What is dialogue editing and why is it important for your film?

As a filmmaker, you are very well aware that no set is perfectly quiet. Not just in regards to what audible distractions may be occurring down the street, but the type of noises that may be picked up from your actors or crew while you are rolling. 

Actors love to be in the moment, and they may make noises as they move about, or deliver their lines imperfectly with a stumble or a flub. Inadequate microphone placement can also create problems on set. A boom that’s too far away from the action or a lav that's picking up clothing rustle can cause big issues in post production.

Dialogue editing is part of the post sound process that focuses on cleaning up all the production  sound problems and smoothing out an actor's voice performance. Smooth and articulate dialogue is the foundation of any film, and it’s also the first step that goes into your sound mix.

Before the picture edit is started, your picture editor will sync each take with its respective recorded sound from production. During the edit, they may attempt to rectify some sound issues by filling in cleaner room tone over noisy sections, or replace an actor's line with audio from another take or even temp ADR at the director’s discretion.

When it comes time for picture turnover to go to post sound, these issues along with many others will be addressed on a more granular level and fine tuned. So in addition to handing an OMF/AAF to your sound team, it’s also important to provide all production sound files and an EDL. This will allow your dialogue editor to do the best job for you.

Dialogue editing is not always an easy process, but it's a crucial and necessary one. Your sound editor will spend a great amount of time selecting the best microphone sources, smoothing background noise from cut to cut, and removing non-dialogue production sound effects for use on their own tracks. Empty spaces are filled with room tone, and unwanted sounds like heavy mouth clicks or noises that distract from the viewing experience are taken out. If some issues cannot be resolved during the dialogue editing process, lines may be flagged for ADR.

Once a dialogue edit is complete, the film should start sounding a bit more like a movie, but the process isn’t done yet. During the mixing phase, when music and sound effects are combined with the dialogue, the mixer will make adjustments to bring out more clarity to the actors’ voices through noise reduction and EQ. ADR will also be mixed in to match the production dialogue.

Enhance Media puts a lot of emphasis on dialogue clarity in every mix we do. To get the best sounding dialogue for your next project, contact us.