The June column is about one of the more complex parts of film scoring. The dub. This is where music dialog and effects are blended into the final track heard by the audience. Here then is the column along with some reading materials on the topic of dub mixes.

Ah, There's The Dub

On occasion I've mentioned the topic of dubbing. Not to be confused with any Jamaican musical production technique, dubbing is the technical and creative end of the line for a film's soundtrack. Dubbing mixing together all elements of the film, dialog, sound effects and, of course, music. Dubs take place in highly specialized studios called dub stages, which more closely resemble a movie theater with a mixing console in the middle.

Weeks and even months of work go into preparation for a film's dub. As a picture is being edited, all the sound editors must match all of their elements to the ever changing images. It's a complex process. At first, the picture editor will do very rough sound editing on the Avid (digital video editing system) using the sound recorded on the set, called "production sound." Much of this sound will be replaced or enhanced by the phalanx of dialog and sound effects professionals. The picture editor gives them a cut when the director feels it has reached a point of reasonable completion. The sound editors take the picture (with timecode) and match their sound elements to it. The dialog editor takes the sound recorded on the set with the actors, cuts it up to isolate each actor onto his or her own track, and puts any dialog that needs special audio processing (such as phone calls or dialog from another room) onto separate tracks as well. Some dialog is rerecorded by the actors in a studio in a process called ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement), and used to replace lines that the director is not satisfied with or are not up to necessary audio quality.

Sound effects are far more complex. They are built up with dozens of tracks of sounds and ambiences. By the time everything makes to the dub stage, it is a huge mass of stuff, and we haven't gotten to the music yet. Typically music will occupy another eight to thirty-two tracks. All put together, a large scale film can have hundreds of tracks of sound and music. A daunting task to mix even with a reasonable amount of time.

On larger films with massive numbers of tracks, the dub begins with some submixing called a "pre dub." Music is not involved in this step. Dialog and effects are mixed down to a more manageable number of tracks. At this point, little if anything has been done in regards to surround sound formats, it's all just lots of tracks of audio ready to be mixed.

Any composer whose worked in film knows that even when a film reel is supposedly "locked," meaning there will no more changes to the cut, there will almost invariably be more cuts and changes. It's the nature of the business and, for better or worse, composers are used to it (though it always feels good to complain). So are the sound editors who must reconfigure all their tracks. Even after the dub begins, some directors will make last second changes, which are far more expensive than changes made earlier in the process. Hopefully any changes will be minimal.

So who are the people involved on a dub? First and foremost is the director, who typically will call the shots, unless there is a producer there with something to prove. Sitting at the mixing console will be anywhere from one to three sound engineers. The main engineer is the dialog mixer, who runs the board and tells the others what to do. He has control over all the dialog tracks as well as overall audio settings, and controls the projector or video playback. They control the record button for the final destination stems, which are the final soundtrack media.

In addition to the dialog mixer will often be the sound effects and music mixers. Each engineer has faders with their specific elements. With few exceptions all the sound elements are on some type of hard disk audio system such as ProTools, WaveFrame, or the Fairlight MFX. This certainly helps speed things along, though it also gives the director the freedom to change things and experiment, which can slow things down, but in theory give a better end result to the director's satisfaction.

Sitting behind the mixing engineers are the various dialog and sound editors, the music editor, and the sound or postproduction supervisor. The editors are there to ensure all of their tracks are in sync and sound good, and to be available to make any changes the director requests. If the director asks to hear a different sound effect ("do you have a bigger door slam here?") or dialog line ("do you have the version where she laughed into the phone?") the dub will stop while the editor puts that sound up, which can take several minutes. The mix is at all times being automated and is recorded onto three destination stems: dialog, effects and music. If there is a fix done to one, it can be punched in without touching the other tracks to save time.

OK, so what about the music? Well, first things first. Typically when a reel of the film is put up to dub, the first thing the mixer will do is listen through with most all faders up to get a sense of what is there. This is often done without the music, since it is typically the simplest element to mix. Music, unlike dialog or sound effects usually doesn't require much in the way of dub stage remixing. If you are on the dub stage as the mixer is listening to a reel, don't get worried, upset or make any unrequested comments until after he has gotten through mixing most of the effects and dialog. The music may sound funny at first, too loud or barely audible. But wait until the preliminary passes are done and the music is being mixed in more carefully. Then and only then is it really appropriate to make comments or suggestions regarding music.

It's also a good idea to wait and see what the director asks for before jumping in with comments of your own. When you do have something to say, it's best to direct yourself to the director (which would make them the 'directee' I suppose) and not just blurt things out to the engineers. Some composers with a few too many comments find themselves no longer invited to the dub stage. Tell the director your ideas and let them agree or not. Changes can include making the music louder, softer, sliding the music earlier or later to make it fit the scene better, making cuts to shorten or extend the cue, rebalancing elements to bring out certain sounds that are getting buried, and, more radically, deciding a cue doesn't work and trying a cue from a different part of the film. You may even decide to go back to your studio to rewrite a cue. It's not uncommon at all to ride the music levels up and down to clear dialog and not be swallowed up by sound effects. While it sounds odd on its own, it helps to keep the music in relative context to everything else.

At times during a dub things will slow down while a technical problem gets resolved (or not) or a problem with dialog or effects gets fixed (or not). Be patient. Have some fun and stay out of the way. As you might figure, the dub is about the last chance for everyone to get their ideas into the film, and things get very political, conflicted and emotional at times. Such is the nature of the business. Don't get caught up in it, but if you have an idea then by all means share it, even if it has nothing to do with music. That's part of the collaboration of movie making.

Dubs last anywhere from two days for a TV show to a few weeks on a major feature film. They are a slow and meticulous process. If all goes well, when the dub is finished so are you, at least with that project. Then it's time to step back into the glaring light of day and get reacquainted with your friends before moving on to the next project.