 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2017) |
Audio post-production is all stages of audio production relating to sound produced and synchronized with moving picture (film, television, or video). It involves sound design, sound effects, Foley, ADR, sound editing, audio mixing, mastering, etc.
In filmmaking, audio post-production is the creation and manipulation of audio that is synchronized with a moving picture. This includes, but is often distinguished from production audio, which is the audio recorded as filming occurs. Most other aspects of audio for moving pictures occur during the post-production phase, everything is done after filming. This also may include sound design or the creation of sound effects, which can occur during pre-production, production, or post-production. This applies to television, cinema and commercials. One major aspect of audio post-production is the use of automatic dialogue replacement (ADR).
Sometimes the original production audio lacks in performance or quality, and one or more actors work in a sound studio to record some or all of their dialogue from the project. Other elements such as Foley, music and voiceover are also added during post-production. [1]
In music, audio post-production includes processes such as mixing and mastering. The audio engineering community more commonly refers to these processes as music production.
Reworking and enhancing voice-based media is prevalent in the form of noise reduction and volume normalization. With the emergence of podcasts, audio post-production with a focus on vocals has become more common. Sound recording devices with different characteristics and capabilities such as dynamic range have led to increased demand for consistent sound. With many techniques being adjusted specifically for vocal audio, the field is becoming more understood as unique to music production.
A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century and are common across jurisdictions and filmmaking cultures.
A sound effect is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media.
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film, video, or television presentation; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronised recorded sound.
Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more audio channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aesthetic, or otherwise creative treatment is done in order to produce a finished version that is appealing to listeners.
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
A production sound mixer, location sound recordist, location sound engineer, or simply sound mixer is the member of a film crew or television crew responsible for recording all sound recording on set during the filmmaking or television production using professional audio equipment, for later inclusion in the finished product, or for reference to be used by the sound designer, sound effects editors, or Foley artists. This requires choice and deployment of microphones, choice of recording media, and mixing of audio signals in real time.
A sound editor is a creative professional responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering of a television program, motion picture, video game, or any production involving recorded or synthetic sound. The sound editor works with the supervising sound editor. The supervising sound editor often assigns scenes and reels the sound editor based on the editor's strengths and area of expertise. Sound editing developed out of the need to fix the incomplete, undramatic, or technically inferior sound recordings of early talkies, and over the decades has become a respected filmmaking craft, with sound editors implementing the aesthetic goals of motion picture sound design.
Sound design is the art and practice of creating soundtracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, video game development, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio, new media and musical instrument development. Sound design commonly involves performing and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A sound designer is one who practices sound design.
The dialogue editor is a type of sound editor who assembles, synchronizes, and edits all the dialogue in a film or television production. Usually, they will use the production tracks: the sound that was recorded on the set. If any of the production tracks are unusable they can be replaced by either alternate production tracks recorded on set or by ADR, automated dialogue replacement, which is recorded after the shoot with the actors watching their performances in a sound studio and rerecording the lines. Large productions may have an ADR editor working under the dialogue editor, but the positions are often combined. The ADR editor or dialogue editor also work with the walla group in films which they are required, providing the background chatter noise in scenes with large crowds, such as parties or restaurants.
Lip sync or lip synch, short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew, but with several differences.
Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) is an American professional society of motion picture sound editors founded in 1953. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound and music editors, show the artistic merit of the soundtracks, and improve the professional relationship of its members. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E. The current president is David Barber. The names of active members of the MPSE will generally appear in film credits with the post-nominal letters "MPSE".
Stem-mixing is a method of mixing audio material based on creating groups of audio tracks and processing them separately prior to combining them into a final master mix. Stems are also sometimes referred to as submixes, subgroups, or buses.
In filmmaking, Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. Foley is named after sound-effects artist Jack Foley. Foley sounds are used to enhance the auditory experience of a movie. They can be anything from the swishing of clothing and footsteps to squeaky doors and breaking glass. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, such as overflying airplanes or passing traffic.
Kantana Group is a production company established in Bangkok, Thailand in 1951 by Pradit and Somsook Kaljaruek. Kantana took its first step from radio dramas to films, television dramas, variety programs, and eventually moved on to become an integrated entertainment company.
Audiography within Indian-style filmmaking, is the audio engineering performed by the sound department of a film or TV production; this includes sound recording, editing, mixing and sound design but excludes musical composition, songwriting and choreography.
Wylie Stateman is an American sound director, supervising sound editor, sound designer, and post production media entrepreneur. Stateman has supervised over 150 sound projects, resulting in 9 Academy Award nominations, 6 BAFTA Awards, 3 Primetime Emmy Awards, and over 30 Motion Picture Sound Editor Awards. He also received a Science Technology award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1994 for Audio Track’s Advanced Data Encoding (ADE) System. In 2021 he won an Emmy Award for his sound design in Netflix’s original series The Queen's Gambit.
Lon Ethan Bender is an American supervising sound editor, business executive and inventor. Bender won the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing for his work on Braveheart (1995). He has been recognized for numerous other industry awards as well, including Oscar nominations for The Revenant (2015), Drive (2011) and Blood Diamond (2006). Bender is the co-founder of post production sound services company Soundelux.
The Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR for Foreign Language Feature Film is an annual award given by the Motion Picture Sound Editors. It honors sound editors whose work has warranted merit in the field of cinema; in this case, their work in the field of non-English language film. It was first awarded in 1983, for films released the previous year, but was separated into two categories: Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature - Dialogue and Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature - Sound Effects This was amended in 1985, when ADR and sound effects were combined for the category Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature. It was not until 2018, when this award was first given under its current title, that this category awarded, exclusively, non-English language films. Previously, the award was given to either foreign language films and/or English language films produced outside of the United States.
Rachael Tate is a British sound editor in the film industry. She was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA Award for Best Sound for her work on the 2019 film 1917.