Editor prep before AAF Export
Occasionally, production teams inquire about the preferred method for picture editors to submit materials for a sound post-production booking. While workflows continuously evolve, certain universally recognized standards have remained steadfast over time. In this article, we will detail these standards.
Targeted at both beginner and intermediate editors, this guide is also valuable for producers. Adhering to these editing best practices can save time and lead to significant cost savings during the sound post-production phase.
Track Layout
As fellow editors in the hectic post world we know that turnaround times can be crazy. Out of all of the things that can be done to make your sound editor happy, organizing and tiding up your track layout is the most important. In addition, having your template organized in such a way for audio will also make your life easier as you navigate through your edit.
A1 VO/Guided Narration
A2 Sync Dialog/Boom
A3 Sync Dialog/Lav if multiple characters you can spread them out over subsequent tracks
A4-8 Sfx
A9-10 Stereo Music
A11-12 Stereo Music
A13 Work track for destructive effects
The plan is to minimize tracks and organize them into food groups VO, Dialog, Sfx, Mfx. If you have a scene with a Boom and multiple Lav’s please put all iso tracks on the timeline. Don’t mute or delete clips unless you are sure they are not usable.
Destructive Processes, Volume adjustments and Fades
One of the first steps an audio engineer will do upon importing your AAF is to remove all of your volume automation. This is crucial for the post team in order to make sure what they are intending for the mix doesn’t get confused with previous automation. If you have unwanted audio in a clip, the preference is to delete that audio not to ride your volume automation down. Fades on clips are the preferred method of volume attenuation. If you feel a clip is not loud enough please use clip gain to bring it up. Do not double up the clip to make it louder.
NLE’s now come with a slew of audio plug-ins especially some handy noise reduction plug-ins. Do not destructively bake these plug-ins into the clips. Post audio will deal with eq, compression, limiting, noise reduction and effects. If production wants to hear noise reduction on a clip or if there is a certain effect you want to have in the mix, supply both the unaltered clip and the processed clip on the timeline. I would suggest putting the processed clip on a work track. Destructive means just that. The post team will not be able to fix these processes. Currently Adobe’s Podcast AI voice resynthesizer tool is being overused. Please don’t throw this on you dialog and pass it off to post. Also be aware that whatever you send to Adobe they have full rights to use. Your clients might not be too happy about that.
Other thoughts and considerations
If production sound supplies you with room tone. Go ahead and put it on the timeline further down. You can try to use it to fill gaps but don’t worry too much about making a perfect seamless loop. Post audio will take care of that. If there is room tone and you don’t add it to your project make sure to send that over with the project. Also, if you are asked to make a dreaded Frankenbite edit to dialog please supply all of the options including outtakes. Lastly, make sure that your music edits are in time and looping smoothly. Huge crossfades will not cover up misaligned music. If the audio engineer is asked to correct this there is a good chance your edit timing will no longer work and that big impactful musical moment will fall flat.
All editors have their own workflow and NLE’s are constantly changing. But these tips, especially the track layout will imporve your workflow and cut down on organizational time for post audio. It’s a Win Win. After your session is prepped for export go to the next page for AAF best practices.