Originally Posted by
Bob Womack
Usually on a large-budget film, the audio staff works out this way:
Sound Designer - overall leader, front to back, of the sound for the film. He can go as far into detail as to choose mics and mic techniques.
Production Mixer/Boom - These are the guys on the set and on location who collect the dialog and FX. It used to be one mixer and one or two booms and maybe three or four tracks. Now, with wireless mics on everyone, the production mixer might be loading ten to twenty-four tracks on a big scene. This crew usually receives a list of SFX cues needed and spend their spare time grabbing them "wild", meaning without a camera running. By the way, if the company has more than one unit, each unit may have its own crew of production audio people.
Dialog Editors - These are the folks who sort through the material collected by the sound mixers, the parallel boom mic and wireless tracks, and edit the dialog down to usable, small numbers of track for each scene. Given that a scene may be assembled from a large group of takes and reaction shots, they have the challenge of blending the EQ and level each of the takes so that the dialog blends smoothly. They are given a rough cut of the video from the video editors and must "conform" the audio to that cut.
Dialog Replacement Engineers - They have the job of replacing any audio corrupted by audible director cues, equipment noises, or poor collection techniques, as well as narration. They work with the director and the actors in special replacement suites designed to make re-performing the audio easier. Their work is usually done after the Dialog Editors are finished. Eighty-five percent of the original Star Wars film was replaced due to mechanical set noises that made the dialog unusable.
SFX/Foley - The Foley crew creates sounds related to action on the screen. Whenever a little more "reality" is needed, be it "stunt lips" for a kiss or the swish of a rain coat, they are the ones who supply. The SFX gang must triage the SFX from the field and then create new sound effects to match anything not provided by the Production Sound gang or anything needing a special sound. They often work very closely with the Sound Designer to realize his concepts and to place the sound effects in the 3-D sound field. Their final product must be tailored to the specific needs of the dubbing mixer.
Scoring Mixer - These guys go in with an orchestra, ensemble, or soloists, and record the score in multiple forms to allow the easiest job of assembly. They may be simultaneously recording multitrack for the soundtrack album and "stems", reduced groupings by class, ie strings, percussion, horns, etc. They will usually also be responsible for the final mixes for the soundtrack album.
Music Editor - Their job is to take the raw score and apply it to the scene at hand. Believe it or not, after the scoring session, the music may still not fit the scene. OR, there may be a re-edit of the scene requiring a seamless transition from one music cue to another. They also have the job of taking whatever form comes out of the scoring session, be it multitrack or stems, and reformatting it to the particular request of the final mixing crew.
Dubbing Mixers - Here is the final destination of film, where all of the parts come together at the dubbing theater. The various editors have worked with this crew to format their tracks as they like them and efficiently as possible so that this process goes as smoothly and quickly as possible because this process involves a sophisticated and expensive facility that resembles a theater. For years, union rules demanded a three-man crew: dialog/master mixer, scoring, and SFX. Lately, with advances in console design and signal routing, we are seeing two-man crews. These folks accomplish the final localization, animation, and blending of the sounds in the sound field, guided by the director and sound designer. Their final products are tailored to the particular theatrical sound formats in which the film will be shown. They usually also issue a "stems" version to allow the next step to proceed logically.
DVD premastering group - they take the final output of the dubbing mixers and reformat it to fit whatever consumer formats are extant. Currently they usually export Dolby Digital 5.1, THX 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic via Stereo, and/or Stereo mixes. They will also coordinate with the DVD authoring group to provide from the production tracks whatever music and SFX cues are necessary to support the DVD menu system.
DVD authoring group - These guys create the final DVD package that you watch.
As the film's budget goes down, there are simply less people wearing all the same hats. If you work your way up to a first-call team, you become specialized and may only handle one aspect of the production for the rest of your career. The broadcast video stream has the same group of tasks but generally is more streamlined, with a smaller crew, due to faster production schedules and shorter delivery times.
Bob