Appendix 1

Sound Effects
Sound Edit Workfl ows
Sound effects (FX) are cued differently than ADR. Critical listening is not required, critical thinking
is. The FX editor needs to previsualize the mix, also called the dub. What is needed to make this
scene play? Just because there is a production track doesn’t mean the effects are there or clean enough.
Moreover, the dialogue editor may have cut them out. In this case, you may want to cut the effects
from the production track into your effects track. Or, the dialogue editor may have moved all of the
effects into one effects track for you.
You may need to reinforce certain sounds, a doorknob, a match lighting, whatever. There will be
sounds missing because they were never recorded. Subdivide into components. A massive chandelier
crashing through a heavy table is not a sound you will fi nd in a library. Nor do you want to attempt
to record it! And the production sound, if any, is no doubt the sound of a plastic chandler smashing
through a breakaway table. Look for a heavy wood crash, a heavy iron hit of some kind. What else
can be seen? Chains rattling, wood splintering, glass breaking, plaster falling around the chandelier;
you may need ten tracks, but you can build the sound from components.
Make a list of the sounds you need and their time codes. Try to remember the look and feel of the
scene. Start listening to library effects. When you fi nd something, don’t just dump it to your drive,
write down where it came from on your cue sheets. Get several of everything. Many sounds that
sound perfect now may not fi t with the picture when you try it. Go out and record the things you
need. The real secret to effects editing is fi nding or recording the perfect sound. Don’t think too much
about the real sound; think about the scene and the fi lm as a whole. The right sound may not be the
most “real” sound, but the perfect sound.
In editing the effects tracks, use a logical track layout. Many editors like to put the more sync-specifi c,
shorter effects, such as a door slam, in the higher (low number) tracks. Less specifi c sounds, like a
car driving by or a tarp fl apping in the wind, go in the middle tracks, and backgrounds in the lowest
tracks (high number). This way, when you have fi fty effects tracks and there is a gunshot that is
giving the mixer a problem, he or she can go right to the area in the tracks, knowing where you
would have placed it.
Every location should have a unique background (BG) sound. This may be several tracks: wind,
birds, stream, traffi c, and so on. The background helps defi ne the look and feel of the scene. Sometimes
the backgrounds are “submixed” in the fi nal mix to make it simpler. The backgrounds are
assigned to a group fader and the underlying BG tracks hidden. You have control of the BG through
its fader, and if the submix is wrong, you still have access to, and control of, the individual tracks.
Or, the backgrounds can be premixed inside the session to a “nested” track and the original tracks
made inactive.
If the track count is becoming too high for a given system, many effects can be premixed in this
manor. For example, the massive chandelier effect could be premixed into one effect. But always
save the premix inactive tracks; in the fi nal dub, you may want to hear more of the plaster falling
effect, and the only way to do that is to go back to the premix and remix.
On stereo projects, all backgrounds should be stereo tracks. Close-up effects can be centered or even
panned left or right, but backgrounds need to fi ll the stereo fi eld. Use a stereo mic or two matched
mics and record to a stereo recorder. For surround projects, the backgrounds need to be four tracks.
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