Video & Editing · 02 of 04
Sound is half the picture
Mix for a phone speaker in a noisy room, then check it on headphones.
The idea
Make essential speech understandable before adding music and effects.
Begin with the information the audience needs to hear. If the film depends on a voiceover, establish a consistent, intelligible voice before adding music and effects. Listen for unclear words, abrupt edits, distracting room sound and changes in recording level. A louder final master does not repair an unclear recording.
Add the music while listening to the speech. Reduce it where it competes, then shape the transition back so the level does not jump after every pause. Ducking is this deliberate reduction around another sound. The amount depends on the voice and the arrangement; a fixed decibel difference is a starting experiment, not a reliable rule for every mix.
Check the exported mix on a small speaker and headphones at an ordinary listening level. Listen to quiet sentences as carefully as the opening. Follow the destination or client delivery specification for loudness and peak limits: there is no single target that serves every web video, broadcast programme and paid placement. Include captions so essential speech remains available when audio is off.
How to see it
Terms used in this lesson
The parts
- Dialogue
- The information carried by speech. Balance the clips before building the rest of the mix.
- Ducking
- Lowering one sound around another, usually music around speech. Adjust the amount and transitions by listening.
- Loudness
- The perceived level of the programme over time. Follow the destination or client specification.
- Playback check
- Listen on small speakers and headphones at an ordinary level, including the quietest passages.
In practice
- Balance the speech clips before adding music and effects.
- Adjust music around dialogue and listen to the transitions into pauses.
- Check the export on small speakers and headphones, then verify the required delivery levels.
Avoid
- Assuming a single LUFS target applies to every destination.
- Reducing all music by a fixed amount without listening to the result.
- Treating a clean loudness meter reading as proof that every word is understandable.
The test
Phone, half volume, arm's length, fan on. If a sentence disappears, the mix is not done.
Reviewed against all forty, on your product.
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