Planning a Complete Soundtrack
When the picture has been finalised sit down and look at it again and make a list of the sounds you need. Think first of sound effects. Analyse each scene in terms of sound. What will you need for the scenes on the facing page? It is useless to phone the library and request the sound of a car. They need to know what sort of car, what speed is it doing, whether it is stopping or moving forwards, or in reverse, if any doors open or close, where the car is, and what sort of background sound is needed. So, look at every scene and analyse it. Even a simple sequence needs a number of sounds to bring it to life. The scene opposite for example would have the following sounds:
1. Exterior saloon car (Ford Cortina 1975) stopping and engine switching off.
2. The same car. One door opening and shutting gently.
3. Man’s footsteps on stone.
4. Background traffic — provincial town.
Breaking down sound
When you have listed the sounds you can ask the sound effects library to re-record their master tapes or discs on perforated magnetic film. You can then edit the film and build up a series of sound effects tracks, all matching the one edited reel of picture. You will need to prepare a number of different tracks. We can examine here just what the sequence of the car arriving and the man getting out and walking off means in terms of individual tracks. First, consider the background sound.
Start by running through the reels provided by the sound library and breaking them down into individual sounds. Hang them in a bin or coil them on reels. Identify the head of each with a wax pencil on the base side of the film. You can then turn to the synchroniser and the editing bench.
Analyse each scene
A car arrives and stops. A man gets out and walks away. You need four sounds to bring the scene to life. The sound of a car arriving and stopping (A). Car door opening and shutting (B). General distant traffic background atmosphere (D). Footsteps on stone paving (C). Transfer all these sounds to perforated magnetic film and lay on separate tracks.