Dialogue Editing

APPENDIX B
Track Template for a Typical
Small Film’s Dialogue
It’s impossible to create a track setup that works for all small- to medium-size
fi lms, but when you’re setting up your workspace you have to start somewhere.
I suggest you build a template with the tracks shown in the following
table. Keep it on a USB keychain or a CD that you can take from job to job,
and save it in the lowest version of Pro Tools (or other workstation) that’s
available in your market so you can open it anywhere you work.
I prefer to use letters in naming the tracks I take to the dialogue premix
(e.g., dialogue, PFX, X, ADR) and numbers in naming the tracks that don’t
interest the mixer but just make my life easier (e.g., work and junk tracks,
etc.).
Initial Tracks Initial Source Audio Format Comments
Dial A → L Mono, from
original fi eld
recordings
Work tracks
1, 2, 3 +
Mono and/or
dual-mono
Blank for now Mono and/or
dual-mono
Used to hold most of your
pro duction sound edits.
Used as safe places for open ing
fi les, making complex edits, and
using Shuffl e mode.
Junk 1 → 6 Blank for now Usually mono Used for anything you don’t
want in your active tracks yet
don’t want to delete. Also useful
for storing alternate take regions.
Keep these tracks in sync (unlike
work tracks, where there are no
rules). Use for storing room
tones you create for a scene.
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