WRITTEN BY JEFF SHIFFMAN
CO-OWNER OF BOOM BOX POST
Fair warning, I don’t want this post to come across as just another mixer rant… I’ll do my best to keep things civil. I’ve been keeping track of a few bad habits I see in editorial that drive me a bit batty on the mix stage. So in an effort to “be the change I wish to see in the world,” I’m going to share them with you. Hopefully this will result in less of these nits to pick going forward and, as a bonus, its free therapy for me!
I’d first like to point you to a post I wrote back in 2021. “Common Sound Editorial Mistakes That Can Become Big Mix Problems” is now almost five years old, but still 100% relevant. Think of today’s post as a companion piece. Address those issues first, then move on to these.
IMPROPER FADES FOR MOVING ACTION
I love when editors try and help the mixer by adding fades to their work. However, I often see a case where action enters or leaves screen and from the moment the frame is crossed, sound is faded to absolute zero. For example, if someone walks in from stage right, their first footstep should not be the start of a fade in and barely audible. Just because an action has left the screen does not mean it is complete devoid of sound the moment we no longer see it.
Solution - If you want to utilize fades for action entering or leaving screen, be sure to provide more than enough material before (for entering) or after (for leaving) the frame is crossed so the faded materials have time to resolve naturally.
UNNECESSARY PERSPECTIVE CUTs AND VOLUME AUTOMATION
In 2018 I wrote this post on perspective cutting wherein I encourage perspective cutting only when there is a significant difference in distance. I often find that editors will perspective cut a steady element simply because something is no longer seen on screen, and then (and here’s the real issue) aggressively use volume automation to illustrate this difference. This mistake causes a lot of work for the mixer as we need to undo the automation to get a steady volume. I appreciate that diligent editors would rather be safe than sorry, but this results in a lot of unnecessary cuts. If you must cover your bases, leave the volume level the same between less dramatic perspective cuts. This gives your mixer total flexibility without a difficult starting point.
Solution - Still unsure when to perspective cut? Put yourself in the scene with the camera. For example, if you see an active fireplace next to your main character and we cut to a shot of the person they are talking to (no fire pit in sight) you can assume the sound of the volume of the fire will remain exactly the same since the relative distance has not changed.
CUTTING OFF ACTIVE AMBIENCES
Sometimes the end of a scene is a very dramatic quiet moment. It’s in these moments without any music, dialogue or heavy action, that the backgrounds and ambiences really shine. It’s also when we’ll hear any jarring cuts as we cut to the next scene. I see it all the time - an off screen approaching car by that’s cut off just as it starts to register to the viewer’s ears. Half a screeching bird call. A far off lawnmower that just started up, etc. Ambiences sell the illusion that the viewer is actually in a particular space - you don’t want to call attention to them.
Solution - Always audit your ambiences at scene cuts to be sure nothing is awkwardly cut off.
PERSPECTIVE CUTTING SYLLABLES OF DIALOGUE
While we are on the topic of perspective, another issue I often see is granular perspective cutting on dialogue. If, for example, a scene is cutting back and forth between a character on a radio and in person, naturally we want to perspective cut that material. The problem arises when the dialogue editor is committed to perspective cutting materials down to the frame. I find it very jarring when a small part of a word is suddenly chopped for perspective.
Solution - Cheat it. Film is a forgiving medium and our brains will make sense of a well timed edit much better than it will a jarring, awkward cut in the middle of a word.
What bad habits have I missed? Leave your pet peeves (and solutions) in the comments.
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