Elements of the Soundtrack
by Fred Ginsburg, CAS
Chapter 1 – The Soundtrack: Past and Present
In Hollywood, we have a saying, “You live or die in the dailies!” Because that is when the
producer evaluates the performance of the entire crew. In the real world, where time is money,
no one is going to wait until the first cut (six weeks after the end of production) to make a
decision. Technicians and even Directors will be gone before their next pay check if their work
doesn’t shine in that screening room or on that video playback monitor! A Sound Mixer whose
tracks are consistently unusable, whose material always sounds like it will need a lot of
sweetening or fixing up later–is not going to be kept around!
Before we get started…
This text is about the craft of Production Sound recording for motion pictures and videotape.
Production Sound Mixing is the craft of recording dialogue and sound effects on the set during
principal production. Whether you aspire to specialize in sound mixing; or just seek to enhance
your skills in order to occasionally fill in as “soundperson” on a small shoot–the material in this
series of articles will prove invaluable.
There are, no doubt, a number of readers who have absolutely no interest in the world at all
about doing sound. You may have aspirations to Direct, Produce, D.P. (director of
photography), Edit, or Whatever. For those of you, I suggest that you need the information
contained within these pages even more than the future sound mixers–for they, at least, will
eventually learn through trial & error, if nothing else. You, on the other hand, may never have
to personally record sound, but much of what you do in your specialty will hinge directly upon
the success or failure of the sound crew. Learn as much as you can about each other’s crafts,
because a little understanding and compromise may make a major difference in the final
product.
On the same token, prospective sound mixers should also endeavor to learn as much about all
aspects of filmmaking as possible, for the same reasons. Much of what you do affects the rest
of the production, in terms of time, budget, and quality. Learn Editing and Lighting, especially!
You live or die in the dailies
Just as the fate of the Sound Mixer hinges on the client’s first impressions, so does the rest of
the crew. The Director–especially a young, new Director–will be replaced early on if it appears
that he or she always seems to need additional, costly takes because they can’t relate to their
crews!
But the Director who only shoots one or two takes, and consistently delivers good footage from
his actors and technical people is definitely going to be favored by the producers.
There are no apologies, no excuses. What gets projected up on that screen, and heard through
those speakers, had better be top notch.
An anecdote
One side note, if I may. After I left college, I envisioned myself as a cameraman. I had the
necessary skills, including professional still photographic as well as cinematographic experience.
Actually, I figured that no one would hire me outright as a Director of Photography, so I planned
on starting as an Assistant Cameraman (focus puller). After coming out to Hollywood, I took
immediate employment at a motion picture equipment Sales/Rental house, and also began
freelancing on the side.
On one particular shoot, the Producer was desperate for a soundman, so I “switched hats” and
took over the Nagra. That same producer hired me again several times–as his Sound Mixer!
Soon, I found that I could work a lot steadier and advance quicker mixing sound than by loading
magazines & checking focus. Photography became a hobby again, and I became a full-fledged
Sound Mixer. The moral is, life may surprise you. Learn it all, for everything you learn about
filmmaking will come in handy one day or another.
Why do you think they’re called “Talking Pictures?”
If audiences didn’t care about dialogue, but only were interested in the visuals--Hollywood
never would have bothered to invent sound motion pictures. But early movie goers did care,
and thus the soundtrack was born.
How did Hollywood refer to this new marvel of modern technology? They didn‘t hype the sound
effects. Audiences already heard “live” sound effects, courtesy of men performing theatrics in
the orchestra pit. The studios didn’t hype the music, films already were projected with
orchestral accompaniment. The big attraction was dialogue! For the first time, audiences could
hear the movie stars speak!
Hence, when ‘silent’ motion pictures were supplied with the first sync soundtracks–everyone
named them the “talkies”. Production Dialogue had come to movie making!
From those early days of sound onward, filmmakers have relied heavily on the presence of
sound to help tell their stories or convey their messages. They discovered that picture and
sound were two sides of the same coin.
Picture and sound could reinforce each other–that is, cover the same material, or contribute to
the same perceived message. We see an airplane; we hear the airplane. We see an actor shout;
we hear the shout.
On the other hand, picture and sound could counterpoint each other. This refers to the
soundtrack conveying new or different information and meaning than a viewer could perceive
by only seeing the visual. We see the airplane; but we hear a hijacker’s threat to the pilot. We
see an actor shout; but the music tells us that he is joyful, not angry.
In any case, sound has unquestionably become an indispensable aspect of modern filmmaking
(and television).
If you doubt this for even a moment, try this simple exercise. Turn on the television to any
show. Watch for a few moments, and then turn your back to the screen. The soundtrack alone
will supply you with enough details to keep track of the story. Now, try the same thing with the
picture–that is, watch the screen but turn off the sound. The storyline becomes much more
difficult to follow.
The point is–even though all of the glory in filmmaking is associated with camera work–without
the sound, those pretty pictures lose a lot!
It is sort of ironic, but that conclusion is often a whole lot more apparent to audiences than to
filmmakers on the set. Everyone is willing to sacrifice all on behalf of getting a good shot, but
rarely do amateur and low budget filmmakers concern themselves seriously with sound.
Directors often take audio for granted, until they get back to the editing room. There, they
regretfully discover how much better and easier it would have been had they spent the effort
to record good sound on the set while they had the chance.
Chapter 2 – Elements of the Soundtrack
Much of what a Production Mixer does is based upon his or her assessment of what will be
needed later on during post-production (editing & final mixdown). With that in mind, let’s begin
with a brief overview of “post” and work our way back to the production side of things. Key
elements include Narration, Music, Sound Effects, and Dialogue.
What types of sound make up a motion picture or video soundtrack?
Narration
Many films rely heavily on NARRATION to hold the visuals together or to provide explanation.
All of us, I’m sure, are familiar with documentaries, travelogues, and educational films that
employ Narration as the primary element of the soundtrack. Don’t forget, however, that many
theatrical films also use Narration as a story device—sometimes in the role of an ‘anonymous’
storyteller, sometimes as the inner thoughts of a principal character.
Narration can be recorded in two different ways.
The first way, or style, is to have the narrator view the film and record live commentary while it
is projected. The lines may be from a script or totally improvised, depending on the film in
question. This style is referred to as “sync to picture”. As you have guessed, it is quite common
to travelogues! The other approach, which is usually the preferred way of doing it, involves
recording the narration “wild” from a script, instead of from watching the picture. The talent
reads the lines from a prepared script, which are recorded as isolated takes. (Note, while it is
true that some narrators may view the film in preparation of the recording session, the picture
does not play a role during the session itself.) An editor then cuts the desired lines in place
opposite the appropriate footage.
This method gives the filmmaker maximum creative control over the relationship between
picture and narration, and allows greater flexibility should editorial changes be desired later on.
It also frees the narrator to concentrate on enunciation and delivery of the lines, rather than
worrying about matching whatever is up on screen that moment.
Narration tracks can physically be recorded either in a professional recording studio (with full
acoustic isolation from any outside noise), or as a “wild track” while on location. Which
technique is used depends on knowing how the narration is to intercut with the rest of the
soundtrack.
If the narration is supposed to be authoritative and ‘anonymous’ (commonly nicknamed the
“voice of God” approach) — then isolated studio recording is called for. The voice track is
recorded with a full presence, completely free of any ambient background noise or room
coloration (room echo or bounce).
On the other hand, if the narration is supposed to be a “continuation” of on-screen dialogue or
on-screen explanation—then the narration is usually recorded as a “wild track” (camera is not
shooting) at the same location. The sound quality of the wild lines should match closely with
the sound quality of the original on-screen portion of the dialogue. Perspective and presence
should be similar. Background ambiance and room acoustics should also match. The goal is to
convince the audience that the narration is an uninterrupted continuation of the talking head
they saw at the beginning, even though the visuals have cut away to instructional inserts.
It is true, however, that often the sound mixer will be asked to record “voice of God” narration
as well as “wild lines” while out on location, due to limited availability of some actors (or
limitations of the budget). This, though, becomes more a matter of technique in “faking it” (to
sound like an isolated recording studio).
Music
Even the earliest ‘silent’ films depended heavily on music to add emotion to moving images.
The presence of a musical score tells the audience what feelings they are supposed to have: joy,
sorrow, tension, exhilaration, impending fear, etc. In fact, many prerecorded musical scores in
music libraries are titled and catalogued by their suggested emotional effect.
