Postproduction Sound
Nothing is quite so impactful on how you experience a film or television show as the sound that accompanies it. The way the music swells at just the right moment. The piercing cry of an anguished monster. The cheers of the crowd as the main character pushes toward their goal.
However, virtually none of what you hear existed until the picture was edited and handed over to the postproduction sound team.
Postproduction sound is where magic truly happens.
It does this by combining a whole set of different types of sound.
Production Sound
This is the sound that is recorded on set. If your project has dialogue in it, then the focus of production sound is getting the cleanest dialogue recording possible.
Ambience/Background
These are the sounds that make up the environment in a scene, such as the background traffic, weather, and so on.
Ambient/background sounds are rarely picked up when production sound is recorded and generally need to be added later during the postproduction process.
Sound Effects
Sound effects are the sounds that are added later to underscore the action on screen. You might use readily available sounds from a sound effects library or generate your own.
Foley effects are a unique type of sound effect. These are the sounds that are recorded specifically to the picture. These may include footsteps, items being handled, and clothes moving.
ADR/VO/Narration
These are the voice recordings that are recorded during postproduction. If the dialogue recorded during production has issues, you may need to replace it later with ADR.
Automatic dialogue replacement (ADR; also known as looping) is the process by which an actor rerecords lines while watching the picture. They need to make sure that their performance not only stays in sync with what is on the screen but also matches the emotion of the scene.
VO stands for voice over and includes any narration that accompanies the picture where the voice is heard “over” the picture.
Music/Score
It’s hard to think of watching a film or television show without music. Music so often drives the emotion of the scene and can readily elicit strong feelings with the fewest of notes. Think about your favorite film score, and take note of the emotion that just thinking about it produces.
The score is recorded separately from the other sound editorial work and may include a full orchestra, a handful of instruments, or even none at all if the score is purely digital.
Note: Not every film needs an elaborate score. Sometimes it’s enough to have the bare minimum of music or to go without altogether. Do what is right for the film!
All of the above sounds are collected, created, edited, and mixed throughout the postproduction process and result in a finished soundtrack that accompanies your film.
This happens in different stages:
- Sound editorial: Having received the locked picture from the editor, the sound work begins by cleaning up the dialogue tracks to smooth out the levels and remove unwanted sounds. Dialogue may need to be rerecorded if the production tracks are unusable.
- Sound design: Effects are added from sound effects libraries or created specifically for the film. This includes Foley effects.
- Rerecording and final mix: All the elements are brought together to create the final soundtrack. The final mix is often done in a room that mimics a movie theatre, thereby ensuring that the film will sound correct when it is screened by an audience.
Multiple versions of the final mix may be created for different modes of distribution. A theatrical mix is quite different from that required to stream online. Be sure you have the right mix for your screening needs.
