Dialogue Editing

80 GETTING SOUND FROM PICTURE DEPARTMENT TO SOUND DEPARTMENT
Which picture workstation was used? Which model and software
version? The version number is vital information, since two different
software versions of the same picture workstation may have wildly
different capabilities. Can the workstation accommodate the original
24-bit soundfi les?
Will the editor cut with all of the recorded audio tracks or use a
mixdown?
Armed with this information, approach colleagues who have faced similar
jobs and seek their advice. Visit the web site of the manufacturer of the harddisk
recorder used on the fi lm. Go to the Avid or FCP web site. Spend some
time in Internet forums to look for pertinent advice.
You’re not the fi rst person to face this hurdle. The key to successfully negotiating
the overwhelming set of possibilities is to fi rst gather the information
just listed and categorize the problems you’ll face. Once you know what
you’re looking for, it’s not hard to fi nd the answers.
As soon as you have access to a sound editing room, arrange a very
short test with the assistant picture editor. Ask for a 10-event Avid
session that represents the issues you’ll encounter once the picture is
locked.
Ask about mono tracks representing multiple tracks, 16-bit soundfi les
linked to 24-bit originals, shooting days whose timecode crossed
midnight 13 —these issues can trip you up when you conform the fi lm.
Request picture as well as sound so that you can check sync.
Get an OMF as well as an EDL so that you can easily test the accuracy
of the edits as well as the OMF sound quality compared to the original
recordings.
It’s much better to learn of a trap now than to wait until the picture is locked
and the weight of the production is on your shoulders. Now you have time
to go back to the books to learn what you did wrong and to get the picture
department to change some habits.
13 Crossing midnight refers to recordings with timestamps that begin before 23:59:59:00
and continue into the next timecode day. A take that “ends before it begins” is disastrous
when using linear editing systems but merely an inconvenience when working with fi lebased
recordings.