Appendix 1

Sound Edit Workfl ows
to as “house sync.” Moreover, though the pull down was exactly .1 percent, the pull up is a diffi cult
.1001001 percent.
There are many ways to do this and the lab or sound facility will use their favorite system. Pro Tools
can perform the pull down and pull up, and the TDM and HD systems can be locked to house sync.
The Pro Tools session can be bounced to disc with pull up set in the bounce dialogue window. The
resulting AIFF or BWF can be delivered on hard drive. One very popular and accurate system is to
record the comp mix (and any stems) on a DA 88 or compatible recorder with both the recorder and
Pro Tools locked to house sync. Record at 29.97 FPS and have the lab shoot the optical with the
DA88 set to 30 FPS, again with the DA88 and the optical recorder locked to the same reference.
Because of the two speed settings on the DA88, it can be used as both a video and fi lm master, and
with 8 tracks it can handle even a 7.1 surround mix on a single tape.
Dolby LCRS is normally encoded on 35 mm prints as the optical track. LCRS provides four channels
of high-quality audio. Encoding of any multitracks is usually performed before the optical transfer.
Dolby encoding involves using phase angles to encode the various channels into the stereo optical
track. Noise reduction and dynamic compression and expansion are also encoded, which dramatically
improves the quality of the optical sound. A Dolby technician with encoding equipment is dispatched
to the mixing facility after the mix is completed and the DA88 tape is encoded. The DA88 tape is
then sent to the optical house to shoot the optical sound.
The optical track is a “picture” of the sound shot onto a narrow stripe just inside the sprocket holes
of a black-and-white sound fi lm. Figure 7.11 (left) shows 35 mm sound print and (right) negative.
On 16 mm (Figure 7.11 center), the optical is laid in the area just outside the standard 4 × 3 picture
area, extending all the way to the edge of the fi lm. This area is used for picture in super 16 and
sprocket holes on double perf fi lm, so sound prints on 16 mm are always single perf and never super
16. Super 16 must be fi nished digitally or blown up to 35 mm.
Figure 7.11 16 mm and 35 mm optical sound prints and 35 mm sound negative
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