The Final Audio Mix (continued)

nStereo: We’re all familiar with stereo mixes because that’s how music is mixed. The tracks in your project are mixed down to two channels, left (track 1) and right (track 2). For true stereo, these tracks should be slightly panned to the left and right, respectively, but often, only the music is true stereo. Some stereo mixes feature specific sounds that move from the left to the right channel.

nDialogue, music, and effects (M&E): In a four-channel M&E mix, the sync dialogue is mixed down to one channel, while the stereo music is placed on the second and third channels. The fourth channel is used for sound effects. By keeping these three elements separate, an M&E mix allows you to keep your remixing options open. The dialogue is there as a guide and can be replaced easily for foreign language dubbing.

n5.1 surround sound: The most popular type of surround sound is 5.1, which uses six channels to “surround” the viewer. Dolby Digital 5.1 (or AC-3) and DTS (Digital Theater System) are the two formats that deliver 5.1 surround sound and of the two, Dolby Digital 5.1 is the most popular choice for encoding. Dolby Digital and DTS use 5.1 channels: left, center, and right speakers in the front of the theater, left and right surround speakers in the rear, and an LFE (Low Frequency Effects) subwoofer channel. (The subwoofer only uses a tenth of the dynamic range of a normal channel; hence, you get a total of 5.1 channels.) Surround mixes are generally balanced toward the front channels, with the rear channels used for occasional effects or ambience.

n7.1 surround sound: SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) uses 7.1 channels, adding center-left and center-right speakers in the front to the standard 5.1 speaker layout. In addition to theatrical support, SDDS is also supported by Blu-ray but is less commonly used than 5.1.

Create a Mix

Doing the audio mix yourself using your editing software or dedicated sound software, such as ProTools, gives you the luxury of time, but it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do anything more complicated than a stereo or M&E mix. Luckily, most editing applications can take your stereo mix and turn it into a 5.1 surround sound mix automatically. With this approach, you won’t be paying expensive hourly fees, so you’ll have the freedom to get your mix exactly right. Most likely, you were mixing your tracks as you worked, so you’ll probably only need a final pass to set the levels across the entire project.

When it comes to mixing, dialogue is usually king. Watch the level meters in your application as you mix; if you have audio hardware, such as a mixing board, watch the level meters on your hardware. The dialogue should tend toward a consistent range throughout your project. Music and effects should fall at a significantly lower level, except in special circumstances when they need to be intentionally louder. Mixing is a very subjective art, and many people think their way of mixing is the only way to do it right. If you’re not confident about your “ear,” get a professional sound editor to come in for a day and do a quick and dirty mix for your film.

No matter how many audio tracks you have, you’ll want to start by mixing them down to eight tracks. Since you’re doing it yourself, you can use as many tracks as you want, but its ultimately simpler to use fewer. A typical eight-track configuration includes two tracks of checkerboarded sync production dialogue, including voice-over if applicable, two tracks of sound effects and ambience, a track of stereo left music, and a track of stereo right music.