Audio credits for film?

Chadfish

Chadfish

Veteran
So I'm not exactly sure what to call certain jobs on a film I worked on.

One guy who is credited as "Audio Director" was the guy that did the location sound. It sounds like he's directing everything by the title, but I worked independently from him completely.

The sound was handed to me after it was locked. I fixed distorted audio and basically all the bad stuff. Then I did the special effects sounds. I added royalty free & original score music (not my own), did ADR sessions, and then mixed and mastered the whole thing.

So what are all those called officially? Is there a such thing as "Audio Director"?
 
never heard of "audio director". sounds like he was the "production sound mixer".

as for you, I;d be inclined to take the single credit of "sound designer", but you fulfilled a number of roles including:

sound effects editor
dialogue editor (probably)
sound re-recording mixer
ADR supervisor

not positive about music but that might fall under "music editor" but not sure if that's right.
 
I am in complete agreement with Zak. I also have never heard of "audio director". Now Sound Supervisor I have heard of that person Supervises the production sound mixer and boom op as well as all of the post production sound.
 
As a one-man-band audio post facility I usually get Sound Designer or Supervising Sound Editor and got Audio Post Production By a few times. If it's a contract gig I also request an "audio post production services provided by" credit for my facility.
 
Cedric Akins said:
Now Sound Supervisor I have heard of that person Supervises the production sound mixer and boom op...
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No not really. Sure if there is complex audio involved the prod. sound mixer
might have a chat or two with a sound sup (or post in general)
to make sure everyone is on the same page but the production team isn't
supervised and a sound sup is definitely not supervising the boom op.

The production sound mixer is the head of his dept.


Crossing over to reality tv and working with multiples crews
usually one of the sound mixers will have the title of sound supervisor.
He'll be the one who decides assignments, coordinates freq's, etc.
This person traditionally won't have any part in post though.
 
yep, on studio pictures most sound depts consist of three people -- the production sound mixer and two boom ops.
 
Zak Forsman said:
yep, on studio pictures most sound depts consist of three people -- the production sound mixer and two boom ops.
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I think you mean the production sound department, which consists of the production sound mixer, the boom op and an audio assistant who will assist with wiring up talent with lavs, act as cable wrangler for the boom-op and on occasion handle a second boom. It is not unusual to have different production sound crews at different locations.

The audio post department can be dozens of people - dialog editors, ADR mixer, ADR editor, lots and lots of sound editors, sound FX field recordists, Foley mixer, Foley artist(s), Foley editors, music editor and rerecording mixers not to mention a techie or two to keep the systems running smoothly and a person to do archiving, logs, etc.
 
yeah, I was referring to production. I think thats pretty clear. although it's been brought to my attention via PM that many productions employ a sound utility position that will often serve as second boom when needed. i've seen that too. admittedly, most sets that i've been on did not follow the latter set-up but it seems to be the more popular route. for example the three-man team on the last airbender did not have a sound utility position.
 
Pretty much what has been said. "Sound Supervisor" on a feature film is the post sound supervisor and usually has nothing to do with production, often isn't on the payroll till production is mostly done. In the Film world (budgeted anyway) there is no sound/audio "director". In fact it's not an allowed title. THe DGA got very indignant at other departments tacking "director" on titles and DP is I think the last one that has been allowed.

New school you would probably be called "sound designer". It's a title people these days like and it is pretty much undefined. Until a couple of years ago you could not get an Oscar as a sound designer. Sound designers got awards either as an editor or mixer (so you had to do one of those to be eligible) or on rare occasions they would give out a "special achievement" award.

So, old school you would either be the Sound Supervisor, or just editor/rerecording mixer. Most old school editors frowned on the title "sound designer" and a lot of sound designers were actually credited as editors or supervisors.

I I don't have a crew I will generally ask for editor & rerecording mixer. If I supervised a crew then I would go for Supervising Sound Editor (and rerecording mixer - if I mixed also).

Having over three titles makes it look like your gilding the lily (even though they are legit credits). I try to limit it to two in one dept. I might expend to three or four IF the other credits are unrelated, ie actor, art direction, DP etc. but even then I probably would go for the two you really want.
 
In the case of this film, there was mostly one guy on production audio, who "directed" people to speak up when they were too quiet, but I think one of the producers stepped in once in a while to boom op.

For me I want an accurate accounting of what I do, but I don't want a big paragraph about it. Though I want as many credits for the IMDB page as possible too! I look at movie credits as part of my resume, so I want them right.
 
Chadfish said:
In the case of this film, there was mostly one guy on production audio, who "directed" people to speak up when they were too quiet,
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To be technical thats a huge no-no.
Sure we get away with it from time to time when its just easier to tell the actor to help us out with volume or something else, but as a general rule
when working with pro talent..etc the sound mixer should NOT direct the actors
in any shape or form.
You are with no doubt changing their delivery and performance and its just not our call.


There are channels you go through. Usually the 1st AD.
You tell them your concern and they then decide whether to tell the actors
or ask the director what he thinks.

As you can see, that process can be a pain in the ass and cause the sound
dept to be a bit "too" visible at times which is why we sometimes just cheat
and give an actor a signal without drawing attention to ourselves
but NEVER should a sound person
actually feel they are entitled to have a directing credit for such reasons.

Even on 5 man crew jobs 4 times out of 5 I'll ask the director to ask the actors to speak up.
Respect the position of director.


This post isnt directed at you chad. Just to the general viewing audience.
 
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Thanks for the info Rippie. I don't want to step on toes in any future sound projects I may be involved in. Up here in Humboldt it's pretty casual, but being that Humboldt State University has a film department with lots of people going through, there are more films materializing in this area. It's hard when you want to do the right thing, but you risk being a pain in the ass if you push too hard. It's hard to correct a director without risking embarrassing them, but if they are going down an audio path that could be a big problem later, you have to say something.

So what is a 1st AC?
 
I've driven thru Humboldt many times.. parents are from Oregon and I live in LA.
next time I'll stop for a coffee....last time I stopped for coffee at a drive thru coffee place and it wasn't that good....maybe that was Cresent City.
 
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