job is to create original music for the movie with guidance from the director. Depending on the production, the sound designer will coordinate the sound effects and music with the composer. Regardless, the composer can begin his or her work as soon as the picture is locked.
The composer must be able to get a strong emotional read on what is happening on screen and be able to deliver a score that enhances, emphasizes and adds to the emotion of the movie.
Although a composer typically works by himself or herself away from the rest of the post-production team, they will have a great deal of influence on the overall feel of the picture and the emotional impact on the audience. We will expand on composition further in Music and the Short Film.
Mixing
An art in itself, post-production sound mixing is a critical step in the post audio process, and one that requires great care and good taste.
Mixing involves setting the relative volume levels of all of the tracks, as well as fades (ramping volume down) and swells (ramping volume up). All sounds at the same volume will yield an annoying cacophony of noises competing for the attention of the audience’s ear.
The mixer is part of the story-telling process, this is not simply a technical position. Choices made by the mixer can change perspective and, in some cases, make the difference in whether or not a scene works.
Music or sound effects can play the part of a character in the scene and the volume level of that track can tell us where that character is located relative to the current camera angle. A misread by the mixer can result in a critical sound effect being lost in the background, which has the potential to confuse or mislead the audience.
Pay careful attention to the mix, this is the time when all of your soundtrack elements come together.
Mastering
This final step in the process is the ‘fine tuning’ that evens out and enriches all of the elements of our soundtrack.
Like mastering dialogue, mastering the entire soundtrack is about removing undesirable sounds, most commonly through equalization and other filters that are applied to improve the quality of existing elements. This process is also called “Sweetening”.
Like mixing, mastering is part technique and part art and requires a well-developed ear and perhaps more importantly, good taste. Again, although we might not go through every step in this process remember that each is important and push yourself to go through each stage. Post Production audio is the step that often receives the most pressure and receives the least attention. This is the stage that loses the most from time wasted in the early stages of the process and suffers the most from poor planning and inexperience. This is also part of the moviemaking process where it is the easiest to add enormous value to your project for very little money. Schedule time here and engage good people at this stage and you will be repaid tenfold in quality. It is the most predictable and easily controllable way to make your movie better.
Ambience
Ambient, or background effects, are one of the most critical in making a scene believable.
The objective of the location sound team is to record a clean dialogue track, devoid of noise. However, all spaces have some kind of sound, the unique signature that describes the character of a space.
A cafeteria’s ambience might contain low-level conversation, clinking silverware, dishes clattering, and beeps of a cash register. A construction site may feature the sounds of heavy machinery, an occasional shout, hammering, and feet crunching on gravel.
A space without ambient sound is going to sound odd and artificial. It’s often a dead giveaway of a low-budget film.
All spaces have ambience, give your space some ambience. The moviemaker would be well advised to remember that the ambience you record on set will rarely work for the sound designer.
You need the sound of the space itself (the ambiance known as “room tone”) to effectively master dialogue. If the existing room tone prom the production track in inadequate, you will need to find or create your own room tone.
Folley Effects
Foley sound effects are created as the ‘secondary’ sounds made by actors, like the rustling of clothes, footsteps, or a kiss.
These effects are created in post-production by recording sounds in a studio while watching the scene and synchronizing the live effect during the playback of the picture. The Foley Artist ‘performs’ each sound using a creative array of everyday objects.
The artist can recreate footsteps on various surfaces, kiss his or her own hand to mimic an on-screen kiss, stab a watermelon with a knife for a gruesome murder scene, ruffle clothes that accompany an actor’s movement, slam a door, all in sync with playback of the picture, all in sync to movements on the screen.
Although at first, this may sound like too much time and effort for the struggling indie filmmaker to include in the project, it is not that difficult to do.
Not only will it add a great deal to the sound effects track, thus the overall quality of the film, but it’s also a lot of fun – one of the most enjoyable in the film business!
Foley recording can be done in any reasonably sound-proof space with limited materials and lots of imagination.
Getting two people in a room and even making one pass through the movie to recreate even an occasional sound seen on the screen, will add to the realism and depth of the soundtrack.
Wild Effects
A wild effect is a sound that is not recorded in sync with the picture. It can appear from a source that is off-screen or onscreen. We call it ‘wild’ because at the time the effect is recorded, it is not necessarily synchronized to any picture.
The sound recordist is recording the effect ‘grabbing it wild’, to be later placed into the track in post-production by the sound effects editor.
Wild sounds are often important additions to the primary action that the audience sees onscreen and can provide information or perspective to off-screen events.
For example, the primary onscreen action shows a bank robber pulling a weapon. We hear an off-screen voice shouting, “He’s got a gun!” The sound comes from off-screen, presumably from a bank teller or customer. It is wild because there is no sync to the onscreen source.
Wild sounds can be recorded in production or during post-production and can be anything required by the production: an engine idling, the buzzing of a mercury vapor light, or an anchor dropping into the water.
A location sound recordist should be aware of wild sound opportunities while on location, and keep a list. Then after consulting with the Assistant Director or Director, find time to grab wild sounds between takes or at any opportunity.
Hard Effects
Hard effects are the most common, especially with easy access to vast libraries of pre-recorded effects.
These effects are usually difficult to access or costly to record on our own; machine gun fire, a fighter jet take off, thunder. These are hard effects.
Going to a shooting range with a variety of weapons and recording the firing of each would be time-consuming and expensive.
Thunder can be cheap to record, but waiting for a storm, and assuring it’s the right type…not so easy. Web search, download, fee if applicable, and you’re done.
Designed Effects
Design effects are ones that must be synthesized in post-production and do not exist in real life. The sound of a monster being born is not something that exists in nature, so it must be created.
Likewise, the sound of a spaceship or the sound a character hears when under the influence of a psychotropic drug.
Design effects can also be used for metaphorical or emotional effect, like a foreboding low-frequency rumble to mark the arrival of an unwelcome visitor.
SUMMARY
The sound designer will create a rich, multi-layered audio experience around the image and engage the audience on a completely different level.
The goal of location dialogue is to get all ‘signal’ (the audio source) and no noise (extraneous ambient sounds). We prefer to record the ambience separately, then add it back in a controllable way, separate from the dialogue track, so we can mix them in a natural way.
Sound effects can come from many sources, many of which may not exist in nature. A talented Sound Designer will use their imagination to create or find sounds with a wide range of objects and tools that may have no relation to the image on the screen.
