Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316380
The following is my day-by- day description of my week as an analog supervising sound editor: DAY ONE (SATURDAY) Saturday was my day to prep the show for the Foley walkers and FX/ dialogue editors, who would start on the following Monday. I first made a pull list of library effects for the machine room to assemble on one-inch timecoded tape. These were effects that were not on the L.A. Law repeating effects tape. I would make a mixing cue sheet to indicate the track placement of each library effect. This cue sheet would reflect the effect mixer's preference for their layout. I made a cue sheet because at the sound house where I worked, there were three other series in some stage of sound post, so often I did not get the same effects editors cutting my episode. This cue sheet became my way of creating continuity from one episode to another. Traditional analog effects editing consisted of 35mm mag reprints auditioned on a Moviola and a sync point made. Then the mag film is physically cut into a effects track at the foot and frame point indicated on the Moviola counter. But in 1993, for the first time in this series, the sound effects were cut on a nontraditional analog sound editing system. The linear sound effect cues on the one-inch timecoded tape are sent through an analog mixing board and duped to an assigned track on the two- inch 24-track recorder. All sync comes from Vertical Interval Time Code (VITC) on the video tape. All tape players, recorders, and mixing boards are slaved to this timecode signal. Because the audio racks on the 24-track machine were so narrow, Dolby SR was applied to increase the signal-to-noise ratio to almost digital standards. A foreign M&E (FX, MX, Foley) was laid down to another full-coat simultaneously with the full mix. The Foley walkers were instructed to Foley everything that moved and especially story point prop movements. After the reels had been walked (footsteps, movements, and props), a Foley editor would check every cue against the production track to ensure they were in sync. The editor used one set of the Mylar dupes for their edit. Since analog dialogue had only a few of the tools available to the digital editor, I would give detailed notes to my two dialogue editors. So, track placement, BG extensions in and out points of a dialogue cut, and putting clean production track effects in a PFX tack were the primary duties of an analog dialogue editor. Sandpaper or razor blades were the only tools the editor had to reduce sibilance in the dialogue or to lower volume on-camera prop movements over dialogue. Off-screen non- story point noises were cut out and filled with BG loop transfers of that particular camera setup. Production Track Lines that were to be covered by ADR were moved to a separate track to be included in the mix when the ADR cue is not acceptable as a replacement. It was important for the editors to make a background loop of the Master shot, as the mike was furthest away from the actors. The volume tended to be within 4dB of the dialogue peaks, louder than any of the closer camera setups. The sound editor would have a transfer made of the loop as long as the dialogue scene ran. This track would become a background sound bed that would mask volume bumps between cuts in dialogue backgrounds. Where in and out extensions to smooth transitions from one dialogue cut to another were required, loops are made from the production track between the slate slap and the director calling "action." I would have all audio from the Master or two-shot on a single track. Each character cut onto individual tracks. Lines to be looped were broken out and filled to a separate audio track. There wasn't enough time for the Production Effects to place them in a PFX track on this series. I would cut Reel 1 dialogue on Day Two (Monday), and Reels 2 and 3 to my two dialogue editors to be ready for the first day of mixing (Thursday, Day Six). Reels 4 and 5 were to be ready for delivery on Friday, Day Seven. All editors would work with the Mylar dupes for their editing, as the workprint was at the lab for negative cutting. DAY TWO (MONDAY) I would complete my dialogue editing of Reel 1 on this day. Cueing and building multiple tracks were done on a four-gang sync block by placing the workprint in the front gang. It is the wheel without a magnetic sound reader on top of the film guide. I'd put the first frame of the SMPTE leader marked "PIC START" on the "0" frame marker on the wheel. Then I would zero out the footage counter to begin my count to edit and create a dialogue cue sheet. Next, I would place the cut work track or one-to-one on gang #2. Gang #2 contained a magnetic sound reader head plugged into a multi-channel preamp to monitor playback using professional-quality headphones. I used it as a guide track to sync my reprints. Gang #3 was the track I used to build all the required Dialogue Tracks. I added white leader (base side up) to match the leader's length on the work picture and track, labeling the leader's heads with production's name, Episode #, Reel #, and Dialogue Track #. I'd mark an X opposite the PIC START frame on the academy lead with a magic marker. To ensure the start mark was very visible to the machine room loader, I'd punch a hole in the X and have long marker lines leading up and away from the X mark. A single frame of 1KHz mag film is cut into the track at the academy countdown leader's "2" location to verify that the track was running in sync with the picture on playback. The same procedure was followed with every other audio track built to ensure all popped on the leader's same "2" frame. Because opaque white leaders were expensive, we used reclaimed release print as a spacer (base up) to edit the mag film to play at the desired footage. As Reel 1 did not contain the prequel from the previous episode or the stock opening title/credits to the new episode, there was always a length of no dialogue cues during the opening credits, only music. Gang #4 was a preview channel for the reprint mag film. Sync is determined by playing the reprint on the sound head of an upright