Audio Track Management: (Best Practices)
- Organize audio tracks. For instance, Keep dialog tracks separate from music and SFX tracks.
- If your application supports it use stereo tracks for music and SFX when appropriate
- Label (name) Audio Tracks in the Sequence. Keep your tracks clearly marked with what audio is on it. This will make it easier for future modifications along with collaborating with others.

Audio Editing & Cleaning Up Transitions:

Dialog Editing/Cleanup:
- Edit out any duplicated dialog from different microphones.
o Pick one mic to use for each recorded dialog/VO and delete the other to avoid phasing in your audio.
o Use a different dialog track for each person/dialog for ease of cleanup and mixing
- Identify about 15 to 30 frames of clean room tone for each dialog track about to be edited and copy/paste it to the head of the track.
o This can be used to help smooth out transitions between takes and to cleanup up unwanted sounds that occurred during the shoot.
- Once the program has been cut together, go through each scene and smooth out the different dialog clips.
o This will involve EQ, compression, leveling, fading ins and outs, crossfading, trimming and copy/paste room tone.
o Listen for unwanted sounds and paste room tone from the take to cover it up.
This could include mic bumps, or any other movement off camera that is not adding any value to the scene.
o Listen for different parts of breathing from one take to another and trim/crossfade the takes together in order to make it sound natural.
o EQ, Compress and Noise Reduce each dialog track. This can be achieved by using track effects.
 Choose an EQ in the track effect list and solo the track. Loop play a section of the dialog in the track and set the EQ parameters.
 Choose a compressor in the track effect list and solo the track. Loop play a section of the dialog in the track and set the compression parameters.
o Balance the levels of the dialog tracks. This should be level to +/- 3dB of your reference level

Natural (NAT) Sound Editing/Cleanup:
NAT sound is the recorded audio from the shoot.
- It is good practice to keep this audio separate from the dialog tracks for mixing and smoothing out transition from scene to scene.
- Keeping this audio separate also makes it easier to create Music & FX stems (M&E)

Music Editing/Cleanup:
- Using Music Libraries or custom music will often need to be edited for changing the timing of intro’s and endings.
- Often editing sections of the music is needed which involves listening for down/up beats to keep the rhythm/groove intact.
- Listen closely to the how the music ends and experiment with different fade out curves for smooth transitions.
- EQ & Compress the music track. This can be achieved by using track effects.
o Choose an EQ in the track effect list and solo the track. Loop play a section of the music in the track and set the EQ parameters.
o Choose a compressor in the track effect list and solo the track. Loop play a section of the music in the track and set the compression parameters.
- If music is being played under dialog set a rough level for the music in order to start building a rough mix of the program

SFX Editing/Cleanup:
- Using either recorded sound effects or SFX libraries sync up sounds to picture
o Using processing FX to enhance the sounds to fix the image. This could include pitch shifting, EQ, reverse or other effects to achieve this. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
- Identify and label sound effect tracks for hard FX (hits, quick transients etc…), and soft FX (ambiences, subtle sounds etc…). This will help when adding Compression to the tracks and for identifying where the sound is located when mixing.
- Listen closely to the start and end of the SFX for clicks. It is often needed to add fades to the start and end of the sound to avoid unwanted clicks.
- Compress the SFX track. This can be achieved by using track effects.
o Choose a compressor in the track effect list and solo the track. Loop play a section of the SFX in the track and set the compression parameters.
- Set a rough level for the SFX in order to start building a rough mix of the program

Final Mixing:
When mixing the program use the following tools to help achieve consistent levels and loudness.

Metering:
- Use a peak/average meter on the master fader to help guide you towards a balance and peak safe mix.
- Use the peak metering for controlling the transience in the mix. Normally when mixing peaks should not exceed -10dB/-6dB.
- Use the average metering for controlling the overall mix level. Normally when mixing for video/film the average metering should be at +/-3dB of -20dBfs. -20dB is normally used as a reference level (-20dBfs = 0VU).

Compression:
- Using a program compressor will help achieve the average metering specification along with controlling the peaks from transience of quick attacks of sound sources. This Compressor should be inserted on the Master Fader.

Leveling and Panning:
- Once the compression settings are set, it’s now time to go scene by scene and level all the sounds occurring in the tracks.
- Use panning to achieve a broad special relationship between dialog and SFX. Normally music is set to be panned hard left/right.
- When mixing music with dialog, it is important to not drown out the spoken words. Pay close attention to this, as it can be distracting to an audience and take them out of the story being told.

Mastering The Final Mix:
When mastering your mix take into consideration what the mix is intended for (Web, DVD, Broadcast, Film, etc…).
- Once the final mix has been created either import the mix file into a new track or route the Master Fader output to a new track.
- Add compression and/or EQ to this track to achieve consistency throughout your mix.
- If the final mix is intended for Web/DVD normalize the final mix to -.5dBfs. This will optimize the loudness of your mix for these applications.

Other Notes:
- Whenever possible it is always good to go through the program and add Locators/Markers with notes of what work is planned to do. This is also very useful when working with others or a producer who wants to give you notes on what they want done. Adding locators at the location in the sequence will be helpful.
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