Some filmmakers find finishing the sound component of their film or video project to be a mysterious and technically daunting process. Issues like audio pull-ups and SMPTE time code frame rates can take the fun out of this essential, though often neglected part of the creative process.

Generally speaking, the sound work that occurs after production is over falls under the umbrella of audio post. This includes sound editing, music editing, sound effects gathering, dialog replacement and mixing. Larger productions routinely employ a sound supervisor to oversee a small army of audio specialists. Watch the credits roll on these films and you'll see twenty or more names of craftspeople that worked to get the sound finished. Small budget filmmakers obviously cannot afford to get this elaborate. But they still need to finish their sound professionally if they want their film to be taken seriously. My work on dozens of feature films as well as short film projects and broadcast work has allowed me to amass information that budding auteurs might find useful. Here are some basic notes on what you can expect from the process:

After the picture editing is completed, all audio elements are transferred to the audio post facility and conformed (re-synced) to picture. Projects are completed in various ways depending on budget and the unique needs of each film, but basically there is an editing phase and a mixing phase.

Dialog editing is the most important and time-consuming part of audio post. Dialog is 'cleaned' & 'prepped' meaning all the extraneous and numerous little noises are edited out of the tracks (mouth noises, clothing rustles, clicks, etc.) The sync sound from the cuts in each scene is split and built into separate tracks. Spaces between lines are filled with 'room tone' to provide seamless tracks that can be individually filtered and later combined during the mix.

Sound effect elements are gathered to achieve the filmmaker's vision. Hard effects are sounds that correspond to particular events like gunshots or door closes. These can be pulled from sound libraries and/or custom made. Backgrounds are ambient or atmospheric (and usually stereo) soundscapes like traffic or crowds. These tracks are key to strengthening the illusion that a scene is transpiring in a real space in real time.

Foley is the art of producing sounds to match (usually human) action on the screen, such as footsteps. Small films can't afford much foley work but it can be lots of fun and pretty effectively achieved by the director and some willing friends in the audio mixer's studio.

The topic of Film Music merits its own column. There are technical issues in composing music for picture that can't be ignored. I advise making sure you get exactly what you want from your composer before you get to the mix and find it doesn't work, or worse, is out of sync. In my experience less is more when it comes to music in film.

The Mixing process, when we combine all the sound elements into a unified whole, is when the real magic happens. There is a pre-mix when many sounds are sifted down to a manageable number of tracks, followed by final mix to finish. Expect further processing of your mix to be needed to prep for your chosen delivery format and its corresponding technical specs.

Here are a few tips for achieving better audio for your film:

The number one sound recommendation I make to filmmakers is to hire an experienced sound team for your production. One can't do a heck of a lot in the edit suite with picture shot out-of-focus or over-exposed. Likewise, poorly recorded production audio can't always be "fixed in post." If you want to save time and money in the long run, hire one of the excellent professionals we have in New England and benefit from their advice on the set. And during down time they can make useful 'wild'( non-sync) recordings of ambient sounds that are invaluable when assembling your final show.
Regarding production dialog, on a bigger film, a high percentage of dialog is re-recorded in a sound studio months after production in a process called ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement). Most films need a few words or lines fixed, but for an independent filmmaker on a limited budget it is a very expensive luxury to re-work entire scenes. So if a line is iffy on the set, rerecord it 'wild' (sans picture) five or six times. Audio tape is cheap.
Choose your locations carefully with an ear toward sound and keep your sets 'locked down'. Many directors are surprised when they get to posting their sound to find out how loud that passing plane really was. Of course it isn't always possible to find a quiet place to make a movie but a little more foresight can maximize your number of useable takes.
This may sound obvious but sound should be used as a story-telling tool. Start thinking about it early in your development process. Great films have inventive soundtracks that utilize foreshadowing, metaphor, humor and style. For the budget conscious, it's a relatively inexpensive way to advance a story point or beef up a character
Don't not mix. This may sound self-serving but it's important to have a realistic line item in your budget to finish sound. Time and again I have found filmmakers to be reinvigorated creatively when we get to the magic phase of mixing all their audio elements to picture after months or even years of fund-raising, filming and editing.

These are just few thoughts on a huge and complex topic. Working with sound can be a fulfilling aspect of the filmmaking process, whether it is for a short shot on video or a 35mm feature.

Brian Depaul Carey owns DEXTER MEDIA, an audio post-production facility in Boston. Recent mixing credits include the feature films COULD BE WORSE! and WORKING STIFF, and the 4-hour documentary series "History of Illegal Drugs" for the History Channel. He would like to hear from you at brian@dextermedia.com