Studio credit
Elephant Audio
Audio production · Sound design · Music production
LahorePKEngineering sound since 2018
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Working with a studio
What to Send a Sound Designer.
Send a locked picture export with burned-in timecode, the production sound as separate tracks rather than a mixed bounce, an OMF or AAF from the edit, any temp music with its licence status, and the delivery target the piece is going to. The delivery target matters as much as the picture, because it decides the loudness and the deliverables before a single sound is placed.
What does a sound designer need from you?
Lock the picture first, and mean it
Sound is built to frames. Every footstep, door and ambience edit is placed against a specific moment, so a cut that moves by six frames after the work has started does not shift the sound with it — somebody re-places it by hand.
A trim at the very end of a timeline is usually cheap. A change in the middle is not, because everything after it moves. This is not a rule studios invented to be difficult; it is the reason picture lock exists as a stage at all.
If the cut genuinely cannot lock — which happens on advertising more often than on film — say so at the start. Work can be staged around it, but only if it is known in advance.
The handover, item by item
Five things. The last one is the one most people leave out:
- A picture export with BURNED-IN TIMECODE, and ideally a 2-pop or a clap at the head. Timecode is how a note like “rattle at 00:01:14:08” means the same thing to both of us.
- The production sound as SEPARATE tracks — each radio mic and the boom on their own channel, not a mixed bounce. Once they are summed, a rustling lav cannot be taken out from under the line.
- An OMF or AAF from the edit, with handles. Handles are the extra seconds either side of every cut; without them a fade cannot be extended past the edit point.
- Any temp music, and its licence status. A temp track shapes everything around it, so we need to know early whether it is being cleared or replaced.
- WHERE THE PIECE IS GOING — the broadcaster, the platform, the festival. This decides the loudness target, the true-peak ceiling and the deliverables before a single sound is placed, and it is the item most briefs omit.
Why the destination changes the work, not just the export
It is tempting to treat delivery as a final step — finish the mix, then render it to whatever the platform wants. It does not work that way, because the targets differ by more than a number.
Television in the US and Australia is measured at −24 LKFS, Europe and the UK at −23 LUFS, and the UK holds non-live material to half the tolerance American television anticipates. Music streaming sits far louder, around −14 LUFS on Spotify. A mix built to sit comfortably in one of those will be re-gained for another, and re-gaining a mix changes how its quiet moments read.
The same applies to deliverables. If the piece may ever be re-voiced in another language, it needs an M&E — music and effects without dialogue — and that has to be kept clean while the mix is built, not reconstructed afterwards.
What slows a job down
Four things that cost more time than anything technical:
- A mixed bounce instead of separate tracks. Dialogue cleanup is limited to what can be done to everything at once.
- No timecode. Notes become “about two thirds through”, and both sides guess.
- The delivery target arriving after the mix. The loudness and the M&E are decided at the start or redone at the end.
- Picture changes after lock. Not fatal, but every one of them moves work that was already finished.
Sending a cut for sound.
If you have a locked picture and a delivery target, that is enough to start. Tell us what it is and where it is going.
Proof
Work from this service line.
Projects the studio lists under Sound Design & Audio Post Production, the service line this guide sits under.
Questions
Frequently asked.
What does a sound designer need from me?
A locked picture export with burned-in timecode, the production sound as separate tracks, an OMF or AAF with handles, any temp music and its licence status, and the delivery target the piece is going to.
Why does picture have to be locked before sound design?
Sound is placed against specific frames. If the cut moves, the sound does not move with it — someone re-places it by hand. A trim at the end is usually cheap; a change in the middle moves everything after it.
Can you work from a mixed audio bounce?
It is possible but limited. Once the boom and the radio mics are summed together, anything done to fix one of them is done to all of them. Separate tracks are what make dialogue cleanup and ADR practical.
What is an M&E and do I need one?
An M&E is the mix without dialogue — music and effects only — and it is what allows a piece to be re-voiced in another language. If the work may ever be sold into another territory, it has to be kept clean while the mix is built rather than reconstructed later.
Why do you ask where the piece is going before starting?
Because the destination sets the loudness target, the true-peak ceiling and the deliverables. US and Australian television work to −24 LKFS, Europe and the UK to −23 LUFS, and music streaming far louder. Deciding that at the end means re-gaining a finished mix.
What are handles and why do they matter?
Handles are the extra seconds of media either side of every cut in an OMF or AAF. Without them a fade or a crossfade cannot be extended past the edit point, because there is no material there to extend into.
Sending a cut for sound?
If you have a locked picture and a delivery target, that is enough to start. Tell us what it is and where it is going.
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