Transcript of 'Video 6e – What is 'the mix'? '

Wayne:

Hi, my name is Wayne Pashley.

I'm referred to as a sound designer, a re-recording mixer or supervising sound editor.

So why do you mix a film?

Okay. The mix of the film is your final chance. And it's for telling the story that you want to tell.

And mixing the film is important because you now have the choices of those food groups that we talked about.

Dialogue, effects, crowds, atmosphere and music. All those things are now playing out on tracks, okay?

So, each track or numbers of, and in fact on films like, for example, 'Elvis,' we had thousands of tracks.

So, you've got your dialogues there, your dialogues might be across 10 or 12 tracks maybe for your work. It could be hopefully less than that. Your atmospheres are under there, your effects are under there.

Your foley, we talked about the footsteps and the manageable, you know, the there.

So, each of those food groups are now playing and the music is there. Each of those food groups are playing all at once now.

So why do you mix a film? You now choosing the balance between each of those things, to tell the story, to keep the emotional intent and to keep the clarity of the dialogues, and use the music, the atmospheres, the effects, as storytelling.

Primarily, what do you want to hear at any given point?

You could have all this stuff going on with crowds behind a scene, for example, but a little taste of the crowds at the front might be just enough and then take them away.

Once the dialogue and you're inside the character's heads. We don't want to hear the crowds all the time.

You want to now transfer the environment, let's say into the drama, then out of the drama, back into the environment. You know, it's about constantly shifting your ideas and by having those food groups there it keeps the scene and the story alive for the audience.

You handing over to each thing. Is it the dialogue? Is it the foley? How they're, like we talked about how they're walking how they're wheeling in the chair, how, you know, how the sword will play out. Is it going to be really loud at that moment? Or is it going to be a slow, soft pull of the sword?

It can be anything that's emotionally feeling good to you. You know, it's not about having the music just loud. It's like, even if you've spent 50 bucks on a piece of score that you just love, don't fall into the trap of over-loving the music, because that's not what it's about.

It's about what is the music telling us about the characters and the story.

Bring the music down, let it breathe. Bring it up when needed, based on the drama.

So that's why we do a mix, you know, it is the final part of the process.

[End of transcript]

Last updated: 18 November 2022