This series of articles is written for the aspiring mix-to-pix mixer coming from the music mixing background (P.A. or CD).

During these articles, tips and tricks will be given to help you get a hold with the ins-and-outs of audio post-production workflows. The tools are roughly the same, but their use has a slightly different interpretation than in the music world.

Since you already know most of the tools, I will skip using baby steps. As the series develops you will be guided in how to modify your workflow to a surround sound session, upgrade your listening environment, what to listen for, and everything in between.

This article picks up after the dialogue routing and assignment has been demonstrated. As I am mixing, once the dialogues are roughly 98% of where I want them to be, I go to the ambiences.

Ambiences

As mentioned in the previous article, the tracks count for the ambiences is high, but the same logic applies: everyone’s target is its own surround stem, integrated to the mix with all their downmixes.

Most tracks will be stereo with mono specifics (distant dog bark, crow caw, etc.), but some tracks might be M-S or Ambisonic encoded, and some straight out 5.1. Your template has to reflect any curveballs they might throw at you.

Typically, your track layout could look like this:

• 16-32+ stereo tracks

• 4+ mono tracks

• 4+ stereo M-S tracks (and/or Ambisonic)

• 4+ surround 5.1 tracks

• One stereo aux. return (dAmbs)

• One stereo decode aux. (M-S and/or Ambisonic)

• One stereo UpMix aux. (uAmbs)

• One 5.1 return to act as a subgroup (sAmbs)

Once dialogue and ambiences are done, I aim for the PFX and Foley, even though the production you are working on might be set in fantasy or science-fiction, I like to anchor everything, in reality, the magic will happen later on with the SFX, the Sound Design and the Music.

To Be Noted

The convolution reverb has to be another instance of the plugin, with the same presets used for the Dialogue. They are in the same environment, so it makes sense that they should get the same acoustic treatment.

Sound Effects (SFX)

At long last the SFX. This is where you will be getting your first creative rush. Where the whole thing starts to sound like a finished piece of art! There are two types of SFX: the first one is to augment or replace production sound. Sounds like car doors, coffee boiling, computer chime, etc. anything Foley can’t handle… safely.

And then the second one: Sound Design. These sounds are between music and the human imagination. They possess an intent - an artistic intent that regular SFX alone cannot convey. Regardless, they are part of the SFX stems. On rare occasion, they get their own stem, then don’t forget to give them their own processing (reverbs, delays, and what have you), and assign them to a different path.

The SFX tracks layout that could look like this:

• 6 mono tracks (for PFX)

• 6-12+ stereo tracks (SFX)

• 16+ mono tracks (SFX)

• 16+ stereo tracks (SDesign)

• 4 mono tracks (SDesign)

• 4 mono tracks (lfe SFX)

• One stereo return for a convolution reverb (same type as Dialogue) (rSFX)

• One stereo return for an algorithmic reverb for surround magic (rSFX02)

• One stereo return for a digital delay for exteriors and dreamlike (dSFX)

• One mono return for Low Frequency effects (lfeSFX)

• One 5.1 return to act as a subgroup (sSFX)

And then… drum roll please… the music!

Music

The last creative element that glues everything together. The one that sometimes saves the day! Up until now the only creatives you have been dealing with are the director and maybe the sound designer, not that the other departments are not creative, they are in their own way, but composers are truly off the charts creative. Which would explain why they are so protective of their work.

If you are lucky, the first time, you will be dealing with an experienced composer, and with a bit of mutual respect and a clear communication path, the whole process should go smoothly. Not wanting to be an alarmist, the newbies are the ones you have to watch out for. They are usually intimidated or unaware of the process, and definitely nervous. This is where your reassuring and confident personality comes through. A lot is riding on the final mix, the producers have spent money and typically a lot of years on this project, it’s up to you to make all the sweat, grunts, and mistakes go away… music usually comes to the rescue.

Hopefully, you had a conversation with the composer prior to the delivery date. During that discussion, you would have been able to recommend a stem layout. A dirty word for most composers: they are always afraid that you want stems to rearrange their work.

My two best arguments are that you are in a better position to unwrap their music in surround sound (that’s always exciting for them). And secondly, if you have stems it’s artistically better to duck (lower) a single stem than the whole score.

They will appreciate that you care for their music.

And there you have it, a great working template ready to hit the airwaves!