In a big-budget scenario, like a TV or feature film, there is a very specific hierarchy of how the final mix of audio is delivered. To produce the 3 audio stems for the final mixing (dialogue, effects and music), there are multiple roles or sectors (depending on the budget) that often must collaborate to ensure the audio elements meet the industry standards and the appropriate sound quality. From the sound designer and foley artist (being responsible for the effects) to the dialogue editor and composer/music supervisor, the stages of audio follow a sequential order until the submission of the final product.
Through this blog, I will describe my experience of creating the sound for a short film as a one-person team, touching upon the fundamentals that embark on each role in audio post-production.
Sound Design/Foley
Creating the ‘effects’ stem is the first thing to start in the post. The easiest way to begin is to create a ‘spotting sheet’ that identifies all the sounds that exist in the scene so they can be recorded through Foley or downloaded (in WAV quality) from a sound library. Normally, the first sound to place on the project is the ambience. This helps to have an overall idea of the project scope and atmosphere. Additionally, when placing diegetic sounds, is preferable to record them through Foley, to maintain the performance, rather than relying completely on SFXs. Also, using individual channels for each sound that can be grouped later (footsteps or fabric clothing sounds) will give the option for individual sound mixing and group channel mixing.
After placing the sounds, mixing and automation come into play. For the SFXs to be coherent (best-case scenario to be unnoticeable), the right equalisation and reverberation need to be employed to match the distance and right angle of each SFX according to the picture.
Dialogue Editing
On the dialogue stem, there are specific audio post tools that need to be utilised. For audio restoration, due to noise pollution or poor location recording techniques, Izotop’s RX plugin series is an industry-standard software that clears the sound from unwanted noise but also reconstructs the audio that’s been clipped or distorted.
Next, audio normalisation is applied to ensure that the overall level and consistency of each recording has a balanced output level (-23dB to -6dB). Here, through audio-clip level adjustment and soft compression, we bring the extremely low levels up and reduce the overloud clips to normalise the audio. Same as the SFXs, automation, reverberation and equalisation are applied to each dialogue channel.
Music Mixing
Although music doesn’t require audio restoration or excessive mixing, it involves critical thinking and creativity to conceptualise what’s its purpose and how this translates when it is synched with a picture. As it conveys storytelling by being non-diegetic, it can be manipulated through audio effects to help with the continuity of the story and depict different scenarios (large tale reverb to represent a dream or a fantasy, etc.). Moreover, music must be strictly automated by reducing the gain and increasing the stereo spread to give way to the dialogue when both stems clash.
Overall, the final sound mix shouldn’t exceed -14LUFS. Furthermore, the integration between the 3 stems should be seamless to create a cohesive audio experience while meeting the technical standards.